On Monday, the HRC market was quiet in Northern Europe, following public holidays in the region in the week to Friday May 30.
Offers for July-delivery HRC from integrated mill in the region were heard at €640-650 ($731-742) per tonne ex-works or delivered.
At the same time, buyer’s estimations of tradable values were reported at €600-630 per tonne ex-works on Monday.
Mill sources argued that lower end of the range was rather “a wishful thinking from the buyers” then a realistic price level.
Due to offer/bid mismatch and downbeat expectations among buyers, trading was minimal in the region.
“End users and stockists are not ruling out the possibility that [HRC] prices might go further down and [many are trying] to clear their stocks before the vacation period starts,” a German buyer said.
And so far, no progress has been made in negotiations for long-term contracts with end users for the second half of 2025.
“EU mills asked for higher prices compared with first-half 2025 contracts — around €800 per tonne. But spot prices [for HRC] started falling in May, so naturally original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are not accepting the asked offer price [for long-term contracts],” a source familiar with the matter said.
As a result, Fastmarkets’ calculation of the daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Northern Europe was €627.50 per tonne on Monday, down slightly by €1.25 per tonne compared with €628.75 per tonne on Friday.
The index was down by €5.00 per tonne week on week and by €27.50 per tonne month on month.
Meanwhile, in Italy, Fastmarkets’ daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Italy was calculated at €598.75 per tonne on Monday, unchanged since Friday.
The Italian index was down by €2.50 per tonne week on week and by €24.38 per tonne month on month.
The Italian market was inactive due to celebration of Republic day on Monday.
Buyers estimations of achievable prices were heard at €590-600 per tonne ex-works on Friday, while offers were heard at €620 per tonne ex-works from one integrated supplier.
Import HRC offers to Europe were stable on Monday.
Buying interest for imported coil was limited, despite a wide gap with domestic prices. Safeguards-related risks and looming CBAM were tempering buyers’ appetite for overseas bookings.
“Not the best times to book import [HRC] — you never know how much it will cost you in the end,” a buyer source said.
Indonesia continued to offer the lowest prices, at €520 per tonne CFR.
Turkey-origin coil was offered at an average price of €550 per tonne duty paid, while one supplier with lower duties was heard offering €540-545 per tonne, duty paid.
HRC from India and Thailand was on offer for €560-570 per tonne CFR to Italy.
