ArcelorMittal Poland to build hydrogen plant to power steel sheet galvanizing lines
ArcelorMittal Poland has contracted Linde Gaz Polska to build a hydrogen production plant at its Krakow branch to supply process gas to two galvanizing lines, the steel company said.
The PLN 100 million ($24 million) investment has already started with design work underway. The plant will be producing hydrogen from natural gas with the startup planned for the end of 2026.
“The project with Linde is [meant] to ensure a reliable supply of hydrogen for our sheet galvanizing operations,” the director of the Krakow branch, Lukasz Skorupa, said in the company’s statement.
Separately, ArcelorMittal Poland is building several hydrogen furnaces that will make it possible to eliminate ammonia in the annealing plant boosting its safety, Skorupa said.
ArcelorMittal Poland has not used coal as a fuel since 2018, and it terminated coke production in July 2024. Its installations — the hot rolling mill and the cold rolling mill, the galvanizing and color-coating lines — now operate exclusively on natural gas, according to Skorupa.
“We are constantly improving the quality of our products, expanding their range, and at the same time gradually reducing our impact on the environment,” ArcelorMittal Poland CEO Wojciech Koszuta said.
“In our processes, we replace technologies with those that have a lower impact on the environment. Hence the elimination of ammonia and the transition to hydrogen.”
Celsa sells UK, Nordic steel subsidiaries to Czech investor Sev.en
Spain-headquartered long steel producer Celsa has sold its UK and Nordic subsidiaries to Czech investment group Sev.en Global Investments, the two companies announced Nov. 21 in separate statements.
Celsa Steel UK is the largest EAF-based steel producer in the UK with production capacity of 1.2 million mt/year of crude steel at its plant in Wales. Celsa Nordic has operations in Norway, Finland, Sweden and Denmark and produces via its EAF-based plant in Mo i Rana, Norway, with output of 683,000 mt of rebar and wire rod in 2023.
Celsa said it would “devote all the funds received after the divestment to the reduction of Grupo Celsa’s indebtedness in accordance with the legally assumed commitments.”
It did not give a price for the deal, although Spanish newspapers citing industry sources said the price tag was Eur600 million ($632 million).
“Through this important divestment, which is added to the recent increase in share capital and the launch of an ambitious efficiency plan, Grupo Celsa continues with the implementation of its plan to reorganize its industrial and financial situation, focusing on its operations in Spain and on the reduction of financial leverage,” Celsa said.
Earlier this year, Celsa said it was considering selling its international operations in Norway, Poland and the UK to pay off its debts, while in October parent company Celsa Steel approved a capital increase of Eur166 million to fund a comprehensive efficiency and growth initiative.
This is the first entry into the steel industry by Sev.en, which has a track record of targeting restructuring and growth acquisition opportunities, particularly in power generation and mining of various natural resources.
“The integration of Celsa’s steel plants will enhance Sev.en Global Investments’ diverse portfolio by adding a combined production capacity of 2 million mt of steel products annually. These products, primarily used in construction applications such as bars, sections, mesh, and wires, underscore the group’s unwavering commitment to sustainable industrial practices,” Sev.en said in its statement.
Sev.en Global Investments is part of the Sev.en Group, whose beneficiary is Czech entrepreneur and investor Pavel Tyka.
Platts, part of S&P Commodity Insights, assessed Northwest Europe Rebar Ex-Works Wkly at Eur600/mt on Nov. 20, stable week on week. Since the beginning of the year prices lost Eur20/mt, but they are still well below the highest historical prices reached on March 30, 2022 when they recorded Eur1340/mt base ex-works.
Benteler supplies sustainable tubes for construction
Seamless tubes from Benteler Steel/Tube’s CliMore series will be used in pioneering geotechnical applications, Kallanish learns from the German company.
CliMore tubes will be used in the construction industry as micropiles or ground nails for foundation and stabilisation. The steel load-bearing elements transfer compressive and tensile loads under both dynamic and static conditions into the surrounding soil or rock structure, Benteler explains.
As part of a contract signed this month, it will supply CliMore tubes to Ischebeck, a market leader in the field of geotechnical applications and the first customer from construction to opt for this steel type. In contrast to conventional solid bar commonly used for anchoring, Ischebeck uses a tubular solution, thereby saving materials, Benteler notes.
Meanwhile, ArcelorMittal reports signing a contract with ABB for the use of its XCarb steel in ABB’s Kabeldon power distribution system. The sustainable sourcing agreement helps reduce the carbon footprint of key electrification equipment by 29%, according to ArcelorMittal.
Designed for outdoor environments, Kabeldon provides weather-resistant power distribution. Long popular with the utilities industry, the system is now also widely used for electric vehicle charging infrastructure and renewable energy applications.
Christian Koehl Germany
Celsa Steel UK, Nordic secure new owner
Celsa Steel UK and Celsa Nordic are to be 100% acquired by Sev.en Global Investments following an agreement with Celsa Group announced on Thursday, Kallanish learns.
The acquisition will see Sev.en enter the steel industry and expand its European industry footprint. The company declined to comment on the transaction value.
Alan Svoboda, chief executive of Sev.en Global Investments, says: “We perceive the steel industry as vital for our growth trajectory; therefore, we are thrilled to finalise this landmark agreement. This acquisition fortifies our position on the European market including the entry into the promising Scandinavian markets. Production of green steel also advances Sev.en GI clearly towards sustainability.”
The new investor has not specified its definition of “green” steel.
The acquired mills are electric arc furnace-based producers utilising steel scrap. Celsa Steel UK, recognised as the largest steel recycling company in the UK, is based in Cardiff with a production capacity of 1.2 million tonnes/year of construction steel.
Celsa Nordic operates in Norway, Finland, Sweden, and Denmark. It has a fully integrated production chain encompassing scrap metal collection, processing, and manufacturing of finished steel products for the construction sector, as well as being powered by renewable hydro energy.
“Both facilities are technologically advanced and well-established European leaders in green steel production. We are eager to collaborate closely with both management teams and other stakeholders to further develop these assets and unlock their long-term potential,” Svoboda notes.
“We are constantly on the lookout for new growth opportunities in all our focus industries worldwide. I am happy that the steel industry is now part of our core portfolio,” he adds.
The company investment portfolio spans coal mines in Australia and the US, as well electricity power stations.
Earlier this year, the Celsa Group rejected a bid for its Polish plants, while Emsteel was said to be in talks to acquire the group’s operations.
ArcelorMittal committed to decarbonization investment in Belgium
Earlier this week, numerous reports emerged in Belgium media that ArcelorMittal was planning to only invest in electric-arc furnaces (EAFs) at the site.
“We’ve not said that [the DRI investment is cancelled]. Although there have been have been some reports in the Belgian media [on November 19]… nothing has changed. We’ve been saying all year we are working on the engineering for our European decarbonization projects and that remains the case – no final decisions have been made,” the spokesperson told Fastmarkets.
In September 2021, ArcelorMittal has signed a letter of intent with the Belgian and Flemish governments to support it’s €1.1 ($1.2) billion investment in
decarbonisation at the Ghent site.
The company also announced plans to build a 2.5 million tonne DRI plant and two electric-arc furnaces in Ghent and said the new facilities would operate in parallel with a state-of-the-art blast furnace (BF) that is set to use waste wood and plastics as an alternative to fossil carbon.
Currently, ArcelorMittal Ghent operates BFs with a combined capacity of more than 4 million tpy of pig iron per year, along with a 5 million tpy basic-oxygen furnace (BOF).
The site produces hot-rolled, cold-rolled and galvanized coil.
The company’s plan to switch to DRI/EAF production follows the common approach to decarbonization being taken by Europe’s flat steel producers – to replace BF-BOF capacities with EAFs and hydrogen-fuelled DRI modules.
Possible decoupling of iron and steelmaking in Europe
More than 50 million tonnes of new green steelmaking capacity – using just EAFs or EAFs and DRI – is expected to come online in Europe in 2025-2030.
Moving to THE DRI/EAF production route, however, raises concerns in the European market, however, due to energy-intensive nature of DRIs and the lack of energy infrastructure in Europe to support such a transition.
Europe needs to build out its production of fossil-free electricity to produce green hydrogen to feed future DRI capacities. But the volumes needed for large-scale electrolysis to produce green hydrogen are significant – requiring an additional 400 terawatt hours (TWh) of CO2-free electricity in 2050 – and about seven times the amount of energy purchased by the sector currently, according to estimates from the European steel association, Eurofer.
From 2025 to 2030 renewable electrolyser capacity within the EU is expected to rise to 40 GW, producing up to 10 million tonnes of renewable hydrogen, according to the European Commission.
Using hydrogen with existing DRI modules in Europe is currently too expensive to be competitive, Fastmarkets understands, with hydrogen prices currently seen at around €5-8 per kg. The price of hydrogen needs to be “around €2.5-3.0 per kg to make it commercially viable for steelmaking,” a steel producer in Northern Europe told Fastmarkets.
Around 140,000-150,000 tonnes of hydrogen per year would be required to fuel one 2 million tpy DRI module, sources said.
Some market participants have said that it would, therefore, make sense to split iron and steelmaking in Europe and to import hot-briquetted iron (HBI) and DRI from abroad, such as the Middle East-North Africa region, where HBI/DRI production is more commercially viable.
“Shifting energy-intensive iron production to a resource-rich region would allow Europe to produce green steel with imported HBI/DRI,” an energy producer in Europe said.
Europe is already importing significant tonnages of HBI, with import volumes in 2023 reaching 2.61 million tonnes, according to Global Trade Tracker (GTT).
European Commission to consider changes to CBAM to help exporters
Development of relevant proposals is expected in 2026
The European Commission will explore options to help European industries affected by carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM), such as the steel and aluminum sectors. This was announced by the Director-General for Taxation and Customs Affairs of the European Commission Gerasimos Thomas, Bloomberg reports.
According to him, this will take place as part of the revision of the mechanism, which will be held next year. Based on the results of the discussion, the relevant proposals will be formed and presented in 2026. According to the official, the EU will leave no stone unturned to help the bloc’s exporters cope with the side effects of CBAM.
EU exporters complain that their products will become more expensive as emissions costs increase.
As Thomas noted in an interview at the COP29 climate conference in Baku, maintaining the competitiveness of European industry during the energy transition is a key priority of the second term of EC President Ursula von der Leyen. According to him, there are several ideas, and nothing is ruled out. Thomas also added that the EU realizes that the problem will have to be solved earlier than expected.
Previous attempts by European lawmakers to create a mechanism to help EU exporters were rejected because of concerns that it could violate WTO rules. The CBA has already been criticized by the bloc’s trading partners, such as Brazil and China. In addition, Thomas noted, the EU is waiting to see how the new US administration will react to the mechanism.
The United States has been calling for the development of its own CBAM analog: recently, both Democrats and Republicans have put forward relevant proposals.
Toward the end of 2025, the EU will announce what steps in the US and other countries can be considered equivalent to the European mechanism in terms of climate impact. The Director-General for Taxation and Customs Affairs of the European Commission emphasized that the EU will not allow circumvention of regulation, but there will be a system that encourages and incentivizes countries that take measures to minimize the environmental impact of carbon-intensive sectors covered by the CBA.
Source: gmk.center
Węglokoks considers acquisition of pipe producer Rurexpol
The company promises to resume production at Huta Częstochowa in early 2025
Poland’s Węglokoks is considering acquiring pipe producer Rurexpol, which was one of the divisions of the Czestochowa steel mill before it was sold to Alchemia. This is reported by WNP.
In November 2024, Alchemia began the process of liquidating Rurexpol’s branch in Czestochowa due to the expected loss of its ability to compete in the market amid the deteriorating situation in the European steel industry.
“We are considering this potential transaction. When Rurexpol was part of a steel plant, its operating model was cost-effective due to access to resources and sharing of some services. The plant produces interesting products, including drill pipes, and we believe it would be a very interesting business to acquire. However, it is too early to talk about it,” said Tomasz Ślęzak, President of Węglokoks.
As for the Huta Częstochowa steel mill, which Węglokoks has been selected as a tenant, the company’s launch plan is designed to take 45 days. The cold start is scheduled for December 20 this year, with production resuming in January 2025. Maintenance services have already started preparations.
The plant is expected to produce 10 kt of steel in the first month of operation and double this in the second month. In addition, salary payments to employees have already begun.
Węglokoks also notes that it is interested in acquiring Huta Częstochowa, as it “fits into the company’s operational logic” and will reduce dependence on raw material suppliers.
“The big advantage of the plant’s foundry facilities is that they can cast billets and slabs. We can supply raw materials to the plate mill in Batory and to Huta Łabędy,” explained Tomasz Ślęzak.
Jarosław Guptysz, Production Director of Huta Częstochowa, believes that there are no threats to the implementation of the estimated 45-day launch plan for Huta Częstochowa.
On November 19, Węglokoks signed a lease agreement for the Czestochowa steel plant with the company’s insolvency administrator. To fulfill the agreement, Huta Częstochowa sp. z o.o. was established to take over the employer’s obligations to the bankrupt plant’s employees and will be responsible for restoring its operations.
Source: gmk.center
Thyssenkrupp CEO Miguel Angel López downplays the prospects of renewable energy in Germany
Thyssenkrupp AG chief executive Miguel Angel López has dismissed German government efforts to promote solar and wind power in the country as uneconomical.
“I have not seen any plan that facilitates green electricity in central Europe at competitive costs,” he said in an interview with weekly magazine Focus. Competitive green energy would only be possible on the Iberian peninsula and Scandinavia, where costs would always be lower than in Germany, he added.
“My point is pure mathematics. If you compare the costs in Scandinavia, the Iberian Peninsula, or the USA with those here, and extrapolate them into the future, the result will always be the same,” he is quoted as saying. Billions in public subsidies for solar and wind energy is therefore wasted money, he argues. Solar power will not pay off in Germany, while wind power does not have sufficient available surface area to be rolled out, he added.
The interview appeared prior to the group’s annual press conference on Tuesday, but the topic was not broached then by executives. However, one critical commentator questioned whether Iberian and Scandinavian green energy would be made available to other countries in sufficient volumes. “They might need it for their own projects,” Kallanish heard him say from the conference floor.
In the interview, López made a stand for the strength of Germany’s manufacturing industries, and warned that de-industrialisation has already begun. He rejects public subsidies to strengthen local industry, and instead favours financial incentives that have been successful in other countries. As an example, he cites London, which created attractive jobs by granting temporary tax reductions for wealthy tax payers willing to move to the UK.
Christian Koehl Germany
Decarbonisation adds to ‘fragile’ EU market facing overcapacity
The “fragile” European steel market is facing a crisis more severe than the financial downturn, with margins shrinking amid growing overcapacity at a time when steelmakers are needing to fund decarbonisation plans, Kallanish learns from a recent webinar.
The webinar, organised by Eurofer and hosted by Euractiv, heard panellists urgently calling for the European Commission to take action to support the sector, which has become uncompetitive amid high energy costs and large investments required to decarbonise.
Mario Arvedi Caldonazzo, vice-president of Eurofer, and chief executive of Arvedi, said: “The European steel industry is experiencing the most severe crisis since the 2009 financial and economic downturn. It is a real existential issue now.”
Caldonazzo pointed to the spillover effects of overcapacity in China into other markets, from where imports into Europe have now surged.
“We can’t compete against the Chinese state, because the Chinese steel industry is basically state owned and is completely subsidised by the central government; this is [an] unfair practice, and we have to react immediately,” he said.
“Europe lacks competitiveness. The high energy costs, the lack of raw materials such as scrap, which is the critical and strategic raw material for guaranteed transformation, conversion for our steel industry,” he added. “On both issues, energy and raw materials, the Commission has to intervene.”
Overcapacity was also noted by Giorgio Gori, MEP and vice-chair of the ITRE Committee. “The overcapacity is a huge threat to the survival of the European steel industry and requires appropriate measures to protect our production,” he observed. He also cited the significantly higher cost of energy than competitors, the difficult access to raw materials and the lack of public investment.
The industry move towards decarbonisation was also putting additional pressure on the European market.
“We added to a fragile situation which is now speeding up the problem. We added a market intervention which is unseen before when we said we want to decarbonise the steel industry in a decade,” said Christian Ehler, MEP and member of the ITRE Committee.
Caldonazzo also noted that public grants were difficult to access for decarbonising European companies despite support being announced as part of the Green Deal in 2019. He added that if decarbonisation is the priority for the EU, then companies need market defence, with the high costs of green steelmaking making the market uncompetitive.
Meanwhile, Judith Kirton-Darling, general secretary of IndustriAll, said of the European steel industry: “This house is on fire and unless we bring in the fire brigade right now the house will burn down.”
She called for action “at pace” and noted the danger of deindustrialisation and the geopolitical consequences of losing the strategic steel industry as a key energy transition material.
“We really need the new Commission to arrive running on the defence of this strategic industry,” she said. “We can’t wait any longer.”
“We are now in the real danger zone where if political decisions are not being taken right now, we risk major investment decisions going elsewhere in the world,” she added.
Kirton-Darling also pointed to the lack of an industrial policy attached to the targets set by the Green Deal. “You can’t have a target without an industrial strategy of how you reach the target.” However, she did see a way forward through the steel action plan. “The elements are there on the table. There is a question of sequencing. We need all the parts of the action plan on the table to have coherence,” she said.
Gori noted that the Commission needs to help create a green steel market and put forward the demand through public procurement and incentivise its use. Kirton-Darling also echoed this, stressing that from day one for the new commission, things like public procurement “are really low hanging fruit”.
Carrie Bone UK