Tosyali confirms ongoing acquisition talks for Liberty Steel’s Luxembourg plant
Negotiations to acquire Liberty Steel’s Dudelange facility in Luxembourg are ongoing, Tosyali Holding CEO Fuat Tosyali said in a video interview with local media published April 17.
A Tosyali executive previously confirmed to Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, that the company had submitted a purchase bid for the facility.
Tosyali had started new strategic acquisition negotiations in the European steel sector following the acquisition of Spain’s Baika Steel Tubular Systems in 2024, Tosyali said, adding that negotiations for the Liberty facility have been continuing intensively and were hoped to be finalized soon.
“Although liquid steel production in Europe has fallen in recent years, steel demand continues,” Tosyali said, adding the company was aiming to meet European steel demand more easily with these strategic acquisitions.
“With our touch, all the parameters will change in the Luxembourg facility,” he said.
Platts contacted Liberty on the matter, although the company declined to comment.
Liberty Dudelange, which was declared bankrupt by the Luxembourg Commercial Tribunal in December, has two hot-dip galvanizing lines with a total capacity of 620,000 mt/year, two electro galvanizing lines with a total capacity of 360,000 mt/year and a steel service center.
Platts last assessed the Turkish HDG price at $790/mt ex-works on April 11, stable week over week.
EU HRC prices rangebound following Easter holiday
Sources reported quieter activity as the market reopened after the Easter break, as many remained optimistic for a clearer price direction at the start of May.
“I think it will be a quiet week, and a slow return to how it was before … Many are in wait-and-see mode and or are still on the Easter break,” a German service center source said, anticipating largely unchanged market fundamentals.
Another source said all June deliveries had been paused amid negative market sentiment and general uncertainty.
“I am no longer offering for June deliveries anymore,” a trader source said.
Some Northern European Mills also shared reports of continuing to wait out the uncertainty and recent price stability, opting to hold material for better prices.
“We are not really offering at the moment because our capacities are limited and when we offer, we are way too expensive,” a mill source said.
Other buyer-side sources also reported waiting on the sidelines, citing the recent turbulent US tariff updates and changing policies in Europe.
HRC import offers were heard at Eur600/mt CIF Antwerp, ex-Turkey, duty paid while HRC net remaining import quotas for Turkey decreased from 70.44% on April 17 to 63.55% on April 22.
Platts assessed HRC in Northwest Europe stable at Eur650/mt EXW Ruhr on April 22, and in Southern Europe at Eur625/mt EXW Italy, both stable day over day.
Platts assessed imported HRC in Northern Europe at Eur545/mt CIF Antwerp, and in Southern Europe at Eur535/mt CIF Italy, both stable day over day.
Alexander Wong | Charles Thompson
Stellantis automotive production plunges
Stellantis has reported a 35% decrease in production for the first quarter compared to the same period last year, according to Fim-Cisl trade unions.
Q1 production was 109,900 units, which includes both cars and commercial vans, in contrast to 170,415 units produced in Q1 2024.
Production of passenger cars experienced a significant decline of 42.5%, resulting in a total output of 60,533 cars. Similarly, output of commercial vans saw a reduction of 24.2%, bringing the total to 49,367 units.
All plants reported production decline. The union’s outlook suggests a continued drop in the upcoming quarters, with temporary layoffs affecting nearly 50% of the automaker’s workforce.
According to Stellantis chief executive John Elkann and chief operating officer of Enlarged Europe Jean-Philippe Imparato, the changes made to the industrial plan in response to union protests, which resulted in the resignation of former ceo Carlos Tavares, could result in a notable increase in production in 2026, similar to that observed in 2023, a union note says.
Stellantis is maintaining its target of achieving 1 million tonnes of output by 2030, alongside a planned investment of €2 billion ($2.3 billion) in 2025 at its Italian plants.
It reported a significant decline in passenger car production for full year 2024, with a year-on-year decrease of 45.7%, totalling 283,090 units.
“We have to go back to 1956 to get such a low output figure,” reads another union note obtained by Kallanish.
Overall production of passenger cars and commercial vehicles experienced a decline of 36.8%, totalling 475,090 units in comparison to 2023. All plants are projected to show a decline in 2025.
Italian passenger car production plunged in January and February, following a significant decline in 2024, reported automotive association Associazione Nazionale Filiera Industria Automobilistica (Anfia).
February car output declined 49.7% year-on-year to 22,100 units and by as much as 55.2% on-year in the first two months of the year to 32,900 units. Italian car output in 2024 declined 42.8% versus 2023 to 309,758 units. The total number of vehicles produced in the country last year, including heavy duty vehicles, amounted to 519,000 units, reflecting a 32.3% decline compared to 2023 (see Kallanish passim).
Natalia Capra France
German construction registers slight silver lining
Residential construction approvals in Germany in the three-month period of December through February were 3.5% higher than a year earlier, Kallanish hears from industry association Bauindustrie (Hauptverband der Deutschen Bauindustrie).
Although February was 2.3% down year-on-year, with 17,900 residential units approved, the association finds that that the three-month trend gives hope that the floor has been reached, after a long decline. This is especially the case for multi-storey buildings, which account for two thirds of residential construction, although the number of approvals in January and February was still down 1.3% y-o-y, totalling 18,500 units.
Family houses saw a respectable surge of 12.4% in January and February, but only against a continued weakness of less than 5,000 units per month since summer 2023. Private builders were especially discouraged by insecurity over inflation and interest rates, and rising costs of building materials, although not necessarily steel (see separate story on rebar).
In an earlier survey published at the beginning of the year, 79% of construction companies said they did not expect the construction crisis to end this year, but would not cut back on staff.
In March, the German government’s announcement of a €500 billion ($565 billion) special fund for infrastructure investment gave reason for new optimism. However, the distribution of the money still needs to be clarified, and Bauindustrie emphasises that medium-sized enterprises and municipal governments should get a share and have a say.
“We need a variety of projects of different sizes, so that especially medium-sized companies will benefit,” says managing director Tim-Oliver Müller. “After all, the renovation of a town hall takes different expertise than the replacement of a big bridge like the damaged autobahn bridge in Berlin.”
Christian Koehl Germany
Rebar price gap widens in northwest Europe
The gap between rebar prices north and south of the Alps has widened recently, with German mills managing to implement price increases where Italian producers had been unsuccessful.
For northern and central Germany, buyers report that base prices have passed the €400/tonne ($460/t) mark, a level which mills previously tried to reach in vain. Due to the prolonged closure of the steelworks at Riva Hennigsdiorf, prices of around €420/t can be achieved.
Meanwhile in Italy, minor increases were attempted earlier in April, but withdrawn in the pre-Easter week, to base prices of around €320/t (see Kallanish 21 April).
In Austria, which is exposed to both markets, the domestic mill recently lifted offers by €20/t, but remains under the €400/t mark, now at around €390/t.
“We cannot hand down that increase, that market won’t accept it” one buyer tells Kallanish.
Offers from Italian mills to Austria in early April also rose by €20/t to €385/t base now, he adds.
The impression is confirmed from southern Germany, where similar prices are offered from Italy, one Bavarian buyer tells Kallanish.
From German mills, base prices offered south are lower than further north.
“Some are offering at €400/t, others are coming close to that, but we have not heard €420/t here,” the buyer says, attributing the lower southern level to the Italian influence.
Meanwhile, another manager notes that wire mesh prices are showing a stronger upward momentum than bar prices, following price increases for input materials.
Recent base prices for wire mesh were at €500/t, which is only €80/t above the higher end of rebar prices. The manager believes they will soon reach the customary premium of €100/t, and possibly beyond that.
Christian Koehl Germany
Italian crude steel production up six percent in March
Italian crude steel production up six percent in March
In March this year, crude steel production in Italy totaled 2 million mt, marking a year-on-year increase of six percent, and recovering from the sharp drop recorded in the same month last year. According to the latest data released by Federacciai, the Italian federation of steel companies, total crude steel output in the first three months of the year reached 5.5 million mt, up by 3.1 percent compared to the same period in 2024.
2025 Crude steel output
| Month | 000/mt | Y-o-y change (%) | Year-to-date | Y-o-y change (%) |
| Jan | 1,698 | 3.9% | 1,698 | 3.9% |
| Feb | 1,813 | -0.8% | 3,511 | 1.4% |
| Mar | 2,016 | 6% | 5,527 | 3.1% |
Looking at the long and flat product segments, in March this year the production of longs grew by 1.2 percent year on year, amounting to 1.2 million mt. Meanwhile, flat steel output totaled 904,000 mt, up by 13.6 percent compared to March 2024.
In the January-March period this year, longs output declined by 0.9 percent to 3.1 million mt, while output of flat steel increased by 9.1 percent, reaching approximately 2.5 million mt, both year on year.
HRC prices flatten in Europe; trading slow after holiday
The European hot-rolled coil market was quiet after the Easter break with demand muted. Industry sources do not expect major changes in the market until the Made in Steel trade fair in early May, Fastmarkets heard on Tuesday April 22.
HRC with June-July lead times was heard offered in Northern Europe around €670-700 ($771-806) per tonne ex-works.
Transactions in the region were reported within the range of €640-660 per tonne ex-works before the Easter break, but traded volumes were limited.
“Stockholders are very cautious and order only sizes which are not available, and don’t dare restocking on a bigger scale,” a second buyer in Germany said.
Market participants hope to get greater clarity regarding the price direction after the Made in Steel trade fair in Milan on May 6-8.
Some sources were not ruling out further increases, considering reduced domestic supply and limited imports due to trade measures.
“EU mills are comfortably booked. Some suppliers are overbooked for the second quarter. It’s a seller’s market,” a distributor in Benelux area said.
Other sources expressed doubts over the uptrend continuing, considering a lack of real demand.
“Global markets are very volatile. The US tariff impact is unforeseeable but potentially might mean a hit for the already suffering automotive industry in Europe. [It is] hard to predict [steel] price movements in such conditions,” a mill source said.
As a result, Fastmarkets calculated its daily steel hot-rolled coil index domestic, exw Northern Europe at €654 per tonne on Tuesday, up slightly from the previous calculation of €653.13 per tonne on April 17.
Fastmarkets’ European HRC indices were not published on April 18 and April 21 because of the Good Friday and Easter Monday holidays in the United Kingdom.
The Northern European index was down by €0.17 per tonne week on week but up by €13.62 per tonne month on month.
Meanwhile, in Southern Europe, Fastmarkets’ daily steel hot-rolled coil index domestic, exw Italy was calculated at €627.50 per tonne on Tuesday, down by €0.67 per tonne from €628.17 per tonne on April 17.
The index was down by €4.00 per tonne week on week but up by €5.00 per tonne month on month.
The Italian market was quiet on Tuesday, with softer demand compared to Northern Europe.
Sources suggested that was due to higher stocks against slow real demand.
One integrated mill in Italy was heard offering at €640-660 per tonne delivered, which would net back to €630-650 per tonne ex-works.
Another supplier was heard selling June-delivery HRC at €610-620 per tonne ex-works.
Buyers estimated achievable prices at €620-630 per tonne ex-works.
Some sources reported softer import offers.
Notably, from one Turkish supplier, HRC was heard to be offered to Italy at €550 per tonne CFR duty paid. Other sources argued that this price excluded the duty.
This was in contrast with offers reported at €580-600 per tonne CFR, duty paid, in the previous week.
Indonesian offers have been reported at €540-550 per tonne CFR Italy, while one supplier was heard providing “significant” discounts for bigger volumes up to €520-530 per tonne CFR.
Offers from one Indian mill to Italy were reported at €590 per tonne CFR, while a transaction was reported at €575 per tonne CFR late last week.
