Daily prices for local steel hot-rolled coil edged down in both Northern Europe and Italy on Friday July 24, with slow demand and the summer vacation period weighing on market activity, market sources told Fastmarkets.
In Northern Europe, a buyer indicated workable prices for HRC at €700-710 ($796-808) per tonne ex-works on Friday, saying that the market remained very slow with “extremely weak” demand.
“Also, with the summer holiday time, some companies [are] closing to save some money for workers now,” the buyer said, adding that although producers were trying to increase prices, this was not coming through yet, with consumers continuing to negotiate lower levels.
A supplier source reported offers were at €740-750 per tonne ex-works, but added those levels were not workable in the market yet. The same source said that the latest transaction levels at €710 per tonne ex-works were no longer available.
Due to a lack of fresh inputs on Friday, price points collected on Thursday July 23 were carried over to July 24’s index.
On Thursday, a buyer source reported an indication of achievable levels at €700-710 per tonne ex-works and a transaction at €710 per tonne ex-works.
Fastmarkets’ daily steel hot-rolled coil index domestic, exw Northern Europe was calculated at €706.67 per tonne on July 24, down by €3.55 per tonne from €710.22 per tonne on July 23.
The index was down by €3.33 per tonne week on week but up by €22.50 per tonne month on month.
Meanwhile, the Italian HRC market was also quiet on Friday, with market participants continuing to point to slow demand and limited trading activity ahead of the summer holiday period.
One buyer source said they had purchased a very small volume of HRC, around one truckload, earlier in the week at €680 per tonne ex-works. The deal was not included in the July 24 index because it fell outside the assessment period.
The same buyer indicated workable levels at €700 per tonne delivered (€685 per tonne ex-works), and said that producers were largely absent from the market for the time being. According to the market participant, many mills were expected to pause activity and deliveries between August 1-17 during the summer vacation period.
“Every mill is looking for maximum utilization, [and] with low demand they don’t have it. Italian mills are out of the market because they can’t sell their capacity,” the buyer said.
Meanwhile, a producer said achievable prices for standard commodity-grade HRC were no higher than €720-730 per tonne delivered (€705-715 per tonne ex-works), while mills were continuing to target €740-750 per tonne delivered (€725-735 per tonne ex-works).
“[The increase] might be achieved if decent quality means some exclusive positions in the specifications,” the same source said on Friday.
As a result, Fastmarkets’ daily steel hot-rolled coil index domestic, exw Italy was €704.38 per tonne on July 24, down by €2.50 per tonne from €706.88 per tonne on July 23.
The index was down by €0.62 per tonne week on week but up by €26.88 per tonne month on month.
