European steel mill ArcelorMittal has hiked coils offers by Eur30/mt, increasing hot-rolled offers to Eur1,000/mt and cold-rolled as well as hot-dipped galvanized offers to Eur1,150/mt across Europe, just a week after the latest Eur50/mt increase, sources confirmed to S&P Global Platts April 22.
The price hike is being rolled out across Europe over April 22 and the following day.
The increase comes on the back of an unprecedented price rally fueled by material shortage that has seen prices climbing daily exceeding record-breaking levels in Europe across all coil prices.
"I think in the last weeks when I heard the new increases, I said buyers will not accept this but then we've seen Eur1,000/mt and people are buying and requesting material," said a European mill source.
"It's a never-ending story – we used to sell organic coating lower than these prices!" said the mill source.
Though Northern and Southern European coils prices are seeing all-time highs, the Italian market has seen rapid reactions with spot deals reported to Platts at Eur960-970/mt EXW Italy and Eur990/mt delivered Germany over the course of the week. At Eur970/mt on April 21, the daily Platts assessment for HRC EXW Italy has a Eur10/mt premium over the daily Platts EXW Ruhr assessment. Sources however, told Platts April 22 that EXW Ruhr prices were catching up, likely to exceed Eur960/mt EXW Ruhr.
Amid the severe material shortage in Europe, some sources have questioned the volume availability at mills for new offers, saying that mills can only offer very limited tonnages while buyers struggle to secure financing for orders.
"The new hike is an unhealthy level for the market that can not be sustained," a Benelux service center source said. Another buying source said that only the shortage of material is boosting the rally as raw material prices have levelled off.
