Friday, All Saints Day, was a public holiday in many European countries, such as Belgium, Italy and some German states. As a result, trading in Europe was very limited, Fastmarkets understands.
Fastmarkets calculated its daily steel HRC index domestic, exw Northern Europe at €557.50 ($605.61) per tonne on Friday, edging lower by €0.88 per tonne from €558.38 per tonne on Thursday.
The index was up by €7.50 per tonne week on week and by €20.51 per tonne month on month.
In Northern Europe, HRC for the first quarter of 2025 was on offer at €600-640 per tonne ex-works, according to industry sources.
Buyers were reluctant to purchase material at these levels however and the new offer prices have not been accepted in deals yet.
December-delivery HRC was available at lower prices, Fastmarkets understands.
Sources indicated the workable market level at €550-570 per tonne ex-works. Earlier this week, some transactions were reported at these levels.
In Southern Europe, Fastmarkets calculated its daily steel HRC index domestic, exw Italy at €557.50 per tonne on Friday, up by €0.50 per tonne from €557.50 per tonne on Thursday.
The Italian index was up by €11.25 per tonne week on week and by €24.50 per tonne month on month.
Italian suppliers offered HRC with lead times of five to six weeks at €570-580 per tonne delivered, which nets back to €560-570 per tonne ex-works, according to sources.
Buyer estimations were lower at €550-560 per tonne ex-works, Fastmarkets heard.
Expectations about future market developments in the short and mid-term remained mixed among market participants.
According to buyers, the European economy still faces a lot of challenges, with end-user demand remaining persistently low.
But producers expressed hope that limited imports and lower offered HRC volumes could support a price rebound in the first quarter of 2025.
European steel industry association Eurofer also expects apparent steel consumption in the EU in 2025 to increase by 3.8% to 132 million tonnes, but this is still below pre-pandemic volumes of 145 million tonnes in 2019.
Eurofer downgraded its outlook for 2024, predicting that demand would shrink by 1.8% to 127 million tonnes this year.
Meanwhile, import offers of Asian-origin HRC remained uncompetitive in the European market due to their high levels compared with domestic prices, and trade restrictions imposed in the EU.
In August, the European Commission started an anti-dumping investigation against HRC originating from Egypt, India, Japan and Vietnam.
On October 25, the commission started registering all HRC imports from these four countries.
Turkey was seen as the only “safe” source of imports, Fastmarkets understands. But offers of Turkish HRC were too close to the domestic prices to be competitive.
HRC from Turkey was on offer at €580-600 per tonne CFR to Italy, including the anti-dumping duty, while offers from Asia came in at €550-570 per tonne CFR.
