Domestic prices for hot-rolled coil (HRC) in Europe have moved down over the past week, although previously market participants expected prices to remain stable, sources told Metal Bulletin on Wednesday September 19.
The decrease, which showed the biggest decline in the south of Europe, was driven by a combination of limited buying activity and competition with import offers from Turkey, according to market sources."Turkey is very aggressive, particularly in the south of Europe, and people are concerned that there will be more low offers coming from Turkey to Antwerp [in Belgium]," a German source said.While previously the sources believed that domestic prices would be supported by the European Union safeguard case against steel imports, that sentiment has now changed.The European Commission (EC) imposed preliminary measures in a safeguard case on July 18, in the form of tariff rate quotas on...