Local prices for steel hot-rolled coil in Europe increased on Thursday August 28 despite muted trading and a general lack of support from the demand side.
In Northern Europe, both deals and estimates of workable prices for material scheduled for delivery in October were heard at higher levels than on August 27, within the range of €580-590 ($677-689) per tonne ex-works versus €570-580 per tonne ex-works.
The remaining volumes of material scheduled for shipment in September were, however, still traded within the range of €560-580 per tonne ex-works, according to a seller source.
Several seller sources said that new formal targets were €600-610 per tonne delivered, but such prices faced “lots of pushback from customers.”
Fastmarkets’ calculation of the daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Northern Europe, was €579.38 ($676.24) per tonne on Thursday, up by €6.88 per tonne from €572.50 per tonne the previous day.
The Northern European index was up by €5.63 per tonne week on week and up by €20.38 month on month.
The Italian market was still comparatively quieter because participants have not yet fully returned to business after their summer break.
Some small deals were heard done within the range of €540-550 per tonne ex-works, while target offers from integrated mills and re-rollers in Italy for October-delivery coil were heard at €570-580 per tonne ex-works.
Fastmarkets’ daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Italy, was €541.67 per tonne on August 28, up from €540.00 per tonne on August 27.
The Italian index was up by €0.84 per tonne week on week and by €15.42 per tonne month on month.
