Daily local steel hot-rolled coil (HRC) prices were mostly stable in Northern Europe on Wednesday October 14, with sources quoting weak demand and high stock levels. In the Italian market, requests for orders were increasing despite the limited transactions, market participants told Fastmarkets.
In Northern Europe, sources said weak demand and high stocks were limiting price increases in the market.
A buyer source reported offers within the range of €750-770 ($839-861) per tonne ex-works on Wednesday but said that workable prices should be around €740 per tonne ex-works. The higher offers were discarded from the index calculation due to a lack of buying interest for the upper end of the range.
A second buyer said that tradeable levels varied within €740-750 per tonne ex-works, adding that it was “hard to get anything below €740 per tonne ex-works.” The same source reported offers in the range of €750-760 per tonne ex-works.
A third buyer said tradeable levels were at €760 per tonne ex-works, but this price was discarded due to lower confidence in the participant’s view of the market.
Due to one source accounting for more than 50% of the final input, prices collected on Tuesday October 13 were copied over to Wednesday’s index, in line with Fastmarkets methodology.
On Tuesday, a seller source provided an indication of tradeable level within the range of €740-750 per tonne ex-works. A buyer source reported an indication within €740-760 per tonne ex-works on the same day and a second buyer source indicated prices at €740-750 per tonne ex-works.
Market participants said at the time that they expected some price increases by the end of 2026, linked to restocking and lower import activity because of the safeguard measures.
However, a fourth buyer disagreed with this scenario on Wednesday and said that they were not that optimistic about prices moving up toward the year end.
“Restocking for Q1 [first quarter] has not, and will not, take place to the extent needed to support price increases. I’m rather worried that the EU mills will not find sufficient orders for January-February rolling and therefore will adjust pricing downward to generate interest,” the same source said.
Thus, Fastmarkets’ daily steel hot-rolled coil index domestic, exw Northern Europe was calculated at €746 per tonne on October 14, down by €0.25 per tonne from €746.25 on October 13.
The index was down by €0.88 per tonne week on week but up by €8.50 per tonne month on month.
In Italy, the market was mostly quiet on Wednesday, with sources saying transactions remained limited, but added that the number of requests was increasing day by day.
A buyer indicated workable levels at €750 per tonne ex-works, in line with the latest deals and indications reported within €740-750 per tonne ex-works on Tuesday.
Fastmarkets’ daily steel hot-rolled coil index domestic, exw Italy was calculated at €745 per tonne on October 14, up by €0.31 per tonne from €744.69 per tonne on October 13.
The index was up by €3.75 per tonne week on week and by €8.75 per tonne month on month.
