Most cold rolled coil (CRC) and coated steel market players in Europe have reported reduced business activity during the past two weeks, both in the local and import segments, as most buyers’ restocking activities have been at a reduced pace due to low end-user demand and the lack of confidence in prices after the summer holidays. At the same time, offer prices from European CRC and hot dip galvanized (HDG) mills have declined, while import prices have been following the same trend.
Specifically, in the domestic CRC market in the EU, most producers are offering at €720-740/mt ex-works, with the lower end of the range corresponding to offers in Italy at €720-730/mt ex-works, while the higher end corresponds to offers in northern Europe at €730-740/mt ex-works. Thus, the offer prices have lost around €10/mt over the past week. At the same time, tradable prices have settled at €700-710/mt ex-works in Italy and at €720/mt ex-works in northern Europe, down around €20/mt over the past two weeks.
In the import segment, most offers for CRC have showed a slight downward bias, with offers for ex-Asia CRC standing at €665-680/mt CFR, down by €10-15/mt over the past two weeks. Offers for ex-Taiwan and ex-Japan CRC have settled at 665/mt CFR, down by €15/mt since mid-July, while offers from India have been voiced at €670-675/mt CFR, down by €10/mt week on week. Besides, suppliers from South Korea and Turkey have been offering their CRC to the EU at around €680/mt CFR.
In the meantime, in the HDG segment, domestic offers from mills have been reported at €740-750/mt ex-works, against €740-760/mt ex-works two weeks ago. However, the tradable prices have settled at €720-730/mt ex-works in the region, losing €10-20/mt since mid-July.
Import offers for HDG Z100-120 have been voiced at €755-765/mt CFR, depending on the supplier, down by €10-20/mt over the past two weeks. Offers for ex-Vietnam Z120 HDG have settled at €765/mt CFR, while offers for ex-Taiwan HDG have been heard at €755/mt CFR. Offers from India have been estimated at €765/mt CFR and slightly higher, according to sources.