TSM HubSteel → Hot-Rolled Coil (HRC)

Hot-Rolled Coil (HRC)

HRC Steel Product page
Flat-rolled carbon steel coil — the highest-volume steel product traded with cleared futures.

Where to find live HRC prices

Primary sources only

TSM does not display real-time HRC quotes on this page — instead, we link directly to the regulated exchanges and benchmark price-reporting agencies (PRAs) that produce the actual numbers. One True Source for All: where the data originates, that is where you should read it.

Exchange access is free for delayed prices on most LME/SHFE/CME pages; live tick-by-tick data and PRA assessments are paid subscriptions sold by the exchange or by Fastmarkets / Argus / S&P Global Platts directly. See TSM Sources methodology for the full source tiering.

About Hot-Rolled Coil (HRC)

Editorial · sourced

What is hot-rolled coil (HRC)?

Hot-rolled coil (HRC) is flat-rolled carbon steel produced by passing a continuous-cast slab through a hot rolling mill at temperatures above the recrystallisation point (typically 1,100–1,250 °C), then coiling the finished strip. Typical commercial-grade HRC is 1.2–25 mm thick and up to ~2 m wide, supplied in coils of 10–30 tonnes. HRC is the dominant flat-product form globally — most automotive body sheet, structural sections, pipes, tubes and welded products start as HRC and are then cold-rolled, coated or cut to the final form. China alone produces over half of world HRC.

How HRC is priced

HRC has three regulated cash-settled futures contracts on the London Metal Exchange Ferrous complex:SHFE (Shanghai) also lists very-high-liquidity HRC futures denominated in CNY. Physical premiums (regional differentials, alloy upcharges) are quoted by Fastmarkets, Argus and S&P Global Platts.

Where HRC is produced

HRC production roughly tracks crude-steel output. Top crude-steel producers in 2025e per USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 — Iron and Steel: China 980 Mt, India 160 Mt, USA 82 Mt, Japan 81 Mt, Russia 65 Mt, South Korea 60 Mt, Germany 38 Mt, Turkey 37 Mt, Brazil 35 Mt, Iran 32 Mt. China alone supplies over 50% of world flat-product capacity. The largest single HRC-export flow is from East Asia (China, Japan, South Korea) into ASEAN and the Middle East; intra-EU and intra-NAFTA flows are dominated by integrated producers protected by anti-dumping duties.

Who produces HRC

The largest HRC producers are integrated steelmakers with hot-strip mills attached to blast-furnace / basic-oxygen-furnace (BF-BOF) routes, plus the largest scrap-fed EAF mini-mills:The complete top-50 ranked list is published annually by the World Steel Association.

What HRC is used for

HRC is converted into the bulk of downstream flat-steel products:
  • Cold-rolled coil (CRC) for automotive body panels, white goods, packaging (food cans).
  • Galvanised / coated sheet (HDG, GA, electrogalvanised) — corrosion-protected auto and construction sheet.
  • Welded pipes and tubes for oil & gas line pipe, structural tube, conduit.
  • Structural sections (light hot-rolled sections, sheet piling).
  • Heavy-equipment fabrications — yellow goods, mining equipment, agricultural machinery.
The single largest HRC end-market by tonnage is construction (sheet piling, decking, panels); the highest-margin end-market is automotive (advanced high-strength steels, AHSS, for lightweighting).

Key facts about HRC supply

  • The EU CBAM (Regulation 2023/956) covers HRC imports into the EU since 1 January 2026 — importers must surrender carbon certificates priced against EU ETS allowances.
  • Over half of world HRC trade is on long-term annual or quarterly contracts between mills and large auto-makers; spot tonnage accounts for ~25-35% of total flows and dominates the futures benchmark.
  • Reserves: not applicable. See Iron Ore for the upstream raw-material reserves and Steel group page for the parent-product overview.

Data sources

Editorial principle: every figure on TSM Hub product pages is sourced from an official primary publication (USGS, LME, World Steel Association, EU regulation, or industry association). No Wikipedia or aggregator citations.

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