Prices for hollow steel sections in Europe moved down on Wednesday January 16, to the surprise of some market participants.
Fastmarkets' domestic price assessment for commodity-size, grade-S235 square hollow sections made in Northern Europe narrowed downward by ?,?5 per tonne to ?,?635-645 ($726-738) delivered on January 16, from ?,?635-650 per tonne delivered on January 9.This was the first time that prices have changed in the past seven weeks.Last week, the European safeguard quota for sections was almost fully taken up, with renewal not expected until February. Because of this, market participants expected a price increase of ?,?10-50 per tonne on the likelihood of heavier reliance on the domestic market.But the opposite...