STEEL COIL PRICE REMAINS STABLE IN EUROPE

Final prices for steel coil products across Europe have been stable or slightly weaker over the past seven days, although buying interest remained weak, sources told Fastmarkets on Wednesday, June 15.

Continued weak demand from end-user sectors, particularly automotive and household appliances. have been putting pressure on cold-rolled coil (CRC) and hot-dip galvanized coil (HDG) prices throughout the region.

Due to lower consumer order intake, distributors still had fairly high inventories of BLF and BGC, the sources said. “It doesn’t make sense to reduce the price because it would not help to revive buying activity,” a source at a rolling mill in Germany told Fastmarkets.

Fastmarkets for cold-rolled steel coil, domestic, exw from northern Europe, was €1050-1070 ($1095-1116) per tonne on Wednesday, down €10 per tonne from €1150-1200 per tonne a week earlier.

BLF’s buying interest in the region was minimal, with very few transactions completed recently, sources said.

Bids from steel mills in the region were recorded at €1,070-1,080 per tonne exw, while buyers estimated the viable level at no more than €1,050 per tonne exw.

“The market is still oversupplied. The stock level is reducing very slowly,” a distributor in Germany told Fastmarkets.

Market fundamentals in Southern Europe were similar.

Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for cold-rolled steel coil, domestic, exw Southern Europe, was €970-1,000 per tonne on Wednesday, increasing downward by €30 per tonne from €1,000 per tonne the previous week.

Offers for cold rolled coils from steel mills in Italy were heard at €1,000 per tonne exw, but producers were willing to offer discounts to secure transactions.

Actual demand, however, was very poor in the region.