The price of stainless steel flat products in Europe surged during the week to Friday June 11 because of an acute supply shortage, sources told Fastmarkets.
Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for stainless steel cold-rolled sheet 2mm grade 304 transaction domestic, delivered North Europe was €۳,۳۵۰-۳,۴۰۰ ($۴,۰۷۷-۴,۱۳۸) per tonne on Friday, up €۲۰۰ from €۳,۱۵۰-۳,۲۰۰ per tonne a week earlier.
Base prices also increased, with Fastmarkets’ weekly assessment for stainless steel cold-rolled sheet 2mm grade 304 base price domestic, delivered Northern Europe also jumping sharply to €۱,۳۸۰-۱,۴۰۰ per tonne, an increase of €۱۵۰-۱۸۰ from €۱,۲۰۰-۱,۲۵۰ per tonne previously.
In addition to constrained domestic supplies, the availability of imported material from Asia was also limited and high freight rates have raised delivered prices. Asia prices remain competitive, however.
“Prices from Asia work out to be about 10% lower than European prices, when all costs are factored in. But you can only buy so much, and they don’t have all the sizes that we need. No one seller has enough material, so we have many different suppliers,” a distributor in northern Europe said.
European importers also have to navigate European Union safeguarding measures, which limit the import volumes permitted from specific exporting countries before tariffs are applied, along with new anti-dumping duties on material from India and Indonesia.
Freight for containerized material was heard to be around €۵,۰۰۰ per container from East Asia to Northern Europe.
Some European mills were only able to supply material in the first quarter of 2022, with the earliest delivery times for domestic material being “deep into the fourth quarter [of 2021],” sources said.
Material from Asia, if booked now, would arrive around the end of the third quarter or the start of the fourth quarter, sources added.
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