Northwestern European sections mills and distributors are both seeking to keep current price levels firm towards year-end.
The prices for sections category 1, as seen from mills and buyers, are in the range of €830-850/tonne ($928-950/t). Mills are striving for €850/t, but deals are often struck at around €830/t, both sides confirm. Prices are also expected to remain firm in the coming weeks. Sources note that low offers from Spain in summer have prevented domestic mills from being able to increase prices too sharply.
Currently, distributors, too, feel that they can largely maintain their sale prices, which is unusual in the fourth quarter when they try to deplete their inventories for the end of the year. “In our group, we are clearly advised to bring the inventories down to one third by the end of December,” one source tells Kallanish. This year, however, distributors are not selling out at bargain offers, as they have kept their inventories low for quite a while, in an environment of modest demand.
This is followed by a period of replenishment at the beginning of the year. Mills might still accept orders for delivery this year for another three to four weeks. Pretty soon, the run for delivery in the first quarter of 2027 will kick off, one manager remarks. This is why mills can keep their prices stable for little while, even if demand does not recover on a large scale, he says.
