Prices for hot-rolled steel coils in Europe remained virtually unchanged on the spot market, with trading slowing further ahead of the end-of-year weekend, and some long-term contracts for the first half of 2026 were awarded at increased prices, Fastmarkets reported on Thursday, December 18.
In Germany and the Benelux countries, there were reported offers for the supply of HRC in February and March at a price of 630-670 euros (740-787 dollars) per ton from the manufacturer. As Fastmarkets became aware, some suppliers claimed that "almost all the goods for February have already been sold out."
Germany offered HRC of Italian origin at a price of 650 euros per ton.
Possible prices, according to buyers' estimates, were about 620-630 euros per ton from the factory, but transactions were rare.
"The market is closing due to the Christmas holidays, customers have booked everything they needed, the factories have a good order portfolio - the market will resume in January," said a German buyer.
As a result, the daily price index for Fastmarkets hot-rolled steel for domestic consumption in Northern Europe (exw) on Thursday was 623.75 euros per ton, which is 0.42 euros higher than 623.33 euros per ton on Wednesday.
The indicator increased by 2.58 euros per ton week-on-week and by 10.00 euros per ton month-on-month.
The signing of a number of long-term contracts for the supply of HRC for the first half of 2026 with automakers has been completed, which increased the price by about 50 euros per ton to "just over 700 euros per ton," Fastmarkets reported.
"This is a positive signal, given how strongly end consumers resisted price increases at the beginning of the negotiation process," a source at the plant said.
Manufacturers had fairly optimistic expectations for the first quarter, given the good order volumes and expecting the full implementation of the Carbon Dioxide Emissions Control Mechanism (CBAM), which would further limit import opportunities and, consequently, support the recovery of domestic prices.
On December 17, the European Commission published a package of CBAM documents on the web portal of its Directorate General for Taxation and Customs Union (DG TAXUD).
The updated CBAM applications were considered technically final, but were still subject to official adoption and publication in the Official Journal of the EU. According to sources familiar with the situation, they were expected to be published before December 25.
Lower benchmarks and higher default emission values for a number of countries of origin were expected to lead to a sharp increase in import prices.
"The cost of complying with CBAM requirements is unbearable for small market participants, so we can already see that buyers prefer
