European integrated flat steel producers were seeking higher prices for April-delivery coil, with March volumes largely sold out. New offers were reported at €670-685 ($792-809) per tonne ex-works in Germany and the Benelux region.
Most buyers estimated tradeable values at €650 per tonne ex-works in the week to Friday.
Overall, activity in the region’s spot market was subdued.
“Inventories are high for HRC from previous import in stock,” one buyer in Germany told Fastmarkets, explaining that during the third and fourth quarters of 2025 many European buyers booked larger tonnages overseas and domestically, building up stocks ahead of the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) rollout on January 1, 2026.
But one buyer source reported some transactions at €665-670 per tonne in the week to Friday for limited tonnages of April-delivery coil, claiming that “€650 per tonne [ex-works] is already gone.”
This information was not widely confirmed before publication.
Market sentiment was cautiously optimistic, supported by CBAM and upcoming new safeguard measures which are expected to further curb import inflows into the EU. But the lack of a tangible demand recovery was viewed as a key obstacle to sustained price increases.
Fastmarkets’ daily steel HRC index domestic, ex-works Northern Europe was €656.25 per tonne on Friday, up by €5.00 per tonne from €651.25 per tonne on Thursday February 5.
The index was up by €6.25 per tonne week on week and by €26.25 per tonne month on month.
Fastmarkets’ corresponding daily steel HRC index domestic, ex-works Italy was calculated at €647.92 per tonne on Friday, up by 42 cents from €647.50 per tonne on Thursday.
The index was up by €9.92 per tonne week on week and by €24.80 per tonne month on month.
In the Italian market, domestic suppliers were largely sold out of March-delivery HRC, with April-delivery coil offers quoted at €660-685 per tonne ex-works.
Market participants indicated achievable April-delivery prices at lower levels, generally at €640-650 per tonne ex-works.
“Nobody is in a hurry to buy; inventory is not on the low side,” a buyer source told Fastmarkets.
During the week to Friday, transactions for cargoes below 1,000 tonnes were heard at €640-650 per tonne ex-works.
Meanwhile, sources reported several large cargoes of Turkish HRC sold to Europe in the week to Friday. The total volume of all sold cargoes was reported at more than 300,000 tonnes.
The average price was confirmed at about $540 per tonne FOB. Assuming a freight rate of $25-30 per tonne and including the anti-dumping duty of 4.8-7.3%, the price to Italy was around $606-612 (€513-518) per tonne CFR, sources said.
CBAM costs for Turkish mills were estimated at €40-50 per tonne by buyer sources.
Following the round of sales, Turkish mills increased export prices to $550-570 per tonne FOB, Fastmarkets heard.
As of Thursday February 5, Turkey had used 87%, or 342,975 tonnes, of its 393,978 tonne HRC quota allocation for January-March 2026, according to European Commission customs data.
Given reports of new sales, sources expect Turkish quotas for the second quarter, due to open on April 1, 2026 to be exhausted within days.
Vlada Novokreshchenova in Dnipro contributed to this report.
