Restocking activity was subdued across the HRC markets, with mainly limited tonnages heard traded.
Distributors and steel service centers preferred to keep their inventories at medium to low levels, citing weaker sales downstream.
“The real demand is not there, so any pick-up [in trading] we see now is related to restocking and wouldn’t drive a sustainable rebound [in HRC prices],” a steel service center source said.
Northern European integrated mills were offering HRC with lead times of 4-5 weeks at €620-640 ($661-682) per tonne ex-works.
A Benelux-based re-roller was offering HRC at €600 per tonne ex-works in the region. Deals were reported at €620-630 per tonne ex-works in Germany in the week to Friday. And most buyers continued to estimate tradeable values within the same range.
As a result, Fastmarkets calculated its daily steel HRC index, domestic, exw Northern Europe, at €625.50 per tonne on April 19, down marginally by €1.58 per tonne from €627.08 per tonne the day before.
The index was down by €13.67 per tonne week on week and by €58.46 per tonne month on month.
Most market sources believed that prices in the region have already hit rock-bottom and that the market has reached a “turning point.” They saw a strong rebound as unlikely in the near term, due to a lack of support from steel-consuming sectors.
For example, Worldsteel’s short-range outlook published in April highlighted that the EU was still the region facing the biggest challenges.
“The region, and in particular its steel-using sectors, are challenged on a multitude of fronts – geopolitical shifts and uncertainty, high inflation, monetary tightening and partial withdrawal of fiscal support, and still high energy and commodity prices,” Worldsteel said.
“After only a technical rebound in 2024,” it added, “the region’s steel demand is expected to finally show a meaningful recovery with 5.3% growth in 2025. The forecast steel demand for the EU in 2024 is only 1.5 [million tonnes] higher than the pandemic trough in 2020.”
In Southern Europe, meanwhile, Fastmarkets calculated its daily steel HRC index, domestic, exw Italy, at €620.00 per tonne on Friday, down by €0.42 per tonne from €620.42 per tonne on the day before.
The Italian index was down by €5.00 per tonne week on week and by €48.75 per tonne month on month.
HRC with end-May lead times from one domestic supplier was heard offered at €640 per tonne delivered, equivalent to €630 per tonne ex-works.
Buyers estimated achievable prices at €610-620 per tonne ex-works, with transactions heard at €615-620 per tonne ex-works.
Asian suppliers have been trying to increase HRC prices to Europe, with most sellers targeting prices no lower than €600 per tonne cfr for HRC with June shipment.
Several market sources said that lower prices were available from Saudi Arabia earlier in the week, around €580 per tonne CFR to Southern Europe, but for low volumes.
Published by: Julia Bolotova
