European prices for hot-rolled coil stabilized in the week to Thursday February 5, lagging higher offers from key suppliers, while sentiment remained cautiously positive, sources said, although this was more to do with the regulations curbing imports than a recovery in demand.
European integrated flat steel producers were looking to achieve higher offers for April delivery coil, with March said to be practically sold out at most sellers.
New offers were ranging between €670 ($792) per tonne and €685 per tonne ex-works in German and Benelux area.
One German supplier aggressively selling March-delivery HRC at around €620 per tonne CPT (€605-610 per tonne ex-works) for big tonnages in late January, stopped accepting lower bids about two weeks ago and has now aligned its offers with other suppliers in the region, sources told Fastmarkets.
But some sources said the supplier’s trading arm could still sell HRC quite aggressively outside Germany – for instance, Italy, Poland and elsewhere.
Italian HRC, meanwhile, was on offer to Germany at a base price of €700 per tonne delivered, Fastmarkets understands, although transactions were heard no higher than €670-680 per tonne, according to sources.
Overall, buyers’ estimations of tradeable values for HRC in Northern Europe were hovering at around €650 per tonne ex-works, with suppliers providing higher estimations of around €660 per tonne ex-works.
“The uptrend we’ve been observing since early January has stalled for now – new offers are way above realistic market levels. But considering situation with imports – we will likely see more acceptance of higher prices in a few weeks,” a producer in the region said.
“Demand is not completely dead – we are having inquiries quite regularly, and [HRC] stocks built ahead of CBAM [Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism] implementation will run out shortly,” a second supplier said.
As a result, Fastmarkets’ daily steel hot-rolled coil index domestic, exw Northern Europe was €651.25 per tonne on Thursday, up by €0.25 per tonne from €651.00 per tonne on Wednesday February 4.
The index was down by €4.58 per tonne week on week but up by €21.25 per tonne month on month.
Fastmarkets’ corresponding daily steel hot-rolled coil index domestic, exw Italy was calculated at €647.50 per tonne on Thursday, stable day-on-day.
The index was up by €4.17 per tonne week on week and by €24.38 per tonne month on month.
In Italy, March delivery HRC was practically sold out at local suppliers, with offers for April delivery coil standing at €660-685 per tonne ex-works, while buyer estimates of achievable prices came in at €640-650 per tonne ex-works for April delivery tonnages.
A producer source reported transactions for small tonnages (below 1,000 tonnes) at €640-650 per tonne ex-works, while bids for larger volumes were reported at €635-640 per tonne ex-works.
In the secondary market, meanwhile, trading was also slow, with 4 mm HR sheet on offer at around €750 per tonne delivered – although some steel service centers were still able to sell at €720-730 per tonne CPT using old HRC feedstock, sources said.
They also pointed out that interest in new import orders remained muted, largely due to the continued lack of clarity regarding CBAM costs for new imports, with default emissions values quite punitive for many regular suppliers – including India and Indonesia – while final emissions verification is not expected to be done until early 2027, following the submission of 2026 data.
In terms of offers, Indian-origin HRC was on offer to Italy at around €600 per tonne DDP, inclusive of CBAM-related costs; Turkish HRC was on offer to Italy at €630–640 per tonne DDP, also including CBAM costs, sources said.
And one source reported an offer for Indonesian HRC at €480 per tonne CFR to Italy, but exclusive of CBAM costs.
