European domestic hot-rolled coil prices were largely unchanged on Friday, January 23, amid muted trading, but overall sentiment was optimistic, sources said, due to uncertainty over imports since the introduction of the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM).
“CBAM is doing good job for EU steel mills,” an importer source told Fastmarkets on January 23.
Another importer said that import activity had slowed down notably since the beginning of the year.
In such conditions mills in Europe are pushing up offers for material with delivery in March and April.
March-delivery coil from Germany’s integrated suppliers was available at €650 ($764) per tonne ex-works, sources said..
And HRC from Italy was on offer to Germany at €650-670 per tonne delivered, with March lead times still available, Fastmarkets understands.
Estimates of the workable price in the region came in at €640-650 per tonne ex-works for March delivery on January 23, while April volumes are expected to be traded at minimum of €650 per tonne.
There was a rumor about €670 per tonne ex-works being achieved for April delivery cargoes, sources said, but this could not be widely confirmed by the time of publication.
A producer from the Benelux area said that, from the perspective of the automotive industry, which is one of the key consumers of flat steel products, 2026 should be another year of “stability.”
Other sources also admitted that, despite the fact that local mills are well booked buying activity at the moment is somewhat slow due to sufficient stocks.
Fastmarkets’ daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Northern Europe, was €642.50 ($752.52) per tonne on Friday, January 23 down slightly by €1.25 from €643.75 per tonne on January 22.
The index was up by €2.00 per tonne week on week and by €15.83 per tonne month on month.
The corresponding daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Italy, was calculated at €635.00 per tonne on Friday, down negligibly by €0.63 from €635.63 per tonne a day earlier.
The index was up by €3.75 per tonne week on week and by €17.50 per tonne month on month.
Offers of March-delivery HRC were heard at around €650 per tonne ex-works, although no deals have been confirmed at that price, sources said.
Other market participants put the workable price in Italy at closer to €630-635 per tonne ex-works, with some sellers claiming to be already sold out of March-delivery coil.
