Tata Steel, ArcelorMittal helps to lift Northern Europe HR Coil spot prices above €450/t mark in January

GERMANY February 13 2014 5:24 PM

BERLIN (Scrap Register): Spot prices for HR coil in Northern Europe rose by €20 a ton before a lack of activity and shaky sentiment pushed transaction prices lower, as per The Steel Index.

According to TSI, steel markets in Europe kicked off 2014 with plenty of optimism as market participants expected a wider economic recovery in the Eurozone to feed through to a healthier steel market.

The bullishness combined with price hikes announced by Tata Steel Europe in December and then ArcelorMittal in January helped to lift HR coil transaction prices in Northern Europe approximately €20 a ton as prices rose above the €450/t mark once again.

The target price for ArcelorMittal was said to be closer to €500 a ton though most buyers expressed scepticism in the producer’s attempt to achieve this level. TSI’s daily North European HR coil index price softened in the final few days of January to close at €459 a ton.

Crude steel production in Germany, France and Spain was virtually unchanged in 2013 year-on-year (y-o-y), whilst Italy posted a doubledigit decline of –11.7% y-o-y to 24.1 million tonnes.

Eurozone manufacturing showed solid expansion according to PMI data from Markit, up +1.3 points m-o-m to 54 as most Western European nations posted strong output growth and production.