UNITED KINGDOM June 22 2017 4:39 PM

LONDON (Scrap Register): Demand for hot rolled coil is fair, in Denmark, but stockists are trying to reduce their inventories, before prices fall further. 

MEPS noted that delivery lead times from the mills have reduced. End-users are busy, in Sweden, and hot rolled coil sales volumes are healthy. In Finland, market activity is at a high level and, so far, the usual degree of slowing down, before the summer vacation period, has not been reported. 

Delivery lead times are short, in the Netherlands, and material is plentiful – augmented by imports from Poland and the Czech Republic. Hot rolled coil sales volumes are holding up, in Norway, with little sign, as yet, of a summer slowdown.

Plate consumption is steady, in Denmark. Prices from northern European mills are under downward pressure – mainly as a result of low-cost supplies from mills in the south of the continent. Demand from domestic end-users is very strong, in Sweden. 

However, plate prices throughout the region are being depressed by falling raw material costs and competition between sellers. Sales tonnages are reasonable, in Finland, but selling values – particularly for commodity grades – are weakening. 

In the Netherlands, demand from the agricultural sector is subdued, while sales to shipbuilders are holding firm, albeit at quite a low level. Plate consumption is fair, in Norway, but prices slipped, in June, in line with the regional market trend.

Courtesy: MEPS