April 2011 | Coated Steels
EU Prices Drop: European Market Highlights
Coated prices have come off their peaks.
As we suspected, mill moves to push galvanised prices higher last month were unsuccessful. A rising currency making imports more affordable and slower purchasing combined to erode substrate pricing. Very weak markets in southern Europe meant that these discounts were immediately passed through to coated consumers, although mills in central and northern Europe are trying to hold onto bigger margins and are cutting prices by much less. Our dollar-based price forecast declines however were not as large as predicted as the euro appreciated.
Southern European mills cut pricesHDG base prices are now in line with nominal CR coil base prices as the market struggles with over-supply. Both the automotive and construction markets are weak and producers are increasingly looking at exports. Base prices are down to around €670/tonne ex-works and transaction prices for 1mm Z100 is around €720/tonne. This is a decline of around €40/tonne month-on-month. Spanish...
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