Buyers are generally not concerned about a possible reduction in production at Western European roll mills after recent short-term shutdowns.
According to official statements, these failures have already been fixed.
"They seem to be saying different things to different sides," says one German market analyst. According to him, enterprises do not want to publicly report disruptions, but they can emphasize even small problems for their customers in order to create the impression that supply volumes are capable of decreasing.
However, among the buyers, according to him, "no one is really worried." A trader from Switzerland agrees with this.
The manager of the Dutch processing company notes that there are still enough products in the warehouses of the service centers, and there are enough existing contracts with European factories, so he sees no cause for alarm.
"I'm more concerned about low demand," he said.
The recent temporary shutdown of the blast furnace at the ArcelorMittal Eisenhüttenstadt facility, which became known to the market, "may affect consumers in the automotive industry, but not us," said a customer from an Austrian processing plant. "Sufficient information on the availability of products has been provided for Western European enterprises in general," he added.
The spot price for a hot-rolled roll is kept at about 740 euros per ton from the factory, or 833 dollars per ton. At the same time, buyers' opinions differ: some believe that transactions can be concluded for 10 euros per ton cheaper, while others do not exclude a price increase by the same amount.
According to Austrian sources, the plants would like to sell above 750 euros per ton. Another buyer notes that manufacturers are able to achieve this level in quarterly contracts, where the price for the first quarter of 2027 is 760 euros per ton.