Posted on 27 Feb 2019
HRC import offers into South Europe have increased during the last two weeks, supported by the recovery in raw material prices in Asia and Turkey, Kallanish learns from sources.
This week traders confirm that Turkish suppliers are holding their offers of HRC at €500/tonne ($568/t) cfr Italy and above. Indian material is meanwhile the only one able to compete with the Turkish offers in the market at €490-500/t cfr South Europe.
“India has returned to be the most competitive non-European supplier to the market since mid-February,” a trader confirms. “At the moment we are battling to secure some volumes from India, but sales are mainly done directly by the mills to clients.”
The recovery in import offer prices is set to further support the resurgence in prices announced by major domestic suppliers in both Italy and Spain, including ArcelorMittal and Marcegaglia. Sources confirm that ArcelorMittal is currently offering HRC at €490/t ex-works base in Italy, ready to lift the price to €500/t ex-works base in the coming weeks.
The new permanent safeguard measures in the European Union have set a general quota for HRC, to be divided quarterly. The HRC quota is being consumed in line with expectations, and is not putting pressure on importers thanks to the reasonable availability of quotas going forward.
