EUROPE HRC: Domestic prices stable despite persistent shortage, steady demand

Domestic prices for hot-rolled coil were mostly stable across Europe on Wednesday June 9, despite the continuing shortages of material and good demand, sources have told Fastmarkets.

Northern European and Italian steelmakers have been offering HRC from fourth-quarter rolling, market sources said. And some producers in Central Europe have been able to provide third-quarter-delivery coil, although prices have been substantially higher due to the prompt shipment.
Mills were, however, expected to continue to benefit from good order books while availability improved.
Although coil availability was still limited, market sources said that demand from the automotive sector had fallen away slightly, because the lack of semiconductors for cars' onboard computers has created a bottleneck among car manufacturers.
But the fall in consumption has not been big enough to result in a fall in flat steel prices, they added.

Buyers, meanwhile, have been holding back from acquiring bigger volumes of coil at high prices, preferring whenever possible to pause their purchases to better monitor global trends while also waiting for the...

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