Italy steel exports decline to ten-year low
Italy’s exports and imports diverged in 2024. Shipments abroad sunk to a ten-year low, suffering from weak manufacturing activity, the crisis in Germany’s automotive sector and geopolitical tensions, while intake remained stable, Kallanish notes.
Italian steel shipments fell by 5.7% on-year to 14.9 million tonnes; however, imports remained stable at 18.5mt. As a result, the national steel trade deficit widened from 2.6mt in 2023 to 3.6mt last year.
Imports from the European Union reached 8.4mt, up 3.1% on-year. Germany increased shipments to Italy by about 200,000 tonnes to 2.2mt. Spain delivered 992,000t, while France supplied 1.6mt, a moderate rise. Germany confirmed its position as the top supplier with a 12% share of total imports.
Europe continued to absorb 80% of Italian steel shipped abroad. Declines were recorded for Germany at 2.8mt, France at 1.5mt, Austria at 804,000t and Spain at 798,000t. These reductions were partly offset by higher sales to the Czech Republic at 875,000t and Romania at 676,000t.
Italy’s steel imports from non-EU countries fell to 10.1mt in 2024, down 2.6%. The decline was driven by lower volumes from China, Vietnam, South Korea and Russia, partly offset by a surge in Turkish-origin supply, which rose from 615,000t to 1.2mt, and higher shipments from India.
Exports to non-EU markets fell 8.1% to 3mt, the lowest levels seen in the past two decades. Outbound shipments declined to Switzerland at 550,000t, to Turkey at 355,000t and to the United States at 325,000t. Growth was recorded to Bosnia, Serbia and Canada.
Natalia Capra France
German ‘small summit’ demands better conditions for EAFs
Following the “steel dialogue” hosted by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz earlier in November, national steel federation WV Stahl called another meeting last week, aiming to raise support for medium-sized steelmakers operating electric arc furnaces.
“EAF mills are the backbone of the circular economy, and the key driver of the decarbonisation of heavy industries,” WV Stahl president Gunnar Groebler declared at the meeting. Like most presidents over the years, Groebler is a representative of one of the larger listed mill groups, Salzgitter AG, which, however, is also an active operator of an EAF mill, in Peine.
EAF mills account for 30% of steel production in Germany, and together employ 32,000 staff. Groebler noted that EAF mills have been particularly hurt by power costs that are not competitive internationally.
Among its requests, WV has asked policymakers to provide an industrial electricity price of €30-60 ($35-69) per megawatt hour, including all associated costs. The figure echoes the request made earlier when WV Stahl criticised the government’s draft for an industrial power price (see Kallanish 19 November).
The EAF summit also asked for safeguarding domestic scrap supply, and an expansion of the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) to imports of steel-based products.
In a reaction statement, stainless steel trader Gerber called the summit “a declaration of war on the downstream”. Gerber dismisses several statistics cited by WV Stahl to illustrate an aggravation over the years. “The self-inflicted problems of the steel producers … are being hidden under a dangerous propaganda machinery of half-truths … designed solely for the benefit of the large mills,” Gerber writes.
Christian Koehl Germany
ArcelorMittal Poland to close Chorzow sections mill
ArcelorMittal Poland (AMP) will close its Chorzow-based plant, otherwise known as Huta Krolewska, by year-end. Despite the unit producing specialised products, the funds required to modernise the outdated equipment make it economically unviable to continue operations in the current European steel industry climate, the firm says.
Chorzow belongs to a select few mills that make up ArcelorMittal’s Rails & Special Sections division, the others being AMP’s flagship Dabrowa Gornicza steelworks, as well as Gijon in Spain and Rodange in Luxembourg. It produces sections for mining supports.
In 2021, the Chorzow plant invested PLN 27 million ($7m) to produce new rail profiles hitherto unavailable in Poland, helping it secure customers from Belgium, the Netherlands, Lithuania, Hungary and Estonia (see Kallanish passim). The investment included a descaling device, modernisation of the rolling stands, a new marking machine, and a new rail control and measurement unit.
AMP also attempted to find a strategic investor and establish a joint venture, it says.
Despite producing specialised products, the plant’s share in AMP’s production is less than 1%. “The age of the plant also means that ensuring safe working conditions at the plant will pose a significant challenge in the coming years. Significant financial outlays are necessary, which, given the current difficult situation in the steel sector in Europe, we cannot afford, as this would be economically unjustified,” AMP Long Products director Marek Kempa says in a note sent to Kallanish.
All 270 workers at the Chorzow plant will be reassigned to other AMP units, the firm notes.
At Dabrowa Gornicza – one of the few sites globally capable of producing 120-metre rails – AMP commissioned earlier this year a Danieli RH2 rail-hardening system (see Kallanish passim).
AMP’s crude steel production rebounded 22% on-year in 2024 to 3.8 million tonnes, following a very weak 2023.
Adam Smith Austria