This week, the European HRC market, especially in the south, has been silent as local steel mills have started summer maintenance works and are only expected to return to the market with new offers in late August. Trade activity in northern Europe has been sluggish as well, with prices from mills moving sideways over the past week. At the same time, most foreign suppliers have kept their offers for EU customers at relatively stable levels, while trade has remained close to zero.
Specifically, while HRC offers for September delivery from mills in northern Europe have been estimated at €620-650/mt ex-works, mainly the same as last week, mills in Italy have been out of the market amid their summer maintenance works. Meanwhile, the tradable prices in the EU region have been assessed at €600-620/mt ex-works for September delivery, against €610-620/mt ex-works last week.
At the same time, the outlook for HRC prices after the summer break is mixed, with a number of sources expecting local prices to rise in late August and early September as European customers may focus on domestic purchases due to anticipated restrictions of import HRC inflow. “European mills are likely to increase their offers for October-November deliveries the given traditionally higher restocking after August, as well as amid complications with import supply due to new safeguard measures coupled with the recently announced antidumping investigation against HRC from India, Egypt, Japan and Vietnam,” a market insider told SteelOrbis.
In the import segment, most offers have settled at around €560-600/mt CFR, for September-October shipments, mainly the same as last week. Offers for ex-Vietnam HRC have been voiced at €560-565/mt CFR, while lower prices at around €540/mt CFR have also been heard in the market for bigger volumes. Besides, offers for ex-Japan HRC have settled at €580/mt CFR, down by €10/mt week on week, for October shipment, while offers from Indonesia have been voiced at €590-600/mt CFR.
HRC from Turkey has been offered by several mills at around €570-590/mt CFR, including duty, the same as last week.