Last week, domestic HRC prices in the EU remained stable at high levels across the region, despite the fact that trading activity in both Northern Europe and Italy continues to decline amid increased inventories and persistently low demand.
Import offers also remained relatively stable, with some suppliers attempting to raise cargo prices slightly based on both CFR and DDP, however, there was little actual trade due to the ongoing uncertainty surrounding CBAM. Market fluctuations increased due to the fact that the European Commission approved the use of benchmarks and default emission values – key tools for the implementation of CBAM – and the reaction of market participants was sharply negative. For several sources, the recently adopted default values turn out to be higher than those indicated in previously published drafts, which significantly increases the projected cost of such imports.
In particular, local plants in Northern Europe, as well as last week, are still focused on new orders for delivery in January and February at a price of 630-650 euros per ton, as before. Meanwhile, the prices available for rolls for January delivery are estimated at 610-630 euros per ton from the manufacturer, mainly for January delivery, which is 10 euros higher compared to the previous month
.Meanwhile, in Italy, factories were targeting January shipments of 620-630 euros per tonne, up 10 euros from the previous month, while the market price level for January shipments was estimated at 600-620 euros per tonne from the factory compared to the previous month. up to 590-610 euros per ton last week
.In the import segment, the estimated supply prices for HRC were set at 490-520 euros per ton CFR, which is 5 euros higher than in the lower part of the range, while import proposals for HRC, including the cost of DDP-based CBAM, were announced at 595-610 euros per ton, depending on the supplier's price increased by 15 euros per ton in the lower part of the range week after week
.It is worth noting that CFR-based import offers, excluding CBAM-related costs, have been particularly scarce in the region this week, with most suppliers providing only indicative figures. In particular, the offers for HRC from Indonesia amounted to about 600 USD per ton CFR, which corresponds to about 512 euros per ton CFR, compared with 485-495 euros per ton CFR last week. In addition, offers were announced at a price of $575 per ton CFR, which corresponds to about €491 per ton CFR, as it was last week. However, according to sources, there has been talk of a deal with an Indian company on the market this week.
