Target offers for January delivery coil were reported at €620-650 ($723-758) per tonne ex-works from integrated producers in Northern Europe.
A re-roller was offering limited volumes for January at €600 per tonne ex-works.
While the high end of offers was deemed unrealistic by buyer sources, at least for the beginning of 2026, most of them agreed that €610-620 per tonne ex-works could be acceptable for January delivery.
But new deals for the first quarter delivery of HRC were scarce so far, with both buyers and sellers still being cautious.
“We are trying to increase prices downstream and it is not a fast process,” a steel service center in Germany said.
“So far, nobody needs HRC for December — there is plenty of imports in the market and we actually bought slightly more than we need for the fourth quarter in expectations of price rises,” a stockholder in Germany said. “I think we will see more activity [for first quarter tonnages bookings] towards the end of November,” they added.
Besides, some suppliers were holding back on January volumes sales, estimating the markets.
“Nobody wants to sell too cheap and too soon. There is no doubt [HRC] prices will increase in the first quarter of 2026, the question is how much,” a seller source said.
Overall, sources agreed that it was not possible to buy HRC cheaper than €600 per tonne ex-works from first-tier suppliers in Europe.
Fastmarkets’ daily steel hot-rolled coil index domestic, exw Northern Europe was €602.50 per tonne on Tuesday, up slightly from €602.00 per tonne on Monday October 27.
The index was up by €7.50 per tonne week on week and by €24.79 per tonne month on month.
Fastmarkets’ corresponding daily steel hot-rolled coil index domestic, exw Italy was calculated at €591.25 per tonne on Tuesday, stable day on day.
The Italian index was up by €5.83 per tonne week on week and by €40.62 per tonne month on month.
In Italy, offers from a local supplier were reported at €630 per tonne delivered (equivalent to €610-615 per tonne ex-works) for January delivery coil.
According to sources in Italy, producers were only willing to grant discounts on remaining December volumes, noting that further price reductions would not be feasible for January.
Buyers in Italy estimated the workable domestic HRC price in Italy around €580-600 per tonne ex-works on Tuesday.
Offers from Turkey came in at €530 per tonne CFR to Italy, including the anti-dumping duty.
One source also reported an offer from Saudi Arabia at €520 per tonne CFR.
Overall, overseas HRC offers were scarce since both the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism and the new trade regime proposed by the Commission earlier in October were significantly limiting buying appetite for new imports.
