Domestic hot-rolled coil prices in Northern Europe edged lower on Monday October 5, while Italian prices continued to firm amid exceptionally tight domestic supply and uncertainty over import availability, sources told Fastmarkets.
In Northern Europe, one buyer reported workable levels at €740 ($833) per tonne ex-works.
No other fresh points were recorded during the day. On Friday October 2, one supplier indicated workable levels at €730-740 per tonne ex-works. Due to the limited fresh input, this information, along with Thursday’s data, was carried over into Monday’s calculation in line with Fastmarkets’ index methodology.
This included a buyer indication of workable levels at €750 per tonne ex-works, as well as information from a second buyer reporting workable levels at €740-750 per tonne ex-works alongside an offer at €760 per tonne ex-works.
Regional demand remained sluggish, with buyers reporting sufficient stock coverage.
Thus, Fastmarkets’ daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Northern Europe, was calculated at €741.88 per tonne on Monday October 5, down by €1.45 per tonne from €743.33 per tonne on Friday October 2.
The index was up by €3.12 per tonne week on week and down by €6.87 per tonne month on month.
Meanwhile, in Italy, two buyers told Fastmarkets that workable levels were reported at €740-750 per tonne ex-works. One of the buyers indicated that bookings of around 200-500 tonnes were concluded in that range.
Domestic supply options in Italy were reported to be exceptionally constrained, with Acciaierie d’Italia (AdI) remaining absent from the market, and Ferriera Valsider also on the sidelines with only minor potential availability for December.
Market participants also pointed to mounting uncertainty over imports following the opening of the fourth-quarter tariff-rate quota on October 1. The Turkish quota was already heavily oversubscribed, with around 380,000 tonnes reported against a quota of approximately 160,000 tonnes, according to one of the buyers.
As a result, some Italian buyers were adopting a wait-and-see stance until the end of the week to assess the full customs clearance picture across various import origins before committing to fresh domestic volumes. Those needing immediate material were largely dependent on the country’s sole active domestic producer, which firmly held its ground at €740-750 per tonne ex-works.
“If you need to buy, you pay and shut up,” one distributor source said.
The buyer told Fastmarkets that the dominant domestic producer was comfortable with its November order book following recent operational disruptions on a rolling line.
Fastmarkets’ daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Italy, was calculated at €745 per tonne on Monday October 5, up by €2.50 per tonne from €742.50 per tonne on Friday October 2.
The index was up by €3.75 per tonne week on week and up by €22.29 per tonne month on month.
