Fastmarkets calculated its daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Northern Europe at €645.00 ($675.02) per tonne on Tuesday, down by €1.25 per tonne from €646.25 per tonne on Monday.
The Northern European index was up by €1.67 per tonne week on week and by €18.17 per tonne month on month.
The limited domestic supply in the second quarter, combined with the comparatively low end-user demand, dominated trading in the Northern European spot market, Fastmarkets understands.
Buyers would purchase volumes only to cover their immediate needs, while producers were “comfortably booked” for the second quarter and were not fighting for quick deliveries at the moment, industry sources told Fastmarkets.
“Not much business is being done in the market currently,” a distributor source in the Benelux region told Fastmarkets, adding that some recent issues with European mills have affected the market.
For example, German steelmaker Salzgitter declared force majeure on HRC deliveries due to a fire at a hot strip mill late in February. And ArcelorMittal recently said that it would stop operations at one blast furnace in Dunkirk for the entire second quarter of 2025 for planned maintenance.
Industry sources told Fastmarkets that mills in Northern Europe were largely sold out for May, and June-delivery coil was being more actively offered in the market.
Such material was mainly on offer at €650-660 per tonne ex-works.
One European integrated producer continued to seek for €680 per tonne ex-works or delivered, depending on the region, and for July delivery material offers were heard as high as €700 per tonne ex-works or delivered.
“Spot market [HRC] for short delivery is not available [at the moment]. Lead times are stretching out and most mills are stiff on pricing,” a trader source based in Germany told Fastmarkets.
Buyers estimated the tradeable market level for HRC in Northern Europe at €640-650 per tonne ex-works.
Meanwhile, in Southern Europe, Fastmarkets’ daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Italy was calculated at €625.00 per tonne on Tuesday, down by €0.72 per tonne from €625.72 per tonne on Monday.
The index was up by €0.83 per tonne week on week and by €12.50 per tonne month on month.
Italian suppliers were heard offering HRC at €630-650 per tonne ex-works, Fastmarkets understands. But buyers estimated the tradeable market level to be lower, at €620-630 per tonne ex-works.
Regarding imports, Asian suppliers were heard offering HRC to Italy at €550-570 per tonne CFR.
Turkey continued to offer May-shipment HRC at €590 per tonne CFR, including anti-dumping duty, but no fresh transactions were heard in the market.
Published by: Darina Kahramanova
