Markets in Europe

摘要

The price rises seen in coated coil in the EU in February proved to be the harbingers of a more general recovery. The CR coil market, which was languishing and arousing little interest, first caught the effect which later spread upstream to HR coil. Buyers who had been out of the market during early February accepted the increases at the end of the month all the more readily because their stocks had been running lower in the meantime. So far order rates are reported to be in line with onward sales; dealers are wary of entering another cycle of over-stocking. As rolling mills have been operating at below full capacity and report full order books, while at the same time imports from outside the EU are relatively low, there will not be much chance to over-stock over the next few months. Earlier this year the EU internal market for CR coil was quieter than those for either HR coil or coated coil, but interest picked up during February and the price has shown big gains. It has increased by as much as euro 30/tonne (dollar 36/tonne) in some markets. CR coil prices are now generally well above euro 500/tonne (dollar 597/tonne), after trading in a range of euro 480-500/tonne (dollar 573-597/tonne) from the start of the year. HDG has maintained or even increased its mark-up in markets on the Continent, and costs as much as euro 45-50/tonne (dollar 54-60/tonne) more than CR coil.