Trading was limited and, despite producer sources reporting more inquiries for first-quarter delivery material, negotiating deals remained challenging.
“There is a fight for every order,” a mill source in Northern Europe said.
The target offer for first-quarter delivery coil was €600-620 ($633-654) per tonne ex-works for January, with some mill aiming for €640 per tonne for March-delivery material.
“For January [delivery] we are targeting €600 [per tonne ex-works] minimum,” a second mill source said.
In contrast, November-December delivery HRC was being sold in Northern Europe between €540-560 per tonne ex-works.
December-delivery HRC was said to be largely sold out at first-tier suppliers.
Bids for January delivery coils were reported at €560-570 per tonne ex-works on Friday.
“Bullish sentiment has cooled a bit — mills announced €620 [per tonne ex-works at EuroBlech Fair [October 22-25] but it hasn’t been traded. There are mixed feelings about January trend,” a German trader said.
One buyer source reported a deal at €550-560 per tonne ex-works in Germany, but details were not specified before the publication deadline.
As a result, Fastmarkets calculated its daily steel hot-rolled coil index domestic, exw Northern Europe at €562.50 ($593.01) per tonne on Friday, up by €0.21 per tonne from €562.29 per tonne on Thursday November 14.
The index was also up by €3.75 per tonne week on week and by €8.12 per tonne month on month.
Hopes for a first-quarter price rebound were based on expected restocking as well as reduced imports in the market due to trade restrictions and stronger reliance on European material as a result.
However, persistently weak real demand from major steel-using sectors put any potential rebound into question.
“There is no [real] demand, so no chance for an increase [for HRC prices],” a second trading source said.
“The lack of imports will start to be visible in the market closer to the end of the first quarter of 2025, because there is still a lot of steel in the pipeline – it will take a few more months to clear this up,” a third trader said.
Sources said they do not expect to see any major changes in the market over the next few weeks.
“In Germany, we will have very short December – many trading companies, steel service centers and original equipment manufacturers will close for Christmas [in the week starting December 16] for at least three weeks,” a German distributor said.
In Southern Europe, meanwhile, Fastmarkets calculated its daily steel hot-rolled coil index domestic, exw Italy at €556.00 per tonne on Friday, down by €0.20 per tonne from €556.20 per tonne on the previous day.
The Italian index was also up by €3.50 per tonne week on week and by €7.25 per tonne month on month.
For the HRC with lead times in the first quarter of 2025, offers were heard at €600 per tonne delivered (€590 per tonne ex-works), compared with €570-580 per tonne delivered (€560-570 per tonne ex-works) for December lead times.
But buyer estimates of the tradable value were no higher than €550-570 per tonne ex-works.
The import HRC market remained quiet in the week to Friday, with offers from Asian mills heard in the range of €550-570 per tonne CFR, and €600-620 per tonne CFR from Turkey.
These prices failed to spur any buying interest at European buyers.
“Import prices are getting higher and therefore less interesting. Most likely and mainly because of the stronger US dollar versus the Euro,” a buyer source in Europe said.
Published by: Julia Bolotova
