European steel mills offer firm prices, but the impact of the German railway strike continues

At present, the actual market demand in the European HCT590X+ZA steel market is relatively stable, with a delivery cycle of 6-8 weeks. The domestic hot coil price in Europe is at 821 US dollars/ton, with a weekly increase of about 10 US dollars/ton. The actual transaction price has decreased by 10-20 US dollars/ton. The slight increase in price is mainly due to the good order volume and relatively sufficient inventory of steel mills in the first quarter, and the firm quotation of steel mills. Therefore, there are more small tonnage transactions in the current market. In terms of import market, import prices from Japan, South Korea, and India HCT590X+ZA steel are around 670-700 euros/ton (730 US dollars/ton), and the current import and export price difference is not significant. Considering the long shipping period of import prices (3-4 months), and the market generally believes that there is still room for further price reduction, the attractiveness of import prices is not significant.

From a market perspective, in Germany, located in central Europe, the originally scheduled 6-day railway worker strike is still ongoing this week. Considering that 50% of Germany's steel transportation relies on railways, it is impossible to completely switch transportation capacity to other transportation channels. Considering the lag of the incident, the strike has not yet had an impact on prices. However, if the strike continues and supply is repeatedly interrupted while the steel plant is operating normally, it will inevitably have a negative impact on HCT590X+ZA steel prices.