The price range for steel BEAM widened this week with producers achieving increases although distributors struggled to pass on the higher costs, sources told Fastmarkets on Wednesday September 16.
Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel beams, domestic, delivered Northern Europe, was €۵۳۰-۵۷۰ ($۶۲۹-۶۷۷) per tonne on Wednesday, compared with €۵۳۵-۵۶۵ per tonne one week earlier.
“Business is still too quiet. It needs demand [if it is to show] real and reliable market conditions,” a trader said, despite the recent feedstock increases.
“In the past seven to 10 days, [beam] prices have moved up by €۱۰ per tonne,” a second trader said.
“Scrap prices are going up, all raw materials are going up and mills do have reasonable order books. Previously, mills were delivering from stock or on short rolling times of 1-2 weeks, but now it’s 3-6 weeks’ rolling time,” he added.
“Our [sold] tonnages are the same as last year, but we lost a lot during [the Covid-19 pandemic]. The big projects are still not there, offices are not being built at the moment, and there are not the same [numbers of projects] planned as at the start of the year,” he said.
***ّBEAMS IN EUROPE and Feedstock costs
Recent increases to feedstock costs in the international and regional European markets have helped producers to justify their higher prices.
Fastmarkets’ index for steel scrap, HMS 1&2 (80:20 mix), North Europe origin, cfr Turkey, was calculated at $297.69 per tonne on September 16, up from $284.35 per tonne at the start of the month and $272.09 per tonne on August 3.
In Germany, a €۵-۱۰ per tonne increase was reported on some grades in the latest monthly settlements.
And in Italy, the monthly scrap settlements showed upward movement of €۵-۲۰ per tonne across a handful of grades.
The weekly price assessment for steel beams, domestic, delivered Southern Europe was €۵۳۵-۵۷۰ per tonne on September 16, unchanged week on week.
“Prices are increasing by €۱۰ per tonne [and] we are happy with our order book. [Raw material] costs and orders are pushing prices upward,” a southern European producer source said.
“Considering it’s only [for] half the month, [sales] figures are the same as last year, and in some markets a bit better. Last week was particularly good. Sentiment last year was completely different; now, there is genuine consumption plus some orders for restocking,” he added.
***Customer sentiment
“Customer sentiment isn’t changing. It’s not as negative as it was, but not positive. Customers are short in buying but I haven’t received any announcement of postponed projects, [although it is] different in the special steel sector. Oil and gas have had cancellations or postponed projects, but for construction and structural steel, that hasn’t happened,” he said.
“This is it now for price rises – I don’t think that another price increase will happen for the next couple of weeks,” he concluded. “There is overcapacity in production, but also overcapacity among distributors and service centers, [and] for them the market is much slower. It’s not helping the process – we need distributors to push up prices.”
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