Flat stainless steel product prices in Europe fell this week amid high stock levels at warehouses and continued import pressure, sources told Metal Bulletin on Friday March 18.
Metal Bulletin's weekly base price assessment for 2mm, grade-304 cold-rolled (CR) stainless steel sheet in Northern Europe fell by ?,?35-50 per tonne week on week to ?,?1,015-1,050 ($1,198-1,239) per tonne delivered on Friday, down from ?,?1,050-1,100 per tonne delivered on May 11."Imports are putting pressure on domestic EU prices," one distributor in the Benelux region told Metal Bulletin. "Right now the EU mill [stock] price is basically what the end customer is paying - our margin is almost nothing right now because of heavy competition," he said. "Customers are only...