EU HRC buyers may return to import market

May 8 MetalBiz - EU HRC buyers may return to import market and the current import price is lower than the quotation of European steel mills, as well as the import price has room for bargaining. However, European steel mills have made it clear that they will not further adjust the price.

For several months, European users are staying out of the import market all the time and some users only purchase few to meet their demand. Because dealers began to supplement the inventory, the demand seemed to be better. Traders believed that it may be relatively good opportunity for buying at this time; even they started to have interest in the import.

The Commonwealth of the Independent States (CIS) stably quotes with EU HRC. The delivery price is about 300-350 euros per ton (CFR) in June, which is equivalent to 401-468 euros per ton. Mexican exporters’ quotation is 300-320 euros per ton (CFR), while the delivery price in Brazil and Argentina is 345-350 euros per ton in July. However, HRC ex-works price is about 370 euros per ton and 330 euros per ton around in northern and southern Europe respectively.

Cold-rolled coil price also has the sign of recovery at the local of EU. The plan of automobile scraps made the automotive industry improve the confidence, which can help stabilize the market price, while the overall cold-rolled coil demand still is weak and the likelihood of price growth is little. The steel mills production cut led to the supply decline, which is the main reason that push the price increase, and currently many steel mills production capacity utilization rate is still about 50%.