EU HRC: Italian steel plant reduces prices
Italian hot rolled steel (HRC) prices dropped today as another factory agreed to lower prices, following the example of one of its main competitors.
The daily HRC index in Italy from Argus decreased by 3.25 euros per tonne to 603.75 euros per tonne excluding production, while the daily HRC index in the north-west of the EU remained unchanged at 617.50 euros per tonne excluding production.
The company is not yet concerned about the consequences of the fire that disabled the blast furnace at Acciaierie d'Italia last week, but it may affect supplies in the coming weeks. Despite the fact that this is the smallest of the two furnaces, some buyers, especially large ones, expect to be supplied with an index reference from the factory.
It was reported about offers at a price of 630-640 euros per ton, which were delivered today, while the deals were concluded at the lowest price. The base supply is 610 euros per ton, and some buyers insist on a price of 600 euros per ton during negotiations. But they doubted that they would be able to get 610 euros per ton from the northwestern supplier.
However, the market situation is tangible, and delivery times have been reduced after almost six weeks of disappointing sales. Some expect an increase in activity by the beginning of June, otherwise it may force manufacturers to further reduce prices.
Indonesia's offer was confirmed on the import market today at a price of $570 per ton compared to Italy. Vietnam's offer at a price of $600 per ton of cfr in Italy has been confirmed. It was reported that the price of the Turkish plant was reduced to $ 540 per ton fob, which is equivalent to just over $ 595 per ton cfr, taking into account dumping — this has not been confirmed. An Indian plant was offering pickled and oiled vegetables at about 615 euros per ton in Italy, after another plant offered 610 euros per ton yesterday, but noted that the price should be at least 10 dollars lower to stimulate demand.
The trader offered about 30,000 tons of HRC from Saudi Arabia at a price of about 565 euros per ton for June delivery. Materials from Saudi Arabia are still not subject to the EU's steel protection measures. The trader stated that he sold Thai material to Spain for about €575/ton base, as well as for shipment in June.
In Northern Europe, the mill's source said it was selling small volumes of July at €620/ton on a free-of-charge basis. In June, raw materials from the same factory were offered by traders at a price below 600 euros per ton, and some traders who had the materials in hand said that raw material prices were even below 560 euros per ton in stock, and liquidity was very low. The buyer informed about the initial offer from the seller from the EU for