Prices for medium sections in southern Europe have fallen in the past week as mills reduce their offers to attract more business, market participants told Metal Bulletin.
Commercial-grade (S235JR) medium sections fell to €630-640 ($834-848) per tonne delivered in the south of the continent for material produced in May, down from €640-650 per tonne delivered for April production.
Mills had to change tactics to make sales, a trader said.
“They’re sitting on their hands at the moment, [but] they have to try to get orders in,” he said.
“The mills will try to second-guess the market to fix orders before the summer months,” he added, explaining that they will want to sell out production before starting maintenance work.
Offers from Turkey were comparable to domestic prices, the trader said, so imports from that country were not viable.
Daniel Gleeson
dgleeson@metalbulletin.com
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