Prices for European HRC remain stable amid seasonally slow trading

Prices for European hot-rolled coil were broadly stable on Monday July 22 amid seasonally slow trading, sources told Fastmarkets.

Demand continued to be low, with customers showing no interest in restocking, Fastmarkets heard.

In Northern Europe, mills offered August/September-delivery HRC in the range of €630-650 ($685-707) per tonne ex-works.

But sources estimated the tradeable market level at €620-630 per tonne ex-works.

Fastmarkets calculated its daily steel HRC index domestic, exw Northern Europe at €629.00 per tonne on Monday, up by just €0.42 per tonne from €628.58 per tonne on Friday July 19.

The index was down by €2.25 per tonne week on week and by €1.00 per tonne month on month.

“Mills in Northern Europe are still struggling for orders, but there is simply no demand,” one buyer source told Fastmarkets.

The source added that the period of summer vacations could already be felt in the region and many producers would close for planned maintenance. As a result, many clients would probably wait and see what the market looks like in September.

A second buyer source believed prices would remain largely unchanged by the end of September. Thus, despite rising production costs, suppressed and postponed demand might play a more decisive role in the market in the coming weeks.

But regardless of the soft demand, some producers in Northern Europe were considering higher offer prices for October-delivery HRC, Fastmarkets understands. Offers for such material were heard at €660-670 per tonne ex-works.

In Italy, trading was also seasonally slow on Monday, sources told Fastmarkets.

HRC with lead times of four to five weeks was still being offered by a local supplier at €640-650 per tonne delivered, which corresponds to €630-640 per tonne ex-works.

Market participants estimated the workable market level to be in the range of €620-640 per tonne ex-works, depending on volume.

Some bids were heard at €610 per tonne ex-works.

In Southern Europe, Fastmarkets calculated its daily steel HRC index domestic, exw Italy at €621.67 per tonne on Monday, up by €1.25 per tonne from €620.42 on Friday.

The index was down by €3.33 per tonne week on week and by €7.08 per tonne month on month.

Offers of imported HRC from Vietnam were heard at €570 per tonne CFR Italy. But Vietnam has already exceeded its import quota allowance for the third quarter of the year so a safeguard duty should be paid for the volumes that exceed the quota.

Material from Saudi Arabia was offered at €610 per tonne CFR Italy.

Offers of HRC from Turkey were available at €600-610 per tonne CFR, including the anti-dumping duty.

Julia Bolotova in Brussels contributed to this report.

Published by: Darina Kahramanova

fastmarkets.com