HRC prices hold across Europe; Australia-origin cargo booked to Italy
Offers of HRC in Northern Europe were reported at €640-670 ($698-731) per tonne ex-works or delivered for August-September delivery, but buyers’ price ideas were heard no higher than €620-630 per tonne ex-works.
Some bids were even reported at €600 per tonne ex-works, but mills in the region were reluctant to accept such low prices.
In general, trading in the region remained dull, and the spot market continued to be “heavily oversupplied,” sources said.
“The automotive industry is taking less volumes [of HRC], so extra tonnages go to the spot market,” a buyer in Germany said.
The effects of new EU import safeguard measures were yet to be felt in the market, and sources said it would take them “six to nine months to clear [import] tonnages which are currently in the pipeline.”
“Nobody is missing [HRC] volumes in Europe — on the contrary, mills are fighting for every single tonne, so a price increase is only wishful thinking of mills,” a buyer in the Benelux area said.
Negotiations with the automotive industry for contracts for the second half of 2024 were still under way, sources said, with no progress reported so far.
“Mills and buyers are just dragging time,” a consumer source in Germany said.
For the first half of 2024, HRC contracts with original equipment manufacturers in the automotive industry have reportedly been signed at €750-800 per tonne.
Buyers have reportedly been seeking discounts of €100 per tonne for the second half of the year, while producers are aiming for a rollover, sources said.
“No rollover is possible [for contract prices in the second half of 2024], the gap with spot [prices] will be too wide,” a second source in Germany said. “But, equally, a €100 per tonne discount is very unlikely.”
Fastmarkets calculated its daily steel hot-rolled coil index domestic, exw Northern Europe at €631.25 ($688.26) per tonne on Tuesday, flat from Monday July 15.
The index was down by €1.88 per tonne week on week and by €3.75 per tonne month on month.
Meanwhile, in Southern Europe, Fastmarkets calculated its daily steel hot-rolled coil index domestic, exw Italy at €620.00 per tonne on Tuesday, down by €5.00 per tonne from €625.00 per tonne on Monday.
The index was down by €8.33 per tonne week on week and by €11.88 per tonne month on month.
An integrated mill in Italy was heard offering August-September delivery coil at €640-650 per tonne delivered in the country, which nets back to €630-640 per tonne ex-works.
Bids for such material were heard at €600-610 per tonne delivered, but European mills deemed such prices as “unworkable.”
Transactions were heard done from a re-roller in Italy at €620 per tonne ex-works for small lots of coil.
A cargo of HRC from Australia was booked to Italy at €580 per tonne CFR recently, sources said.
“[Australia] is an unusual origin for Italy to book from, but with key major suppliers [Vietnam, Taiwan, Japan, Egypt] basically out of the game due to new [EU import] safeguards, it was only a matter of time for new suppliers to emerge,” a buyer in Italy said.
No new offers were reported from Asia.
Sources reported HRC offers from India and Saudi Arabia at €595-605 per tonne CFR to Italy.
European HRC market remains quiet, prices broadly unmoved
Trading in the spot HRC market across Europe was close to nil on Friday. Buyers have been cautious with making new bookings, due to uncertainty over the price direction after the summer months.
Besides, most buyers have sufficient stocks and no immediate need to book new volumes, Fastmarkets heard.
“Consumption remains low; we can work with the level of stock we have. [The level of stock] is still quite high at some distributors and steel service centers, and we see fierce competition downstream,” one buyer in Europe told Fastmarkets.
For September-delivery HRC, integrated steelmakers in Europe mainly maintained offers at stable levels of around €630-650 ($684-706) per tonne ex-works, while tradeable values for such material were heard from buyer sources at €620-630 per tonnne ex-works.
For October delivery, some suppliers are targeting price hikes of around €20 per tonne, but market fundamentals are unsupportive of any price rise, according to sources.
“The market is oversupplied. Mills need to fill order books and this talk about price rises is not convincing – there is not enough demand,” a second buyer said.
Fastmarkets calculated its daily steel HRC index domestic, exw Northern Europe at €632.13 per tonne on Friday, down slightly by €0.37 per tonne from €632.50 on Thursday.
The index was up by €1.13 per tonne week on week but down by €3.08 per tonne month on month.
In Southern Europe, Fastmarkets calculated its corresponding daily steel HRC index domestic, exw Italy at €626.00 per tonne on Friday, down by €0.25 per tonne from €626.25 per tonne on Thursday.
The index was up by €1.90 per tonne week on week but down by €5.88 per tonne month on month.
The Italian market was also quiet, with buyers mainly keeping at sidelines.
September-delivery HRC was still being offered by a local supplier at €640-650 per tonne delivered, which corresponds to €630-640 per tonne ex-works.
Buyer sources estimated achievable prices at no higher than €620-630 per tonne ex-works, with sporadic trades reported at €620-625 per tonne ex-works in the week to Friday.
New import HRC offers were scarce. Key Asian suppliers – Vietnam, Japan and Taiwan – have exceeded their allocation for third-quarter deliveries, Fastmarkets reported.
Offers of HRC from Turkey were available at €610 per tonne CFR, including the anti-dumping duty.
From Japan, offers were heard at €600-610 per tonne CFR, for September-shipment coil.
Two sources reported an offer from South Korea at $660 per tonne CFR to Southern Europe.
European HRC prices remain unchanged amid persistent demand lull
European domestic prices for hot-rolled coil remained stable July 12 as low demand and muted trading activity persisted.
“Market is very weak,” a Germany-based service-center source said. “There is a lot of pressure on prices.”
Sources said that they do not expect any changes in the market until after the summer holidays, and that any attempt to increase prices is futile.
“Euopean mills can‘t increase prices, “ an Italy-based distributor source said. “There maybe some re-stocking in September, but until then, I don’t see any changes.”
Platts assessed Northwest European HRC stable on the day at Eur625/mt ex-works Ruhr on July 12.
Tradable values were heard at Eur610-630/mt ex-works Ruhr.
Meanwhile, Platts assessed domestic HRC prices in Southern Europe stable on the day at Eur625/mt EXW Italy.
Tradable values were heard at Eur620-630/mt EXW Italy, and offers were heard at Eur640/mt ex-works Italy.
Buying interest for carbon-accounted HRC was heard still muted as well. Offers for premium were heard at a minimum Eur100/mt for CO2 content around 1mt, and at Eur150-200/mt for CO2 content around 0 mt, both under scopes 1-2.
Platts assessed the carbon-accounted premium for HRC in Europe stable on the day at Eur125/mt July 12.
Interest in imported HRC also remained dull, due to longer lead times and the risks from safeguard duties.
“If the local mills are offering HRC at Eur620/mt ex-works, nobody would want to buy imports at Eur600/mt CIF,” another service-center source said.
Platts assessed imported HRC in Northwest Europe stable on the day at Eur595/mt CIF Antwerp.
Offers were reported at Eur600-610/mt CIF Antwerp, including anti-dumping duties, for material originating from Turkey. Tradable values were heard at Eur590-600/mt CIF Antwerp, including anti-dumping duties, for material originating from Turkey.
Platts assessed imported HRC in South Europe stable on the day at Eur600/mt CIF Italy.
Offers were reported at Eur610-620/mt CIF Italy for material originating from Indonesia and at Eur610-620/mt CIF Italy, including anti-dumping duties, for material originating from Turkey.
Devbrat Saha
European Hot-Rolled Coil prices remain stable in slow market
European domestic prices for hot-rolled coil remained stable July 11 as market activity remained low due to summer holidays in most northwest European countries.
“There have been no changes compared to last week,” a service center source said. “Now summer break season started and no movement in the market.”
A trader source said the market was quiet with low demand, and expected there would not be any significant changes any time soon.
Platts assessed Northwest European HRC stable on the day at Eur625/mt ex-works Ruhr on July 11.
A deal for 100-120 mt was heard at Eur620-630/mt exw Ruhr, and tradable values were also heard at the same levels.
Offers were heard at Eur650-670/mt exw Ruhr.
Meanwhile, Platts assessed domestic HRC prices in Southern Europe stable on the day at Eur625/mt exw Italy.
Tradable values were heard at Eur620-625/mt exw Italy.
Buying interest for carbon-accounted HRC was heard still muted as well, with tradable values for premium in a range of Eur100-150/mt for variable CO2 emission levels and scopes. Platts assessed the carbon-accounted premium for HRC in Europe stable on the day at Eur125/mt July 11.
Meanwhile, Platts assessed imported HRC in Northwest Europe stable on the day at Eur595/mt CIF Antwerp.
Offers were reported at Eur595-600/mt CIF Antwerp for material originating from Japan.
Platts assessed imported HRC in South Europe stable at Eur600/mt CIF Italy, down Eur5 on the day.
Offers were reported at Eur600/mt CIF Italy for material originating from Indonesia and at Eur610/mt CIF Italy, including anti-dumping duties, for material originating from Turkey.
Platts is part of S&P Global Commodity Insights.
Devbrat Saha
European HRC prices fairly stable as trading activity remans muted
Trading activity in the European hot-rolled coil market remained low on May 17 and prices remained fairly stable.
Real demand has remained low, and distributors have been avoiding building stocks, focusing on purchases of volumes needed to fill gaps in their portfolios.
Despite limited trading activity, market sources believe that prices would remain stable in the short run.
“The market is very quiet. Demand from every end-user segment is low and distributors avoid bookings,” a German service center said. “I do not think that the prices would decline as the mills understand that the lower prices would not drive sales up.”
Platts assessed domestic prices for hot-rolled coil in Northwest Europe up Eur5/mt on the day at Eur635/mt ex-works Ruhr on May 17.
Deals were reported at Eur630-640/mt ex-works Ruhr.
Tradable values have been reported at Eur630/mt ex-works Ruhr.
The lowest offers were reported at Eur630-640/mt ex-works Ruhr.
Platts assessed domestic prices for hot-rolled coil in South Europe at Eur625/mt ex-works Italy on May 17, unchanged on the day.
Tradable values have been reported at Eur620-630/mt ex-works Italy and offers at the equivalent of Eur640/mt ex-works Italy.
Interest in imported HRC from Asia was limited due to longer lead times, uncompetitive prices and risks related to possible changes in the safeguard measures after a review that is scheduled to end by June 30.
The lowest offers from Turkey were reported at Eur620/mt CIF Italy, including anti-dumping duties, and offers from Asia were heard at Eur610-630/mt CIF Italy.
Maria Tanatar | Devbrat Saha