European prices for steel hot-rolled coil were stable to slightly higher on Wednesday September 10, but were still trending below mills’ target offer levels, Fastmarkets heard.
Mills were looking to push offer prices for October-November delivery coil to around €600-630 ($706-741) per tonne ex-works, but no deals have been reported at that level.
Buyers estimated the workable market at €570-590 per tonne ex-works on Wednesday, similar to prices heard over the past few days.
Despite the cautiously positive trend and limited import availability due to the coming implementation of the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), some market sources still saw persistent problems with real demand as factors affecting growth.
According to traders, the market should expect further increases in prices by the end of September, when more buyers will have a need to restock.
Fastmarkets’ calculation of the daily steel HRC index, domestic, exw Northern Europe, was €583.13 ($683.87) per tonne on September 10, up by €5.21 per tonne from €577.92 per tonne on September 9.
The Northern European index was up by €8.13 per tonne week on week and by €7.50 per tonne month on month.
Prices for overseas coil also increased over the past week.
Offers from Indonesia were heard around €490-500 per tonne CFR, offers from India were heard at €520 per tonne CFR and offers from Turkey were heard around €520-540 per tonne CFR.
Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel hot-rolled coil, import, cfr main port Northern Europe, was €490-520 per tonne on Wednesday, rising from €475-515 per tonne the previous week.
In Italy, workable prices for HRC in the spot market were still lagging behind target offers.
“In August, mills had comfortable lead times, especially considering maintenance closures, but after the restart in September it turned out that October [delivery] HRC still must be sold,” a local source said.
Target offers by local integrated mills were heard at €580-600 per tonne delivered (€570-585 per tonne ex-works) on Tuesday, but no trades at such prices have been reported so far.
Buyers’ estimates of the workable price remained at €540-550 per tonne ex-works, in line with the most recent transactions.
Fastmarkets’ daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Italy, was €548.50 per tonne on Wednesday, down by €0.88 per tonne compared with €549.38 per tonne on Tuesday.
The Italian index was up by €0.17 per tonne week on week, but down by €2.75 per tonne month on month.
In the secondary market, 4mm HR sheet was on offer at €650 per tonne CPT.
Market sources said that while steel service centers were looking to raise prices to €670-680 per tonne CPT, demand was not strong enough to support this.
Despite overall muted demand for overseas coil in anticipation of the CBAM implementation, several market sources reported a deal for Indonesian HRC.
Around 20,000-25,000 tonnes of HRC from Indonesia – “with guaranteed delivery in 2025, before CBAM kicks in” – was booked in Italy at €485 per tonne CFR.
Market sources familiar with the matter noted that in any case of late delivery in 2026, CBAM-related risks would be on the seller’s side. As Fastmarkets has reported, several Asian suppliers offered similar conditions for cold-rolled coil contracts to Europe.
Meanwhile, other overseas HRC offers remained flat on Wednesday.
Offers from Turkey were reported around €520-540 per tonne CFR, including the EU anti-dumping duty, for late November arrival.
From India, offers were reported at €520-530 per tonne CFR for October-November shipment coil.
Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel hot-rolled coil, import, cfr main port Southern Europe, was €485-520 per tonne, narrowing upward from €470-520 per tonne the previous week.
Julia Bolotova, Davide Montagner
