Steel hot-rolled coil prices in Europe continued to stabilize in the week to Friday September 12, with slow demand hindering mill attempts to increase prices, sources told Fastmarkets.
Quiet trading conditions prevailed in the European HRC market in the week to Friday, amid a lack of the usual bullish momentum after the summer break – largely due to a lack of support from end-user demand, Fastmarkets understands.
Several major buyers told Fastmarkets they have no intention of restocking yet, having purchased sufficient volumes in July and August.
“Prices [for HRC] have been stable for the past three or four weeks [and] mill attempts to get higher prices have failed because demand is just not there and the market is oversupplied,” a buyer in Germany said.
“Mills, however, do not want to drop prices ahead of long-term contract negotiations with automotive [customers],” the buyer added.
Buyer estimates of the tradable values for HRC in Northern Europe came in at between €570 per tonne and €590 per tonne ex-works.
This was in contrast with offers heard at €600-630 per tonne ex-works for HRC with delivery in October-November.
Sources said they expect the next round of restocking to start in early October, but added that volumes were likely to remain limited.
Fastmarkets’ calculation of the daily steel HRC index, domestic, exw Northern Europe, was €580.00 ($679.27) per tonne on September 12, down by €0.83 per tonne from €580.83 per tonne on September 11.
The Northern European index was up by €1.67 per tonne week on week and by €8.99 per tonne month on month.
In Southern Europe, meanwhile, Fastmarkets’ corresponding daily steel hot-rolled coil index domestic, exw Italy was calculated at €548.50 per tonne on Friday, up by €1.00 per tonne from €547.50 per tonne on Thursday.
The Italian index was up down by €2.33 per tonne week on week but up by €8.50 per tonne month on month.
Prices for HRC in the Italian market were also fairly stable on Friday, amid limited trading.
Buyer estimates of achievable prices wee reported at 540-550 per tonne ex-works, while mill offers came in at €580-600 per tonne delivered (€570-585 per tonne ex-works).
“The major [price] trend reversal is not happening yet,” a buyer in Italy told Fastmarkets. “Yes, [HRC] prices have stopped falling and have tended to stabilize over the past few weeks, but no major rebound has happened.”
Offers for overseas coil were little changed in Europe in the week to Friday, with two large-size deals reported.
Around 40,000-42,000 tonnes of HRC from Saudi Arabia with September shipment was booked, with most sources reporting that the booking was done at around €520-530 per tonne CFR. No details were revealed, but two sources said the booking was made to Antwerp.
“Saudi Arabia is not covered by [the EU] safeguards and delivery in 2025 was guaranteed, so potentially no CBAM risks either,” a buyer in Northern Europe said.
The EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) comes fully into effect from January 1, 2026.
And around 20,000-25,000 tonnes of HRC from Indonesia – “with guaranteed delivery in 2025, before CBAM kicks in” – was booked in Italy at €485 per tonne CFR, Fastmarkets understands.
Sources noted that if the deliveries were late and carried over into 2026, any CBAM-related risks would be on the seller side of the equation.
Offers from Turkish suppliers in the week to September 12 were reported at around €510-525 per tonne CFR, including the EU anti-dumping duty, for late November arrival, but no booking could be confirmed by the time of publication.
And HRC From India was on offer in Italy at €520-530 per tonne CFR for October-November shipment.
