Steel hot-rolled coil (HRC) prices in Northern Europe inched downward on Thursday as some suppliers sold the last tonnages of the second-quarter delivery volumes at a discount; near-term sentiment remained firm, driven by the imminent new trade regime, Fastmarkets heard on Thursday April 16.
Fastmarkets’ daily steel hot-rolled coil index domestic, exw Northern Europe was €709.48 ($836.58) per tonne on Thursday April 16, down by €9.48 per tonne from €718.96 per tonne on Wednesday April 15.
The index was also down by €10.52 per tonne week on week but up by €3.85 per tonne month on month.
A large European steelmaker sold a large tonnage of HRC, cold-rolled coil (CRC) and hot-dipped galvanized coil (HDG) with the second-quarter delivery to several steel service centers (SSCs). Total volumes were about 50,000 tonnes, with HRC accounting for about half of it.
The HRC price was reported at around €680 per tonne ex-works, CRC at €790 per tonne ex-works, and HDG at €800 per tonne ex-works.
Sources said that SSCs were looking to replace flat steel volumes due to technical issues at one of the Benelux-based integrated mills, which has been unable to deliver some orders.
A medium-tonnage deal for HRC was heard done in Germany at €725 per tonne delivered (€710 per tonne ex-works) for June delivery.
Buyers estimated achievable prices at €700-720 per tonne ex-works in April.
Several integrated mills indicated target offers at €750-770 per tonne ex-works for July delivery coil, expecting tighter import availability to support the increase, owing to the implementation of a new trade regime as of July 1.
Overall, trading activity remained limited, with buyer sources saying they have sufficient inventories and are in no hurry to purchase new tonnages.
“There is a lot of uncertainty over the new trade regime and new imports; new target offers European mills [have] indicated for July are not workable so far, so everybody just waits,” a buyer source in the Benelux area said.
A leading European steelmaker was yet to announce new offers for second-quarter delivery HRC. Sources expected the company to come back with fresh offers in late April.
“[The European mill] waits for country-specific quota volumes for imports to be revealed – after that we expect a big “jump” in offers,” a buyer source in Germany said.
Earlier this week, the European Council and European Parliament reached a provisional agreement on a new trade regime. A new tariff-rate quota (TRQ) system is set to replace the existing steel safeguard measures starting July 1. This will cut the overall volume of steel import quotas by approximately 47% compared with the 2024 safeguard quotas (18.3 million tonnes of import volumes per year) and increase the out-of-quota duty to 50% from the current 25%, Fastmarkets understands.
The distribution of TRQ quotas between countries is yet to be revealed.
In Southern Europe, meanwhile, Fastmarkets’ daily steel hot-rolled coil index domestic, exw Italy was calculated at €698.75 per tonne ex-works on April 16, up by €0.25 per tonne from €698.50 per tonne on Wednesday.
The index was down by €0.25 per tonne week on week but up by €4.75 per tonne month on month.
Sources in Italy estimated achievable prices for HRC to be around €690-700 per tonne ex-works, while local sellers maintained offers at no lower than €700 per tonne ex-works.
In the secondary market, sources reported transactions for 4mm S235 grade hot-rolled (HR) sheet at €800 per tonne CPT in Italy.
A local re-roller, which suspended HRC production at the beginning of April due to technical issues, was expected to resume operations during May, sources told Fastmarkets.
Meanwhile, new import HRC offers to Europe remained limited. Sources said that only suppliers from Turkey, India and Algeria were active in the market, offering June shipments.
One source, however, claimed that an Indian mill was able to offer HRC shipment in mid-May, which would mean end-June arrival – so before the new trade regime is implemented. From India, offers were heard at €600 per tonne CFR to Italy.
On Thursday, offers for Turkish coil were reported at €620-630 per tonne CFR to Italy, including anti-dumping duty. One source reported offer for Turkish material at lower levels of €605-610 per tonne CFR.
From Algeria, offers were heard around €680 per tonne CFR to Spain.
