Fastmarkets calculated its daily steel HRC index, domestic, exw Northern Europe at €547.17 ($599.43) per tonne on Thursday, up by €1.17 per tonne from €546.00 per tonne the previous day.
The index was up by €4.67 per tonne week on week, but down by €32.66 per tonne month on month.
Offer prices for November-December delivery HRC from mills in the region varied between €560 per tonne and €590 per tonne ex-works, sources said.
“The offers [for HRC] we have seen [since October 7] are all up, but it’s too early to comment [on] whether the move will be successful or not. The downtrend has definitely stopped, though,” one buyer in the region told Fastmarkets.
“This week, China returned from the [National Day] holidays and we’ll have to wait for the reaction [there, and] the impact of the stimulus [measures proposed at] the beginning of October,” the buyer added.
Achievable values were estimated by most buyers at €540-550 per tonne ex-works.
For HRC with delivery in the fourth quarter of 2024, mills can be a bit more flexible and provide discounts for bigger lots, sources said.
But for HRC with lead times in the first quarter of 2025, suppliers were insisting on “a minimum of €560 per tonne ex-works,” Fastmarkets understands.
“What we need to get a sustainable [steel] price increase is better demand,” a second buyer said. “But haven’t seen any positive signals from that side.”
In Southern Europe, Fastmarkets’ daily steel HRC index, domestic, exw Italy was calculated at €540.00 per tonne on Thursday, down by just €0.33 per tonne from €540.33 per tonne on the previous day,
The Italian index was up by €5.00 per tonne week on week, but down by €37.50 per tonne month on month.
November-delivery HRC from Italian suppliers was on offer in the domestic market at €550-560 per tonne delivered, which nets back to €540-550 per tonne ex-works.
But buyers estimated the tradable value at no more than €530-540 per tonne ex-works.
In the secondary market, HR sheet was still trading at around €620-630 per tonne CPT, but steel service centers said they needed to increase their offers to €670 per tonne CPT as a minimum to recover margins.
“The market is still slow and it is not clear whether the higher offers [for HRC] will be fully accepted by the buyers,” a trading source said.
Prices for imported HRC also increase in the week to Thursday.
Notably, Turkish HRC was on offer to Italy at €580-590 per tonne CFR, including the EU anti-dumping duty, sources said.
And offers of HRC with November shipment from India were heard to Italy at €585 per tonne CFR, while material from Asian suppliers was on offer at €550-560 per tonne CFR.
None of these offers were considered workable by European buyers.
Green steel
Fastmarkets’ weekly assessment of the green steel domestic, flat-rolled, differential to HRC index, exw Northern Europe was €100-200 per tonne on Thursday, unchanged week on week.
Major European suppliers continued to offer steel with Scope 1, Scope 2 and upstream Scope 3 emissions below 0.8 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) per tonne of steel at a premium of €200-350 per tonne.
Estimates of tradeable values for the same material in the spot market were reported at a premium of €50-150 per tonne during the assessment week.
And for long-term contracts, the premiums for steel with CO2 emissions below 800 kg of CO2 per tonne of steel ranged from €200 to €300 per tonne, according to sources.
A supplier source pointed out that for steel with CO2 emissions content below 500 kg per tonne of steel, “premiums below €200 per tonne would not be commercially viable.”
No new transactions for green steel were reported in the assessment week.
Published by: Julia Bolotova