Day: 3 November 2025

Bullish sentiment prevailed in the European heavy plate market in the week to 31 October, supported by price recovery in coil products and reduced interest in imported goods due to the approaching carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) and anticipated tighter quotas. 

Plate buyers have been showing greater interest in domestic material as the new policies coming into force next year will both limit availability and increase prices.

European re-rollers that traditionally rely on imported slab need to achieve higher prices to cover CBAM costs for semi-finished products arriving next year. Although the EU authorities have not released full guidance on the measures yet, market participants estimated that the CBAM duties will be around EUR50/t for slab.

“With plate prices of EUR650/t ex-works [in Italy] re-rollers can safely import slab from Asia and cover CBAM costs of around EUR40-50/t”, a reroller said.

Imported slab from Asia has been offered at around $520/t CFR Italy, and bids have been reported closer to $500/t CFR.

In Italy, deals for heavy plate have been reported at EUR620-650/t ex-works. The material has been offered at EUR650/t ex-works and market participants expect that new deals will consolidate around this number.

Some market sources, however, claimed that while the higher prices have been mainly accepted by end-users and projects, distributors have been resisting the rise.

The 19th round of sanctions against Russia adopted in the EU last week include measures against Evraz PLC, a UK-headquartered company with core steel manufacturing and mining assets in Russia. Some market participants expect that this will remove cheaper slab exported by Evraz to some European re-rollers, including those located in the Czech Republic and France, therefore resulting in some plate price rises. Others, however, claim that sanctions are only targeting the UK company and that exports would continue.

German mills have been offering heavy plate at EUR700-730/t ex-works, and a Northwest European integrated mill still had some volumes to offer at EUR670/t ex-works.

A re-roller from the Czech Republic has been targeting a higher price of EUR700/t ex-works, around EUR40-50/t above the latest transactions.

Weekly European heavy plate, slab and green steel

Aperam has concluded a new loan agreement supported by a guarantee of up to €120 million ($139m) from Flemish government entity Gigarant NV managed by ParticipatieMaatschappij Vlaanderen (PMV). The guarantee enabled a syndicated loan provided by ING, KBC, and Belfius, and will support continued investment in the development and sustainability of the Genk facility, Kallanish notes.

The announcement was made during a recent visit by Matthias Diependaele, Minister-President of Flanders, to Genk. With the backing of the government, Aperam will continue to invest in Genk’s innovation, supporting regional supply chains, and promoting sustainable employment.

“This partnership with Gigarant and PMV empowers Aperam Genk to pursue its investments in industrial innovation and the green energy transition,” says Aperam chief executive Frederico Ayres Lima. “It reinforces Aperam’s position in Flanders as one of the region’s largest employers, while advancing our global ambition to be the leading value creator in the circular economy of infinite world-changing materials.”

Between 2018 and 2024, the steelmaker invested over €350m at the Genk site to modernise production, accelerate digital transformation and its environmental transition. The company recently entered into a power purchase agreement (PPA) with LRM, a Belgian investment company, to source renewable electricity from the Kristal Solar Park in Limburg, complementing its existing solar plants at the Genk and Châtelet sites.

Aperam is investing in decarbonisation, aiming at a 20% reduction in scopes 1, 2, and 3 greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 compared with 2021 levels, on the path to net-zero emissions by 2050.

Natalia Capra France

kallanish.com

SSAB has been granted SEK 314 million ($33.3m) in funding by the Swedish Energy Agency through The Industrial Leap scheme for the electric arc furnace transformation of its Luleå plant, Kallanish notes.

SSAB is investing €4.5 billion ($5.2 billion) to transition from blast furnace-based steelmaking and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 90% at Luleå (see Kallanish passim).

The Industrial Leap funding applies to a project aimed at developing technical solutions for electrification and energy efficiency in the finishing processes for steel slab at Luleå – processes that are currently carried out using natural gas and propane.

“It is encouraging that the Swedish Energy Agency supports our transition. The Industrial Leap is an important tool for driving technological development and reducing the climate impact of industry,” says Carl Orrling, EVP, head of Technology and Transition Office, SSAB.

The project enables a future reduction in emissions equivalent to approximately 169,000 tonnes/year of CO2 equivalents, along with an energy saving of around 555 GWh. It includes detailed design of processes, grid connection, control systems and infrastructure, and will run from May 2025 to June 2026.

“In addition to the climate benefits, the investment in Luleå strengthens SSAB’s competitiveness through lower fixed costs, shorter lead times and increased production flexibility,” the steelmaker notes.

The new mill will have a capacity of 2.5 million t/y and will include EAFs, advanced secondary metallurgy, integrated hot rolling, and a cold rolling complex with galvanizing and annealing. Construction started in the summer, with commissioning pushed back by 12 months to end-2029 as reinforcements to the transmission grid could not be delivered as planned.

SSAB has previously been granted SEK 1.45 billion through the Just Transition Fund and the Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth to replace the blast furnace with an EAF up to the continuous casting stage. The new project focuses on finishing steps such as hot rolling, cold rolling and galvanizing – parts of the process that have not previously received public funding.

At SSAB’s Oxelösund plant, meanwhile, the EAF commissioning is now expected in early 2027 after its connection to the power line was pushed back to end-2026.

SSAB’s operating result amounted to SEK 1.869 billion ($198m) in Q3, an increase of SEK 621m compared to last year, mainly driven by stronger development at SSAB Americas.

Adam Smith Austria

kallanish.com

The European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) is increasingly concerned by imminent disruption to European vehicle manufacturing due to halted supply of semiconductors that are essential for carmaking, the organisation says.

“While the political dispute that has led to the prohibition of Nexperia chip exports from China remains unresolved, the situation becomes more critical daily for global automotive manufacturing,” ACEA says. “The resulting shortage of supply of the type of simple chips used in the control units of vehicle electrical systems is hitting automakers around the world hard, including here in Europe. The industry is currently working through reserve stocks but supplies are rapidly dwindling.”

According to the association, from a survey of its members this week, some are already expecting imminent assembly line stoppages. “Many alternative suppliers exist but it will take many months to build up the additional capacity needed to meet the shortfall in supply. The automotive industry does not have that long before the worst effects of this shortage are felt,” it adds.

“We know that all parties to this dispute are working very hard to find a diplomatic solution. At the same time, our members are telling us that part supplies are already being stopped due to the shortage,” says ACEA director general Sigrid de Vries. “This means assembly line stoppages might only be days away. We urge all involved to redouble their efforts to find a diplomatic way out of this critical situation.”

In September, the Dutch government took control of Nexperia, a key global semiconductor manufacturer, over national security concerns, citing the potential transfer of sensitive technology to its Chinese parent company (see Kallanish passim). In retaliation, China has banned Nexperia from exporting products manufactured in China.

Earlier, German carmaker Volkswagen said that, so far, it continues production despite fresh semiconductor shortages and ongoing global supply problems (see Kallanish passim). However, short-term effects on VW production cannot be ruled out.

The Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA) said that potential semiconductor supply disruptions could have a “serious impact” on global production at Japanese automakers.

Toyota and Honda are monitoring the situation and currently have no plans to suspend production at their factories.

Svetoslav Abrossimov Bulgaria

kallanish.com

Hot-rolled coil prices were firm in Europe while buying was muted, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday October 31.
Mills have largely filled their order books for December delivery and have started offering volumes scheduled for delivery in January. But customers postponed business preferring to destock before the end of the year.

A sell-side source from Northern Europe said he expects trading to revive closer to December, when buyers are ready to book volumes with January delivery.

Deals for January-delivery material have not been numerous in Northern Europe so far, according to market participants. Nevertheless, sporadic deals and the achieved prices — of €610-620 ($707-719) per tonne EXW — demonstrated upward trend compared with December-delivery prices — €580-590 per tonne EXW.

Still, the levels achieved so far for January-delivery coils were far from mill’s bullish targets of €620-650 per tonne EXW.

No specific deals were reported to Fastmarkets on Friday.

The reasons for the positive price trend was said to be purely of import regulatory policy change nature and not driven by market fundamentals.

Fastmarkets’ daily steel hot-rolled coil index domestic, exw Northern Europe was €603.75 per tonne on Friday, stable day on day.

The index was up by €2.87 per tonne week on week and by €26.25 per tonne month on month.

Fastmarkets’ corresponding daily steel hot-rolled coil index domestic, exw Italy was calculated at €597.50 per tonne on Friday, up by €4.17 per tonne from €593.33 per tonne on Thursday October 30.

The Italian index was up by €7.50 per tonne week on week and by €47.5 per tonne month on month.

A local buyer said that December-delivery volumes were no longer available, while January-delivery offers have not been numerous.

Offers came at €600-610 per tonne EXW versus estimates of workable prices at €590 per tonne EXW. No fresh deals were heard on Friday.

Vlada Novokreshchenova

fastmarkets.com