EUROMETAL and EUROFER call for immediate action to protect the European steel value chain
EUROMETAL and EUROFER have issued a joint statement calling for the urgent implementation of robust trade measures to safeguard the European steel value chain, with a particular focus on steel derivatives.
The European steel industry is facing unprecedented challenges. Deindustrialisation is accelerating across the production, distribution, and processing sectors — jeopardising the resilience and sustainability of an industry that is fundamental to Europe’s strategic autonomy. Imports of steel-based downstream products, many of which are not subject to existing safeguard or anti-dumping measures, continue to displace EU-manufactured goods and undercut domestic production.
Steel derivatives vital to Europe’s green transition — including components used in energy infrastructure — now make up as much as 50% of EU consumption, threatening jobs, innovation investment, and long-term viability across the supply chain.
The joint statement reflects a strong consensus across the European steel distribution sector, with the active participation of 12 national federations of steel distributors from across the EU27, united in urging policymakers to act decisively.
The joint statement reaffirms the shared commitment of EUROMETAL and EUROFER to an integrated, competitive, and future-ready steel ecosystem. Echoing the Steel and Metals Action Plan, the two associations stress that excluding downstream products from trade protections only shifts pressure further along the supply chain and increases the risk of carbon leakage under CBAM.
With global trade dynamics shifting — including record-high Chinese exports of both steel and embedded steel products — the statement underlines the urgent need for action to preserve European industrial capacity and ensure a just transition to a green and digital economy.
Joint Statement by EUROFER and EUROMETAL – Steel Derivatives
EU and US reach trade agreement: major implications for steel and metal distribution
President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen has announced that the European Union and the United States have reached a comprehensive agreement on tariffs and trade.
The deal establishes a single 15% tariff rate across most sectors, including automotive, semiconductors, and pharmaceuticals, providing greater clarity and predictability for businesses and citizens on both sides of the Atlantic. It also introduces zero-for-zero tariffs on a list of strategic products such as aircraft components, certain chemicals, generics, semiconductor equipment, agricultural goods, natural resources, and critical raw materials.
On steel and aluminium, both sides acknowledged the shared challenge of global overcapacity. The agreement includes tariff reductions and the implementation of a quota system, aimed at fostering fair competition and reducing trade barriers between the EU and US.
“On steel and aluminium, the EU and the US face the common external challenge of global overcapacity. We will work together to ensure fair global competition. And to reduce barriers between us, tariffs will be cut. And a quota system will be put in place”, stated President von der Leyen.
Additional elements of the deal include enhanced transatlantic energy cooperation, with the EU set to diversify its supply through increased purchases of US LNG, oil, and nuclear fuels. Furthermore, US AI chips are expected to support Europe’s digital infrastructure, including AI gigafactories.
The agreement delivers immediate tariff relief, secures continued access to key export markets, and lays the foundation for further tariff reductions and economic cooperation.
President von der Leyen also highlighted this deal as a significant step in the EU’s broader trade strategy, alongside recent trade agreements concluded with Mercosur, Mexico, and Indonesia.
The Commission thanked President Trump, Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič, and EU Member States for their roles in securing this outcome.
European heavy plate round-up: European plate offers to rise to cover higher slab costs
European re-rollers plan to increase offers for heavy plate following a rise in import slab offers in the week to 25 July.
Import slab offers from China and Turkey have moved up by $10-30/t over the week to $520-540/t CFR Italy. The rise was driven by higher steel prices in China.
Market participants hope that they would be able to negotiate prices during the next round of the semi-finished steel purchases at around $510/t CFR.
Italian re-rollers have been trying to book more slab with delivery within 2025 to avoid carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) duties which will come into force in 2026. They are expected to accept higher slab prices to secure delivery within this year.
The approach of CBAM made re-rollers look for alternative sources of slab which would have lower CO2 content. Chinese steelmaker HBIS has sold around 20,000 t of hydrogen-based green steel slab to Italy, with the material to be shipped before September.
“Heavy plate prices need to be at least EUR610/t ex-works to cover higher slab costs,” a producer source said.
Heavy plate prices in Italy, however, remained stable over the week at EUR590-610/t ex-works. Some sources said that mills have been giving discounts, but the information was not widely confirmed in the market.
“Hopefully we will not see further decreases and the trend will turn positive supported by coil market prices, upcoming CBAM and consequent decrease in import plate demand. The prices are expected to start moving up after summer time or immediately before the start of holidays,” a trader said.
Apart from higher slab prices, an increase of offers for coil products is also expected to contribute to the bullish mood of re-rollers.
In Germany, domestic heavy plate prices inched up by EUR5/t on week to EUR660-680/t ex-works.
European heavy plate prices
| Unit | Term | Marker | Change | |
| Weekly heavy plate | ||||
| Northwest Europe ex-works heavy plate | EUR/t | EX-WORKS | 670 | 5 |
| Germany delivered heavy plate (Northwest Europe) | EUR/t | DEL | 680 | 10 |
| Italy ex-works heavy plate | EUR/t | EX-WORKS | 600 | 0 |
| Weekly steel slab | ||||
| Italy CFR slab | $/t | CFR | 510 | 10 |
| Weekly Green steel | ||||
| Green heavy plate premium (scopes 1-3 CO2 1t) | EUR/t | 25 | -25 |
Benjamin Steven Journalist, Steel
Maria Tanatar Associate Director, Steel and Green Steel
European coil and green steel round-up: coil prices supported by lack of import competition
European coil prices rose as the week reached its conclusion, amid market conditions that are increasingly amenable to uptrends given relaxing import pressure and fuller orderbooks for the regions’ producers.
Rising offer prices
Northwest European hot-rolled coil (HRC) offers were around EUR590/t ex-works, with the majority of mills increasing their offer prices to this level – around a EUR30/t increase on previous offer prices.
“Mills seem to have collected enough orders to be comfortable holding back and raising offers,” a trader source said.
“Steelmaker orderbooks are much better after all the low-price sales over the past month,” agreed a distributor, “soon buyers will realise they’ve exhausted their import alternatives and will start accepting higher prices.”
That said, buy- and sell-side sources still perceived opportunity at week’s end to secure last-minute deals at around EUR550-560/t ex-works. A German service centre source held an offer within that range valid until end of day from a leading mill, while a Benelux distributor reported a rejected bid at EUR550/t delivered (the equivalent of around EUR540/t ex-works).
In South Europe, the Italian market experienced similar offer increases – though not as forcefully as in the North – with an offer reported from buy-side at EUR580/t delivered. A producer source reported more “realistic” offers in the market as grouping around EUR550/t ex-works, against buyer bids at EUR520/t ex-works, and considered current and near-term deals to fall within that spread.
Diminishing import pressures
Declining import pressure was said to be a primary factor motivating mills to increase offer prices, as January’s tandem uncertainties of the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) and a possible expediting of the European Commission’s long-term replacement for the EU’s steel safeguard system both threaten unpredictable duties on current import lead times.
“CBAM remains a big concern for us,” said a northern distributor. “To be honest it will definitely be less risky just to source from local mills.”
Trading sources reported that while Indian, Algerian, and Turkish material could still technically arrive in time to escape CBAM liabilities, by then safeguard quotas could be exhausted such to require out-of-quota clearances under the 25% duty-rate, or even become subject to an upwardly revised rate if the safeguard replacement is brought forward to January from July as rumoured.
Import prices were generally reported higher, with one Italian trader stating that international steel could no longer be sourced below EUR500/t CFR, seeing offers slightly higher at EUR515-520/t CFR Italy. Imports from Asia were said to be particularly exposed to CBAM costs due to their higher emissions balance. A larger service center did still report lower import prices as available for Indonesian material at EUR450-460/t CIF.
European capacity reductions
The region’s steelmakers have also signalled capacity reductions down-the-road, with ArcelorMittal Poland scheduling a temporary idling of its blast furnace (BF) No. 3 at Dąbrowa Górnicza for September, leaving a single furnace operational. The company highlighted the squeeze of ETS cost exposure and the dominance of imports in the Polish market (cited as an 80-95% market share) as motivating the shutdown.
Swedish steelmaker SSAB also indicated plans to reduce output in the third quarter – adjusting production and staffing levels. The decision was premised on a combination of demand decline factors, namely the seasonal summer slowdown, and growing uncertainty in the market from combative trade protectionism.
In other news, Italy’s Ministry for Enterprises and Made in Italy (MIMIT) announced that the final meeting of Acciaierie d’Italia’s (ADI) technical committee would be held to finalize future upgrades and the wider decarbonisation strategy for the plant on 31 July. Italian authorities have already reviewed a number of options for the site including integrating gas supplies for direct-reduced iron (DRI) production, to replace the plant’s blast furnaces.
Local Italian media reported a series of agreements from this week’s economic summit between Italy and Algeria in Rome, specifically citing an agreement between Italian steel consortium CEIP scarl and Algerian industrial specialists Copresud for a new Algerian DRI plant, while Duferco and Copresud separately signed a Memorandum of Understanding “with the aim of strengthening collaboration in the energy sector, focusing on the integration of renewable energy sources and the progressive use of green hydrogen in industrial processes.” McCloskey understands that both agreements remain independent of ADI’s aforementioned decarbonisation strategy.
Green Steel
While the green steel markets remain subdued awaiting regulatory clarity from the European Commission’s low-carbon label, which seeks to define green steel for the generation of decarbonisation-supportive lead markets and associated pricing premiums, McCloskey continues to record spot deals for low-carbon products.
Northwest European distributors reported actual and estimated premiums of EUR80-100/t for green HRC this week, with CO2 content of 0.75-0.8t per ton. Mass-balanced material was heard available at a EUR60/t premium, offering a 20% emissions reduction from 2t CO2e/t.
“We still trade [green steel] regularly for smaller volumes,” said one distributor, achieving premiums of around EUR100/t to traditional steel prices in sales to end-users. “Companies increasingly need it to manage their own emissions targets.”
McCloskey’s reduced carbon marker – calculated on the basis of all green HRC premiums surveyed in the week to publication – reflects this consistency, standing at EUR62.21/t as of 25 July and demonstrating a relative variability of just over 6% in 2025 to-date.
European coil and green steel prices
| Term | Marker | Change | |
| Weekly Northwest Europe steel coil | |||
| Northwest Europe ex-works HRC | EX-WORKS | 555 | 15 |
| Northwest Europe ex-works CRC | EX-WORKS | 650 | 10 |
| Northwest Europe ex-works HDG | EX-WORKS | 660 | 0 |
| Weekly South Europe steel coil | |||
| Italy ex-works HRC | EX-WORKS | 530 | 10 |
| South Europe CIF HRC | CIF | 510 | 10 |
| Weekly Green steel | |||
| Green Northwest Europe HRC premium (scopes 1-3 CO2 0.8t) | 80 | 10 | |
| Green Northwest Europe ex-works HRC (scopes 1-3) | EX-WORKS | 635 | 25 |
| Green HRC premium (scopes 1-2 CO2 0.5t) | 80 | 10 | |
| Green Northwest Europe ex-works HRC (scopes 1-2) | EX-WORKS | 635 | 25 |
| Green HRC reduced carbon price (scopes 1-3) | 62.21 | 3.94 |
Benjamin Steven Journalist, Steel
Maria Tanatar Associate Director, Steel and Green Steel