Posted on 19 Dec 2019
North-western European steelmakers have finally succeeded in raising coil prices in December, but many market players believe that the hikes are something that will not last.
Various German sources told Kallanish earlier that the low point of around €400/tonne ($446/t) ex-works for hot-rolled coil had been raised, but gave different assessments of the premium achieved. Depending on the earlier deals, the hikes are seen between €10-40/t, a range also confirmed by buyers in Benelux.
“The big question is whether this is because of restocking as most buyers have waited too long, or if it’s a structural improvement due to positive economic development,” one Dutch service centre manager cautions. “We noticed when speaking and negotiating with mills that they are very tough with their offers,” he adds.
Another Dutch source agrees that mills are pushing very hard to increase their prices. He is more pessimistic however in that he believes that mills will only be able to maintain their stance for a certain period, from now until the end of January 2020. “The main difficulty for longer lasting price increases is an overall strong reduction in demand, mainly coming from the automotive,” he says. “There is simply too much material in the supply chain.“
Prices for HRC are €420/t on average, but both higher and lower deals are common. For CRC and HDG, prices are some €100/t higher.
