EU HRC market holds steady amid currency-driven shifts, cautious sentiment
European domestic hot-rolled coil prices were broadly stable April 15, as market participants flagged currency fluctuations and geopolitical headwinds as factors reshaping trade flows and buyer behavior.
Domestic tradable values were reported at around Eur650/mt ex-works Ruhr and Eur620–630/mt ex-works Italy. While mill offer levels remain steady, traders noted ongoing caution in spot bookings.
“Compared to last week, there’s slightly more interest, but it’s not a demand boom — just the seasonal spring uptick,” a distributor said. “Real consumption hasn’t changed much.”
Import activity remained limited, as exchange rate movements prompted adjustments. Offers from India were heard at Eur570/mt CIF Antwerp, while Indonesian HRC was cited at Eur540–550/mt CIF Italy. “With the US dollar weakening against the euro, the same US dollar price now converts to a lower euro value, giving the illusion of a price drop,” a source explained.
Although some mills have floated the idea of further price hikes, participants were skeptical.
“Imports aren’t particularly attractive right now, and mills might try to capitalize on that — but weak real demand will probably hold prices back,” the source also said.
Platts assessed HRC in Northwest Europe at Eur650/mt EXW Ruhr April 15, and in Southern Europe at Eur630/mt EXW Italy, both stable on the day.
Platts assessed imported HRC in Northern Europe at Eur545/mt CIF Antwerp, stable on the day, and in Southern Europe at Eur535/mt CIF Italy, down Eur5 on the day.
SSC Vogten Staal carries out major expansion
Dutch steel service centre Vogten Staal is ramping up processing lines at its new warehouse, with further investments planned.
For the expansion of its location in Maastricht, the company bought in 2021 a new lot spanning 57,000m2, on which it built a warehouse of 38,000m2. Some months ago, two new slitting lines were installed and are expected to reach full capability by the end of this year, managing director Jack Papen tells Kallanish. The lines were supplied by Italian company Novastilmec, which specialises in strip cutting equipment.
The new building will also receive a pickling line for strip up to 20mm. When all new lines are installed, the annual throughput capacity of both facilities will be well over 1 million tonnes/year. It will have three cut-to-length lines (1.85-26mm), two push-pull pickling lines (1.85-20mm), a slitting line (1.5-12mm) and four shears (up to 15mm).
The company previously lifted output at its original warehouse from 2018 to 2024 by 60%, as it expanded the operation time to three shifts for cutting and pickling lines, and an extended shift for the slitting line.
The firm process almost solely hot rolled coil, and specialises in higher thickness gauges up to 20mm.
ArcelorMittal restructures Spanish steel processing operations
ArcelorMittal has unveiled a restructuring plan for its Spanish steel processing division under the Downstream Solutions (AMDS) unit, Kallanish notes.
The company will close its processing line in Legasa, Navarre, with operations shifting to the Salvatierra facility in Álava.
The decision comes amid persistent challenges facing the automotive and industrial sectors, compounded by a broader crisis in the European steel industry.
“Our industry is experiencing a very challenging time,” says AMDS Spain chief executive Juan Pablo Canullo. “Despite considerable efforts to make our unit more competitive, we have concluded that concentrating production at one site is the right decision for the long-term future of the business. We will engage with unions to ensure that all employees affected are supported during this time.”
ArcelorMittal has initiated talks with unions at the Legasa and Salvatierra processing lines to implement a social plan aimed at minimising the impact on employees, including staff relocations and early retirements. The reorganisation does not affect the organic coating line at the Legasa flat products site, the company confirms.
German fabricators’ prospects improve after poor 2024
German steel and metals working industries’ forecasts have improved somewhat for the coming months, according to their representative association, Wirtschaftsverband Stahl- und Metallbearbeitung (WSM).
In fact, it is more a case of last year’s pessimism waning. While polls carried out in December and January were similar in their negative assessment of current business, the outlook for the following six months pointed at a silver lining. In December, 45% of companies still expected a further slowdown of business; that share sunk to 33% in January.
A more recent poll provided to Kallanish upon request confirms the more hopeful trend. In WSM’s March poll, the share of respondents fearing further deterioration came down to 21%.
In 2024, production at German steel and metals fabricators was 6.7% lower than in 2023, WSM cites from figures provided by the Federal Statistics Office. Order intake figures were even worse, with a year-on-year drop of 13.4% in December and 11.5% in January, seemingly hinting at further production drops ahead.
“Some more difficult months will have to be faced,” says WSM economist Holger Ade. He believes companies prefer to assume the market floor has been reached. One positive factor is the incoming federal government, which has pledged to support economic development. This, however, comes amid an erratic US trade policy that could hurt the German economy.
Tata Steel UK signs contracts for pickling line
Tata Steel UK has signed contracts with Clecim and ABB Limited to supply the pickling line for its Port Talbot site in Wales, Kallanish learns.
This further progresses its ongoing £1.25 billion ($1.65 billion) transformation of the site, which envisages a 3 million tonnes/year capacity electric arc furnace commissioning by late 2027/early 2028.
As leader of the consortium, global supplier of steel processing lines and rolling mills Clecim, together with global technology company ABB, will supply essential equipment and expertise needed to power the site’s brand new 1.8m t/y pickling line.
The new line will process hot rolled coil to eliminate oxide scale formed during the steel rolling process, ensuring a clean surface for further processing, improving product quality, and enhancing the bonding of coatings or finishes.
Tata Steel chief executive Rajesh Nair says: “Our new and advanced pickle line will form a major part of our green steelmaking facility at Port Talbot, ensuring we can supply downstream businesses with the high-quality, low CO2 steel products our customers are demanding.”
“This collaboration represents another critical step toward securing a sustainable future for steel production in South Wales – made possible by the expertise and innovation provided by these best-in-class business partners,” he adds.
Clecim will design and supply mechanical and process equipment, while ABB will deliver electrification and automation technology required for the cutting-edge pickle line. With the pre-engineering phase of the project completed, both companies are now moving forward with detailed engineering.
Clecim chief executive Thomas Comte comments: “We are proud to help pioneer this project by combining engineering, sourcing, and mechatronic products manufactured in France, to make this phase of Port Talbot’s transformation a reality.”
“This achievement is a testament to the strong partnership we’ve developed with Tata Steel and ABB over the past several months. Together, we are working in an agile and innovative manner to successfully install the new pickle line,” he concludes.
Global stainless steel production grew by 7% y-o-y in 2024
Global stainless steel production in 2024 increased by 7% compared to 2023 to 62.621 million tons. This is evidenced by the data of the non-profit organization World Stainless Association.
Over the year, Europe, including Ukraine, increased stainless steel production by 1.5% y/y – to 6.09 million tons. The United States increased its output by 6.9% y/y over 12 months – to 1.95 million tons.
In Asia, excluding China and South Korea, stainless steel production last year increased by 6.4% y/y – to 7.32 million tons, and China produced 39.44 million tons of stainless steel over the same period, up 7.5% y/y.
Other countries, such as Brazil, South Africa, Indonesia, South Korea, and the Russian Federation, increased stainless steel production by 9.2% y/y – to 7.82 million tons.
In the fourth quarter of 2024, global stainless steel production increased by 4.9% q/q – to 16.45 million tons.
Europe decreased production by 7.4% q/q – to 1.39 million tons, while the United States decreased by 8.5% q/q – to 441 thousand tons. China increased its production by 8.5% q/q – to 10.74 million tons, Asia (excluding China) – by 8.5% q/q, to 1.93 million tons, and other countries – by 3.7% q/q, to 1.95 million tons.
Thus, the quarterly growth was provided by Asian countries, in particular, China, while other regions showed a decline in production in the fourth quarter. Europe and the United States showed the lowest year-on-year figures, while China and Asia showed the highest.
As GMK Center reported earlier, global stainless steel production in 2023 increased by 4.6% compared to 2022 to 58.4 million tons. Europe, including Ukraine, decreased its stainless steel production by 6.2% compared to 2022 to 5.9 million tons. The United States for the year decreased by 9.6% y/y – to 1.82 million tons, China – increased by 12.6% y/y – to 36.68 million tons.
Sev.en GI completes acquisition of Celsa Group subsidiaries
The Czech Republic-based investment group Sev.en Global Investments (Sev.en GI) has announced that it has successfully completed the acquisition of the UK- and Scandinavia-headquartered subsidiaries of Spain-based long steel producer Celsa Group, having reached an agreement with Celsa Group back in November 2024.
Within the scope of the acquisition, Celsa Nordic will be rebranded as 7 Steel Nordic, and Celsa Steel UK will become 7 Steel UK, both of which will be under the roof of 7 Steel. The combined steel production capacity of both mills, which offer several products including bars, sections, mesh, and wires, amounts to 2 million mt per year. They serve different industries such as shipbuilding, railway and wind energy generation.
Meanwhile, 7 Steel Nordic has a smelter and a rolling mill, while 7 Steel UK is the UK’s leading low-carbon construction steel producer and the largest scrap recycler. Its fully integrated operation consists of scrap collection, steel production, four scrap yards and 17 depots.
In addition, Sev.en GI stated that the acquisition will allow it to strengthen its position and to unlock new opportunities, while supporting innovation and the green transition.
Germany’s Salzgitter ends talks with consortium regarding its takeover
German steelmaker Salzgitter AG has announced that it has decided to end discussions with the consortium of GP Günter Papenburg Aktiengesellschaft and TSR Recycling GmbH & Co. KG regarding a potential takeover offer.
The decision was made based on significantly differing views on the current and future value of the company due to the positive impact expected from the incoming German government’s economic policy measures and its expanded performance program P28 launched with a savings target of €500 million.
“Salzgitter AG will remain an independent company. Under our expanded P28 performance program we launched additional measures to strengthen our competitiveness,” Gunnar Groebler, CEO of Salzgitter AG, said.
In January this year, the consortium increased its bid to acquire the company to €18.50 per share, valuing Salzgitter at approximately €1.1 billion, as SteelOrbis previously reported.
France’s Vallourec to sell welding subsidiary Serimax
France-based pipe manufacturer Vallourec has announced that it has entered into exclusive negotiations with local investment company Aldebaran for the sale of its subsidiary specializing in mechanized welding solutions, Serimax, for a value of €79 million.
The sale is expected to be completed in the next few months.
This transaction is part of the company’s New Vallourec plan that focuses on its core business as a premium seamless tubular solutions provider. As part of the New Vallourec plan, Serimax has undergone a rapid transformation and is now operating profitably as a standalone company.
Serimax generated approximately €105 million of revenues in 2024.
Raw materials secured to keep British Steel BFs alight, UK govt says
Operations at British Steel were taken over by the UK government over the past weekend following failed negotiations with Chinese owner Jingye over the future of the plant.
“After intensive work over the weekend, the government has secured coke and iron ore pellet for the BFs, and is confident that there will be enough materials to keep the furnaces burning,” the UK Department for Business and Trade (DBT) said on Tuesday.
At Immingham, a major port on the east coast of England, raw materials shipped from the US have been unloaded and transported to the site “following the government settling payment for them,” the DBT said.
“The materials are enough to keep the blast furnaces running for the coming weeks, with officials continuing to work at pace to get a steady pipeline of materials to keep the fires burning,” it added.
A separate vessel with coking coal was on the way to the UK from Australia, the DBT said, adding that the cargo was “the subject of a legal dispute between British Steel and Jingye over the weekend that has now been resolved” and has been purchased using the existing DBT budget.
“It’s a huge relief that this crucial and overdue shipment of coke arrived at Immingham this morning,” Alasdair McDiarmid, assistant general secretary of trade union Community, said on April 15. “We thank the prime minister and business secretary for their decisive action to secure the raw materials required to keep the blast furnaces [in operation].”
British Steel has installed capacity for 4.3 million tonnes per year of pig iron, and four BFs. It can manufacture a wide range of long steel products, including rails, wire rod, sections and slabs.
Of the four BFs at the site, only two were still operational, but a lack of critical raw materials in stock – iron ore and coking coal – put them on the verge of a complete and potentially very costly shutdown.
If temperatures in the BF were to fall below critical levels, it could disrupt the smelting process, and result in damage to the furnace lining, blockages to inlets and outlets, and difficulties in restarting the furnace. The “cold” furnace would probably need extensive repairs before it could be reheated safely.
EAF future awaits?
Should the two operational BFs be preserved and remain in operation, thoughts will turn to the future of the Scunthorpe plant, which industry sources still expected would make the transition to become a greener and recycling-dependent electric-arc furnace (EAF) operation.
“There is now some demand for lower-emission steel, with some UK construction customers preferring to import EAF steel rather than continuing to use BF steel made in the UK,” a spokesperson for industry body UK Steel told Fastmarkets on Monday.
“Our energy costs are [among the] dearest in the world, so we will never be competitive in steel,” a major UK scrap processor said on Tuesday.
British Steel’s product mix was not sufficiently specialized to shield it from global competition, the same source said. He pointed out that Indian steelmakers can easily make large volumes of rail with lower costs for “compliance”, health and safety, and energy than in the UK.
Energy costs were also making the processing of scrap very expensive in the UK, he said, but added that British Steel moving to an EAF model would be a boon for scrap demand in northern England at a time when minimal volumes were being sold into the local market, with most UK scrap bought by export docks.
In March 2025, Jingye turned down £500 million ($661 million) in financial support, offered by the UK government, intended to support British Steel’s transition to green steel production by moving production toward the use of EAFs.
Wales-based Tata Steel accepted a similar £500 million offer in public funding from the UK government to develop a greener EAF-based steelmaking plant at Port Talbot in September 2024, with the company pledging to invest an additional £750 million.
The UK produced just 4 million tonnes of steel in 2024, down by 29% year on year from 5.6 million tonnes in 2023, ranking the country’s economy just 35th in the world as a steel producer, according to the World Steel Association.
At the same time, the UK imported 6.45 million tonnes of iron and steel products over the year, according to UK customs data cited by Global Trade Tracker.
