New trade protection measures and cost factors related to CBAM have led to a significant improvement in the European stainless steel market recently, with both prices and order volumes rebounding. At present, the mills in Northern and Central Europe have raised prices for stainless steel cold-rolled coils, approximately EUR 100/ton higher than offers from Italian mills, primarily due to relatively high inventory in Italy and Poland.
In addition, European steel mills are not operating at full capacity, resulting in a limited supply, and local coil centers have already received higher February prices. If the target price for March is even higher, and general delivery is extended to March. Market participants indicated that while orders have indeed increased, the economy remains weak, and this growth is not driven by a genuine rebound in consumption. On the other hand, import prices from Asia remain competitive; even after adding CBAM costs, they are still lower than those from European mills. Nevertheless, most buyers have suspended imports due to too much uncertainty.
