Tata Steel moves forward with first phase of ‘Green Steel’ plan in the Netherlands
Tata Steel Nederlands said on Monday May 27 that it had awarded contracts for the basic engineering of the EAF and DRI to two Italian companies – equipment supplier Danieli and system solutions specialist Tenova.
Part of the first stage of Tata Steel Nederlands’ “Green Steel” plan, which it expects to be complete by 2030, the EAF will replace the site’s largest blast furnace, BF7, while the DRI plant will replace one of the company’s coke-making plants.
The company did not specify the capacity of the new equipment and did not provide any further details to Fastmarkets’ questions on the issue.
“We cannot share any more information yet about the capacity,” a company spokesperson said, although market participants told Fastmarkets the EAF capacity was likely to be around 3 million tonnes per year.
Tenova said the DRI equipment would refine the liquid metal from the EAF to produce high-quality steel, particularly for the automotive sector.
According to Fastmarkets’ data, at IJmuiden, Tata Steel currently has the capacity to produce 7.5 million tpy of crude steel and produces hot-rolled, cold-rolled, hot-dipped galvanized, and pre-painted coil, along with tin-plated products.
The DRI plant and EAF will cut CO2 emissions by 40%, Tata Steel Nederland said.
In the first stage of its Green Steel plan, the company also aims to further reduce its emissions and particulate matter by using more scrap in steel production, raising its usage from 17% scrap to 30% by 2030.
The steel producer said that it would apply for the necessary permits for the new equipment by the end of 2024.
In the second phase of its transition, Tata Steel Nederlands will close its BF6 and its other coke-making plants, resulting in an 80% reduction in CO2 emissions from 2030 to 2045, by which time the company will be “CO2 neutral.”
Political support concerns
Tata Steel Nederlands decarbonization plans have previously been supported by the Dutch government and, at the end of April, the outgoing Dutch government formally declared that it wanted to Tata Steel’s plan to become more sustainable enacted more quickly, with government representatives starting negotiations with the steelmaker over a legally binding and enforceable tailor-made agreement to do just that.
“Tata Steel’s focus is now entirely on the first phase of its Green Steel plan,” the steelmaker said on Monday. “[And] once the tailor-made agreement with the Dutch government is in place, the company can begin ordering long lead items based on the progressed engineering work, ensuring [that it stays] on track for 2030,” the company said.
But it is not clear how the new Dutch government – a right-wing coalition formed by Dutch nationalist Geert Wilders – will treat such decarbonization projects, with the country’s the most right-wing government for decades likely to deprioritize climate change regulations in favor of more protectionist, nationalistic policies.
Asked to comment on the possible impact of the new government’s future policies on Tata Steel Nederland’s Green Steel plan, the spokesperson for the company said the mandate had been given to the Minister of Economic Affairs & Climate Policy to continue the talks on the tailor-made plan.
“So that is what we do at this moment,” the spokesperson added.
Notably, the new coalition plans to reduce climate change funding by €300 million ($326 million) every year for the next four years – amounting to total cuts of €1.2 billion, according to local media reports.
Sources said the funding cuts will be achieved through cuts in the development of renewable hydrogen.
The Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs & Climate Policy was approach for comment, but had not responded by the time of publication.
The issue of developing green hydrogen is already a key topic of conversation among European steelmakers.
ArcelorMittal Europe chief executive, Geert van Poelvoorde, told global energy transition information service Hydrogen Insight earlier this year that it could not operate its European plants using green hydrogen, despite billions in EU state funding, because the resulting green steel would not be competitive in international markets.
Using hydrogen with existing DRI modules in Europe is quite expensive, Fastmarkets understands, with hydrogen prices currently around €5-8 per kg, but needing to be closer to “€2.5-3.0 per kg to be commercially viable for steelmaking,” a steel producer in Northern Europe said. To produce 1 tonne of liquid metal in a DRI module, around 80 kg of hydrogen is required, according to industry estimates.
Slow apparent demand for HRC interferes with European mills’ bullish moves
Offers for July-delivery HRC in Northern Europe were heard at €640-660 ($695-716) per tonne ex-works on Tuesday.
Sources noted, however, that several suppliers could offer prompt delivery for the end of June, indicating weak order books.
“Some suppliers are looking for quick deals for late-June [delivery] So, order books are not really dull due to low demand,” a buyer in Germany said.
Bids and buyers’ estimations of achievable prices were heard at €620-640 per tonne ex-works.
“We are trying to book HRC for July delivery at €620-630 [per tonne ex-works],” a second buyer in the region said.
As a result, Fastmarkets calculated its daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Northern Europe, at €636.50 ($690.83) per tonne on Tuesday, down by €0.87 per tonne from the previous calculation at €637.37 per tonne on May 24.
Fastmarkets’ European HRC indices were not published on Monday because of the Spring Bank Holiday in the UK.
The index was down by €2.25 per tonne week on week, but up by €6.08 per tonne month on month.
Import offers were reported at €620 per tonne CFR Antwerp from Egypt and at the same level from Turkey, including the anti-dumping duty.
Fastmarkets’ corresponding daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Italy, was calculated at €630.00 per tonne on Tuesday, unchanged since May 24.
The index was down by €3.75 per tonne week on week, but up by €9.37 per tonne month on month.
In Italy, the spot market was also quiet, and buyers’ stocks were reported to be “high compared to acute trading activity level,” a steel-service center source said.
A local steelmaker was maintaining its offers at €670 per tonne delivered (€660 per tonne ex-works), but transaction prices were still lagging behind offers, with tradeable values heard at €640-650 per tonne delivered (€630-640 per tonne ex-works) for July-delivery HRC.
Bids were reported at €620-630 per tonne ex-works.
Import offers for Asia-origin HRC with mainly August shipment were reported at €600-620 per tonne CFR, with some sources reporting lower values — €580-590 per tonne CFR — for Vietnam-origin HRC.
From Turkey, July-shipment HRC was offered to Italy around €600-610 per tonne CFR, including the anti-dumping duty. Sources reported bookings within the mentioned level to the Iberian market about a week ago.
“Turkish mills have quick shipment and no problems with quotas, so they’ve become very active in Europe lately,” a European buyer said.
Stillger leaves thyssenkrupp Materials Services
Martin Stillger will resign from his position as chief executive of thyssenkrupp Materials Services, effective 31 May, and leave thyssenkrupp AG, at his own request. His departure is by mutual agreement, the division says in a statement sent to Kallanish.
Stillger joined the thyssenkrupp group in 2008. He headed tk Materials Services, the steel distribution division of thyssenkrupp group, since December 2019. In this role, he participated as speaker at Kallanish’s European Steel Markets conference in 2021.
Stillger’s departure on very short notice comes in the wake of a larger restructuring of the German distribution unit thyssenkrupp Schulte, which he temporarily headed before becoming ceo of the tk Materials division.
“We very much regret Martin Stillger’s decision and would like to thank him sincerely for his many years of service, his great commitment and his numerous contributions to Materials Services,” says thyssenkrupp chief financial officer Klaus Keysberg.
The responsible boards will decide on a successor in the near future.
Christian Koehl Germany
Romania plans to restart Otelu Rosu steel plant
Romania wants to resume production at the Otelu Rosu steel plant, which has been idle since 2013, says Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu.
“Romanian construction company UMB plans to invest more than €300 million [$326.5m] in restarting the enterprise,” the president confirms in a social media post. “The investment will ensure the production of metal structures needed for infrastructure projects in Romania. The commissioning of the plant, located in the western county of Caras Severin, will create more than 600 jobs.”
The plant has changed owners on numerous occasions, Kallanish notes. In 2005, the plant was bought by the Ductil Steel Buzau group, which was subordinate to Russia’s Mechel. In 2013, Mechel sold all its Romanian assets to local company Invest Nikarom. In 2019, LDME acquired the assets of the Otelu Rosu plant, while at the beginning of 2024 it became known that Romanian businessman Dorinel Umbrarescu, owner of UMB, acquired the plant for €12m.
The new investor plans to produce steel structures at the plant necessary for the group’s construction activities, according to Romanian media reports.
The Otelu Rosu steel plant is equipped with a 100-tonne electric arc furnace, which was last modernised in 2011. It specialises in the production of low, medium, high-carbon and high-alloy billet, which are subsequently rolled into rebar, wire or other special products. The plant’s design production capacity is 850,000 tonnes/year of steel.
Turkey-based investment firm Ussuri Capital meanwhile plans to commission a greenfield cold rolling and galvanizing plant in Romania in 2027 (see Kallanish passim). The plant will have a 400,000 t/y capacity push-pickling line, 6-hi cold rolling mill with 250,000 t/y capacity and equal capacity hot-dip galvanizing line, and a 130,000 t/y continuous colour-coating line. Capital expenditure is estimated at €160 million ($172m).
Romania’s production of crude steel in 2023 totalled 1.58 million tonnes, down by 39.8% on-year, according to worldsteel data.
Svetoslav Abrossimov Bulgaria
Tata contracts Danieli/Tenova for IJmuiden DRI-EAF transformation
Tata Steel Nederland has awarded contracts to Danieli and Tenova for the basic engineering of a direct reduction plant (DRP), an electric arc furnace and other facilities at its IJmuiden location.
The agreements will result in an engineering package that will form the basis for permitting the first phase of Tata Steel’s “Green Steel” plan, Kallanish hears from the steelmaker. The company says it aims to apply for the necessary permits before the end of the year.
Last year, Tata Steel Nederland sharpened its Green Steel plan with a clear timeline, goals, and endpoint. Health and climate play a prominent role, and it explicitly addresses the concerns of local residents and other stakeholders in the IJmond area, the company underlines.
At the end of April, the Dutch government formally decided it wanted to implement Tata Steel’s plans to become more sustainable more quickly. Once the tailor-made agreement with the Dutch government is in place, the company can begin ordering long-lead items based on the progressed engineering work, ensuring the project is on track for completion in 2030.
Tata Steel will implement its Green Steel plan in three stages. The first stage will go into operation by as soon as 2030 and consists of 1 DRP and 1 EAF replacing blast furnace 7 and coke and gas plant 2.
Christian Koehl Germany
Price fluctuation, grid shortage hamper transition: conference
In addition to more renewable energy sources, the transition to cleaner steelmaking requires a massive expansion of electricity networks, and comparable power prices, said speakers at the Danieli “Innovaction” Meeting in Udine on Tuesday.
Michael Bott of Dillinger illustrated the problem for Germany and his company in particular. “German wind parks are in the north, on the sea, where the wind is, but we are located in the south,” he said during a panel session attended by Kallanish. He estimates the country will need 14,000km of additional grid capacity in the years to come.
Dillinger is not only a consumer of renewable energy, but also a supplier of heavy plate for wind parks. For the German company, this has meant a turn away from the oil and gas pipelines it used to supply. With the Nord Stream pipeline from Russia to Germany, it also served a project that became politically tainted, and ultimately lost its purpose.
Bott also highlighted the challenge of price-finding when materials and energy sources change. While coal has a global market price tag, prices for electricity vary widely, within Europe and even within one country, he noted.
Carlo Beltrame of Beltrame Group followed up on Bott’s concern regarding transmission grids, and pointed right at the dilemma: “If decarbonisation continues, we will have a problem with the networks,” he said. He then pointed to another scenario. Referring to the automotive industry, he warned that “if they do not buy the green steel from us, decarbonisation will sooner or later fail”.
Christian Koehl Germany
CBAM circumvention threat concerns European distributors
European steel service centres are concerned that some large, first-tier customers are turning to imports from outside the EU of the final, steel-containing product as these do not come under the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM).
Suppliers from Asia are meanwhile looking for workaround solutions and are threatening the European metalforming industry and service centres. So was the conclusion of last week’s working group meeting hosted by European distributors’ association EUROMETAL.
“Scared by the impact of CBAM, some large customers (1st tiers) are looking for external alternatives outside European borders and opting to import ready-to-use steel products, in order to circumvent the regulation,” EUROMETAL says in its meeting summary.
“This trend deeply worries service centres, especially considering the current period of moderate activity. Already facing significant investments in decarbonisation and cost optimisation, CBAM throws another wrench into an already challenging situation,” it adds.
“The future of European steel processing hinges on the industry’s ability to adapt to the demands of CBAM while remaining competitive. Collaboration and innovation will likely be key to weathering this storm,” the association concludes.
Adam Smith Poland