Hot-Rolled Steel Coil (HRC)
Commercial and structural HRC by gauge, width and grade
Hot-rolled coil is strip rolled above the recrystallisation temperature and wound hot, sold on gauge, width, grade and surface. Gauge runs from 1.5 mm up to 25 mm — under about 3 mm is thin-gauge HRC that competes with cold-rolled for some uses, above 12 mm shades into plate-in-coil. Width is 1,000 to 2,000 mm with 1,250 and 1,500 mm the commodity widths, and coil weight 10–30 MT depending on the mill's mandrel and your crane. Grade is the specification that carries the price: SS400 (JIS G3101), S235JR and S275JR (EN 10025), ASTM A36 and A1011 CS are the general structural and commercial grades, SAE 1006 / 1008 are the low-carbon drawing chemistries for cold rolling and tube work, and API 5L X42–X60 strip is a different market with a different price. Black (as-rolled) HRC keeps its mill scale; pickled and oiled (P&O) has had it removed in an acid line and is what a cold roller or a pipe mill with a clean-surface requirement takes. Tolerances follow EN 10051 or ASTM A568 and a buyer writes flatness and crown limits into the contract where a slitting or profiling line needs them.
The seaborne coil trade in 2025 was led by a handful of origins. UN Comtrade 2025 export declarations put Indonesia at 2.94 Mt (USD 524/MT declared), India at 2.26 Mt (USD 549), the USA at 1.44 Mt (USD 1,046), Kazakhstan at 1.18 Mt (USD 565), Egypt at 0.77 Mt (USD 691), Australia at 0.37 Mt and Saudi Arabia at 0.33 Mt (USD 624), out of 15 declaring origins. The US figure reflects the tariff-protected North American price rather than a different product; the Asian and Gulf origins set the price for an Indian Ocean or East African buyer. HRC is sold in the same lanes as plate, and CBIL's chartering desk is already working steel stems — plates from Dunkirk to Umm Qasr and a 30,000 cbm steel project cargo out of Penglai — so the coil freight is priced by a desk that is fixing steel this month, not by a generic index. CBIL brokers hot-rolled coil from Asian, Indian and Gulf mills to pipe mills, cold rollers, service centres and fabricators as a commodity brokerage company, against mill test certificates to the named standard and third-party inspection of gauge, width, coil weight and surface. Parcels are worked in Handysize and Supramax breakbulk or on multipurpose tonnage, coils eye-to-sky or eye-to-side as your discharge gear requires, on FOB and CFR terms; the chartering desk (LaycanDesk) quotes the freight alongside the cargo. Send your gauge and width mix, grade, coil-weight limit and surface requirement.
Need the ship as well? Our chartering desk prices steel coil and plates breakbulk freight on LaycanDesk.
Indicative reference
$520–700 USD / MT
as at September 2026
Reference level only — not an offer, and reviewed quarterly. Levels shown are as at September 2026. Firm pricing is quoted per RFQ, subject to volume, terms and inspection.
Typical Specification
Specifications are indicative and adjusted to the agreed contract and destination requirements. Final spec confirmed on COA / SGS.
Available Grades
Applications
- ERW & spiral pipe mills
- Cold rolling feed
- Structural fabrication
- Service centre slitting & cut-to-length
- Shipbuilding & heavy equipment
Category
Metals & Recycled Scrap
Incoterms
FOB · CFR · CIF
Pricing basis
USD / MT
Inspection
SGS / Intertek at load port
Hot-Rolled Steel Coil (HRC) — buyer questions
Black or pickled and oiled — which should I buy?
Black HRC is as-rolled with mill scale on it and is right for structural fabrication, plate substitution and any use where the surface is welded or painted after blasting. Pickled and oiled has been through an acid line, is scale-free and lightly oiled against rust, and is what a cold roller, a tube mill with a clean-bore requirement or a stamper needs. P&O costs more per tonne and cannot sit outside; if you do not need the surface, do not pay for it.
Are SS400, S235JR and ASTM A36 interchangeable?
Commercially they overlap and mills routinely dual-certify, but they are not identical. SS400 sets tensile 400–510 MPa with yield by thickness; S235JR sets yield 235 MPa minimum with an impact requirement at 20°C; A36 sets yield 250 MPa minimum. If your end customer's drawings name one standard, contract to that standard and ask for the mill certificate to carry it. We will tell you which origin mills certify to which.
What coil weight and eye orientation should I specify?
Coil weight is capped by your crane and decoiler — 10–15 MT for a small slitting line, up to 25–30 MT for a pipe mill or cold roller. Heavier coils mean fewer thread-ups and better yield, so buy as heavy as you can handle. Eye-to-sky stows more easily and discharges with a C-hook; eye-to-side needs a coil cradle at the port. Tell us the discharge gear at your port and we will stow to it.
How is the freight priced on a coil parcel?
Coils are breakbulk — Handysize and Supramax tonnage for 10,000–40,000 MT parcels, multipurpose vessels for smaller lots — and the stowage factor and lashing drive the freight as much as distance. CBIL runs a chartering desk that is fixing steel stems now, so the freight is quoted with the cargo on CFR terms rather than left to a second negotiation after the cargo is agreed.
Ready to source Hot-Rolled Coil?
Send your quantity, specification, preferred Incoterms and destination port. We'll verify supply and respond with a workable offer — usually within one business day.
Have Hot-Rolled Coil to sell? Submit an offer — we'll match it against live buyer demand.
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