Prices for sheet steel in Europe are rising

The ruts knocked out by Christmas holidays and the New Year, the European market began to come to life a little. However, the tendency to buy only the metal rolling necessary today, without creating any reserves, persists among consumers. Meps writes about this.

The market participants in the eurozone were divided into two camps: manufacturers - looking for any way to increase prices; And consumers of the metal rolling claims that any escalation of prices in the first quarter of 2013 will be short -lived.

Nevertheless, the ball today is on the side of the field of steel manufacturers. Many of them managed to achieve the minimum necessary price growth to compensate for the costs of the rise in price of raw materials. The average prices for metal rubles in Northern Europe rose by 1.2%, Meps reports, and the prices for varietal construction rental rose by 3%.

The increase in prices for Chinese steel products made it possible to raise prices for metal rolling in Central Europe by another 1.8%.

In Germany, in the first quarter of this year, the replenishment of metal rolling reserves for consumers and service metal centers began, which allowed local metallurgists to increase prices. Many German companies have not yet completed negotiations on iron ore prices, so there is a probability of further growth in steel prices.

The French metallurgical enterprises were less fortunate, it is too early to talk about some kind of improvement in demand. However, manufacturers still raised prices in January 2013 compared to December 2012. Import deliveries decreased, but this did not prevent the French automakers from knocking down the prices for long -term contracts for 50-60 euros/ton for deliveries in the first half of 2013.

The rest of the eurozone markets until this moment does not show activity and are in an suspended state with poor demand and low purchasing activity.