Domestic prices for steel hot-rolled coil (HRC) remained unchanged on Friday July 31 in both Northern Europe and Italy, while mills were reported to have full order books for the third quarter, expected to come back to the market with higher levels in September, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday.
In Northern Europe, market participants reported no significant trading during the day.
Mills were fully booked through the end of September and were offering October delivery, sources said, adding that August was expected to be a difficult month because most German states were on summer holidays.
Workable prices were indicated at €710-715 ($816-821) per tonne ex-works, while initial offers were reported at €730 per tonne ex-works, but sources said that level was too high.
A buyer said the market was still conditioned by weak demand. “[There are] no big volumes we can order in the moment,” they added.
A second buyer said producers were trying to withdraw volumes from the market now and would initiate increases as much as €20-25 in early September but added that “no one is ready to accept this [higher] level for September because market and demand are very weak.”
Fastmarkets’ daily steel hot-rolled coil index domestic, exw Northern Europe was calculated at €711.25 per tonne on July 31, unchanged day on day from July 30.
The index was up by €1.25 per tonne week on week and up by €28.12 per tonne month on month.
In Italy, sources said mills were largely absent from the market due to the traditional Ferragosto holiday in August, while demand remained weak.
A buyer said they had purchased HRC at €690 per tonne ex-works around 10 days earlier, but the transaction was excluded from the July 31 index because it fell outside the assessment’s pricing window.
The same source said mills reported full order books for September but added that they were skeptical of this because “if you ask for production, you can have it delivered in three weeks.”
As a result of the limited fresh input on Friday, Fastmarkets’ daily steel hot-rolled coil index domestic, exw Italy was also unchanged at €706.25 per tonne day on day.
The index was up by €1.87 per tonne week on week, with a big move by €38.75 per tonne month on month.
