European HRC steel prices are rising, trade is limited
Domestic prices for hot-rolled steel in Northern Europe and Italy rose on Friday, May 29, while trading remained mostly subdued. But market sources contacted by Fastmarkets pointed to wider ranges of acceptable prices.
In Northern Europe, a factory source reported a price of 680-700 euros (791-814 dollars) per ton from the factory during the day, while buyers pointed to various reasonable prices in the range of 670-705 euros per ton from the factory.
"There are higher and lower figures based on the factory and the buyer," the buyer said on Friday.
The sources mentioned the increase in new offers from the leading European steel producer ArcelorMittal, which was announced last week and reached 80 euros per ton, but noted that they were still waiting for the market's reaction to higher supply levels.
"Arcelor has demonstrated its intention to achieve higher performance," a source at the plant said on Friday, adding that they were curious to see how the market would take this increase.
According to the second customer, the increase in supply from the leading manufacturer depended on the size of the order: with large volumes, a smaller increase was expected, while with smaller volumes, a larger increase was observed.
The buyer also said that upward movements in the market could be seen in September, but not before.
On May 28, sources told Fastmarkets that they had enough HRC in stock until September, and some until October, and at the moment there is no need to replenish stocks.
[The pricing problem is not the price per se, but the extremely low demand," a third buyer said on Friday, adding that this would change only if European policy changed.
A third buyer said he did not expect market conditions to improve until Russia's war with Ukraine and the conflict in the Middle East, which began in late February, were over.
Fastmarkets daily index of hot-rolled steel coils in the domestic market, exports to Northern Europe, Washington On Friday the price was 690.92 euros per ton, which is 10.19 euros higher than on Thursday, compared with 680.73 euros per ton.
The indicator also increased by 10.92 euros per ton week-on-week, but decreased by 18.81 euros per ton on a monthly basis.
In Italy, HRC trading on Friday was also inconclusive, with factory sources reporting estimated prices of around 670-690 euros per tonne from the plant and an offer of 660 euros per tonne from the plant.
Two buyers reported that local prices for HRC are in the range of 660-680 euros per ton from the plant, while the third buyer reported that offers from Italian factories are