European hot-rolled coil prices continued their near-term stability on Sept. 22, as market participants cited CBAM uncertainty and poor downstream demand.
“There is no confidence from the downstream. Nobody knows how big the fee for CBAM will be for next year, and if demand increases a little bit, it will push domestic prices higher,” said a service center source.
Wider conversations in the market continued to point toward significant uncertainty and unease over the lack of forward price discovery, largely attributed to a lack of information surrounding CBAM charges.
“EU producers will take advantage of the moment and try to raise prices, so nothing will change until demand in Europe returns to normal. If there is no demand the price falls,” said a trader, also discussing the difficulty in negotiating contracts for 2026 due to the unknown CBAM component.
A distributor also referred to the safeguard quotas as further limiting market liquidity and buying interest.
“Buyers are largely purchasing hand-to-mouth, and while imports remain theoretically competitive, they are unattractive due to the quota risks,” the distributor said, noting an increase in speculative inquiries from buyers but maintaining that market sentiment continued to be weakened by poor downstream demand.
Platts assessed Northern European HRC at Eur570/mt EXW Ruhr, and Southern European HRC at Eur555/mt EXW Italy, both stable dau pver day.
Platts assessed imported HRC at Eur480/mt CIF Antwerp and Eur480/mt CIF South Europe, both stable day over day.
