Prices for hollow steel sections in the domestic Northern European market were stable on Wednesday March 13, while prices in Southern Europe edged up for the second consecutive week, market sources have told Fastmarkets.
Fastmarkets’ domestic price assessment for commodity-size, grade-S235 square hollow sections made in Northern Europe was unchanged week on week on Wednesday at €630-650 ($710-733) per tonne delivered.
Two recent attempts by ArcelorMittal to increase the price for European steel coil, by €30 per tonne each time, have so far not been fully successful. Coil is the feedstock material for hollow sections manufacture.
Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for domestic Northern European hot-rolled coil (HRC) was €510-520 per tonne ex-works on January 30, the day before the first round of increases by ArcelorMittal was announced. While top-end prices did reach €530 per tonne ex-works in mid-February, prices on March 13 were down to €500-520 per tonne ex-works.
The price for HRC in Southern Europe was €480-500 per tonne ex-works this week, up from €440-490 per tonne on January 30, but down from a year-to-date peak of €485-510 per tonne ex-works on February 27.
“Prices are up a little bit but it’s a very slow increase,” a trader said. “They tried to raise prices like they did for coils, but there’s no real difference. Demand is not amazing, and expectations for economic growth are down. A price increase was announced for HRC but nobody is buying coil, and tube buyers don’t want to pay more.”
Fastmarkets’ weekly domestic price assessment for commodity-size, grade-S235 square hollow sections made in Southern Europe widened upward by €5 per tonne again this week, to €630-645 per tonne delivered, from €630-640 per tonne delivered one week before.
A Southern European producer source said that it was reducing the discount offered to customers on a weekly basis, and this had been accepted by the market.
“I have been told there will be price increases in the near future,” a distributor said.
“We can still buy at the same price [because] it’s very stable. An Italian mill told me that it had to increase prices a little but I think the market is not strong enough for that,” he added.
“Even if the raw material costs have increased, it’s not that easy to increase [hollow sections] prices. At the end of the first quarter, there will be price increases for May and June deliveries, so we will wait for a while,” he said.
One market participant told Fastmarkets that it had heard that HRC prices for June deliveries could go down.
Source from Fastmarkets MB |
