European hot-rolled coil (HRC) prices were largely unmoved on Monday April 13, despite higher offers voiced by several suppliers; buyers were questioning further price increases amid stable consumption, Fastmarkets heard.
Integrated producers in Germany and the Benelux area sold a large portion of their second-quarter coil volumes, with only small quantities of HRC still available for June delivery from certain mills.
For July deliveries, offers have been heard in the range of €750-760 ($879-890) per tonne ex-works, but buyers considered these levels unworkable so far.
“There is still no demand on either [the] stockholders’ or manufacturers’ side; only project-related purchases are being conducted,” a source on the buy side said.
Buyers’ estimates of achievable prices for June delivery HRC were mainly reported at no lower than €700-730 per tonne ex-works on Monday.
As a result, Fastmarkets’ daily steel hot-rolled coil index domestic, exw Northern Europe was €720.00 per tonne on April 13, unchanged since Friday April 10.
The index averaged €708.05 per tonne in March 2026, up from a monthly average of €664.51 in February.
There was also information that a leading European steelmaker was selling leftovers of second-quarter delivery HRC in Central Europe, notably Poland, at discounted prices — around €695 per tonne CPT (€680 per tonne ex-works) — while in other regions no such low prices were reported.
“These sales [at lower prices] are sporadic and regionalized and have no impact on [the] general price trend,” a buyer in Poland said.
Sources expected more clarity on further price direction during the Wire & Tube trade fair in Dusseldorf, Germany, held over April 13-17.
Fastmarkets’ steel hot-rolled coil index domestic, exw Italy was calculated at €697.64 per tonne on April 13, down by €2.36 per tonne from €700.00 per tonne on April 10.
The index averaged €690.79 per tonne in March 2026, up from a monthly average of €655.14 in February.
Local buyer and seller sources estimated achievable prices at €690-700 per tonne ex-works on Monday.
Offers from local suppliers for June delivery HRC were reported around €700-705 per tonne ex-works earlier in April.
“Trading is presently more driven by speculation and expectations of higher prices, but not driven by demand,” a buyer source said.
A local re-roller, which suspended HRC production at the beginning of April due to technical issues, has yet to resume operations, sources told Fastmarkets.
However, shorter supply has had no visible effect on the market so far.
“[Re-roller] only produces about half a million tonnes [of HRC] per year at most, so the impact is not tremendous, but considering the situation with imports, it might get tighter, especially if the stoppage is prolonged,” a buyer in Italy said.
Meanwhile, new import HRC offers to Europe remained limited. Buyers are holding back ahead of revised safeguard quotas from the European Commission, effective July 1, with uncertainty over the regime and potential costs from the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) weighing on demand, while Middle East-related disruptions and higher freight rates continue to restrict Asian import offers.
Sources reported Indonesian HRC available at €700 per tonne DDP, CBAM paid, in Spain. However, due to high default values for Indonesian steel and uncertainty around actual emissions verification, demand for such material was limited.
The most recent offers for Turkish HRC were heard at €620-630 per tonne CFR Italy in the week to April 10, including the anti-dumping duty but excluding CBAM costs.
