Metalnewsnet 6 May ：

It is seen that prices of flat products in Europe are sliding down, not heavily but going down.

As per market information, during last days quite many distressed lots have been offered in Italy and Spain, mainly from Ukraine but customers are quite reluctant to book as expecting prices to further go down.

Exchange rate EUR to USD is also not helping because of prices are denominated in USD.

On the other hand, domestic producers are keeping prices quite high.

HRC
Riva in Italy - EUR 600 per tonne for base parity
ArcelorMittal in Spain - EUR 590 per tonne base parity
ThyssenKrupp and Salzgitter in Germany - EUR 620 per tonne to EUR 640 per tone for base

HRP
Italy - EUR 650 per tonne EXW for base
Spain - EUR 630 per tonne
Germany - Above EUR 650 per tonne for base

Although the stocks in the system are not that high but have enough assortments to allow buyers waiting and see next developments.

This week seems quite calm without many inquiries around. We'll see if and when Turkish will come back buying scrap which will determine also the trend of pig iron. Not like 2008 but not what we would need to recover from the 2009 disaster.

www.steelprices-europe.com is a comprehensive service for tracking real time steel prices and trends in both South and North Europe on weekly basis.

The scope of service includes
1. Domestic pricing information in Germany, Italy and Spain
2. Import pricing information in Germany, Italy and Spain
3. Import levels at Antwerp and Turkey
4. Export levels from Turkey, Rotterdam, China, India and Black Sea

The service is specifically designed to assist steel makers, traders, users and others connected with the industry to keep track of real time prices prevailing in the market and thus comprehensively evaluate steel pricing trends in the region

Methodology and access
1. Benchmark products in each category with fixed commonly used sizes and grades
2. Base prices or effective, as per market trends
3. Average transaction levels which have settled well, based on continuous interactions with domestic mills, overseas suppliers, importers stockiest & service centers and buyers
4. On fixed market oriented payment terms
5. Weekly updates
6. Data available since February 2009
5. Access through web site

Products covered
1. Input materials and semis in Europe
2. Long Products in Europe
3. Flat Products in Europe
4. CFR Turkey prices
5. FOB levels for export FOB Black Sea, China, Turkey and India

Price basis and payment terms for Europe

1. Price basis - B- Base price and E - Effective price

2. Payment term - All prices in Europe are net to the final customer with following payment terms

A. Italy & Spain
1. Domestic prices are EXW or DDP with payment 90 days from delivery
2. Import prices are CIF FO with LC at 90 days from BL date

B. Germany
1. Domestic prices are EXW or DDP with payment on the 15th of the following month
2. Import prices are CFR FO with open term payment at 30 days from date of arrival

1. Input materials and semis in Europe

Billets

Slabs

2. Long Products in Europe

Merchant bars

IPN / UPN

HEA/B/M

De-Bars

W.R. Mesh

W.R. Drawing

3. Flat Products in Europe

HRP

HRC

CR

HDG

PPGI

4. CFR Turkey prices

5. FOB levels for export FOB Black Sea, China, Turkey and India

A. Input & semis

B. Long Products

C. Flat products

Other features

The prices are displayed on weekly and monthly basis. They also have search facilities to access old data from the archives. Graphical representation of trends and comparison of price movement 2 or more products is also available.

In addition, you can monitor currency exchange rates, metal prices, BDI for the day as well as access their archives for past data.

Other features include converters for weight, length etc, glossary and advanced search functions. The benchmark product price information is supplemented by global pricing news.

(from steelprices-china)