The European HRC steel market remains calm due to seasonal holidays
The hot-rolled steel market in Europe remained calm on Tuesday, July 22: many market participants in Northern Europe were on vacation, and in Italy due to higher prices for some local plants.
Plants in Northern Europe were mostly full, with several small shipments remaining in their September order book, and thus they were offering mostly October shipments at prices of at least 560 euros ($656) per ton from the plant.
Customer activity was also low due to the holidays and the seasonal maintenance period. It was expected that the auction would be held in a calm mode until September.
Some rare estimates of real prices at 550 euros per ton from the factory were announced, but no major sales were heard during the day.
Calculation of the daily HRC index for Fastmarkets steel in the domestic market, exports to the north In Europe On July 22, the price was 555.00 euros (650.59 USD) per ton, compared with 550.83 euros per ton on July 21.
The Italian HRC market was divided due to the limited availability of the material in domestic factories.
The market leader raised the offer prices to 540-550 euros per ton at the manufacturing plant, following the example of other plants in Northern Europe, but one of the customers said that "the price depends on the specific case, and the mill is very durable."
Meanwhile, the distributor is reportedly having a hard time keeping up with supplies. they sell at a price of 520 euros per ton from the factory.
And the third participant left the market, faced with delays on previous orders and having no spare capacity for new orders.
"In general, there is currently no acceptable price in the Italian domestic market." according to a local source.
The daily price index for Fastmarkets hot-rolled steel in the domestic market (exw, Italy), calculated on July 22, amounted to 530.63 euros per ton, compared with 523.33 euros per ton from the factory on July 21.
Vlada Novokreschenova
Fastmarkets.com