European hot-rolled coil prices were stagnant in a quiet market after bullish momentum disappeared amid a lack of real demand, sources told Fastmarkets on Wednesday May 22. Quiet trading conditions prevailed in the European HRC market on Wednesday. Despite the common realization among buyers and sellers that the price has reached a bottom, bullish momentum has failed to reignite.

"Prices [for HRC] have been stable for the last three to four weeks, mills' attempts to get higher values have failed because demand is not there and the market is oversupplied," a buyer in Germany said. "Mills, however, do not want to drop prices ahead of long-term contract negotiations with automotive [customers] for the second half of 2024," he added.

Buyers' estimates of tradable values for HRC in Northern Europe ranged between €630 ($684) per tonne and €650 per tonne ex-works, with deals reported at €630-640 per tonne ex-works in the week started May 20. This was in contrast with offers heard at €640-670 per tonne ex-works for HRC with delivery in June-July. Sources expected the next round of restocking to be in mid-June but suggested that booked volumes will likely remain limited.

As a result, Fastmarkets calculated its daily steel hot-rolled coil index domestic, exw Northern Europe at €637.00 ($691.64) per tonne on Wednesday, marginally down by €1.75 per tonne from €638.75 per tonne on the previous day. The index was down by €3.63 per tonne week on week but up by €11.58 per tonne month on month.In Italy, Fastmarkets' daily steel hot-rolled coil index domestic, exw Italy was calculated at €632.50 per tonne on Wednesday, down by €1.25 per tonne from €633.75 per tonne on the day before. Transactions were reported at €630-640 per tonne ex-works for Italy-origin HRC with July delivery.

"Trend reversal has failed; yes, [HRC] prices have stopped falling and tended to stabilize in the past few weeks, but no major rebound has happened," a buyer in Italy said. Distributors and steel-service centers struggled to increase prices downstream amid poor end-user demand.

Import offers were largely flat day on day, with July-shipment HRC from Vietnam available at €580-590 per tonne CFR, India at €590-600 per tonne CFR, and Taiwan, Japan and South Korea at €600-620 per tonne CFR for July-August shipment. However, buyers' price ideas for imported coil was around €550-560 per tonne CFR – currently outside the acceptable range for overseas suppliers.