European coil prices continue to fall

"It is too early to say whether the Indian tax will have much impact on the European market," said a Dutch service center manager. A German trader agreed and pointed out that “after all, India has not been a dumping country lately; it's Japan and Turkey - they're under pressure and becoming more and more flexible with prices."

“Indian taxes are not enough to offset the immediate consequences of the Ukraine war,” agrees a manager at a distributor in Germany. However, he did not see many additional offers coming from Turkey. He also pointed to the potentially huge market impact of China's development, which makes clear forecasts for Europe difficult. China may continue to be affected by Covid-19 and its national economic problems, or it may soon recover, with major consequences for the rest of the world.

Currently, German sources predict that the price of hot rolled coil will drop to triple digits. One said this would happen "later this year", the other said "quite soon".

Meanwhile, a Dutch bulk buyer said that ex-works deals at €1,000/ton ($1,076/ton) were observed, but he did not specify whether this applies to regular spot orders or not. However, it seems clear that trades below 1,050 Euro/ton are now possible.

Sat Thep