WBB to install new production line for wear-resistant steel sheets with Polish state support
Poland-based coal producer Węglokoks Group has announced that its steelmaking subsidiary Walcownia Blach Batory (WBB) will install a new production line for manufacturing wear-resistant steel sheets. The project is backed by the Polish government’s Reprivatization Fund.
Accordingly, the company aims to produce high hardness wear-resistant steel sheets directly at its rolling mill. In the first stage of the project, WBB has joined forces with INOXIHP Poland to purchase a descaling machine, a key component of the planned production line.
WBB produces steel sheets, low-carbon steel sheets, alloy steel sheets, and steel sheets with special physical properties, such as abrasion resistance, corrosion resistance, and heat resistance.
UNESID: Spanish steel output up 0.5 percent in May 2025 from April
According to the Spanish steelmakers association UNESID, in May this year Spain’s steel production totaled 1.14 million mt, up by 0.5 percent month on month and by 2.9 percent year on year. In the January-May period of this year, the country’s steel production totaled 5.55 million mt.
In the given month, the Spanish steel industry recycled 930,000 mt of scrap to be used for new steel products, rising by 4.7 percent compared to the previous month and by 4.4 percent year on year. In the first five months of the current year, the industry recycled 5.04 million mt of scrap.
Polish automotive production sinks to record low
Polish automotive production has reached record lows in 2025, due to weakening sales of vehicles across Europe, thereby depriving the Polish economy of an important growth engine, Kallanish notes.
Production of passenger cars in Poland totalled only 9,000 units in May, according to the latest figures, down 60% on-year. This took January-May output to 42,100 vehicles, down 68% on a year earlier, according to Statistics Poland (GUS) data compiled by the Polish Automotive Industry Association (PZMP).
This means an average of 8,400 passenger cars has been produced in 2025 each month, compared to 18,000 units in full-year 2024 and 24,900 units in 2023.
Commercial vehicle output declined 11% in the five months to 135,808 units; however, this is from a high base after it reached an all-time record in full-year 2024.
Output of buses fell 12% in January-May to 2,618 units.
Adam Smith Austria
SSAB, UK roofing firm expand partnership
SSAB and UK company Metal Solutions have entered a long-term partnership for the supply of decarbonised steel, Kallanish learns.
According to SSAB, Metal Solutions is the UK’s premier supplier and fabricator of all traditional metal roofing materials, systems and components to the roofing and cladding industry.
Its new collaboration with SSAB builds on a longstanding partnership with the Swedish mill group and “represents a shared vision for responsibility, and sustainable transformation across the metal roofing and cladding sector”, SSAB says.
SSAB’s GreenCoat colour coated steel is already among Metal Solution’s most popular material choices for metal roofing and cladding, the steelmaker notes. It forms the beginnings of a wider strategy – “moving on through low emission recycled steel and eventually on towards a fully fossil-free steel future”, SSAB continues.
“We are happy to add fossil-free steel to our collaboration with Metal Solutions, which already uses our GreenCoat colour coated steel, containing rapeseed oil in the coating,” says SSAB Swedish Steel managing director Dave Williams.
Christian Koehl Germany
AST invests in AI-based systems to boost efficiency
Italian stainless steelmaker Acciai Speciali Terni (AST), part of the Arvedi Group, is investing in the modernisation of its Terni facility, with a focus on intelligent manufacturing systems and sustainable process innovations. The project includes the upgrade of the plant’s cold annealing and pickling line to improve production efficiency and increase throughput.
The investment comes in response to rising demand from key sectors such as food, chemical, construction, and automotive. To carry out the upgrade, AST has contracted engineering group Fives, Kallanish notes.
Central to the upgrade is the integration into the annealing section of induction heating technology, specifically the CELES EcoTransFlux transverse flux induction heater. This system enables ultra-rapid heating at extremely high temperatures, even for non-magnetic stainless steel grades, eliminating current furnace limitations during product transitions, Fives notes. The upgrade is expected to deliver a production increase of over 16% on certain product lines.
In addition to boosting productivity, the use of induction technology significantly reduces NOx and CO2 emissions, aligning with Arvedi’s broader sustainability and environmental goals.
As part of the upgrade, a new digital thermal process solution called Virtuo-L will be installed to control the heating section, aiming to reduce fuel consumption and enhance mechanical properties through precise transition management. Based on advanced predictive modelling, Virtuo-L enables highly accurate furnace control by automatically adjusting heating power and optimising strip temperature transitions, independent of operator shifts.
“The direct benefits are a reduction in coil rejections by more than 5% and better heating management resulting in lower gas consumption. In addition, an AI-based cooling model will be introduced to regulate the cooling speed of the strip … We firmly believe that the electrification of processes and the implementation of advanced digital solutions, including sophisticated artificial intelligence algorithms, are an integral part of our decarbonisation plan for the strategic development of the site,” says Arvedi AST chief technology officer Gian Luca Gigli.
AST has invested in digitisation over recent years to boost production management, quality control, and production issue detection. Fives has already installed an intelligent quality management system, “Eyeron”, with the aim of streamlining the production process (see Kallanish passim).
Natalia Capra France
Steel rebar prices in Italy increase amid higher costs, healthy demand
Steel rebar prices in Italy moved up in the week to Wednesday July 16 due to higher energy costs and healthy demand.
One market source said that the effects of the summer holiday season were “starting to be felt,” with imminent mill closures leading to increased demand on expectations of tightened supply.
Market participants also said that higher energy costs were supporting the upward moves in prices.
Deals have been reported at €530-570 ($614-661) per tonne in the past seven days.
Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), domestic, exw Italy, was €520-570 ($603-661) per tonne on July 16, a rise of €10-20 per tonne from €510-550 per tonne a week earlier.
European steel HRC prices steady after sharp declines; mills eye post-summer rebound
European prices for hot-rolled coil were broadly stable on Wednesday July 16, with many market sources believing that prices have hit “rock bottom,” Fastmarkets was told.
In Northern Europe, increasingly more market participants were telling Fastmarkets that domestic HRC prices were already at their lowest and saw further price drops as unlikely.
“Mills are still giving some discounts on big tonnages [of HRC], but prices have been stabilizing in the past 10 days or so, and the lowest bids are being rejected by most suppliers,” a German trader told Fastmarkets.
In Northern Europe, offers were reported to Fastmarkets at €560-570 ($650-661) per tonne delivered (€550-560 per tonne ex-works) in Germany and at €560-570 per tonne ex-works in the Benelux area – the same as on the previous day.
Most buyers’ estimates of tradable prices were around €540-550 per tonne ex-works.
A deal was reported for a large tonnage at €535 per tonne ex-works. A buyer source said that price “was possibly the lowest possible in the market” in Northern Europe.
Another market source pointed out,meanwhile, that such prices were not “widely available” in the region any more.
As a result, Fastmarkets’ calculation of the daily steel HRC index, domestic, exw Northern Europe, was €547.06 ($636.22) per tonne on July 16, down by just €0.44 per tonne from €547.50 per tonne on July 15.
The Northern European index was up by €2.27 per tonne week on week, but was down by €46.69 per tonne month on month.
Some market sources expressed cautious optimism regarding a rebound in HRC prices either later this year or in the first quarter of 2026.
“We will see the effects of CBAM [the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism] on the market in November or so. [Phasing-in this regulation] might entail greater reliance on European coil and, as a result, higher prices for first-quarter-delivery material,” a buyer in Germany said.
Another German buyer pointed out that it had already stopped import bookings for 2025 due to safeguard measures and CBAM-related risks.
“Lead times for many new imports are mostly in the fourth quarter already; so with all potential delays [and] customs clearing ,we might get the material only in the first quarter [of 2026] when CBAM is in effect,” a steel-service center in Germany said.
In Southern Europe, meanwhile, Fastmarkets’ daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Italy, was calculated at €524.38 per tonne on July 16, up by just €0.42 per tonne from €523.96 per tonne on July 15.
The index was up by €4.38 per tonne week on week, but down by €56.45 per tonne month on month.
Buyer sources estimated tradable values at €520-525 per tonne ex-works on July 16.
Offers from local mills were reported at €540-550 per tonne ex-works, with lead times heard to be around six weeks.
In the secondary market, 4mm gauge HR sheet was traded at €630-650 per tonne CPT, largely stable week on week.
HRC offers from Indonesia to Northern Europe were heard around €460-470 per tonne CFR, and a deal was also heard from India to Northern Europe at €510 per tonne CFR.
A source also reported an offer from Indonesia to Southern Europe at €450-460 per tonne CFR, and an offer from Turkey at €480-500 per tonne CFR, including the anti-dumping duty.
Julia Bolotova, Davide Montagner