Hydnum Steel secures €60 Million for Spain’s first Green Steel plant
Hydnum Steel has been awarded €60 million in funding by the Spanish Government under the PERTE for Industrial Decarbonisation, part of the EU’s Next Generation EU programme. The funding will support the construction of southern Europe’s first green steel plant, located in Puertollano, Spain.
This pioneering project aligns with the EU’s goals of reindustrialisation, strategic autonomy, and climate neutrality, and represents a major step forward for sustainable flat steel production in Europe.
Hydnum Steel has already secured 75% of its initial production through strategic agreements with key industrial players, including Gonvarri Industries, Thyssenkrupp Materials Processing Europe, and Knauf Interfer.
The initiative also pays tribute to Agustín Escobar, one of the visionaries behind the project, whose legacy continues to inspire the plant’s mission.
The project has been declared a Priority Project by the Government of Castilla-La Mancha and recognised by the World Economic Forum as one of the five leading global projects in industrial decarbonisation.
For more information: hydnumsteel.com
POSCO to invest in Hyundai Steel’s proposed Louisiana steel mill
South Korea’s POSCO Group plans to invest in Hyundai Steel’s proposed 2.7 million mt/year steel mill in the US state of Louisiana, POSCO said April 21.
POSCO signed a memorandum of understanding with Hyundai Motor Group on the same date “for mutual cooperation in the steel and secondary battery sectors,” it said.
Hyundai Motor plans to invest $21 billion in the US from 2025 to 2029 to expand its US auto production and for its steel affiliate, Hyundai Steel, to start up an electric arc furnace steel mill in Louisiana as early as 2029.
“… as the first fruit of the cooperation between the two companies, POSCO Group will participate in the steel investment in the US recently announced by Hyundai Motor Group,” POSCO said without disclosing the value of its investment.
“Through this, POSCO Group will be able to secure a bridgehead for entering the North American steel market, which has been limited by protectionist trade barriers for the past 10 years,” POSCO said.
POSCO’s investment comes after the US imposed a 25% import tax on all steel and aluminum entering the country, effective March 12.
“POSCO … will be able to supply materials smoothly to the US and Mexico through this joint investment in the Louisiana steel mill,” it said.
For the secondary battery materials sector, POSCO will build a stable supply chain with Hyundai Motor.
“… the plan is for the two companies to find sustainable collaboration points in areas such as supply chain construction and next-generation material development by synergizing POSCO Group’s secondary battery material business competitiveness, including lithium and cathode/positive electrode materials, with Hyundai Motor Group’s eco-friendly future mobility technology,” POSCO said.
Currently, POSCO Future M, the group’s battery materials unit, has a joint venture called Ultium CAM with General Motors.
“POSCO Group is building a secondary battery material value chain with the ability to produce and recycle anode and cathode materials based on global lithium salt lakes and mines, as well as a portfolio of steel materials for future mobility such as ‘Giga Steel’ for automotive steel sheets that take advantage of high strength and light weight, battery packs, and electric vehicle drive motor materials,” POSCO said.
By 2030, POSCO projects its global lithium production capacity to hit 423,000 mt/year, with cathode active materials at 1 million mt/year and anode active materials at 370,000 mt/year.
Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, assessed battery-grade lithium carbonate at $9,000/mt on April 17, unchanged day over day but down $200/mt week over week, and lithium hydroxide at $8,900/mt, up $50/mt day over day but down $200/mt week over week.
Author Clement Choo
Sweden’s Fagersta to invest in a new stainless steel mill
Sweden-based stainless steel producer Fagersta Stainless has commissioned Italian plantmaker Danieli to install a new stainless steel blooming mill with an annual production capacity of 70,000 mt at its Fagersta plant. The mill is scheduled to start operations by the end of 2026.
The mill in question will produce round bars and billets in 35-220 mm diameter, enriching the product mix and operational flexibility at the plant. The mill will allow for three paths of operation. Ingots/blooms will be processed just by the breakdown mill into billets with possible delivery for immediate rolling at the existing wire rod mill without any storage/reheating step, obtaining the highest reduction rates for the finest grain size.
The scope of supply also includes the modernization and certifications of a breakdown mill stand, with Danieli’s automation process control systems.
US flat-steel imports become erratic under Trump tariffs
US flat steel imports in 2025 correlate somewhat to the erratic tariff rollout on steel by US President Donald Trump, Kallanish reports.
The president has introduced a series of steel import policies that have confused market participants, who have been stumped by tariff amounts by country, steel item exemptions, and tariff commencement dates.
Final data provided by the US International Trade Administration’s Steel Import Monitoring and Analysis (SIMA) show that in January, the US imported 922,377 tonnes of flat steel products. Some US steel market participants anticipated higher import rates in January as the market braced for the impact of higher prices and constricted supply chains, which were seen as potential market threats (see Kallanish 11 February).
Other sources were less concerned about how tariff threats would affect the immediate US steel market. Distributors in the flat steel market assessed the tariffs as purely a negotiating tactic by the president (see Kallanish 25 March).
Despite efforts from the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) alliance leaders to persuade Trump against imposing tariff measures (see Kallanish 27 November), on 1 February, he announced that the tariffs would go into effect at midnight on 2 February (see Kallanish passim).
Trump issued 10% tariffs on Chinese imports (see Kallanish passim) in the same executive action, labelling unsanctioned passages of people and fentanyl over US borders as a national security threat. The move applied pressure on the North American allies, persuading them to increase security measures (see Kallanish passim). In the late morning of 2 February, Trump paused tariffs on Mexico for 30 days, and within a few hours granted Canada the same delay (see Kallanish passim). Tariffs on China were not paused.
In February 2025, the US imported 736,460t of flat steel products, the lowest amount since November 2023, when the total was 686,427t, according to the same SIMA data. However, preliminary SIMA data project that US flat steel imports will increase to 749,366t in March.
Trump rolled out additional measures, coined “reciprocal tariffs,” on 2 April, shocking many in the US steel market when they learnt that all steel and aluminium imports already subject to tariffs under Section 232 measures or 301 measures would not be slapped with additional tariffs (see Kallanish passim).
“I wasn’t aware of that. I wonder how much domestic product will be available if mills don’t stabilise,” said a flat steel distributor in the Midwest.
On 9 April, the president announced a 90-day pause on the 2 April “reciprocal tariffs,” except those applied to China. In the subsequent days, suppliers and consumers have scrambled to reconfigure their supply lines and manage costs in the midst of the brewing trade war.
As of 15 April, flat steel imports to the US account for roughly 346,991t, SIMA preliminary data report.
Kristen DiLandro USA
ArcelorMittal supplies plate to Nordlicht 1 wind farm
Wind power plant builder Vestas has selected ArcelorMittal to supply low-carbon-emission steel heavy plate for the Nordlicht 1 offshore wind farm, Kallanish learns from the steelmaker.
Developed by Vattenfall, the Nordlicht wind farm is located off Germany’s North Sea coast, some 85 km north of Borkum island, and is composed of two sites: Nordlicht 1 and Nordlicht 2.
Construction of Nordlicht 1 is set to begin in 2026, with the wind turbines expected to be installed in 2027. The entire wind farm will be fully operational in 2028 and is expected to generate approximately 6 terawatt hours of electricity annually, enough to power 1.6 million German households.
Nordlicht 1 has a capacity of around 1GW. The site will be composed of 68 Vestas wind turbines. The farm will feature turbine towers partially made with low-carbon-emissions steel.
This is the second project between Vestas and ArcelorMittal involving XCarb recycled and renewably produced heavy plate. The partnership was initially founded for the Baltic Power Offshore Wind Project in Polish waters as the first to utilise this steel (see Kallanish passim).
Christian Koehl Germany
Power costs hamper prospects for Eisenhüttenstadt
The high level of electricity prices in Germany is the main hurdle for the transition to low-emission steelmaking, says ArcelorMittal Germany chief executive Thomas Bünger.
A price of €50-55 ($57-62) per MWh “would be the measure of things”, Bünger notes in an interview with broadcaster RBB about the prospects for the group’s Eisenhüttenstadt mill. “That was the price before the energy crisis, and we need to get back there, but we are very far away from it.”
Bünger says Eisenhüttenstadt saw temporary production breaks in December, when spot price for power skyrocketed to a record mark of €850/MWh. “Such interruption deals us a heavy blow, as it brings into question our reliability for timely deliveries to the customers,” Bünger observes. He notes capacity utilisation was high at the time and the interruption harmed production flow. The mill also has enough orders to maintain full utilisation in the first half of 2025.
It is not without irony that the mill’s own power production from off-gases would bring more profit if sold to the market than being used to make steel for sale. Bünger emphasises that this is by no means planned, as the company’s main wish is affordable power prices to facilitate a reliable framework for steel production, Kallanish notes.
“Decorbonisation requires a conversion of the primary steel making route from blast furnaces to electric arc furnaces,” he notes. But no blast furnaces means the loss of in-house generated electricity, whereas EAF operation would put the mill at the mercy of erratic market power prices.
The company therefore expects quick measures from the new German government to initially reduce the power grid fees back to the level of 2023. “This could be arranged in a short time, would not cost much, and would mean a good first step,” Bünger says.
Christian Koehl Germany
European steel plate market stagnates on slow demand
Italy
For several weeks domestic prices for commodity-grade steel heavy plate in Italy have been stuck at €630-650 ($723-745) per tonne ex-works, with transactions reported within the range.
Offers of €660-670 per tonne for May rolling have not been achievable in spot sales so far, sources said.
“The market [for heavy plate] is very quiet. Besides, this week [commencing April 21] there are only three working days in Italy [and] many people are on holidays, so trading is close to zero,” one buyer in Italy told Fastmarkets.
Demand for heavy plate was limited, with sources continuing to report only hand-to-mouth bookings.
“Plate producers are having a difficult time since there is simply not enough demand. And stockholders and end users are only purchasing missing dimensions/grades, so Italian commodity [heavy plate] prices are stuck,” a second buyer said.
Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel domestic plate, 8-40mm, exw Southern Europe on Wednesday was €630-650 per tonne, widening downward by $10 from €640-650 per tonne seven days ago.
New import offers have been very limited because new safeguards were announced and came into force on April 1.
Sources said there were sufficient stocks of imported plate in ports available at prices around €20-30 per tonne lower than local material and with short delivery times.
Northern Europe
In Northern Europe, trading was also quiet and earlier attempts by German mills to lift prices were largely unsuccessful, according to sources.
One German producer, which traditionally focuses on project business, was offering heavy steel plate with lead times of around six weeks at €750-790 per tonne ex-works. This price was not considered workable for the spot market.
A second German supplier kept its offer price for steel plate at €700-720 per tonne ex-works from one location, and at €690-700 from another.
Lead times from German suppliers was estimated at roughly eight weeks.
But market sources pointed out that recent transactions for commodity-grade heavy plate [s235 and s275] were mainly done at price levels below €700 per tonne.
Traded volumes were still limited in the spot market, but some sources noted a pick-up in inquiries in the second half of April.
Sources also reported improved demand from shipbuilding, but the major orders for heavy plate were still coming from the wind energy sector for offshore foundations or monopiles for offshore farms.
Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel domestic plate, 8-40mm, exw Northern Europe was €680-700 per tonne on Wednesday, stable week on week.
Published by: Julia Bolotova
European HRC prices stable to slightly weaker amid buyer caution in uncertain market
In Northern Europe, trading was quiet, with no changes in offer prices or in the workable estimates for HRC trades.
“There are [Easter] school holidays in some countries so, overall, the market is quiet,” a buyer in Germany said. “And the next week will be short again due to public holiday on May 1, so it looks like everyone is just waiting for the Made in Steel [trade fair in Italy on May 6-8] to see where the market is going.”
Suppliers in the Benelux region and Germany were well-booked and had HRC with June-July lead times on offer at around €670-700 ($768-803) per tonne ex-works, sources said.
But buyer sources said the offer prices were “too elevated and not reflective” of the current economic situation.
“Real demand remains weak and soon it will start to put some pressure on domestic HRC prices,” a second buyer in Northern Europe said.
The tradable value were estimated by buyers at no more than €640-660 per tonne ex-works.
Other sources, however, said there was room for more HRC price rises, given the limited availability of imports and increasing reliance on domestic supplies.
“The balance is shifting,” a third buyer source said. “We have a seller’s market at the moment [and] afeguards and anti-dumping [measures have] closed the European market to traditional import suppliers and the European buyers are yet to find new sources [of imports].
In the meantime, European mills remain the first choice for many buyers,” the buyer added.
As a result, Fastmarkets calculated its daily steel hot-rolled coil index domestic, exw Northern Europe at €652.00 per tonne on April 23, down slightly by €2.00 per tonne from the previous calculation of €654.00 per tonne on April 22.
The Northern European index was down by €1.13 per tonne week on week, but was up by €11.62 per tonne month on month.
In Southern Europe, meanwhile, Fastmarkets’ daily steel hot-rolled coil index domestic, exw Italy was calculated at €625.42 per tonne on Wednesday, edging down by €2.08 per tonne from €627.50 per tonne on Tuesday.
The index was down by €4.58 per tonne week on week, but up by €2.92 per tonne month on month.
Trading activity in the Italian market was minimal in between holidays.
“We have only three working days [this week] in Italy and many people are on holiday, so trading is close to zero,” a buyer in Italy said.
Sources reported steady offers at around €640-650 per tonne delivered (€630-640 per tonne ex-works) from suppliers and at around €620 per tonne ex-works from a mill, with some room for discounts, Fastmarkets understands.
Buyers estimated achievable prices at €620-630 per tonne ex-works. For big tonnages [3,000-5,000 tonnes], however, bids were heard at €610-620 per tonne delivered (€600-610 per tonne ex-works). Although sources said there has not been “much appetite” for big volumes.
In the secondary market, 4 mm HR sheet was on offer at €700-720 per tonne CPT, stable for the past few weeks, although sources said sales were slow.
There were few offers of HRC imports due to the EU’s numerous trade measures, with “traditional” suppliers in Vietnam, Egypt and Japan facing anti-dumping duties, while quarterly quotas were cut for other origins, forcing European buyers to explore other options.
A sizable HRC cargo from Indonesia was heard booked to Italy at €520 per tonne CFR earlier this month, although some sources said the same deal had been closed at €530 per tonne CFR.
And one Indian supplier was heard offering HRC to Europe at €565 per tonne CFR for June shipment.
June-shipment HRC from Turkey was on offer at €560-570 per tonne CFR, including the EU anti-dumping duty.
Published by: Julia Bolotova