Domestic prices for hot-rolled coil were fairly stable in Northern Europe and Italy on Wednesday November 17; buyers and sellers both remained in "wait-and-see" mode, sources told Fastmarkets.
Spot buyers preferred to hold back from booking any significant volumes for next year before the steelmakers settled their long-term contracts with end consumers. Some sources said that negotiations are likely to be finalized in the first half of December.
Northern European producers have also been relatively inactive in the spot market. Earlier this month, steelmakers had been trading limited volumes of fourth-quarter rolling coil at discounted prices. This material became available due to the slump in demand from the automotive sector, which forced producers to redirect material to the spot market. Demand from automakers has fallen by about 30%, market participants said, because the global semiconductor shortage meant that they could not produce the usual numbers of vehicles, causing their steel consumption to decline.
Some market participants said that producers...