Market participants had different expectations regarding the development of price trends in the European steel hot-rolled coil market, while trading was largely quiet on Monday July 7.
Fastmarkets’ calculation of the daily steel HRC index, domestic, exw Northern Europe, was €551.25 ($644.63) per tonne on July 7, up by €1.25 per tonne from €550.00 per tonne on July 4.
Sources from Austria and Germany reported estimates of workable price within a narrowed range of €540-550 per tonne ex-works versus a wider range of €530-560 per tonne ex-works at the end of last week, while buying activity was said to be muted for seasonal reasons.
A source from the Benelux region, meanwhile, reported achieving a price of €570 per tonne ex-works in some deals and had positive expectations for the second half of 2025.
But with only limited volumes traded at this price, this was not a sign of a reversal of the trend.
Another market source expected the price downtrend to continue, although it should slow with the market bottom being close.
And a third source said that he expected either further price drops, or for them to stabilize in a best-case scenario.
At the same time, in Italy sources estimated tradeable prices for HRC within the range of €520-530 per tonne ex-works, versus €520-540 per tonne ex-works last Friday.
Demand was described as “very weak” with some expectations for a price of €500 per tonne ex-works to be workable by the end of July.
Import prices continued to put additional pressure on domestic producers, with a large cargo of Indonesian coil reported sold at €450 per tonne CFR.
As a result, Fastmarkets’ daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Italy, was calculated at €526.67 per tonne on Monday, down from €530.00 per tonne on Friday.
