Sources said there had only been limited restocking activity over the past few weeks amid weak consumption and oversupply.
“We are facing 20-30% fewer orders from end users compared with the same period last year,” a steel service center (SSC) source in Germany told Fastmarkets.
“Automotive-focused SSCs are booking less [HRC]. Demand is lower than last year, but it’s not terrible,” a mill source in Northern Europe said.
Offers for HRC with lead times in the first-quarter 2025 were heard at between €570 ($599) per tonne to €600 per tonne ex-works, with some suppliers even aiming for more than €600 per tonne ex-works.
But Fastmarkets understands that no deals have been done at the higher end of those offer prices.
“No bookings [for HRC] starting with a ‘6’ are unachievable in such a market,” a buyer in the Benelux region of Northern Europe said.
And buyers estimated the tradable level at €550-570 per tonne ex-works on Thursday.
HRC from Italy was on offer to Germany at €580-600 per tonne delivered, sources said, but deals were done at €570-580 per tonne delivered earlier this week.
January delivery HRC, meanwhile, is already mostly sold out at first-tier mills, sources added.
Fastmarkets calculated its daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Northern Europe at €563.13 per tonne on Thursday, down by €0.87 per tonne from €564.00 per tonne on Wednesday.
The index was up by €3.13 per tonne week on week and by €4.78 per tonne month on month.
Sources said negotiations for long-term contracts with original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in the automotive sector were ongoing and there were suggestions that the talks might stretch into January.
“Negotiations [with Automotive OEMs] are still under way, [but] there’s no relevant progress at the moment,” a distributor in the region said.
Buyers were looking to negotiate a discount of around €100-150 per tonne for first-half and full-year 2025 contracts, while mills were hoping for a more minor reduction of around €50-70 per tonne, Fastmarkets understands.
“I would hope to settle with €50 per tonne discount. A discount at €100 per tonne and over makes no sense – that would bring long-term prices almost to the same level as spot prices,” a second mill source said.
In Southern Europe, Fastmarkets calculated its daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Italy at €561.88 per tonne on Thursday, down by €0.12 per tonne from €562.00 per tonne a day before.
The Italian index was also down by €0.62 per tonne week on week, but was up by €9.50 per tonne month on month.
One local integrated mill has been selling January delivery coil at €550 per tonne ex-works at the beginning of December, but sources said that such prices were no longer available. New offers from the mill came in at €580 per tonne base delivered (€570 per tonne ex-works).
Another local steelmaker in Italy was aiming for €600-640 per tonne delivered (€590-630 per tonne ex-works) for February delivery coil, “depending on the tonnage and the client,” sources said.
No sales at target offer levels have been reported so far this week, with the maximum prices achieved reported at €590 base delivered (€580 per tonne ex-works), Fastmarkets understands and, in general, the tradable value for HRC was estimated at €570-580 per tonne base delivered (€560-570 per tonne ex-works).
Some market participants estimated the workable prices even lower – at €540-550 per tonne ex-works.
Mill sources, however, said such prices were no longer available.
“Energy prices soared by more than 10% month-on-month in Italy. For EAF-based steelmakers it means €20-30 higher costs per tonne of steel,” a producer source in Italy said.
In Italy, electricity prices in November jumped to around €130.68 per MWh, up from 116.51per MWh in October, according to Italy’s exchange for electricity and natural gas spot trading, Gestore Mercati Energetici (GME).
Interest in steel imports, meanwhile, remained minimal in Europe, mainly due to the long lead times, the volatile market, the effects of safeguard measures and an anti-dumping probe into material from certain origins.
Turkish suppliers were accepting €550 per tonne CFR, duty paid, for tonnages of 10,000 tonnes or more, sources said.
But Asian mill were not very active due to the EU safeguards and pending anti-dumping investigation.
Notably, offers of HRC for February shipment from Southeast Asia to Italy were heard at €580 per tonne CFR, but this price was deemed too high by buyers.
“[At the moment], Turkey is the only safe origin to book [HRC] from,” a buyer in Italy said.
