HRC market conditions in the EU have changed little in the first week of December, with mills in both northern Europe and Italy holding firmly to their higher price targets. Trading, however, has remained subdued, as supply for the first quarter of 2026 is largely secured after buyers had increased their third quarter bookings from domestic and import sources. At the same time, more import HRC offers have surfaced mostly on DDP basis, including CBAM costs, but buying interest has remained limited.
More specifically, local mills in northern Europe have kept targeting €630-650/mt ex-works for new orders for January and February deliveries, the same as last week. Meanwhile, the tradable price levels for January delivery coils have been estimated at €610-620/mt ex-works, mainly for January delivery, the same as last week. Besides, several offers for ex-Italy HRC have been voiced in Germany at around €620/mt delivered, according to sources.
Meanwhile, in Italy, mills have been targeting €610-630/mt for January delivery, up by €10/mt on the lower end of the range week on week, while the tradable price level for January delivery has been estimated at €590-610/mt ex-works, compared to €590-600/mt ex-works last week. However, most market sources claim that occasional bookings have still been reported at not higher than €590/mt ex-works.
According to sources, HRC supply for the first quarter of 2026 is secure because companies booked slightly larger volumes in the third quarter from both domestic and import sources, a move also taken by most service centres and stockholders.
In the import segment, indicative offer prices for HRC have settled at €485-520/mt CFR, up by €10/mt on the higher end of the range, while HRC import offers including CBAM costs on DDP basis have been voiced at €580-610/mt levels, depending on the supplier, up by €10/mt on the higher end of the range week on week.
It is worth mentioning that import offers on CFR basis, excluding CBAM-related costs, have been notably scarce in the region this week, with most suppliers providing only indicative numbers. In particular, offers for ex-India HRC have been voiced at $570-575/mt CFR, which translates to around €488-492/mt CFR, the same as last week, while indicative offers for ex-Indonesia HRC have settled at €485/mt CFR and slightly below. Market sources said buyers have remained reluctant to engage in such deals due to the uncertainty and potential financial exposure linked to CBAM, leaving import activity muted.
In the meantime, most offers for ex-Asia HRC including CBAM costs have been voiced at €580-610/mt DDP southern Europe, while offers from Indonesia have been reported at €595/mt DDP. “Spain is completely dead right now. No one is looking at prices. Everyone is just waiting to see how the safeguard measures and CBAM will develop. Still, a few small deals have gone through with Japan, Thailand, Algeria and South Korea at €580-610/mt DDP into southern Europe, mostly via traders, around 6,000-8,000 mt of each origin, all for January arrival,” an EU trader told SteelOrbis.
“Since CBAM regulations remain unclear, some buyers are favouring safer origins, particularly Turkey and South Korea,” another source said.
In the meantime, more changes have been proposed to the EU steel safeguard system this week affecting once again trade activity in the import segment. Specifically, the European Parliament’s Committee on International Trade has released its draft report on the proposed replacement for the EU steel safeguard measures. According to sources, under current safeguard rules, import tariff quotas are allocated quarterly. However, if companies do not use the full quota in one quarter, the unused volume is typically lost. The amendment proposes allowing carry-over, meaning the unused quota from one quarter could be transferred to the next quarter, giving importers more flexibility and helping avoid supply shortages. At the same time, it also broadens the range of acceptable documents proving “melt and pour” origin, rather than limiting this to mills’ certificates alone. Besides, the draft calls for a full ban on all steel melted and poured in Russia and Belarus, while granting Ukraine a complete exemption as long as the country faces its current security emergency.