Trading in the European CRC and galvanized steel market has been fairly calm lately, and prices have remained relatively stable for several weeks.
Buyers were advised to be cautious about piling up excessive inventories, while Mills, sensing low import activity due to unclear output quotas and a potential uptrend in the HRC segment for August and September, had already begun to show slight resistance to the lowest rate. As already mentioned, the demand as well as the number of CRC and HDG import offers in Europe have been low recently.
In the EU domestic market, CRC prices from the factory have settled at 770-810 euros per ton, remaining stable over the past two weeks. The acceptable price level, according to sources, is 770-785 euros per ton from the plant, while some plants insist that the price should not fall below 795 euros per ton from the plant, especially in the southern part of Europe. In the import segment, the number of offers was very limited due to customer concerns. Sources report prices for raw materials for export from India at 790 euros per ton per day and 785-790 US dollars per ton CFR, while raw materials for export from Ukraine are offered to Eastern Europe at a price of 780-790 euros per ton excluding VAT. According to the latest data, the price of liquefied natural gas from South Korea was 830-840 euros per ton per day.
Local prices for liquefied natural gas were also mostly stable across Europe, at 780-800 euros per tonne, with demand reportedly remaining at a moderate level. As in the case of the CRC segment, some plants began to refuse to offer prices below 800 euros per ton amid a potential increase in apartment prices expected in August-September. The number of HDG import offers this week was also limited due to low customer interest. According to sources, the Z140 material produced in Japan was available at a price of 910 euros per ton CFR. There have been reports of offers for the supply of galvanized material from Ukraine at a price of 860 euros per ton per day in Eastern Europe.
