Day: 31 July 2026

The European Commission has launched a targeted consultation to seek feedback from industry stakeholders on the product scope of its new Steel Regulation which came into force from July 1, it said in a statement July 30.

The consultation follows Article 12.1 of the framework regulation of June 17, which requires the Commission to assess the necessity of expanding the product coverage to the following categories:

• Tubes, pipes and hollow profiles, of cast iron
• Non-alloy and other alloy wire
• Stainless wire
• Non-alloy and other alloy forged bars

The Steel Regulation, which has cut overall tariff quota volumes by 47%, increased the out-of-quota duty rate to 50%, and introduced a melt-and-pour origin rule, is currently only applicable to 30 product categories. As a result, market participants have noted that this could lead to goods further down the value chain being imported into the EU quota-free, undermining the purpose of the regulation.

The consultation will run for eight weeks from July 28 to Sept. 28, with the Commission set to analyze submissions and finalize its product‑scope assessment by Dec. 31.

Domestic steel prices in Europe have increased since the new regulation came into operation, particularly after the country-specific quotas were published on June 30, as import availability has tightened significantly.

Platts, part of S&P Global Energy, last assessed domestic hot-rolled coil in Northern Europe July 29 at Eur715/mt ex-works Ruhr, up Eur35 since July 1. In Southern Europe, domestic HRC was last assessed at Eur705/mt ex-works Italy, also up Eur35 across the same period.

Price expectations are also bullish in the European steel market for Q4, when the true impact of the measures should be seen as participants are now able to adjust their trading strategies with at least some regulatory clarity.

Author: Riley Waters 

spglobal.com

Romania’s longs market has entered an even quieter phase this week, with demand remaining limited and prices broadly stable. As the summer holiday period gathers pace across Europe, an increasing number of companies have become inactive, further reducing the already weak trading activity. Under these conditions, local traders and the country’s sole rebar producer have maintained their prices, while discounts remain available for serious buyers. Despite the generally slow domestic and import activity, an unconfirmed rumour has surfaced this week regarding a recent Turkish rebar sale to the Balkan region, with Romania or Bulgaria reported as possible destinations.

According to market sources, around 5,000-12,000 mt of Turkish rebar may have been sold recently to the Balkan region, possibly to Romania or Bulgaria, at approximately $565-570/mt FOB. However, neither the transaction nor its final destination has been confirmed so far.

On the import side, Turkish rebar offers are currently heard at around €520-540/mt CFR Romania, compared to €520-530/mt CFR Romania last week. Egyptian rebar offers have decreased to approximately €530-540/mt CFR Romania, compared to €530-545/mt CFR Romania last week, while Egyptian wire rod offers are currently heard at around €540-555/mt CFR Romania, versus €535-555/mt CFR Romania in the previous week. Bulgarian rebar offers have remained unchanged at approximately €660-670/mt CPT Romania. Hungarian rebar offers have also remained stable at around €650/mt delivered, while Hungarian rebar in-coil prices are still heard at approximately €670/mt delivered.

In the domestic market, rebar spot quotations have remained unchanged at around €630-640/mt ex-warehouse. Beltrame Group’s official rebar offers are still heard at approximately €635-640/mt ex-works, while discounted levels of around €620-630/mt ex-works remain available depending on the buyer and transaction volume. Domestic wire rod prices have also remained stable at around €670-690/mt ex-warehouse, with purchasing activity continuing at very low levels.

Author: SteelOrbis Editorial Team

steelorbis.com

The Bulgarian longs market is entering August with activity already at a low level, as purchasing decisions are being postponed, company operations are slowing, and discussions are largely limited to immediate requirements. The holiday period is expected to reduce activity further over the coming weeks, with most participants seeing little prospect of a noticeable improvement before late August. However, the current situation is not solely linked to seasonal absences, as consumption had already been weak, and limited liquidity continued to restrict buyers’ ability to place regular orders. As a result, uncertainty remains over the extent of any recovery once the holiday period ends.

Local quotations have remained unchanged this week. Rebar is still available at around €630-640/mt CPT, while wire rod prices stand at approximately €670-680/mt CPT.

Import activity has also remained limited, although reports of a possible Turkish rebar booking into the Balkan region have generated discussion among Bulgarian market participants. No local buyer has been identified, and views remain divided over whether Bulgaria was involved. Some sources believe that the absence of recent import activity makes a Bulgarian destination unlikely, while others consider that part of the reported 5,000-12,000 mt cargo may have been allocated to the country. The deal is understood to have been discussed at around $565-570/mt FOB, but neither the buyer nor the final destination has been confirmed.

Currently, Turkish rebar offers are heard at around $565-580/mt FOB, compared to $565-575/mt FOB last week. With freight to Bulgaria estimated at approximately €20-25/mt, the corresponding delivered levels stand at around €515-535/mt CFR, versus €515-525/mt CFR in the previous week. Meanwhile, Egyptian rebar offers are reported at around $570-575/mt FOB, while wire rod quotations are at approximately $580-590/mt FOB. Freight from Egypt is estimated at €25-30/mt, bringing rebar offers to around €525-535/mt CFR, compared to €525-540/mt CFR last week, and wire rod prices to €535-550/mt CFR, versus €530-550/mt CFR previously. According to market sources, Italian rebar offers have also been heard at around €620-630/mt CFR Bulgaria.

European domestic long steel prices remained stable in the week to Wednesday July 29, with market participants reporting increased buying activity ahead of August closures, when many producers are expected to halt production for two to three weeks. At the same time, mills continued to target higher prices, supported by restocking activity described by one market participant as “hamster buying.”
“These days demand is good; customers, as usual, remember at the last moment that producers are closing for two-three weeks, so they are restocking,” a trader source told Fastmarkets.

In Italy, tradable levels were reported at €690-750 ($787-855) per tonne ex-works, although no transactions were reported at the upper end of the range.

Deals were heard at €690-730 per tonne ex-works, with offers and indications also reported within that range. Higher indicative offers of €750 per tonne ex-works were reported as well, but no deals were heard at that level, although mills continued to target higher prices ahead of the summer closure.

Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), domestic, exw Italy, remained stable at €690-730 per tonne on Wednesday July 29, unchanged from the previous week.

Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), domestic, delivered Spain, remained unchanged at €750 per tonne.

Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), domestic, delivered Northern Europe, remained unchanged at €710-730 per tonne on July 29.

Wire rod prices mirrored the broader stability seen across the European long steel market during the assessment week.

In Southern Europe, tradable levels for mesh-quality wire rod were reported at €660-680 per tonne delivered.

Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel wire rod (mesh quality), domestic, delivered Southern Europe, remained at €660-680 per tonne on July 29.

In Northern Europe, tradable levels for mesh-quality wire rod were reported at €705-715 per tonne delivered.

Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel wire rod (mesh quality), domestic, delivered Northern Europe, remained unchanged at €705-715 per tonne on July 29.

Prices in the domestic steel heavy plate market in Italy declined over the week to Thursday July 30, while prices in Northern Europe remained broadly stable on limited activity, market sources told Fastmarkets on Thursday.
Italy

Plenty of base-grade plate orders related to restocking were confirmed at €690-700 ($787-798) per tonne ex-works in Italy, while offers were reported at €710-720 per tonne ex-works, also for S235 plate.

This decreased from previous indications in the market heard at €700-750 per tonne ex-works on July 23.

Sources linked higher offer levels at €740-750 per tonne ex-works to S355-grade plate, but this grade is not part of Fastmarkets’ methodology. They also said September production was mostly sold out, and that mills could try to push prices up after the summer ends.

“We are most probably at the bottom, as most part of September production is sold out and after holidays producers will try to lift prices up a bit in line with coils and based on quota reduction,” a producer told Fastmarkets.

As a result, Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel domestic plate 8-40mm, exw Southern Europe was €690-710 per tonne on Thursday, down from €700-730 per tonne a week earlier.

Northern Europe

In Northern Europe, spot market offers for German plate were reported at €820-850 per tonne ex-works by a trade source, on the same level as latest levels heard on July 23.

The same source said that integrated mills had very good order books and lots of projects, so “everybody is quite optimistic”, expecting higher profit in the second half of the year, which was not necessarily linked to higher output.

On July 23, market participants said that German mills had limited volumes available for the spot market and the earliest lead time for commodity offers was the end of October.

No other price points were received for steel domestic plate 8-40mm in Northern Europe, so Fastmarkets kept its weekly price assessment unchanged at €820-850 per tonne on July 30.

Market participants reported healthy order books at European hot-rolled coil producers for August and September production, despite the summer slowdown and high customer stocks, sources told Fastmarkets on Thursday July 30.
HRC prices across Europe maintained their overall uptrend for July on Thursday, despite prices in Italy dipping for a second day. 

“Mills have very limited capacity left,” one German buyer said. “Most have totally sold August and half of September, giving offers depending on their order book.”

A second German buyer told Fastmarkets there were “only limited quantities left for October [delivery].”

Offers in Northern Europe came in at €715-740 ($815-844) per tonne ex-works in late July versus estimates of a tradable level at around €710-725 per tonne ex-works.

There were some bids heard at around €700-710 per tonne ex-works, but Fastmarkets understands mills were reluctant to accept the lower end of the range, given the limited  availability of the material.

Fastmarkets’ daily steel hot-rolled coil index domestic, exw Northern Europe was calculated at €711.25 per tonne on July 30 up by €3.25 per tonne from €708.00 on July 29.

The index was up by €1.03 per tonne week on week and up by €28.12 per tonne month on month.

In Italy, offers came in at €715-725 per tonne ex-works, with indications of the tradable level at €700-710 per tonne ex-works.

Fastmarkets daily steel hot-rolled coil index domestic, exw Italy was €706.25 per tonne on July 30, down by €1.25 per tonne from €707.50 per tonne on July 29.

And while the Italian index was down by €0.63 per tonne week on week, it was still up by €38.75 per tonne month on month.

In terms of imports, Egyptian HRC was on offer at $730 (€640) per tonne CFR, including $30 per tonne in costs related to the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism.

Indian HRC, meanwhile, was available at $645-655 per tonne CFR, which is equivalent to €565-575 per tonne CFR.

And the latest offers of Turkish HRC came in at €590 per tonne CFR including anti-dumping duties.

A further tightening of UK steel stocks is expected amid the recently reduced import quota tariffs, Kallanish learns from trading firm All Steels.

In a note, Laurence McDougall, managing director says that while a deal was struck with the EU, the reductions for other countries are particularly severe, with the developing nation status effectively removed for many who now fall under the residual category. This means the overall reduction in quota availability is now far more dramatic.

McDougall points to the early July trade activity. “The residual quota has already been exhausted and imports from both Turkey and the EU are highly likely to max out before the end of July,” he notes.

While adjustments to some quotas have eased short-term price pressure, McDougall expects the effect to be temporary. “We expect further upward pressure very soon,” he adds.

The duties are expected to lift import prices significantly. McDougall says domestic suppliers have been slow to raise prices but expects them to want to restore better profitability with the protectionism creating a competitive advantage of about £350/tonne ($465/t) from 1 August.

All Steels expects the tightening in stock availability will be noticeable from 1 August and the step change in prices will happen simultaneously. “We are technically now moving into a new era, where companies using bulk shipping and having access to bonded warehousing will continually take in supplies early for customs clearance at the start of each new quarterly window,” he states.

McDougall noted that several quotas were fully utilised in the second quarter, before the latest reductions took effect. “In the case of Turkey the quota was exceeded, resulting in duty costs for many importers including ourselves,” he adds. “Arguably many merchant bar imports are necessary as UK supply options don’t exist so quota burn rates will be rapid and the tightening in supply will happen shockingly quick unless buyers are prepared to absorb a 50% tariff.”

It is expected that the quota exhaustion will pull forward, resulting in allowances being exhausted on the very first day of a new quarter window, with each importer paying a proportional cost of the over quota duty.

Additionally, McDougall also expects the alloy and non-alloy merchant bars and light sections quotas to be reduced further once Speciality Steel UK becomes fully operational with a return to liquid steelmaking, which the note says remains on course for the first quarter of 2027.

Miguel Ángel López Borrego, the CEO of German steel manufacturer Thyssenkrupp, was elected on 29 July as chair of the board of Hydrogen Europe.

He “brings extensive experience, strategic vision and a strong commitment”, said Hydrogen Europe CEO Jorgo Chatzimarkakis.

The lobby group advocates for hydrogen as an energy source to boost competitiveness, decarbonisation and security.

Members include aircraft maker Airbus; steel manufacturer ArcelorMittal; car producers BMW, Renault and Hyundai; energy companies BP, Shell, Engie and Eni; and chemical companies Chemours and Solvay.

Borrego’s mandate will last until June 2029.

He takes over from Sebastian Boden, a vice-president at Air Liquide.

contexte.com