Fastmarkets calculated its daily steel hot-rolled coil index domestic, exw Northern Europe at €643.33 ($695.60) per tonne on Tuesday, up by €3.91 per tonne from €639.42 per tonne on Monday March 24.
The Northern European index was up by €5.33 per tonne week on week and by €22.70 per tonne month on month.
One supplier in the Benelux region was heard offering May/June delivery HRC at €640-660 per tonne ex-works.
Higher offer levels were also available in the market, with a leading integrated European mill heard targeting €670-680 per tonne ex-works or delivered for June-delivery coil.
Industry sources told Fastmarkets that some transactions were concluded at €640-650 per tonne ex-works.
Buyers estimated the tradeable market price at €630-650 per tonne ex-works but indicated that it was more difficult now to achieve the lower end of the price range.
“Production in Europe is at a quite low level now. There are a lot of problems with domestic mills. Customers often complain about delay with deliveries,” a distributor source based in Germany told Fastmarkets.
The distributor source added that mills were quite firm on their offers, advising customers to go to another mill if they do not like the offered price. “But there are no many other options where to go,” the source said.
Problems at domestic HRC producers have been limiting availability recently.
For example, German steelmaker Salzgitter announced force majeure on HRC deliveries due to a fire at a hot strip mill late in February. And ArcelorMittal recently said it would stop operations at one blast furnace in Dunkirk for the entire second quarter of 2025 for planned maintenance.
European buyers’ interest in imported HRC has also decreased recently due to the trade risks and the long delivery times.
But a second distributor source told Fastmarkets they were skeptical as to how sustainable the current price increase was due to the persistently low real demand.
In Southern Europe, meanwhile, Fastmarkets’ daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Italy, was calculated at €624.17 per tonne on Tuesday, up by €1.67 per tonne from €622.50 per tonne on Monday.
The index was up by €1.17 per tonne week on week and by €14.17 per tonne month on month.
Offers for May-delivery material in Italy were heard mainly at €650 per tonne ex-works, although one supplier was rumored to offer lower, at €620 per tonne ex-works.
Buyers’ estimations for the tradeable market level were at €610-525 per tonne ex-works.
Trading in the Italian market remained low, and no major deals were heard.
In terms of imports, Asian suppliers were heard offering HRC to Italy at €560-570 per tonne CFR.
Only Indonesia was heard offering lower at €540 per tonne CFR.
Turkish offers of HRC were available in the Italian market at €590-600 per tonne CFR, including the anti-dumping duty, sources said.
