Day: 16 August 2026

German conglomerate thyssenkrupp saw third-fiscal-quarter revenue rise but orders drop at some of its divisions, but is satisfied with the performance of its steel activities.

Group sales in the reporting quarter – April through June – increased to €8.8 billion ($10.1 billion), from €8.2 billion in the prior-year quarter. The steel distribution division, tk Materials Services, benefited from higher volumes and increased prices, while steelmaking division tk Steel Europe also recorded an increase in sales. Sales at tk Marine Systems increased, but were below the prior-year level at tk Automotive Technology and tk Decarbon Technologies.

Order intake amounted to €7.7 billion, down from €10.1 billion year-on-year. That exceptionally high figure reflected  the order extension at tk Marine Systems of two further submarines for Southeast Asia and the conclusion of a major service order for the German Navy.

Net income was €34 million, after a loss of €255m in the prior-year quarter. The turnaround was mainly due to a positive accounting effect of €131m in connection with the sale of the stake in Hüttenwerke Krupp Mannesmann (HKM).

At tk Materials Services – which has now been renamed to tk accelis – order intake rose 20% to €3.3 billion and revenue by 18% to €3.4 billion. The group highlights a particularly strong growth contribution from the North American activities. The international trading business also developed positively, and higher prices and volumes in key product groups had a positive impact, Kallanish hears. Shipments of materials and raw materials increased to 2.1 million tonnes year-on-year, from 1.7mt.

At tk Steel Europe, order intake rose by 9% to €3.3 billion and revenue by 5% to €3.5 billion. In this segment, sales prices were down on the prior year in almost all areas, tk notes. Individual product segments were impacted by adverse market trends. A significant decrease was seen for tinplate, due to mainly restrictive US trade policy, and for electrical steel, due to imports to the EU from third countries.

The group did not provide tk Steel Europe production or shipment tonnages.

Germany has largely lifted its ban on trucks using roads at weekends to compensate for restricted water vessel traffic, as water levels on the Rhine and other rivers drop further.

Permitting weekend road haulage was the most immediate practicable measure raised during a crisis meeting between German transport minister Steffen Bilger and representatives of industries and interest groups last week. On Wednesday, Berlin and Brandenburg were among the last of 16 German states to give the green light for truck transport on Sundays.

However, “big volumes of freight cannot be transferred to truck or train that easily, because the space is not available that quickly, and costs are much higher than for water transport,” one Frankfurt rebar distributor writes in a note to customers. “It remains to be seen how this will affect steel prices in the coming weeks.”

Although it has not been mentioned explicitly so far, Badische Stahlwerke, in particular, could be impacted as it conducts most incoming scrap supply and outgoing deliveries by water on the Rhine.

Meanwhile, Tata Steel Nederland (TSN) tells Kallanish it has phased out regular transport via the Danube River. “We have ceased using it as a routine shipping route till regular water levels will return and shipping over the river is once again a viable option,” a spokesman writes in a statement. For deliveries to Central and Eastern Europe, the company has established rail-based transport routes.

“We have invested significant effort over the past several years in strengthening the resilience of the TSN transport network,” he says. TSN has developed alternative transport routes and enabled modal shifts to rail, alongside the existing waterway network. “As a result, the extreme drought so far had only limited impact on the TSN transport network. However, with drought conditions expected to persist over the coming weeks, it is anticipated they will eventually begin to affect the transport network operations,” he concludes.