The European hot-rolled coil (HRC) market has remained under pressure from the traditional seasonal slowdown in demand and uncertainty over the final decision in a safeguarding case, sources told Fastmarkets this week.
And high stocks and seasonal destocking mean distributors have little interest in making new deals. Having set provisional 25% tariffs for 23 steel products in July, which are only applicable once defined quotas are exceeded, the European Commission (EC) is expected to set definitive measures in late January-early February in the form of quarterly, country-specific quotas, according to market sources. Although the EC is not expected to split the quota by country in the case of HRC, the upcoming decision still led to some uncertainty in the HRC market, sources...