European hot-rolled coil prices were largely flat on Wednesday July 9; some mills were selling aggressively to compete with cheap imports, though post-summer sentiment remains mixed, sources told Fastmarkets.
Slow consumption, seasonality and bearish expectations among buyers kept trading subdued across European HRC markets.
German mills were offering August-September delivery coil at €560-570 ($656-668) per tonne delivered, which nets back to around €550-560 per tonne ex-works.
One supplier in Germany was heard to be delaying deliveries lately due to some changes in intermediate stocks management.
In the Benelux area, offers were reported at €570 per tonne ex-works from integrated mills.
Achievable prices were estimated by buyers at €530-550 per tonne ex-works.
One major mill in Europe was heard selling HRC “very aggressively,” offering substantial discounts for bigger volumes in order to close gaps in order books, and in the face of an influx of cheap imports, sources said. Notably, two sources reported sales at €525 per tonne ex-works, for large volumes.
One source claimed that, following a series of aggressive sales in June-July, that supplier had closed order books until October.
As a result, Fastmarkets’ calculation of the daily steel hot-rolled coil index domestic, exw Northern Europe was €544.79 per tonne on Wednesday, down by €0.21 per tonne from €545 per tonne on Tuesday July 8.
The Northern European index was down by €11.04 per tonne week on week and by €61.59 per tonne month on month.
Sources pointed out that certain overseas suppliers were also selling HRC to Europe quite aggressively lately, and that put additional pressure on domestic prices.
“Indonesia is not a part of safeguards, so they are fooding the market with cheap coil, and big European buyers book as much as they can before the end of the year, to make sure they have stock when [the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism] starts in January 2026,” a trading source in Germany said.
Late last week, around 30,000 tonnes of Indonesian HRC were heard booked at $555 per tonne CFR Antwerp, Fastmarkets reported.
Offers from Turkey to Northern ports were heard at around €500 per tonne CFR, duty paid.
Meanwhile, the market situation in Italy was similar, with trading slowing down further ahead of summer holidays.
Fastmarkets’ daily steel hot-rolled coil index domestic, exw Italy was calculated at €520 per tonne on Wednesday, stable day on day.
But the Italian index was down by €13.33 per tonne week on week and by €67.92 per tonne month on month.
Most sources agreed that achievable values for domestic HRC were in the range of €510-530 per tonne ex-works, depending on the tonnage.
One mill source, however, said they “drew the line” at €520-530 per tonne ex-works, citing high costs for raw material and electricity.
Another source said that, considering current prices for steel scrap and electricity in Italy, €520-530 per tonne ex-works was already below the cost line for electric-arc furnace (EAF) based mills.
Lead times were around six-to-eight weeks.
Some bids were reported at €500 per tonne ex-works and even below for domestic coil, but no confirmed deals were reported at that level so far.
“Buyers are speculating on cheap import availability, but the truth is that mainly big buyers — tube makers, re-rollers — are actually booking imports now. For small, medium-sized traders, handing imports is too risky,” a supplier in the region said.
In the secondary market, 4 mm HR sheet was traded at €630-650 per tonne CPT, Fastmarkets understands, compared with the deals done at €640-660 per tonne CPT in late June for such material.
The latest deals for Indonesia origin coil were reported at €450 per tonne CFR to Italy, with total of 70,000 tonnes booked by three big buyers, Fastmarkets reported.
New bids for Indonesian coil were reported at €425-435 per tonne CFR, but no new trades at mentioned levels were reported.
One Turkish mill was heard offering HRC to Italy at €480 per tonne CFR duty paid, while another was heard offering at €500 per tonne CFR duty paid.
