Day: 17 June 2026

Nordwest Handel, through its steel division Phoenix, lifted the turnover of its steel products in 2025, after two years of decline, and has continued that trend into this year so far. 

As one of Germany’s big purchasing cooperatives for hardware, sanitary equipment, construction materials and steel, Nordwest Handel achieved total revenues of €4.65 billion ($5.39 billion) in 2025, broadly on par with the previous year.

In terms of volumes, steel is the cooperative’s biggest divisions, with revenues of €1.56 billion, marking an increase of 3.2% year-on-year. In terms of volume, Phoenix handled 1.64 million tonnes of steel for its member companies, rising by 1.6% from 2024.

It its report, Nordwest notes that the increase occurred mainly in the first half of the year, while the second half saw a negative development with a year-on-year drop of 3.3%.

It adds that the overall positive development in the first half resulted both from an increase in sales volume and from a higher average price level over the year.

The increase of volumes was more pronounced in the first half, Kallanish hears from the head of the Phoenix division, Claudio Kemper. He attributes this to higher demand for rebar, which accounts for more than half of Nordwest’s steel sales and benefited from a mild recovery in construction activity.  He believes that the second half saw the reservation of orders due to insecurities in view of the upcoming CBAM regulation.

In the first quarter of the current year, Phoenix reported a y-o-y increase of 6.5% over an already strong Q1 in 2025, achieving revenues of €419 million. The unit represents more than 100 steel buying companies in Germany.

Thyssenkrupp steel distribution division tk accelis – formerly thyssenkrupp Materials Services – is to be spun-off and listed on the stock exchange.

The division has 15,500 employees, around 250,000 customers worldwide, and generates revenue of €11.4 billion ($13.2 billion), with 7.6 million tonnes of material sold in the 2024/25 fiscal year.

It emerged on the market under the new brand just a few days ago, which was the first step on the path towards independence (see Kallanish 11 June 2026). According to the parent group, tk accelis benefits from a strong position in fast-growing industries such as aviation, defence, and data centres, and therefore has a strong operating base for its next step on the capital markets.

The plans involve transferring a 49% minority interest to the shareholders of thyssenkrupp AG in proportion to their interest in thyssenkrupp AG and listing the shares on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. The spin-off requires the approval of an extraordinary general meeting, projected for 7 August. If the general meeting approves the resolution, thyssenkrupp will retain a majority stake even after the spin-off. Tk accelis would then remain a fully consolidated company within thyssenkrupp, the group states.

“Tk accelis has made impressive progress in recent years. Its ceo, Ilse Henne, and her team are systematically positioning the company as a fully integrated materials distributor and powerful supply chain service provider,” says thyssenkrupp AG chief executive Miguel López. “Now is the right time to take the next step and establish tk accelis as an independent company.”

Europe’s leading steelmakers have called on European policymakers to stop Emissions Trading System (ETS) cost escalation until companies have solid business cases for transformation investments.

The European Commission is due to present its eagerly awaited ETS review in July, Kallanish notes.

In a letter addressed to European Council President António Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, the firms, including ArcelorMittal, thyssenkrupp, voestalpine, Moravia Steel and Vitkovice Steel, demand “decisive intervention” to arrest ETS costs. This includes recalibration of ETS free allocations, benchmark methodologies and values, CBAM factor and the Cross-Sectoral Correction Factor (CSCF).

“Further conditionalities to free allocation as currently discussed must be avoided as this would weaken the intended carbon-leakage prevention,” the firms say.

This intervention must allow firms to build solid business cases for transformation investments, supported by “comprehensive and reliable policies” to incentivise the uptake of low-carbon and circular products, they add. ETS revenues should also be “channelled into accessible, technology-neutral industrial transformation support linked to verified emissions reductions.”

“The ETS no longer reflects current global realities. Europe is effectively acting alone in imposing rapidly rising carbon costs on its industry,” the letter asserts. Meanwhile, the conditions required for industrial transformation are not in place, with critical infrastructure for energy, CO2, hydrogen and CCS missing or insufficient. Investment frameworks are unreliable, and customer demand and willingness to pay for low-carbon products are low, the signatories note.

CBAM remains untested and leaves downstream industries exposed, they add.

“If current policies continue, rising carbon costs will be passed on value chains, triggering downstream carbon leakage, compressing margins, scaling back production and accelerating plant closures. The consequences – job losses, reduced investment, and weakening economic growth – are foreseeable,” the letter reads.

“Time is running out. Decisive and immediate policy correction is required to preserve Europe’s industrial foundation and enable a credible path to transformation,” it concludes.