DSV officially completes DB Schenker takeover
Effective May 1, the Danish logistics giant integrates the logistics division acquired last autumn from Deutsche Bahn for €14.3 billion.
According to German media reports, the historic brand of the newly acquired company might soon be phased out.
The multi-billion euro sale of DB Schenker to Danish logistics powerhouse DSV is now finalized and officially took effect on April 30. Or rather, it takes full operational effect on May 1, following the formal signing by notaries and the Danish group’s management, concluding a process that began last autumn with the initial announcement.
With the acquisition, valued at approx. DKK 106.7 billion (approx. EUR 14.3 billion), DSV is doubling its size and establishing the foundation for future sustainable growth. The combined company will have a revenue of approximately DKK 310 billion (approx. EUR 41.6 billion) and a workforce of close to 160,000 employees across more than 90 countries.
Producer prices in French industry down 0.4 percent in March from February
In March this year, producer prices in French industry were down by 0.4 percent month on month and down by 1.2 percent year on year, according to the statistics released by France’s National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE). Producer prices for manufactured products in France rose by 0.2 percent in March compared to February and increased by 0.8 percent year on year.
In the given month, prices for exported manufactured products remained stable and prices of exported transport equipment decreased by 0.2 percent, both month on month. On year-on-year basis, in March prices of exported manufactured products went up by 1.3 percent, while prices of exported transport equipment saw a 3.2 percent increase.
Meanwhile, import prices for manufactured products in France in March grew by 0.1 percent month on month and increased 0.4 percent year on year.
UNESID: Spanish steel output up 1.8 percent in Feb from Jan
According to the Spanish steelmakers association UNESID, in February this year Spain’s steel production totaled 1.05 million mt, up by 1.8 percent month on month and by 10.9 percent year on year. In the January-February period of this year, the country’s steel production totaled 2.09 million mt, compared to 1.92 million mt recorded in the same period of 2024.
In the given month, the Spanish steel industry recycled 832,000 mt of scrap to be used for new steel products, rising by 4.5 percent compared to the previous month and by 7.4 percent year on year. In the first two months of the current year, the industry recycled 1.63 million mt of scrap.
Premium for green steel will be temporary: Liberty
The premium for green steel may only serve as a short-term uptick to pay off capital expenditure and will not be a long-term feature of the market, Marian D’Auria, Liberty Steel’s global head of risk & sustainability, said at the Innovation Zero event in London, attended by Kallanish.
The premium should be expanded to other sectors from the few currently paying it, such as automotive, she added. There are however challenges with this depending on the amount of steel in the product, with railway slabs likely to command a far higher premium than “palatable.”
“Premiums are complicated,” she told attendees. “Green” does not have to cost more, she said, noting levels of capex and availability of cheap electricity. In the long term, she suggested there was “no reason” for green steel to cost more than fossil fuel-based steel.
She suggested the costs of the premium be shared by those in the value chain, between governments purchasing tonnes under public procurement, downstream users, and even producers themselves. She also mulled that rather than paying for a premium for clean metal, the market should remove the “dirty discount” for steel made with fossil fuels.
Elsewhere, for the UK market, she sees electrification as the future of the steel sector, utilising domestic scrap, with potentially some imports of direct reduced iron. Green hydrogen is meanwhile “a long way off being viable”, she continued, noting challenges with grid connections, permits, and required volumes.
She also suggested the UK scrap policy needed an overhaul when it came to sorting and processing, which could help sustain the industry over the long term.
Carrie Bone UK
UK government exploring Wales-based Blastr iron pellet plant
The UK government is exploring supporting Nordic company Blastr Green Steel setting up an iron pellet plant on the Port Talbot site in Wales, Kallanish learns.
The comments were made on 1 May by Sarah Jones, the UK minister for industry, during a parliamentary debate.
The potential plant could be based on surplus land at the Port Talbot site, where Tata Steel operations are currently located.
When asked a question about how much of the £2.5 billion ($3.3 billion) steel fund Wales would receive, Jones said: “I had a good meeting this week with Blastr, which is looking to build an iron pellet plant at the Port Talbot site if possible, and we are trying to support that.”
She added her government had re-negotiated the deal for Port Talbot with Tata Steel and the £500 million of funding previously agreed for its electric arc furnace transformation.
Jones noted the focus in recent weeks had been on Scunthorpe and British Steel, after the government took control of the steelworks on 12 April by passing the Steel Industry Bill. However, she added that “the steel fund remains”.
She had previously said the government was investigating the merits of investing in DRI production using hydrogen.
“The steel plan is still being worked on, which is very broad and hopes to lift the entire UK steel industry,” she added.
In recent days, the government said its support for British Steel since the takeover is nearing £100m.
When approached regarding the Blastr plant, a Tata Steel spokesperson said: “We are committed to working with all our stakeholders to develop potential from surplus land at our site at Port Talbot. We are not able to comment on specific expressions of interest at this time.”
Blastr did not respond to request for comment from Kallanish before deadline.
Carrie Bone UK
‘No support’ for higher HRC offers in Europe, prices hold steady on tepid demand
Offers at €680-700 ($768-791) per tonne ex-works for June-July rolling HRC from Northern European mills were not accepted by buyers, sources said.
“We noticed there is no support from buyers for these levels [€680-700 per tonne ex-works],” a buyer in the Netherlands said.
Tradeable values were estimated by buyers at no higher than €640-660 per tonne ex-works, with the majority of the price points reported at €640-650 per tonne ex-works.
Italy-origin coil was offered to Germany at €650-660 per tonne delivered with transactions reported within that range in the week to Friday.
Source also reported that a re-roller in Northern Europe was selling HRC at €640-650 per tonne ex-works.
As a result, Fastmarkets’ calculation of the daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Northern Europe was €655 per tonne on Friday, unchanged from Thursday.
The index was up by €2.50 per tonne week on week and up by €3.96 per tonne month on month.
Overall, trading was quiet both due to holiday period across Europe and buyers’ cautious attitude in an uncertain market.
“There is lack of strengthening in steel demand across Europe, so HRC is losing momentum – asked prices from the mills are not reflecting the reality,” a buyer in Germany said.
Market participants were waiting for Made in Steel trade fair in Milan on May 6-8 to get greater clarity regarding the direction of prices, according to sources.
Meanwhile, in Southern Europe, Fastmarkets’ daily steel hot-rolled coil index domestic, exw Italy was calculated at €623.13 per tonne on Friday, unchanged since Wednesday.
The index was down by €4.37 per tonne week on week and down by €1.87 per tonne month on month.
The Italian market was also quiet on Thursday and Friday due to a public holiday in the country on Thursday.
The most recent offers varied within the range of €620-640 per tonne ex-works, while tradeable values were said to be €610-630 per tonne ex-works. But some bids were at heard as low as €600 per tonne ex-works.
“End-user demand remains sluggish [and] downstream prices are weak, so buyers hold back,” a third buyer source said.
Meanwhile, sources reported lower import offers from some origins toward the end of the week.
Notably, June-shipment HRC offers from Malaysia were reported at €500 per tonne CFR to Italy.
From Indonesia, offers were heard at €520-530 per tonne CFR to Italy, with one supplier from the nation heard accepting even lower prices – €500 per tonne CFR.
June-shipment HRC from one Turkish mill was heard booked at €550-570 per tonne CFR to Italy and Spain during the week, including the EU anti-dumping duty.
And one source reported HRC offers from China at $580-610 per tonne CFR, including the anti-dumping duty. This, however, could not be widely confirmed before the publication deadline.
EU steel import quota fill rate slows as new safeguard measures take effect
EU steel import quotas for hot-rolled and cold-rolled steel coils and hot-dipped galvanized steel have filled at a slower rate than expected since new import safeguard measures took effect April 1, according to market sources.
The European Commission reduced quota levels per country and announced it would stop the quarter-to-quarter transfers of unused quota volumes for HRC, CRC and HDG category 4A.
First-quarter HRC safeguard quotas for key Asian suppliers were exhausted within a week, highlighting Q2’s slowdown in fill rate and largely subdued demand that has persisted in the market.
Some sources cited the bullish implications of the measures on domestic material, with many midstream buyers expecting supply-side price increases amid the changes.
Since the new measures have taken effect, domestic HRC in Northern Europe has been assessed at the highest level seen since April 2, 2024, where it was assessed at Eur665/mt ex-works Ruhr.
HRC in Northern Europe was assessed May 1 at Eur655/mt ex-works Ruhr.
In contrast, imported HRC in Northern Europe was assessed May 1 at Eur545/mt, down Eur5 month over month, which some sources attributed to the uncertainty of these new measures for importers, and the strong availability of domestic material.
Some market participants believed the amount of unallocated material was larger than anticipated.
“Many people were uncertain and didn’t know what measures would be introduced, so they didn’t place many orders,” a service center source said.
“New safeguard clauses from April 1 have kept import activity low,” one trader told Platts. “Some trading houses don’t offer steel to EU customers anymore.”
However, a second service center source suggested that with more clarity on trade measures, there could be an increase in imports again.
The wider price differential between domestic and imported HRC could suggest that imports may be starting to look more attractive, as market participants have previously raised concerns about the quality of material and delivery times of imported material.
“We are still cautious about the market spread between import and domestic,” a mill source told Platts, referring to the price differential. “When do we get to the [price] point where people are willing to take a risk on them.”
Market participants have also cited Indonesia as a viable alternative for HRC imports. Following their exemption from any safeguard measures, the number of Indonesian-origin materials being offered has sharply increased.
The April 7 implementation of temporary antidumping duties on HRC imports from Egypt, Vietnam and Japan on April 7 further increased the attractiveness of Indonesian material.
Hot-rolled coils
South Korean HRC quota levels are at a critical level, according to data from the European Commission. The initial quota amount allocated for South Korean material was 161,144 mt, and only 2.49% remains as of May 2.
Quota levels on imported Turkish HRC have 44.41% remaining, out of an initial quota allocation of 397,957 mt.
The “other country” category for HRC has 69.87% left, out of an allocation of 856,770 mt. Serbian quota levels are at 71.40% available, from an original quota allocation of 142,379 mt.
The country-specific quota levels for the UK and India remain above 95%.
Platts, part of S&P Commodity Insights, assessed imported HRC in Northern Europe at Eur540/mt CIF Antwerp May 1, down Eur5 from April 1. Imported HRC in Southern Europe was assessed at Eur530/mt CIF S. Europe May 1, down Eur15 since new measures took effect.
Cold-rolled coils
Quota levels for CRC have remained largely untapped since the start of the second quarter.
South Korean quota levels for CRC have 66.37% remaining, from an original quota allocation of 94,591 mt.
The “other country” category has 75.55% left out of a 334,370 mt allocation.
India, Serbia, and the UK all have remaining quota levels above 85%, with many sources suggesting the CRC market, particularly for imports, has been relatively subdued since the new measures came into play.
Platts assessed imported CRC in Northern Europe at Eur 635/mt CIF Antwerp May 1, largely stable since April 1. The monthly Southern European import price was assessed at Eur 640/mt CIF S. Europe May 1, up Eur10 Month over month.
Hot-dipped galvanized steel
A 25% duty will apply on any additional imports of HDG 4A from India and HDG 4B from China, after quotas were exhausted April 4.
One service center source said that this exhaustion is “unlikely to have much of a longer-term impact.”
HDG 4A is used primarily in the industrial sector, whereas HDG 4B is typically used in the automotive.
The “other country” category for HDG 4A has a quota level of 22.65% remaining, from an initial allocation of 473,050 mt.
UK quota levels for HDG 4A have 39.10% left, out of 35,355 mt. Levels for South Korea remain around 75%, from a quota allocation of 37.523 mt.
For “other countries” in HDG 4B, quotas are at a critical level according to the data, at 6.55%, from an allocation of 104,799 mt.
South Korean, Indian, and UK HDG 4B quota levels range from 70%-84% available.
Platts assessed domestic HDG in Northern Europe April 30 at Eur750/mt ex-works Ruhr, up Eur25 since April 2, and in Southern Europe at Eur730/mt, up Eur10 over the same period.
