Coil prices by northwestern European mills have remained little changed in recent weeks, despite competitive imports being available on the market.
While prices for hot rolled coil by domestic mills have been sitting at around €650/tonne ($729/t), the price of material coming in from overseas is €50/t lower on a cif Antwerp basis, according to one German manager.
With additional transport costs, this material makes little sense for German buyers but could for those near the Belgian/Dutch coast with shorter transport ways, he suggests.
One French-based trader nixes that option, adding the duty that has to be factored in nowadays, meaning that HRC imports tend to be above €600/t, he says.
“The difference to European domestic prices is really minimal,” he tells Kallanish. He says he still gets frequent inquiries from customers, “but they are only testing the waters,” and few actual deals are struck.
He believes that 80% of all steel is bought from domestic mills, and only 20% from imports – split into sales from existing stocks, and new orders.
The price gap is even thinner for hot dip galvanized coil, he notes. Imports of this material cost between €700-730/t ddp, meaning when including duty, they are largely in line with EU ex-works prices.
Inside the EU, Italian offers are lacking competitiveness against northern prices.
“We do buy there, too,” one southern German buyer says. “But the freight cost is high, and you end up with little difference to northern prices.”
Christian Koehl Germany
