EU heavy plate round-up: European heavy plate prices stable on seasonal slowdown
Summer holidays largely neutered any potential for price movement across the European heavy plate markets in the week to 8 August, with McCloskey’s sources discussing developments in the segment’s low-carbon offerings.
The Northwest European spot market was working with prices between EUR660-690/t ex-works for s235 grade heavy plate – while the re-roller heavy Italian market lags, cited between EUR590-630/t ex-works.
Input prices for Italian re-rollers are increasing however, potentially lifting existing price floors in southern Europe, with import slab offers heard slightly higher at $510-515/t ex-Asia and Brazil, considered sourceable at a $500/t CFR minimum. Recent US tariff intensifications were said to be a primary factor in the increased availability of Brazilian-origin slabs – also heard purchased in strong volumes from German integrated producers recently to stockpile ahead of the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism’s definitive stage in January.
McCloskey’s conversations with sources largely surrounded the increased visibility of low-carbon heavy plate in Europe in lieu of usual market activity during the holiday period, A Bulgarian electric-arc furnace (EAF) producer is reportedly asking for a EUR100/t premium for its certified green heavy plate production, with this target matched in the market by other existing EAF plate producers such as in Slovenia or Macedonia.
Market participants did not see much chance of achieving EUR100/t premia for low-carbon plate sales, perceiving the majority of relevant deals from the EAF mills as trading without any – or a very minimal – green premium. Where premiums are negotiated, volumes were said to be small, with purchase prices specific to the budget of the dependent project and rarely exceeding green plate premiums of EUR50/t – considered by distributors to be a more realistic estimation of the low-carbon value-add.
Maria Tanatar Associate Director, Steel and Green Steel
Benjamin Steven Journalist, Steel
European coil and green steel round-up: Northwest European coil rises despite seasonal lull
Firmer mill offers saw Northwest European coil prices jump in the week to 8 August following the market’s latest round of offer price increases, with trading back at levels not seen since early June.
McCloskey’s sources across the steel supply chain reported deals for hot-rolled coil (HRC) at EUR580-590/t ex-works or delivered Northwest Europe toward the end of the week – a bullish signal for a domestic market that has been languishing under compounding pressures of low demand and aggressive import penetration.
While the ongoing holiday period means that substantive volumes are unlikely to shift for a couple of weeks, transactions at higher price levels will reinforce mill attempts to bring prices above red lines through the latter half of 2025, and in preparation for September restocking.
In southern Europe, where import pressures are traditionally higher, the market failed to see the same gains as in the North, seeing only slight increases to transactional levels last reported between EUR530-540/t ex-works. Buyers were said to be absent from the market, enjoying holidays without giving HRC offers at EUR 570-580/t ex-works or delivered much interest.
Imports were reportedly available at offer prices of EUR500/t CIF Italy from Indonesia; at EUR520/t CFR from India; EUR530-540/t CFR from Algeria; or duty-inclusive from Turkey at EUR530-540/t CFR.
Producers and distributors similarly perceived high stock levels across the European market, though some suggested that improving end-consumer sales for delivery in Q1 2026 would require more substantive restocking, or at least wind down inventories at a pace more amenable to increases in market liquidity going forward.
Any improvement in demand should operate in tandem with declining import attractiveness as the market expresses more bullish sentiments for the rest of the year. Import lead times are encroaching on duty-liabilities under the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, and the rumoured early replacement of the EU’s steel safeguard measures also introduces too high a degree of risk for many of Europe’s steel importers.
That said, while the rumour of an early replacement to Europe’s steel trade defenses is rightfully premised upon domestic steel association Eurofer’s campaigning on the matter, nothing has been confirmed or persuasively indicated by European authorities, leading some to doubt the practicalities.
“Mid-2026 – when the old measures expire – is more realistic for the safeguard replacements,” said a mill source. “I don’t really see how the Commission has enough time to get everything sorted for January.”
Regardless, the narrative alone will somewhat deter importers from taking speculative opportunities on international steel sourcing for as long as it survives, potentially especially true of larger trading companies hit by new quota clearance burdens when the UK revised its own steel safeguards with near-imminent effect earlier in June.
Green Steel
Silence pervades the green steel market amid the summer lull, with McCloskey’s reduced carbon marker – calculated on the basis of all surveyed green HRC premia – now standing at its lowest level since April, at EUR52.97/t.
Premium indications from distribution remain range-bound between EUR70-100/t, though sources considered prices at the higher of said range as pretty optimistic in the current market given the presently subdued nature of green steel demand.
| European coil and green steel prices | Term | Marker | Change |
| Weekly Northwest Europe steel coil | |||
| Northwest Europe ex-works HRC | EX-WORKS | 585 | 25 |
| Northwest Europe ex-works CRC | EX-WORKS | 665 | 0 |
| Northwest Europe ex-works HDG | EX-WORKS | 670 | 0 |
| Weekly South Europe steel coil | |||
| Italy ex-works HRC | EX-WORKS | 540 | 5 |
| South Europe CIF HRC | CIF | 520 | 0 |
| Weekly Green steel | |||
| Green Northwest Europe HRC premium (scopes 1-3 CO2 0.8t) | 80 | 0 | |
| Green Northwest Europe ex-works HRC (scopes 1-3) | EX-WORKS | 665 | 25 |
| Green HRC premium (scopes 1-2 CO2 0.5t) | 80 | 0 | |
| Green Northwest Europe ex-works HRC (scopes 1-2) | EX-WORKS | 665 | 25 |
| Green HRC reduced carbon price (scopes 1-3) | 52.97 | -6.16 |
Maria Tanatar Associate Director, Steel and Green Steel
Benjamin Steven Journalist, Steel
France’s steel trade weakens in early 2025, while metal industry output edges up in June
In the January–May 2025 period, France recorded declines in both steel product imports and exports, according to data from the French Ministry of Economy, Finance and Industry.
Basic steel product and ferroalloy imports totaled €3.91 billion, down 12.7% year on year. Key categories included €852 million of steel pipes and tubes (-6.3%), €225.18 million of cold rolled steel bars (+3.9%), €283.34 million of cold rolled steel strip (-9.7%), €211.73 million of cold drawn wire (-3.8%), and €1.11 billion of metal structures and parts (-5.4%).
Exports of basic steel products and ferroalloys reached €4.01 billion in the same period, representing a 4.9% drop compared to the previous year. France shipped €524.89 million of steel pipes and tubes (-8.9%), €189.03 million of cold rolled steel bars (-0.9%), €265.54 million of cold rolled steel strip (-23.9%), €124.47 million of cold drawn wire (-13.9%), and €372.02 million of metal structures and parts (-0.6%).
Meanwhile, the latest figures from France’s National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE) show that manufacturing output in June 2025 increased 3.5% month on month, following a 1.2% decline in May. In the April–June quarter, manufacturing output was up 0.2% year on year and 0.7% compared to the previous quarter.
Production in the manufacture of basic metals and fabricated metal products rose 0.2% in June after falling 2.4% in May. The motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers sector saw a 1.1% monthly increase in June, reversing a 1.9% drop in May. In contrast, construction output fell 0.4% month on month in June, following a 0.5% decrease in May, and was 1.1% lower in the April–June quarter compared to the first quarter.
Klöckner anticipates rising shipments
Klöckner & Co expects a considerable increase in steel shipments in the third quarter, in comparison with the corresponding 2024 period.
The distribution group’s expectation is driven by continued robust demand at its US subsidiary Kloeckner Metals Americas. Additionally benefiting from a higher price level in North America, the company expects considerably higher revenue compared to the prior-year quarter.
In Q2, shipments were on par with the prior-year quarter at 1.2 million tonnes, In North America, the company was able to increase shipments to a record level of 762,000t, while weak demand in Europe led to shipments falling to 402,000t, from 423,000t. Consolidated revenue fell to €1.6 billion ($1.9 billion), from €1.8 billion, due to lower market prices.
Net income increased considerably, marking a turnaround to the prior-year quarter – it came to €2 million in Q2, after a net loss of €23m in Q2 2024.
During a conference call streamed from Klöckner’s Düsseldorf headquarters, chief executive Guido Kerkhoff also addressed questions about the company’s commitment to low-emission steel, following ArcelorMittal’s suspension of energy transition investments in Germany.
Klöckner introduced its brand Nexigen three years ago, and Kerkhoff emphasised that “we are happy we positioned ourselves at an early stage”. He said the conversion “is a question of cycles” and that conversions need substantial time. “It remains to be seen in what waves a transition will prevail; you cannot make a prediction,” Kallanish heard him say.
Christian Koehl Germany
Assofermet sees CBAM-driven potential flats price rebound
Market sentiment in the flat steel segment is not entirely negative, says Italian steel trade association Assofermet. A potential rebound from current low price levels cannot be ruled out in the coming weeks, supported by expectations surrounding Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) implementation and mounting cost pressure on steel producers.
However, distributors and first-stage processors continue to face significant challenges, as declining demand coincides with rising production and logistics costs. At the same time, the market remains under strong pressure from Far East producers, the association says in its most recent note sent to Kallanish.
“Geopolitical tensions, the slowdown of the Chinese economy, and US protectionist policies continue to weigh on the economic climate, hindering any potential recovery in demand across Europe. Adding to these challenges are the effects of controversial EU environmental policies, which are having a negative impact on several steel-consuming sectors,” the note says.
Carbon tubes and plates have shown signs of recovery, helping to offset the continued weakness in stainless steel within the same product categories. In the long products segment, the decline in merchant bar has been offset by a solid performance in beams, keeping the segment relatively stable. “The current context gives the impression of a potential turning point,” Assofermet notes.
At the international level, although major conflicts remain unresolved, some mixed signals are emerging that suggest a potential path towards diplomatic solutions.
Natalia Capra France
EU first-half imports fall despite longs, semis surge
EU steel imports fell 6% on-year in the first half of 2025 to 14.82 million tonnes, although intake of long products grew, while semi-finished steel imports surged, Kallanish notes.
Flat products intake in H1 fell 12.5% to 9.3mt, with carbon steel hot rolled coil down 26% to 3.51mt, metallic coated sheet down 7% to 1.998mt, and cold rolled coil down 15.5% to 1.09mt, according to preliminary data from the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Taxation and Customs Union.
However, intake of organic coated sheet, electrical steel sheet, carbon steel HR sheets and plates, and stainless steel flats all increased in the period. Most notably, organic coated sheet imports were up 22% to 486,793t, while stainless HRC and CRC intake rose 36% and 62% respectively to 92,624t and 313,855t. Non-grain and grain-oriented electrical steel sheet imports grew 26% and 24% respectively to 153,046t and 128,966t.
Longs imports in H1 rose 6% to 3.94mt. Although intake of rebar and wire rod declined, imports of non-alloy and alloy merchant bar and light sections rose 15% and 117% respectively to 352,688t and 390,502t. Intake of angles, shapes and sections grew 48% to 153,957t.
Semis imports surged 65% in H1 to 171,456t.
The preliminary data does not indicate import origins.
As for imports specifically of products under steel safeguard measures into the EU, tonnage in H1 amounted to 13.49mt, down 7.5% on-year. This was despite a huge jump in intake of category 3A electrical sheets (other than GOES), as well as increases in imports of multiple stainless steel categories, category 12 non alloy and other alloy merchant bars and light sections, and category 17 angles, shapes and sections of iron or non alloy steel.
Adam Smith Austria
New EU coil prices still far from settling
ArcelorMittal’s recent coil price hikes in quick succession have not yet reflected in market transactions, which is not surprising given the long-term weakness in demand and the current summer holiday slowdown, market sources tell Kallanish.
In two steps, ArcelorMittal customers were informed of new prices for hot rolled coil first of €580/tonne ($678) delivered, followed this week by the new target of €610/t. Both hike announcements were confirmed by the company upon inquiry, and other mills may be about to follow.
Amid the slow pace of business during August holidays, market players have seen little evidence so far of prices being paid above July lows of below €550/t ex-works.
“I have not seen any higher prices paid yet,” a Scandinavian buyer says. He refers to the latest price point at €600/t delivered from western European mills, which suggests an ex-works price of €550 plus the higher transport costs to Scandinavia. “Most mills are raising prices, but not selling,” he observes.
Sources in Germany and Switzerland believe that other mills have followed or will follow the market leader’s move. “It is pushing prices up before summer closure, but with little market effect,” one trader says. A Benelux-based source hears that one mill is still accepting orders at the old prices, despite announcing higher prices as of August.
The trader notes that “there is little expectation for demand to recover, as we all know.” Nevertheless, he adds the push for higher prices is there, especially for small quantities. He does not expect to sell larger volumes, but will demand higher prices from buyers.
A buyer at a re-roller concurs that “all my sources at mills take for granted that prices will go up in the second half.” The uncertainty over booking imports with CBAM looming will spur inland bookings, and hence push up spot prices. “If push comes to shove, some players will reduce capacities to support a rebound,” he concludes.
Christian Koehl Germany
European HRC imports remain seasonally slow; buyers cautious over impact of CBAM
“Buyers are more worried about purchasing imports because of the growing risk that material will arrive after the implementation of the new trade measures [replacing the safeguards] and the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism,” a supplier in Southern Europe said.
HRC from Indonesia was on offer at €450-470 ($523-546) per tonne CFR in Southern Europe, edging higher at the top end of the range from €450-460 per tonne CFR on July 30.
And a large volume of HRC was said to have been shipped from Indonesia to Italy in late July at about €470 per tonne, sources said. Indonesia is exempt from EU safeguard quotas.
HRC from India, meanwhile, was on offer to Italy at €500-520 per tonne CFR, while the most recent deals were closed at €490 per tonne CFR in late July, according to market participants.
Offers from Turkey came in at about €510-520 per tonne CFR including the safeguard duty, up from the previous offer price of €500-510 per tonne CFR in late July, when deals were done at €490-495 per tonne CFR.
The highest offers to Southern Europe came from Algeria at €520-525 per tonne CFR and while Algeria does not have a quota, it can offer short lead times to due to its proximity just across the Mediterranean.
Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel hot-rolled coil, import, cfr main port Southern Europe, was €450-520 per tonne on Wednesday, widening up from €450-500 per tonne a week earlier.
No offers were heard from Egypt, Japan or Vietnam, despite the European Commission announced final anti-dumping duties on imports of hot-rolled steel from these countries on July 16. In some cases rates were slightly lower than provisional duties that took effect from April 7.
The provisional duties are valid until October, according to a notice in the EU’s Official Journal.
“After the final disclosure the duties come into force as soon as possible,” one steel European steel producer said. “[However], it only becomes official after publication [of the enforcement date] in the journal.”
Definitive duties are unlikely to have much effect on import volumes, a second producer source told Fastmarkets.
“The EU’s safeguarding measures and CBAM remain the bigger constraints”, the said.
And a trader source said: “The small [duty] reductions could be supportive, but they aren’t a game changer. Buyers are watching for other regulatory headwinds.”
European stainless steel prices dip further amid summer lull; distributors cut stocks
Market participants reported limited activity, with many adopting a wait-and-see approach.
“The biggest [factor] is the missing demand from the market,” a distributor in Germany said. “It’s really too early to conclude anything significant, with [most of the market] still on holiday. So we wait and see.”
Prices of stainless steel flat products fell over the month due to the subdued demand and bearish market sentiment.
Fastmarkets’ monthly price assessment for stainless steel cold-rolled sheet, 2mm, grade 304, transaction domestic, delivered North Europe, was €2,300-2,380 ($2,664-2,757) per tonne on August 1, down by €50-60 per tonne from €2,350-2,420 per tonne on July 4.
Fastmarkets’ newly launched monthly price assessment for stainless steel cold-rolled sheet, 2mm, grade 316, transaction domestic, delivered North Europe, was €3,600-3,680 per tonne on August 1.
Many European service centers were trimming inventories, shifting to hand-to-mouth selling, sources told Fastmarkets.
“The strategy in our group is to decrease stock level to a point where service to the customer can still be maintained,” a distributor in Belgium said.
Some distributors said prices may be nearing a floor, citing higher import prices from Asia and reduced supply in Europe due to mill maintenance in August.
“The price has reached its limit for the month,” a distributor in Italy said. “With a forecast of reduced supply and an increase in the price of incoming Asian material, we expect the decline in stainless steel prices to slow.”
Asian stainless steel prices rose in late July, driven by a broader rally in ferrous futures and higher raw material costs, particularly for coking coal and molybdenum.
While sentiment remained largely bearish, a few sources said demand could recover if EU-level trade measures, such as the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), begin to support domestic production.
“Between September [and] October we can see stability and possibly [an] increase [in prices] for November [and] December. I think CBAM will start in January and will have [an] impact [on the stainless steel market],” a producer said.
The distributor in Italy said, “if the pressure from European producers’ associations and stainless steel service centers on the European Community aimed at protecting European production finally yields a positive result, then we will finally see demand recover.”