European steel mills plan to raise HRC prices amid Russia, Ukraine crisis

Due to the sharp rise in the crisis between Russia and Ukraine, some European steel mills withdrew their original HRC quotations on February 24 and prepared a new round of quotations. The new quotations are expected to rise significantly.

The market is currently full of uncertainty, including the extent of further sanctions on Russia, but the market generally believes that HRC prices in Europe will rise.

European steel mills have faced rising gas prices for the past few months, and this week saw a sharp rise, with a central European flats producer saying its gas costs rose by about 55% overnight.

Market participants said that the European market imported a large amount of HRC from Russia and Ukraine. At present, buyers cannot expect HRC from Russia and Ukraine. Meanwhile, HRC suppliers in other regions are also withdrawing their HRC export offers to the European market.

Some European plate producers are also highly dependent on imported slabs from Russia and Ukraine. These plate producers must now purchase slabs from other places, but industry insiders say that it is difficult for slabs purchased from other sources to fill the original Russian and Ukrainian slabs. Quantity of slabs supplied by Ukraine.