Northwestern European coil mills could prepare to go for another round of price hikes, as a follow-up to the increase announcement at the beginning of November.

At least one mill group is outspoken about its plans to go for another hike, citing enormous pressure from high production costs versus low coil spot prices. “If we remain below €700/tonne [$750] for hot rolled coil, we are making a loss,” one mill source told Kallanish during this week’s Blechexpo trade fair in Stuttgart.

Observers from the buying end had suggested earlier that mills are targeting €700/t or more. By early November, HRC spot prices had settled at around €620-630/t. Mills have since asked for €50-60 more, and might hike again by the same amount possibly before end-November, the mill source disclosed.

Buyers, however, doubt that the first hike will even be accepted by the market amid sparse transaction activity, especially since the end of the year is nearing. “We want to bring down our inventory until year-end,” a distributor’s manager noted at the event. Last year, warehouses suffered from bad windfall losses and will have to concede some narrower losses this year as well. Hence, replenishing before the new year is out of the question, he added.

Depending on which side you ask, the spot price level is still at €620-630/t, or, as the mills would wish it, rather at €660-670/t. One year ago, the spot price was approximately between those ranges. However, the periods cannot be compared that easily, the mill manager observed. “Costs have risen since then and we are losing more money,” he said.