As the European coil market keeps hoping for stronger prices and that mills’ new offers will gain ground despite a weak economic environment, some say that processed coil could strengthen relatively faster than substrate.
A Dutch buyer of cold-rolled and hot-dip galvanized coil sees the price spread between CRC/HDG and hot rolled coil widening somewhat. “In normal times we assume a premium of €80/tonne [$93] for CRC over HRC, and for galv another €20 more. At the moment, it is trending more towards +€100 and +€120,” he told Kallanish on the sidelines of this week’s Blechexpo trade fair in Stuttgart.
Lower mill capacity for CRC and HDG compared with HRC means prices for downstream coil grow faster, he argues. A German buyer concurred and also pointed to the EU’s antidumping case on CRC. This will put a brake on orders from typical supplier countries for CRC, like Turkey and India, he added.
In fact, CRC could temporarily eclipse the price of galv due to the shortage of imports. He noted that the main spot market supplier of CRC in Europe is ArcelorMittal, while many other mills feed their CRC directly to carmakers.
The Dutch buyer does not necessarily agree about CRC eclipsing galv, but conceded that both could be equal in price going forward. He also highlighted the typical role of CRC in northwestern Europe, in that it is the base material for galvanizing for customers in the automotive industry, among others.
European mills’ HRC offers for new contracts start with a six, reaching up to €650/tonne ($754) delivered in the first quarter of 2026. Offers for CRC and HDG would then be clearly at above €700/t.
Christian Koehl Germany
