UK HRC: Price discovery clouded by wide spread

Price discovery was difficult in the UK hot-rolled coil (HRC) market this week because of a wide offer spread, low bids and a lack of concluded business.

A domestic re-roller was still offering around £430-435/t ddp, while a north European re-roller was offering around £455-460/t ddp. Another domestic producer was close to £450/t ddp, as was a Scandinavian supplier.

There was some talk of a vessel that recently arrived into Liverpool containing Russian material booked at around £370/t ddp at the back end of last year. The vessel contained around 3,000-4,000t, according to one source, although some thought it was a larger tonnage. The deal was done via a trader, and is all pre-sold.

Traders were struggling to make anything fresh work into the UK, with continental Europe viewed as a better-paying market. Asian material was offered at £448/t ddp West Midlands for S275, with June-July delivery, but this was not viewed as competitive given the long lead time and similar domestic pricing. Some north European mills also said they had no availability for the UK before June, which they were using as leverage in price negotiations.

Nevertheless, demand remained lacklustre and big end-users were still not buying into the uptrend.

Argus' domestic UK HRC assessment was static at £447.50/t ddp West Midlands for S275 grade material.