Northwest European mills are expected to increase coil offers in the week starting July 3 following the announcement of higher offers by Italian steelmakers, sources told S&P Global Commodities Insights on June 30.
Market participants believed that as coil prices reached the bottom across Europe, more buyers returned to the market looking for orders. Demand, however, was unlikely to be strong enough to support a significant rise in price, particularly ahead of the slowdown during the second half of summer, sources said.
Northwest European mills are expected to increase coil offers by Eur50/mt, according to market participants.
“Demand from the automotive industry is normal, import prices are not as competitive as they used to be, and mills will reduce production during summer stoppages for repairs, so it is the right time to increase offers,” a service center said.
“The steelmakers claim that they need to increase prices to cover costs, but the buyers do not see that they need to buy that much material at higher prices,” a producer source said.
Platts assessed domestic prices for hot-rolled coil prices in Northwest Europe at Eur680/mt ex-works Ruhr on June 30, up Eur10/mt on the day, reflecting deals and tradable values heard at Eur670-690/mt ex-works Ruhr.
Platts assessed domestic prices in South Europe unchanged on the day at Eur645/mt ex-works Italy on June 30, reflecting tradable values reported by market sources.
Some Italian mills increased HRC offers to Eur670-730/mt ex-works Italy, but they were not included in the assessment, as buyers deemed the prices to be too high.
Platts is part of S&P Global Commodity Insights.
Author: Maria Tanatar
