The European hot rolled coil (HRC) market has remained in a lull with most buyers claiming that their warehouses currently hold sufficient stocks, with no immediate need for restocking. At the same time, most market insiders describe the current market as “too messed up” as, on the one hand, some mills are claiming to be fully booked for the first quarter 2025, while, on the other hand, others say some producers are still looking for orders. Meanwhile, the import HRC market has remained sluggish in recent weeks impacted by various trade restrictions, long lead times, and uncompetitive pricing.
More specifically, according to sources, local EU HRC mills, especially those in the north, have been claiming that they are fully booked for the first quarter and are seeking to increase prices up to €620/mt ex-works, which, according to sources, has no possibility of gaining acceptance so far, while workable prices have been voiced at €570-600/mt ex-works with delivery in March. Besides, according to market insiders, offers for HRC from Italy with March delivery have been voiced in Germany at €610-630/mt delivered.
Meanwhile, in Italy, offers for March delivery HRC have been voiced at €610-620/mt delivered, which translates to €600-610/mt ex-works, while most buyers are still bidding at €560-580/mt ex-works, the same as last week.
“Distributors express a lack of optimism regarding future market trends, noting that there have been no positive signs from key steel-consuming sectors, such as automotive and construction,” a market insider told SteelOrbis.
“Local mills are playing games. We hear offers at not below €600/mt ex-works and being non-negotiable, and then we heard few transactions at much lower prices. There is no clarity in the market,” another source said.
In the meantime, in the import segment, most offers have been estimated at €540-590/mt CFR, compared to €540-560/mt CFR reported last week. More specifically, the lower end of the range corresponds to ex-Indonesia offers at €540-550/mt CFR southern Europe, mainly the same as last week. Besides, indicative offers for ex-Taiwan and ex-India HRC have been estimated at $560/mt CFR, which translates to around €545/mt CFR. However, offers from South Korea have been reported at as high as €570-580/mt CFR. Furthermore, offers from Turkish suppliers have been reported at around €580-590/mt CFR, including duty. “Imports are also facing big threats. Even countries outside the quotas like Indonesia and Saudi Arabia may be hit after the announcement of the quotas changing by April 1,” a market insider told SteelOrbis.
“Last week, the European Commission announced that the EU quotas for HRC imports have been fully utilized by Vietnam, Japan, and Taiwan, highlighting strong demand for competitively priced HRC from these countries. In contrast, 38 percent of Egypt’s quota remains unutilized, while some countries have yet to use any of their first quarter quotas, though they are not traditional or regular sellers to the EU,” a representative of one mill told SteelOrbis.