European hot-rolled coil prices held steady on Thursday January 15, with suppliers reporting strong order books and aiming for higher prices for second quarter material, with sentiment boosted by the Carbon-Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), sources told Fastmarkets.
In Germany and the Benelux area, integrated mills were said to be largely sold out for February delivery coil, while some suppliers claimed to have also “nearly closed” their March order books, Fastmarkets understands.
Offers for HRC with March delivery were reported at €650-670 ($757-780) per tonne ex-works in these regions, but these levels were not widely achieved in bookings, source said.
Italy-origin HRC was offered to Germany at 6€60-680 per tonne base delivered.
Tradeable values were estimated by buyers at €630-640 per tonne ex-works – in line with recent bookings.
For second-quarter delivery coil, some suppliers indicated price ideas at around €680-700 per tonne ex-works, but buyers remained sceptical about more steep increases.
“Even the most aggressive mills are not accepting lower prices anymore,” a buyer in Germany said, “[so] €650 per tonne ex-works looks like a realistic target. But going any higher than that will be difficult unless demand picks up.”
No major restocking activity was reported so far this week, with sources not expecting apparent demand to pick up until early February.
As a result, Fastmarkets’ daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Northern Europe, was €639.58 per tonne on January 15, up by €1.67 per tonne from €641.25 per tonne on January 14.
The index was also up by €5.33 per tonne week on week and by €17.91 per tonne month on month.
In Southern Europe, meanwhile, Fastmarkets’ daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Italy, was calculated at €631.25 per tonne on Thursday, up by €1.25 per tonne day on day.
The index was also up by €1.25 per tonne week on week and by €19.58 per tonne month on month.
Italian producers were also largely sold out for February delivery coil, sources said, with one mill claiming to be sold out for entire first quarter already.
Offers for March delivery HRC were reported at €650 per tonne ex-works, but no transactions at that levels have been reported so far and sources estimated the achievable price at €620-630 per tonne ex-works.
In the secondary market, 4mm HR sheet was trading at around €750 per tonne delivered, which is a slight increase compared with December levels, sources said.
But market participants said appetites for fresh import bookings remained subdued, mainly due to the EU’s CBAM rules and the shift to a new trading regime.
Many buyers continued to report that their preferred approach to import bookings was on a DDP basis, to at least partially account for CBAM costs.
Several trading houses in Italy were heard offering such options.
“Booking on CFR or CIF basis is not manageable for anyone – except, maybe, for a couple of big buyers in Italy,” a source in Italy said.
HRC from Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, was available in Italy at €615 per tonne DDP, while Turkish HRC was on offer to Italy at €620-630 per tonne DDP and HRC from Algeria at $633 per tonne CFR.
Indian HRC was offered to Italy at €490 per tonne CFR, but no fresh bookings were reported on Thursday.
