Day: 18 August 2026

Polish domestic long steel prices remained stable in the week to Friday August 14 amid weak demand, thin liquidity and low buying appetite, with the summer slowdown continuing to curb trading activity.
No new transactions were heard during the assessment week as market participants continued to adopt a wait-and-see approach.

“Demand is still weak,” a distributor source told Fastmarkets.

In the rebar segment, workable levels were heard at 2,650-2,680 zloty ($709-717) per tonne CPT.

Offers were heard at 2,650 zloty per tonne CPT. Higher indicative offers were also heard; however, those levels were not supported by transactional activity.

Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), domestic, CPT Poland, was 2,650-2,680 zloty per tonne on Friday, unchanged week on week.

Trading activity in the wire rod segment also remained limited during the assessment week, with workable levels heard at 2,990-3,100 zloty per tonne delivered.

Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel wire rod (drawing quality), domestic, delivered Poland, was 2,990-3,100 zloty per tonne on Friday, unchanged week on week.

The European Commission’s new safeguard measures, which entered into force on July 1, have had a significant impact on the steel market, with the restructuring of country-specific quotas, the introduction of additional quota mechanisms under Free Trade Agreements (FTAs), the increase in the out-of-quota duty to 50 percent, and bureaucratic delays. European steel producers and traders speaking to SteelOrbis shared their views on the measures, which have now been in effect for more than a month.

European steel market players view the new EU steel import quota system as an important step in reducing import pressure, while the actual impact is expected to become clearer over the coming quarters. Producers expect prices to remain strong, while they see inflation as one of the most challenging factors the market will have to manage.

Egypt has emerged as one of the beneficiaries of the quota allocation, while Algeria has been assigned a lower official quota and China’s quota has been reduced to a very low level. In addition, according to a producer speaking to SteelOrbis, although Turkey’s quota has been reduced on paper, the additional quota mechanism available to countries with FTAs will allow Turkish suppliers to offset a significant portion of the access they have lost.

According to producers, the increase in the out-of-quota duty from 25 percent to 50 percent will raise risks, particularly for companies importing high tonnages. However, the additional quota opportunities granted to countries that have free trade agreements with the EU could limit the impact of the quota cuts. With lower quota volumes and the 50 percent duty, importers are expected to be more cautious about clearing large volumes of material through customs.

Overall, while some producers view the measures positively, others believe that the quota cuts are insufficient and that mechanisms within the system that continue to allow imports reduce the effectiveness of the protection. Meanwhile, the outlook for flat steel products is said to be more negative.

Assofermet criticizes complexity of new quota mechanism

Assofermet president Paolo Sangoi said the association has serious criticisms of the new regulation, arguing that it contains numerous problems, including issues that raise questions regarding constitutional legitimacy and compliance with World Trade Organization rules.

According to Sangoi, one of the main concerns is the new quota allocation mechanism, which combines country-specific quotas with two separate “Other Countries” quotas. Sangoi stated that one of these additional quotas is accessible only to countries that already benefit from country-specific quotas, while the other is reserved for certain countries. According to Assofermet, this structure could lead to significant market imbalances by effectively giving an advantage to countries that exhaust their own quotas first, as they can subsequently access additional quota tonnages.

Assofermet also criticized the distribution of quotas among exporting countries. Speaking to SteelOrbis, Sangoi stated that relatively high quotas had been allocated to some countries that are less attractive to European buyers due to being subject to antidumping measures. By contrast, the association pointed out that quota tonnages for some countries that have traditionally supplied high-quality steel to the EU have been significantly reduced.

In addition, the association linked the publication of quota tonnages only one day before the regulation entered into force to the complexity of the new system, arguing that this increased the likelihood of calculation errors and resulted in quota allocations that do not adequately reflect actual trade flows or the needs of the European market.

Federacciai satisfied with quota allocation

Italian steel producers’ association Federacciai stated that they are highly satisfied with the European Commission’s quota allocation decisions. According to Federacciai, the calculation of quotas based on pre-pandemic import levels indicates that the European Commission carried out a detailed assessment.

Federacciai attributed the late publication of the quota allocations primarily to administrative procedures in Europe and the need to carefully assess the EU’s trade and institutional relations with its trading partners.

Czech Republic-headquartered Sev.en Global Investments has agreed to supply Ostrava steelworks Nova Hut with square billet from its 7 Steel Nordic plant in Norway, Kallanish notes.

The Ostrava mill plans to install an electric arc furnace with a capacity of up to 1.5 million tonnes/year of crude steel, after its blast furnaces were decommissioned when the firm became insolvent under former owner Liberty Steel. It has since been running as a re-rolling operation on a tolling basis, sourcing feedstock from Vítkovice Machinery Trade (VMT) and Donquixote.

Nova Hut, owned by former Czech interior minister Martin Pecina through his Iromet SICAV investment fund, took over the Ostrava plant last October.

Sev.en Global Investments, owned by Czech businessman Pavel Tykač, acquired Celsa’s Norway- and UK-based steelworks last year. The former operation, a renewable hydropower-based EAF and rolling mill in Mo i Rana, made its first steel shipment to the Czech Republic earlier this year.

Nova Hut requires several hundred thousand tonnes/year of semi-finished steel feedstock for its rolling mills, which 7 Steel is capable of providing, Sev.en Global Investments head of steel business Libor Cerny tells Kallanish. This cooperation could continue until the Ostrava plant commissions its EAF.

The billet will be shipped from 7 Steel’s port in Mo i Rana across the Baltic Sea to a port in Poland and then transported by rail to the steelworks in Ostrava.

“This is the start of cooperation between Nova Hut and the Sev.en Group in the field of green steel supplies. We are pleased that this cooperation has been successfully launched and that the Sev.en Group is thus supporting the recovery of Nova Hut,” says a Nova Hut spokesperson. “The contracted volume is in the range of several thousand tonnes of steel. Both sides expect long-term cooperation.”

Cerny adds: “We are also considering the possibility of supplying billets to Nova Hut from 7 Steel UK in Cardiff, Wales. However, this remains only a potential option at this stage and no specific agreement has been reached.”

He declined to comment on how pricing is calculated in the supply agreement, emphasising it is “commercially attractive and creates long-term value for both parties”.

Prices will depend on market conditions, “mostly the price of scrap”, the Nova Hut spokesperson concludes.