The European finished steel products market is looking to start getting strength, having bottomed out, several markets insiders said at a meeting organised by Steel Business Briefing and the Breakbulk Club of the port of Antwerp.

In the past week there has been a tangible shift in the attitude of buyers, with enquiries coming from the buyers who have been absent from the market for ages, a trading source says. Although very slowly, the Q1 2010 order books are getting filled, with about 40% already assigned to the buyers, he adds.

The shift is attributed partly to a major de-stocking within Europe and beyond, but also to a change in the sentiment, especially from the producers and traders. Negative attitudes appear to be giving way to optimism. Many trading companies are still working at profit, albeit with a changed, less risky, stance. A lack of offers from China is also noticeable.

Whilst realising that the market will not get anywhere near to the soaring seen two years ago, several sources agree that 2010 should bring a little more relief to the exhausted finished products market, as soon as the end of this month.

 

Steel Business Briefing, 14th December 2009