Poor demand and mounting competition from imports will continue to challenge the European hot-rolled coil (HRC) market, supporting a negative trend in the fourth quarter of 2019, market sources have told Fastmarkets.
Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for steel HRC, domestic, exw Northern Europe, was ?,?450-460 ($491-502) per tonne on September 25, down by ?,?5-10 per tonne week on week and down by ?,?30-35 since the beginning of the third quarter. The assessment reflected the latest deals heard in the market.And Fastmarkets' corresponding weekly price assessment for steel HRC, domestic, exw Southern Europe, was ?,?420-440 per tonne on September 25, down by ?,?10 per tonne week on week and down by ?,?45-50 per tonne since the beginning of July. The lower end of the assessment represented deals in Italy while the upper end reflected prices in Spain.The main reason behind the decrease in the third-quarter prices was poor demand, and this situation was unlikely to improve in the rest of this year, market sources said.Attempts among European steelmakers to increase HRC prices in late August were unsuccessful because the seasonal market activity recovery...