Posted on 03 Dec 2018
Prices for hot-dip galvanized coil in north-western Europe are clearly continuing to weaken, but sources differ about the extent of this easing and the range can therefore be wide at present, Kallanish notes.
Oversupply and a downward trend in price are widely confirmed and attributed to slowing production and lower demand in the automotive industry and also to competitively-priced imported material. Consumers involved in framework contracts have not yet developed a clear picture, as many negotiations are still ongoing. “We haven’t made the deal for the first quarter yet, but the price should be for sure below that of the current quarter, and pretty definitely below €650/tonne ($737/t) ex-works from NW European mills,” a German buyer says.
He suggests that the Q1 price should be in a range of between €630-640+. Another German source says that spot prices continued to weaken in the course of November, but did not put a figure to that. A Dutch buyer earlier said that the spread for HDG offers has become unusually wide, at some €40.
This is reflected in offers heard from Austria, of prices “… lower than €620-30/t delivered,” according to one steel service centre manager. While this suggests an ex-works level of around €610/t, it remains unclear as to what degree the quote includes supplies from Italian production, from imports landed in Italy, or from lower regional mill offers. At this price level, there is virtually no longer any difference between HDG and cold-rolled coil, the Austrian says.
