European hot-rolled steel prices continued to experience steady downward pressure on June 5, as apparent weak demand, aggressive import supply and constant buyer wariness affected market sentiment.
"Prices are clearly under pressure from the fact that most plants are still focused on 620-630 euros per ton in practice, but it is difficult to find an acceptable figure. Buyers expect prices to continue to decline over the summer before a recovery begins in the fourth quarter," the European distributor said.
Despite stable real consumption, several sources reported low apparent demand as buyers continued to delay purchases in the hope of lower prices. Market sentiment remained pessimistic, although some noted that the downward trend in prices had changed faster than expected in 2024.
"The buyers are very optimistic, but I don't fully share this opinion. It was the same last summer, but prices continued to fall throughout October. It's always difficult to reach the bottom," said one of the shareholders.
Offers from factories remained at a high level in the range of 620-630 euros per tonne at plants in the Ruhr, although some market participants pointed to unconfirmed sales data from a major manufacturer in the region of 580 euros per tonne at plants in the Ruhr.
Platts estimated domestic HRC prices in Northwestern Europe at 600 euros per tonne at Ruhr plants, down 10 euros from the previous day, and in Southern Europe at 585 euros per tonne at plants in Italy, down 5 euros from the previous day.
Import offers remained highly competitive. It was heard that Indonesian-made HRC was offered at a price below 500 euros per ton CFR in Southern Europe, but buyers remained cautious due to the risk of anti-dumping measures and upcoming changes in the EU's carbon emissions regulation mechanism.
"Imports are tempting, especially with a strong euro exchange rate, but many are holding back due to the uncertainty of CBAM. The main question now is what to buy before the system starts to malfunction," the trader said.
Platts estimated imports of HRC in Northwest Europe at 520 euros per ton CIF in Antwerp and in Southern Europe at 510 euros per ton CIF in Italy, which is stable from day to day.
Brother Sakha |Alexander Wong |Riley Waters |Charles Thompson
spglobal.com
