ArcelorMittal has again increased its official offer prices for hot-rolled coil in Europe by ?,?30 ($36) per tonne, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday May 7.
The steelmaker had already increased its offers
four times in April.
After the rise, new offers for HRC have reached ?,?1,050 per tonne ex-works.
ArcelorMittal, however, kept its offers for downstream products unchanged at ?,?1,200 per tonne ex-works for cold-rolled and hot-dipped galvanized coil.
Fastmarkets calculated its daily
steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Northern Europe at ?,?1,020.83 per tonne on May 6, up by ?,?32.50 per tonne week on week and up by ?,?135.83 per tonne month on month.
The index was based on achievable prices estimated by market sources at ?,?1,000-1,020 per tonne ex-works and ?,?1,020-1,050 per tonne ex-works.
Most European producers were offering HRC for delivery in early-fourth quarter, market sources said.
Long delivery times and the short supply of material will keep pushing European coil prices further upward, market participants predicted.
European buyers have been struggling to secure volumes from either domestic or overseas suppliers. This week, European mills were largely away from the market since they feel no pressure to secure more orders due to good order books and they also prefer to wait and see before they start trading fourth-quarter rolling, market sources said.
The limited availability of imports was adding to the picture, exacerbating the shortage of material.