Romanian longs prices mostly stable, but lower levels begin to appear
This week, with the approaching holiday, Romania’s longs steel market has stayed relatively unchanged from the previous week, with pricing being stable both from the sole rebar mill and in the retail market.
However, according to insiders, due to ongoing weak trade and lower levels of imported offers, a few traders have chosen to reduce their offers to attract buyers’ interest. As a result of the overall unfavorable environment, many traders predict prices may start to decline in the coming weeks.
Over the past week, in the domestic market, the sole local producer’s rebar prices have remained at €590-605/mt ex-works. Likewise, retail pricing for rebar in Romania has remained stable at €610-620/mt ex-warehouse since last week.
However, as previously pointed out, a few traders have begun to offer lower than most market levels at around €600-605/mt ex-warehouse.
Similarly, nothing has changed in the Romanian wire rod market since the outlook has remained weak. Domestic prices have remained stable at roughly €580-595/mt ex-warehouse.
On the other hand, in the import segment, while no new purchases have been made in Romania, sources have reported that Turkey sold several lots to Romania for $540-550/mt FOB in the recent two weeks. Meanwhile, current rebar offers from Turkey to Romania at a €1 = $1.14 exchange rate and freight of €25-30/mt have been reported at €495-515/mt CFR, from €500-510/mt CFR last week. In contrast, Bulgaria’s offers for rebar have remained steady at €620-640/mt CPT, while Egypt’s offers for wire rod and rebar have also remained stable week on week, at €560-565/mt CPT and €550-555/mt CPT, respectively. Furthermore, according to sources, Moldova will begin offering rebar shortly, which is expected to be reasonably priced and may attract Romanian buyers. Previously, rebar offers from Moldova were around €610-620/mt CPT to Romania.
EU prioritises blast furnace subsidies, neglects EAFs: Carlo Beltrame
Continued rebar and merchant bar imports from third countries are raising concern among European electric steelmakers that the EU is prioritising safeguarding flat products produced from blast furnaces over that of electric arc furnace-based long steel.
Many electric steelmakers believe the goal of both EU laws and subsidies is to protect the coal market and finance blast furnace decarbonisation.
Italian long steelmaker Beltrame tells Kallanish that, along with other EU steelmakers, it has expressed concerns to the European Union in a recent letter sent to Brussels, requesting increased protection. However, their complaint has yet to receive a concrete response.
“Flat products represent the most safeguarded products in Europe,” states country manager for France and Romania, as well as chief business development officer, Carlo Beltrame in an interview with Kallanish.
The EU’s tariff-rate quotas for flat products have been utilised to a lesser extent compared to quotas allocated for longs this year. Under the new quota system set to conclude in June 2026, Europe has implemented reductions in quotas for coils while maintaining the existing levels for long products.
Maintaining the blast furnace route in Europe is crucial, but in contrast to the subsidies allocated to blast furnace steelmakers in Europe, the EAF route is not receiving any financial assistance, Beltrame points out.
Quotas for rebar and merchant bar typically deplete at the start of each quarter, according to Raffaele Ruella, managing director of Beltrame. The nations within the Mediterranean basin serve as primary exporters, especially to southern Europe. Numerous producers in Turkey are allocating capital towards decarbonisation initiatives to maintain their market presence in Europe; however, there is no requirement for them to disclose the origins of their billet, gas, or other raw materials, and no environmental constraints.
Taking advantage of the weak dollar, Turkey, Egypt, other countries in North Africa, as well as Asian countries including Korea, Vietnam, Malaysia, and China, are dumping material in Europe at competitive prices. These are sometimes $200-300/tonne less than in their local market, Ruella adds.
Certain long products from these countries face quality concerns, and Europe lacks the tracking mechanisms for these imports, resulting in an inability to verify their traceability. According to sources, a shipment of rebar was imported into Italy last month, although it was classified as merchant bar due to the exhaustion of rebar quotas.
“Our production of rebar and merchant bar is currently operating at significantly reduced capacity and, at the same time, we continue to buy from producers in [third countries] who do not provide quality guarantees or tracking information,” Beltrame comments.
“I believe that after the dream of globalisation, the industry has to reposition itself to become more local instead of global, pursuing sustainability from a financial and environmental standpoint,” he adds. Enhanced protection would lead to development and the creation of new jobs, along with clear and traceable product quality.
Beltrame points out that Europe identifies China as the primary adversary for European steel, while failing to address the situation in Turkey. The country serves as a significant exporter of long products to Europe and various other destinations, often without the provision of product guarantees, but it is also a significant importer of flat products from Europe.
Natalia Capra France
UK/EU decarbonisation policy should ‘stop screwing around’
Fortescue founder and chairman Andrew Forrest says the UK and EU should “stop screwing around” with policy which is not supporting decarbonisation.
The Australian businessman told the Innovation Zero event in London, attended by Kallanish on Tuesday, that industry should switch off fossil fuels this decade. He claims “the economics and the technologies are there,” but the policies are not.
According to Forrest, net zero is “a fraud” as it allows the continued use of fossil fuels. Fortescue, which produces iron ore, has committed to achieving “real zero” by 2030 across Scope 1 and 2 emissions by eliminating fossil fuels use and without purchasing carbon offsets.
In a brief speech note, he stressed that the corporate sector is not abandoning its climate commitments, but only “the weak, the puerile, the short-sighted” are.
Fortescue Energy, the group’s green energy arm, has significantly scaled back its 2030 green hydrogen production target of 15 million tonnes/year. Amid macro challenges, the company has abandoned some markets and continues to “optimise and refine” its project pipeline.
In its March-quarter report, also published on Tuesday, Fortescue said the projects’ timelines are being reassessed and adjusted “to reflect global market conditions and uncertain policy settings”. These include the Arizona project in the US and the Gladstone PEM50 project in Australia, with “greater clarity” expected by the end of June.
The company continues to progress feasibility studies and planning approvals for the Holmaneset project in Norway and the Pecém project in Brazil. It has yet to provide a new production volume target for 2030.
ArcelorMittal: Trade disruption threatens demand growth forecast
Trade disruption could lead to downside risks to the previous forecast of higher apparent demand on-year in 2025, says ArcelorMittal. Steel spreads have recovered in Europe thanks to policy measures, but remain depressed in China amid excess capacity.
Robust underlying demand continues in India, with newly approved safeguards expected to support prices, while tariffs are supporting values in the US. The Steel and Metals Action Plan, enhanced safeguards against imports and the German infrastructure fund are supporting the outlook in Europe.
However, “the Action Plan now needs to be supported by rapid implementation; of critical importance is visibility on the provision of industry access to competitive energy, an effective CBAM and Trade defences. At that point, the Company will be able to review its investment priorities for the Europe segment,” ArcelorMittal notes in a report seen by Kallanish.
In February, the firm said demand should grow, with restocking activity supplementing real demand improvement amid low inventory levels. However, the firm had expressed a similar expectation a whole year earlier, but restocking ultimately failed to materialise in 2024. The latest downside risks refer especially to the US and China, it says.
Despite a more uncertain outlook, the company has made no changes to its investment plans. Capital expenditure in 2025 is projected to be within the range of $4.5-5 billion, including $1.4-1.5 billion on strategic growth projects and $0.3-0.4 billion on projects related to decarbonisation.
ArcelorMittal’s consolidated steel shipments inched up 1% on-year in the first quarter to 13.6 million tonnes. Crude steel production rose 3% to 14.8mt. Sales fell 9% to $14.8 billion, with net income down 14% to $805 million. Ebitda fell 19% to $1.58 billion, with Ebitda margin down 1.32 percentage points to 10.7%.
In Europe alone, steel shipments rose 4% on-year to 7.5mt and Ebitda margin grew to 5.1% versus 4.4% a year earlier, while North America Ebitda margin dropped to 16.5% versus 21% a year earlier.
“Heightened uncertainty around the terms of global trade is hurting business confidence and risks causing further economic disruption if not quickly resolved. It is encouraging however that around the world, governments are committed to supporting their domestic manufacturing industries,” says ArcelorMittal chief executive Aditya Mittal.
Adam Smith Poland
Holiday trading lull keeps Italian steel heavy plate market quiet
The Italian market was quiet during the week, with a holiday-related slowdown in activity adding to already sluggish demand, sources added.
Offers for May rolling plate were reported at €660-670 ($752-763) per tonne.
Industry sources, however, said they felt that such prices were too high for the spot market and were only possible for project business at the moment.
Transactions for commodity-grade steel heavy plate in Italy have been reported at no higher €630-650 per tonne ex-works, with some sources even reporting sales at €620 per tonne ex-works.
Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel domestic plate, 8-40mm, exw Southern Europe, was unchanged on Wednesday at €630-650 per tonne.
Sources were not optimistic about future prices trend, considering the approaching summer holidays, when activity is traditionally slower, and with stable-to-lower prices for steel slab – a key feedstock for plate production.
“Considering the slab price is around $500 [per tonne] CIF, and [with the] summer slowdown on the horizon, there is no room for heavy plate price to increase,” a source in Italy said.
The only supportive factor for the market could be limited import availability amid stronger trade measures. But sources suggested the effect only would be visible in longer run.
“There are still considerable stocks of imported plate in ports available at prices around €20-30 per tonne lower than local material and with short delivery times,” a second source said.
Slow demand drags on Italian HRC prices, Northern Europe holds stable
Trading was subdued amid continued holidays across Europe, sources added.
Nonetheless, in Northern Europe, mills were heard to be targeting higher prices for June- and July-delivery coil, with offers reported at €680-700 ($775-797) per tonne ex-works.
One integrated mill in the Benelux area was said to be “heavily overbooked” for the second quarter, with lead times stretching. Offers from suppliers were in the range of €690-700 per tonne ex-works, according to sources.
A re-roller in the region was offering coil at lower prices – €650 per tonne ex-works.
Buyers’ estimations of tradeable levels were still in the range of €640-660 per tonne ex-works.
“Demand is slow – everyone’s on holiday, so basically there is no movement in the market,” a buyer in the Netherlands said.
As a result, Fastmarkets calculated its daily steel hot-rolled coil index domestic, exw Northern Europe at €654 per tonne on Wednesday, down slightly from the previous calculation of €654.74 per tonne on Tuesday.
The Northern European index was up by €2 per tonne week on week and up by €9 per tonne month on month.
While mill sources were pushing for higher prices, citing good order books and limited imports due to trade measures, buyers claimed real demand was not strong enough to allow for any further upticks.
Market participants said they hope to get greater clarity regarding the direction of prices after the Made in Steel trade fair in Milan on May 6-8.
Meanwhile, in Southern Europe, Fastmarkets’ daily steel hot-rolled coil index domestic, exw Italy was calculated at €623.13 per tonne on Wednesday, down by €4.37 per tonne from €627.50 per tonne on Tuesday.
The index was down by €2.29 per tonne week on week and down by €1.87 per tonne month on month.
Holidays further limited already-weak demand in Italy, sources told Fastmarkets.
One integrated mill in Italy was heard offering at €640-650 per tonne delivered, which would net back to €630-640 per tonne ex-works.
Another supplier was heard selling June-delivery HRC at €610-620 per tonne ex-works.
Sources estimated tradeable values at €610-630 per tonne ex-works on Wednesday.
Some bids were reported as low as €600 per tonne ex-works.
“There has been a quiet holiday period with limited demand for nearly three weeks. Now there will be pressure on mills to drop prices,” a source in Italy said.
Meanwhile, the gap between imports and domestic is widening, but it has not spurred buying interest for overseas coil much so far since buyers remained cautious about quota availability and anti-dumping duties.
The lowest offers were reported from Indonesia and Malaysia at €520-540 per tonne CFR to Italy.
From India, offers were reported at €565-580 per tonne CFR for June shipment, depending on the supplier.
June-shipment HRC from one Turkish mill was on offer at €550-570 per tonne CFR to Italy, including the EU anti-dumping duty.
IREPAS in Athens: Markets in unknown territory
The 92nd meeting of IREPAS (the International Rebar Exporters and Producers Association) was held in Athens on April 27-29 in conjunction with the SteelOrbis Spring’25 Conference.
There were 143 representatives from 49 different producers among the 502 registered delegates from a total of 58 different countries. There were also 97 registrations representing 50 different raw material suppliers.
At the opening of the conference, Murat Cebecioglu, chairman of IREPAS, said that the global long steel products market is currently overwhelmed by a spiral of duties and trade measures and protectionism such as has never been experienced before. He stated that the recently created uncertainties in the market on top of the already existing problems, the markets are now somewhat lost.
The IREPAS chairman added that the current environment is not bright and the level of competition in the global market is very strong, being almost at maximum levels.
On the last day of the conference, producers of long steel products, as well as traders and raw material suppliers, shared the conclusions reached at their special committee meetings regarding the current situation in the markets with the general participants at the event.
Raw Material Suppliers at IREPAS: Challenging year ahead, market will be much slower in H2
Jens Björkman, the chairman of the raw material suppliers committee, noted that the EU steel industry has started the year quite well, though steel production in the region was low in the first quarter. He highlighted that the new German government is expected to ease the pressure from the uncertainties on the market, which may boost steel production. Noting that the green transition in the EU seems to be postponed, indicating that there seems to be no viable transition until at least 2030, he stated that a lot of mills in the EU will start shifting from the blast furnace route to the electric arc furnace route in the next five to 10 years and there will be uneven demand for scrap until that time. Addressing the scrap export restriction plans in the EU, he stated that, as scrap demand is low in the region now, any restrictions would put pressure on the steel industry but may also lead to more bureaucratized trade between scrap generators and steelmakers.
Regarding the Trump administration’s tariff actions, the chairman of the raw material suppliers committee stated that, in the first few months this year, sales to the US were at enormous levels as a new tariff was anticipated. Noting that EU-based mills were running at high capacity to export to the US before the implementation of new measures, he said he believes that the market will be much slower in the second half of this year. He added that Trump’s second term will be much different than his first term. In addition, he expressed the belief that, despite the actions taken by the US, Canada and Mexico will not impose tax on steel exports to the US as the US is their biggest trade partner and a restriction would hurt their own industries.
Björkman stated that iron ore prices have been fluctuating at around $100/mt CFR, compared to $89/mt CFR seen in September 2024, due to higher production at the end of last year and early this year. He noted that, if China lowers steel production and the general output of iron ore increases, these two factors together will result in lower iron ore prices.
Traders at IREPAS: No reduction in US tariffs expected, trade conditions remain challenging
F. D. Baysal, the chairman of the traders committee, stated that, although the US imposing new 25 percent tariffs on imports from the countries previously exempted from the Section 232 measures seems like an advantage for the countries such as Egypt and Turkey which were already subject to 25 percent tariffs, only 18 percent of total imports into the US was from the Section 232-paying countries and 82 percent was from the exempted countries. He added that, despite the advantages some countries will gain, there will be no improvement in the market conditions given the economic uncertainties and the general market slowdown. Also, he said he believes that there will be no reduction in the US tariffs.
Looking at the EU, he said there have been some reductions in the import quota volumes, resulting in more challenging trade conditions. Considering the increased sales of wire rod and HRC over the past quarter from the ASEAN region to the EU, Mr. Baysal noted that, even though there are some restrictions on certain ASEAN countries, the EU is now more open to those countries compared to its old traditional markets given the free trade agreements between the EU and some Southeast Asian countries.
Mr Baysal added that he foresees no reduction in China’s exports and capacity utilization going forward.
Producers at IREPAS: Markets in unknown territory because of tariffs
Murat Cebecioğlu, chairman of IREPAS and also chairman of the producers committee, pointed out that the hot topic during the producers committee meeting was tariffs and their effect on business, adding that this is completely unknown territory and that nobody has any idea where things are headed at the moment, which makes it very difficult to conduct business.
He said that, as the Chinese domestic market is not doing so well, China will still be the main factor depressing prices as it is heavily dependent on exports and its prices are quite low compared to those of other exporters. He went on to say that the stimulus package is not helping much at the moment to boost to market, which is why China is selling billet to countries like Turkey and many other countries.
The IREPAS chairman noted that, as billet is a competitive alternative to scrap in terms of price, particularly Turkish mills will keep buying billet, adding that, as long as prices are at the current levels buying billets is much more profitable, even though the lead times from Asia are two to three times longer.
Commenting on the GCC shifting from being an importer to being an exporter, Mr. Cebecioğlu said that the reason they are exporting is that they have overcapacity, and are selling to the EU, especially Germany, and to North Africa and Israel. He indicated that the answer to the question on whether their exports will continue depends on how infrastructure projects will take shape in the region in the coming period and how much of that demand the local market can absorb: otherwise, they will continue to export.
