Europe: HRC prices likely to increase in Q2CY'22

Hot-rolled coil (HRC) prices in the European Union are expected to rise in Q2CY'22 amidst factors like imposition of carbon surcharge on steel products, strong raw material prices, decrease in imports amid rising freight costs and logistics constraints.

Russia-Ukraine geopolitical tensions have also weighed on prices as Ukraine exports about 4 mnt of steel to Europe every year.

Current prices

HRC prices in northern Europe stood at EUR 960/t ($1,090/t) ex-works and those in southern Europe were assessed at EUR 915/t ($1,039/t) ex-works as on 18 Feb'22, a SteelDaily report reveals.

EU pickling coil prices ranged between EUR 930-980/t ($1,056-1,112/t) while hot-dipped galvanised prices were EUR 1,105-1,145/t ($1,254-1,300/t), on ex-works basis.

Industry insiders said, "Trades are happening on contractual basis because of long lead times and higher manufacturing costs regardless of the actual demand. Therefore, the contract prices are likely to go up by EUR 60-80/t higher than the spot price."

ArcelorMittal prepares emergency plan for Ukrainian plant

Europe's largest steel producer, ArcelorMittal, announced on 21 Feb'22 that its Ukrainian Plant - ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih, is functioning properly and has stockpiled raw materials for a month. However, it is anticipated that electricity supply and demand can become a problem if the situation worsens in the near future.

ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih produced 2.54 million tonnes (mnt) of long products in CY'21, an increase of 7% compared to the previous year. Exports were decreased by 3% to 1.49 mnt over CY'20.

Note: This article has been published in accordance with an article exchange agreement between SteelDaily and SteelMint.