Day: 8 June 2026

The business activity in the European HRC market remains mainly focused on the domestic segment where trade has been at moderate levels.

In Italy some lower bids have been seen for August production, in line with the talk in the market regarding ArcelorMittal seeking to increase its prices across Europe. “I don’t see them [local mills] increasing production, so, once supply is down, they’ll push for the best they can get,” a source told SteelOrbis. The EU’s interest in imports has remained low due to the risks connected to the quota uncertainty and CBAM fees. “It is really quiet these days. Traders find it very simple – not offering anything right now because there is no market, so no need to waste time and efforts. Simply better to wait for the new tariffs,” another source opined.

In the southern part of the EU, particularly in Italy, local mills’ HRC offers have been mainly reported at €680-690/mt and up to €700/mt ex-works with the workable levels seen at €670-680/mt ex-works. However, some of the sources have reported some bids for August production at €660-670/mt delivered, which are considered speculative now. In Spain, the official price levels have been reported at up to €720-730/mt ex-works but discounts are considered quite possible.

In the northern part of Europe, official price levels from the mills have been reported at €690-704/mt ex-works, while the workable levels are estimated at €680-700/mt ex-works still, in line with last week.

Some of the sources report ArcelorMittal has started voicing the intention to increase prices by €20/mt in July and €50/mt in August. “The question is more the price levels they have in mind; the increase itself is a regular issue. Everyone would like to increase since we have been dropping [prices] for a month now,” a source told SteelOrbis. “Once old stock is gone, replacement cost is going to increase significantly. And with very little import offers around, EU mills should increase in August at the latest,” another source said.

Import business activity has been quite slack lately as not many are willing to take the risks connected with the unclear quotas. The latest HRC offers from Algeria stood at €720-730/mt DDP, down €10/mt on the lower end over the past week, while Turkey has maintained the level of €690/mt DDP. Most of the DDP HRC offers from Asia have remained at high levels with sideways movements – €730/mt from South Korea, €720/mt from Taiwan and €750/mt from Taiwan. The indications from a Vietnamese mill remained the lowest at €690/mt DDP.

In the CFR import HRC segment in Europe, the offers from Turkey have firmed up to €605-615/mt CFR, €5/mt on the lower end over the past week. The indications from India have been generally stable at $680-685/mt (€585-590/mt) CFR, with no takers seen. According to some sources, a deal at $650/mt CFR for a decent volume has been concluded lately to Spain.

The European longs market has remained mostly stable this week, due to the absence of many market players because of holidays in several European countries. Republic Day (June 2) in Italy has pushed many players out of the market for a long weekend, and Corpus Christi (June 4) in some central European countries such as Germany and Poland has had a similar effect at the end of the current week.

The general market sentiment is stable, although the first signs of price weakness are emerging. High supply – especially of rebar – and weak demand, combined with uncertainties about the safeguards that will come into force within less than one month, are leading market players to buy less, avoid stockpiling and move with extreme caution.

Overall, however, product prices have remained stable this week, partly because working days were fewer.

In the Italian domestic market, the sporadic rebar purchase deals have been closed at unchanged levels of €440-450/mt ex-works base (€700-710/mt ex-works including regular extras), although requests from mills officially remain at €460/mt ex-works base (€720/mt ex-works including regular extras). To maintain these levels, several producers in Italy are implementing some production slowdowns, but demand from the finished steel market remains very low.

“There are few requests, and customers are trying to get lower prices,” a source at an Italian mill said, referring to both domestic and export sales. Regarding the latter, official offers of rebar from Italy are still being reported at €630/mt FOB, but, according to a source, “This is only a nominal level. In Bulgaria and Romania, offers at €600-605/mt FOB have arrived from Italy.” According to another source, however, deals for other destinations have been closed at €620-625/mt FOB.

As for wire rod, the situation seems to be slightly more stable, with offers in Italy heard at €695-710/mt for drawing quality and €685-690/mt for mesh quality. In central Eastern European markets and in Germany this same quality has been reported at €685-700/mt, while the prices of drawing quality have been reported respectively at €690-710/mt and €685-700/mt in the aforementioned countries. In Spain, on the other hand, price levels are much higher: €710-725/mt for drawing quality and €690-700/mt for mesh quality. It should be noted, however, that these are hypothetical levels, which may change over the month. All price ranges indicated are delivered to customer.

In the export market in Greece, rebar offers have been reported at higher levels compared to the beginning of May at €630-640/mt FOB, with the upper end of the range up by €10/mt compared to previously reported data. On the other hand, wire rod offers have decreased at €640-650/mt FOB compared to around €660/mt FOB at the beginning of May.

Finally, in import markets in Europe, offers came mainly from Turkey and Egypt, with Algeria remaining absent from export markets due to a higher focus on domestic sales. With a stable euro-dollar exchange rate at 1.16, offers from both countries have recorded slight declines: €555-560/mt CFR for Turkish rebar (down by €5-10/mt compared to before Eid Al-Adha, May 26-30) and €560-570/mt CFR for wire rod (also down by €10/mt on the lower end of the range over the same period). As for offers from Egypt, rebar has been reported at €550-560/mt CFR, down by €10/mt compared to the end of May, and wire rod at around €570/mt CFR, down slightly by €5-10/mt compared to the same period.

Transaction prices for stainless steel cold-rolled sheet in Northern Europe have moved upward in June, driven by reduced import availability and strong domestic mill pricing power, trade sources told Fastmarkets during the week to Friday June 5.

Fastmarkets’ monthly price assessment for stainless steel cold-rolled sheet, 2mm, grade 304 transaction domestic, delivered North Europe, was €2,800-2,850 ($3,229-3,287) per tonne on Friday, up from €2,700-2,775 per tonne on May 1.

The price increase was in line with the sharp rise in June alloy surcharges announced by the major European mills.

Stainless steel alloy surcharges in Europe reflected fluctuations in key raw material costs, primarily driven by nickel price movements. Fastmarkets’ monthly price assessment for stainless steel cold-rolled sheet, 2mm, grade 304 alloy surcharge, domestic Europe, was €2,280-2,365 per tonne on June 5, up from €2,156-2,247 per tonne on May 1.

Market participants said that while some smaller mills were still taking July orders, all large producers have effectively closed their order books, pushing lead times firmly into late summer.

“Delivery times for major European mills are expected at the end August and September,” a European producer told Fastmarkets, adding that these extended lead times were expected to keep prices stable in the near term.

A distributor said that “flat demand could challenge further price increases after July.”

“We would not be surprised if we see a roll-over of prices from July to August, also due to the coming summer vacation season,” the source said. “Margins in the distributor business are under severe pressure and do not follow the price increases from the mills, so we are walking a thin line when it comes to gaining profit.”

The corresponding price for grade 316 rose in tandem with grade 304 over the month, keeping the industry-standard price differential between the two grades stable at €1,400-1,500 per tonne. Market participants confirmed that this premium was unchanged from the previous month, reflecting steady molybdenum costs, while the flat product price increases across both grades continued to be driven by the broader upward momentum in surcharges.

Fastmarkets’ monthly price assessment for stainless steel cold-rolled sheet, 2mm, grade 316, transaction domestic, delivered North Europe, was €4,200-4,350 per tonne on June 5, rising from €4,100-4,275 per tonne on May 1.

Domestic mill strength has been driven by the implementation of the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) and tightening safeguard regimes, which caused cold-rolled stainless import penetration into the EU to tumble to around 12-15% early in 2026, from roughly 28% previously.

In early May, a market source told Fastmarkets that some large producers could seek €3,000 per tonne for August and September.

“Steel mills expect further increases because the safeguard measures are expected to slow imports of coils and sheet from Asia,” a second distributor told Fastmarkets. “But the big issue today is final demand, which has decreased by 20% compared with the first quarter of 2026.”

European green flat steel spot trading remained thin during the week to Thursday June 4, although some sellers were able to secure higher premiums in isolated transactions, sources told Fastmarkets.

Fastmarkets defines green steel as material with combined Scope 1, 2 and 3 carbon emissions not exceeding 0.8 tonnes of CO2 per tonne of steel produced.

Suppliers continued to seek premiums largely in the range of €150-200 ($211-234) per tonne, whereas customers’ price ideas were said to vary greatly depending on whether it is a spot market purchase or offtake agreement.

Overall, the spot market remained quiet, with most buyers either unwilling to pay a premium at all or providing indications below mills’ targets.

Nevertheless, one of the sellers said that he managed to achieve as high as €170-200 per tonne in recent sales.

Fastmarkets’ weekly assessment of the green steel domestic, flat-rolled, differential to HRC index, exw Northern Europe widened to €100-200 per tonne on July 4 from €100-170 per tonne on May 28.

Another producer source confirmed the split between spot and long-term demand, explaining that currently consumers such as the automotive or white goods industries do not need much green steel as the models that they produce now are still in accordance with old standards – on top of that, they reduce their carbon footprint by reducing their emissions under Scope 1 and 2.

The closer production is to 2030, the stricter the requirements will be for the reduction of carbon footprint, and this is when new models requiring green steel will be produced.

A trading source added that current demand for green steel is extremely low as the market is facing other challenges like uncertainties connected with the import segment and economic instability triggered by the conflict in the Middle East.

According to statistics released by the French Ministry of Economy, Finance and Industry, France’s trade in basic steel products and ferroalloys recorded a slight decline in value during the first quarter of 2026, with both imports and exports falling compared to the same period last year.

In the January–March period, France’s imports of basic steel products and ferroalloys totaled €2.31 billion, down 2.1 percent year on year. Among the main product categories, imports of steel pipes and tubes increased by 1.5 percent to €520.2 million, while cold rolled steel bars rose by 2.0 percent to €135.46 million. By contrast, imports of cold rolled steel strip declined by 7.3 percent to €162.36 million, cold drawn wire fell by 6.9 percent to €118.8 million, and metal structures and parts registered the sharpest decrease, dropping by 11.9 percent to €600.25 million.

On the export side, France’s basic steel product and ferroalloy exports amounted to €2.37 billion in the first quarter, representing a year-on-year decrease of 1.9 percent. Exports of steel pipes and tubes fell by 7.3 percent to €286.78 million, while shipments of metal structures and parts edged down by 0.9 percent to €220.34 million. However, exports of cold rolled steel bars increased by 7.7 percent to €120.8 million, cold rolled steel strip rose by 9.5 percent to €166.93 million, and cold drawn wire advanced by 4.4 percent to €80.52 million.

Despite the overall decline in trade values, France maintained a slight trade surplus in basic steel products and ferroalloys during the quarter, with exports exceeding imports by approximately €60 million.

Author: SteelOrbis Editorial Team

steelorbis.com

Italian steel trade association Assofermet is calling for a significant simplification of European bureaucracy and urges the EU to immediately accompany CBAM, melt and pour rules and new safeguard regulations, with tools to preserve the competitiveness and capacity of steel processing and end-user companies, Kallanish notes.

The manufacturing sector needs guarantees of adequate supply options and, above all, a serious impact assessment of the quotas, duties and CBAM across the entire industrial supply chain, the association says in a note.

It adds that in the current context of severe instability and persistent tensions, the fragile competitiveness of EU manufacturing cannot be sacrificed in the name of a protection strategy designed solely for the upstream segment of the industry.

“The core problem lies in the overall balance of the measures adopted by the EU. A policy that protects only upstream production, without providing equivalent support for companies that process and use that steel, risks generating distortive and disincentivising effects,” the note states.

Downstream companies, including processors, end-users, distributors and traders, as well as the metalworking sector, are facing a disproportionate rise in raw material costs, a progressive reduction in sourcing options, and a growing administrative and bureaucratic workload that is increasingly difficult to understand.

“If the EU loses market share in global manufacturing markets and if the continent’s competitiveness is further squeezed by an accumulation of massive regulatory constraints, steel producers themselves will inevitably suffer in the medium to long term, as orders from their own customers inexorably decline, resulting in yet another reduction in steel consumption and demand,” Assofermet warns.

Concerns have been growing in the flat service centre segment over the ability of European manufacturers to absorb the rising prices.

Last year, the association asked the European Commission to rethink the current CBAM framework, warning that the mechanism risks generating severe disruption for EU industry.

In a letter addressed to commission vice-president for prosperity and industrial strategy Stéphane Séjourné and trade and economic security commissioner Maroš Šefčovič, the association requested a temporary exemption from CBAM certificate purchases for all steel imports cleared from 1 January 2026 until five months after the publication of the final Benchmark and Default Value parameters.

Author: Natalia Capra

kallanish.com