Trading was still limited in the spot market for HRC in Europe, but prices were firm, with sentiment mainly fueled by policy shifts, market sources said.
Buyers held sufficient inventories and took a cautious approach to new bookings.
“We bought enough [HRC to last] until the end of 2025 and even for the first quarter [of 2026],” a buyer in Germany said. “The next round of restocking will be in December. Mills have some flexibility on HRC orders, but zero on downstream products – cold-rolled and galvanized.”
In the Benelux area, transactions for January-delivery HRC were reported within the range of between €605 and €615 ($698-710) per tonne ex-works, and at €610 per tonne ex-works in Germany.
Some sellers claimed to have achieved €620 per tonne ex-works for January volumes.
Offers from integrated mills in Northern Europe stood at €620-650 per tonne ex-works.
European suppliers continued to prioritize long-term contract negotiations with original-equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in the automotive industry and were not very active in the spot market. Long-term negotiations were at an “advanced stage,” market sources said, but nothing has been finalized so far.
As a result, Fastmarkets’ daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Northern Europe, was €613.54 per tonne on Wednesday, up by just €0.21 per tonne from €613.33 per tonne on November 18.
The index was up by €1.21 per tonne week on week and by €22.08 per tonne month on month.
Meanwhile, Fastmarkets’ daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Italy, was calculated at €603.33 per tonne on Thursday, up by €1.66 per tonne from €601.67 per tonne on Wednesday.
The index was up by €4.45 per tonne week on week and by €18.33 per tonne month on month.
In Italy, there was “barely any trading,” market sources said.
“We have enough material in stock – no rush,” a local distributor said.
Italian suppliers had mostly sold out of coil for December delivery, with the latest bookings reported at €580-590 per tonne ex-works.
For January delivery, offer prices increased to around €600-620 per tonne ex-works, depending on the producer.
Buyers, however, indicated that January material could likely be secured at €590-600 per tonne ex-works
Market sources noted that there was “plenty of imported coil” available at €560-600 per tonne DDP Italy, including CBAM costs, for first-quarter 2026 delivery. One market participant said that the wide gap between import prices and domestic offers was making it difficult for Italian mills to justify any further price increases.
Traders have increasingly stepped in to offer DDP-based import deals – taking on the associated risks on the seller’s side – but buyers remained cautious.
With CBAM costs particularly high for some origins, such as Indonesia – at more than €500 per tonne for HRC if default emissions values are used – buyers expressed concern that certain contracts could face cancellation.
“We have DDP prices with CBAM costs included up to a certain threshold, but not up to 500 per tonne, certainly. Such additional costs can easily be considered force majeure,” a local buyer said.
Trade sources preferred to look into booking imports from “safer” origins with lower default values under CBAM, such as Turkey and South Korea.
HRC from Turkey and South Korea was available around €580-600 per tonne DDP, including CBAM costs.
HRC was on offer from India and Indonesia round €475-490 per tonne CFR.
But preliminary default emission values for both India and Indonesia were quite high, so buyers were cautious about booking coil from those origins.
Indeed, for Indian HRC, for example, the CBAM cost would be €218 per tonne, assuming EUA prices are below €100 per tonne, default values are 4.27 CO2e per tonne and the benchmark is 1.53 CO2e per tonne, Fastmarkets estimates. Under the same conditions, but with default values of 8.23 CO2e per tonne, CBAM costs for Indonesia HRC will be as high as €529 per tonne.
“Default emissions values by country are preliminary and very inconsistent. I think, in the end everyone, will aim for reporting using actual emission values,” a source in the Italian market said.
“The problem with CBAM rollout is a lack of consistent information,” a second market source said. “All the data we have in hand is not finalized, so we basically make new import bookings ‘blindfolded’.”
