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ARCELORMITTAL RAISES PRICES FOR FLAT PRODUCTS IN EUROPE.

Issued at 2012-11-12



ArcelorMittal has decided to increase the price of all carbon steel flat rolled products in Europe by €40/metric ton, a company executive confirmed to Platts Steel Business Briefing on Friday. This comes after the company’s Flat Carbon Europe (FCE) unit reported an operating loss of $385 million for the July-September quarter, taking its loss for the year so far to $823 million.

In an internal letter dated November 8 sent to all FCE commercial team members, Jean-Martin Van der Hoeven – chief marketing officer – said the increase will take the base hot rolled coil reference price in Germany to more than €500/metric ton. Globally, a $50/mt increase is being sought.

The letter, seen by Platts SBB, said the increase in Europe is to be effective with all new orders, and the company reserves the right to “review and re-quote any offers that have not been confirmed.”

The company executive said that – in view of the Q3 result – the current level of prices is “clearly not sustainable”. He conceded that there is no sign of a turnaround in European steel demand, but pointed to a number of bullish indicators in international markets.

These include rises in price for steelmaking raw materials, and higher steel prices in Asia and North America. Chinese producers are seeing exports bringing lower net realised prices than what is available in their domestic market, so Chinese pressure on global markets should be relieved. ArcelorMittal thinks the development of the dollar/euro exchange rate also favours higher prices.

The executive would not say whether the company is contemplating further production cuts to combat what he conceded is an over-supplied market.

For Steel Prices, visit: http://www.steelbb.com/?PageID=332&price_type=1
For related articles, visit: http://www.steelbb.com/?PageID=183&article_id=113981


Source: SBB



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