Domestic prices for hot-rolled coil continued to rise in all parts of Europe over the week to Wednesday September 2, and were expected to increase further, market sources have told Fastmarkets.
The upswing in domestic prices had support from a combination of a degree of seasonal demand improvement, reduced output from domestic mills resulting in longer lead times, a lack of competitive import offers, and high raw material costs, market sources said.
They also said that demand has continued to recover so far in September, following the traditional re-stocking cycle.
In Northern Europe, buyers have been showing solid demand because they need to re-stock, some market sources said.
The distributors in the region have sufficient stocks for September and October, but the steelmakers claimed that they were almost sold out for November rolling, and this supported the stronger interest in making deals now.
Other sources, however, claimed that the steelmakers were struggling to make trades at the prices they wanted because demand was not strong enough, but nonetheless they were refusing to give discounts.
Northern European sources also...