European coil and green steel round-up: EU coil price rise to resume in September
European domestic hot-rolled coil (HRC) prices increased in the week to 28 August as both buyers and sellers returned to the market after the holidays.
Apart from seasonal demand recovery, the price rise was driven by limited availability – European buyers had to seek larger volumes in the domestic market following the introduction of tougher new tariff-rated import quotas in July and the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM). Both policies, combined with the effects of traditional trade measures, made imports riskier and more costly, cutting access to overseas steel.
“Prices for imported steel are higher than those for European products. And prices that seem lower on a CIF basis turn out to be very risky if you account for CBAM and other duties,” a Benelux service center said.
Logistics and technical issues at European plants have further supported bullish sentiment in the market.
Market participants estimated achievable prices for HRC in Northwest Europe at EUR730–760/t ex-works; a few transactions have been reported within the range. Some market sources, however, believe that prices of EUR730/t ex-works are not available to average buyers and that realistic prices are at EUR740/t ex-works at a minimum.
Import offers in the region have been limited, with HRC prices heard at EUR 740/t DDP Antwerp.
Activity has not fully recovered after the holiday lull, but trading activity is expected to pick up at the beginning of September. Market participants expect prices to reach EUR750–760/t ex-works by the end of next month, and some believe prices will reach EUR800/t ex-works by the end of the year.
The region’s steelmakers have been offering November–December production HRC, and some have already sold out 2026 downstream products, notably cold-rolled coil (CRC).
Several sources reported delivery delays from German mills due to logistics disruptions and production cuts caused by low water levels on the River Rhine.
Concerns are growing among buyers that the European production increase resulting from the restart of blast furnaces (BFs) will not be enough to substitute for cut import volumes caused by regulatory changes.
This year, ArcelorMittal resumed operations at three of its BFs, and Germany’s Hüttenwerke Krupp Mannesmann (HKM) is preparing to restart a furnace.
However, in southern Europe, a region traditionally more dependent on imports, domestic supply could be reduced further, and some volumes from resumed capacities may be redirected there. On 27 July, the Milan Court of Appeal ordered Acciaierie d’Italia (ADI) to shut down operations in the hot section of its Taranto steel plant within 90 days. The extraordinary administration of the plant disclosed plans to appeal to the Cassation Court, but the order remains in place at the end of August.
New potential buyers of ADI emerged in the middle of the month: the Italian steelmakers’ association, Federacciai, submitted a letter of interest for the Taranto steelworks on behalf of a new consortium of 14 companies: Acciaierie Bertoli Safau (ABS), Arvedi, Acciaierie Venete, Advanced Steel Solutions (Asonext group), Beltrame, Alfa Acciai, Compagnia Siderurgica Italiana, Duferco Travi e Profilati, Feralpi, Valsabbia, Lucchini RS, Marcegaglia, ORI Martin, and Rubiera Special Steel.
While the steelmaker has been operating only one furnace and has not been active in the spot market, the absence of its material would hit major buyers – re-rollers and pipe makers – who use ADI’s HRC as feedstock.
Italian producers have not returned to the market with new HRC offers yet, but market participants estimated that prices below EUR720/t ex-works would be rejected by sellers.
Import offers for material from Asia have been heard at EUR720–740/t DDP Italian ports.
Green Steel Market
Activity in the European green steel segment has remained muted, with buyers more focused on rising prices for traditional steel.
Workable premiums for green HRC have been reported at EUR100–150/t. But spot buyers have shown interest in low-CO2 steel mainly as part of back-to-back deals with end consumers.
Sales directly to end users, such as in the automotive and construction sectors, remain the main drivers of green steel demand.
| Weekly European steel coil | |||||
| EUR/t | Term | 28-Aug-26 | Change | ||
| Weekly Northwest Europe steel coil | |||||
| Northwest Europe ex-works HRC | EX-WORKS | 740.00 | 15.00 | ||
| Northwest Europe ex-works CRC | EX-WORKS | 835.00 | 0.00 | ||
| Northwest Europe ex-works HDG | EX-WORKS | 830.00 | 0.00 | ||
| Northwest Europe CIF HRC | CIF | 585.00 | 0.00 | ||
| Northwest Europe DDP port HRC | DDP Port | 740.00 | 40.00 | ||
| Weekly South Europe steel coil | |||||
| Italy ex-works HRC | EX-WORKS | 720.00 | 15.00 | ||
| South Europe CIF HRC | CIF | 580.00 | 0.00 | ||
| South Europe DDP port HRC | DDP Port | 720.00 | 20.00 | ||
| South Europe CIF CRC | CIF | 680.00 | 0.00 | ||
| South Europe DDP port CRC | DDP Port | 765.00 | 0.00 | ||
| Show less… | |||||
| Source: McCloskey by OPIS. | © 2026 Dow Jones Energy Limited. | ||||
| Weekly green steel | |||
| EUR/t | Term | 28-Aug-26 | Change |
| Green Northwest Europe HRC premium (scopes 1-3 CO2 under 0.8t) | 100.00 | 0.00 | |
| Green Northwest Europe ex-works HRC (scopes 1-3) | EX-WORKS | 840.00 | 15.00 |
| Green HRC premium (scopes 1-2 CO2 under 0.5t) | 100.00 | 0.00 | |
| Green Northwest Europe ex-works HRC (scopes 1-2) | EX-WORKS | 840.00 | 15.00 |
| Green HRC reduced carbon price (scopes 1-3) | 72.25 | 7.26 | |
| Source: McCloskey by OPIS. | © 2026 Dow Jones Energy Limited. | ||
Author: Benjamin Steven & Maria Tanatar
European heavy plate round-up: Italian plate prices gain as sellers return from holidays with firmer offers
Italian plate prices jumped in the week to 28 August, as market participants began to return from summer holidays to higher price ambitions from domestic steelmakers.
While market activity is still very limited – expected to recover next week once in the September trading period – initial indications from the Italian heavy plate market were at higher levels, with deals settled at EUR720-730/t ex-works.
The continued availability of these deals was doubted, with sellers reporting new price ideas of EUR740-750/t ex-works for fresh orders. Buy-side sources in fact reported higher indications, expecting offers of EUR750-760/t ex-works Italy once the market fully returns in September.
Italian re-rollers were more sceptical of near-term bullishness in the heavy plate segment than in other steel products – such as hot-rolled coil – due to the visibility of declining slab prices through the summer.
Foreign steelmakers have shifted export strategies toward semi-finished, rather than finished steel goods, due to the relatively unshielded nature of the EU’s semi-finished steel demand in the wake of the EU’s revision to its tariff-rate quota protections, in July. However, recent hikes in raw materials costs mean re-rollers now anticipate higher slab costs in September’s contract negotiations – above most recent offers at $560/t CIF – potentially giving Italian heavy plate sellers better ammunition to convince buyers to pay more.
In Northwest Europe, German mills are well booked from project demand, and so have little allocation available for spot buyers. As such, indications for fresh production, ex-Germany, were commonly reported above the EUR800/t ex-works level on week, with offers to Germany also reported from Italy at EUR780-820/t delivered for s235jr grade, and from Central Europe at EUR830-850/t delivered for s355jr grade.
| Weekly European heavy plate, slab and green steel | |||||
| Unit | Term | 28-Aug-26 | Change | ||
| Weekly heavy plate | |||||
| Northwest Europe ex-works heavy plate | EUR/t | EX-WORKS | 830.00 | 0.00 | |
| Germany delivered heavy plate (Northwest Europe) | EUR/t | DEL | 830.00 | 20.00 | |
| Italy ex-works heavy plate | EUR/t | EX-WORKS | 730.00 | 30.00 | |
| Weekly steel slab | |||||
| Italy CFR slab | $/t | CFR | 560.00 | 10.00 | |
| Weekly green steel | |||||
| Green heavy plate premium (scopes 1-3 CO2 under 1t) | EUR/t | 25.00 | 0.00 | ||
Author: Benjamin Steven & Maria Tanatar
Blastr announces departure of CEO Mark Bula
Blastr Green Steel, a low-carbon steelmaker developing new greenfield assets in Finland, has announced the departure of its current CEO, Mark Bula.
“Mark has played a key role in bringing Blastr to where it is today, and the Board would like to thank him for his contribution,” Blastr said in its press release.
Blastr said that “all existing business operations and commitments continue as normal,” with the company “fully committed to the continued development of the Blastr companies and to maintaining strong relationships with our partners, suppliers and employees.”
In a separate social media post, Bula clarified that he will stay on in a limited capacity to support Blastr with an “orderly handover” of his responsibilities. Bula held the CEO role at Blastr for just over two years, previously working on steel transformation projects at Big River Steel in the US, before moving to serve as CCO at rival greenfield steelmaker H2 Green Steel – now Stegra.
Bula went on to highlight Europe’s steel industries as an example of how the domestic policy environment remains insufficiently supportive of actually realising industrial decarbonisation, describing “an uncomfortable tension between wanting cleaner, more secure domestic supply chains and opposing the mines, power generation, transmission, ports, railways and industrial facilities required to create them.
“If we aren’t prepared to build them in G7-aligned economies, we should not be surprised when more of the world’s industrial capacity is built somewhere else.”
As described in McCloskey’s Global Green Steel Profile, Blastr is constructing new low-carbon electric-arc furnace-based (EAF) steelmaking capacity in Inkoo, Finland; consisting of a hydrogen electrolyser, a 2 mt/y direct-reduced iron (DRI) plant, and a 2.5 mt EAF, with slab casting and rolling line facilities.
HKM prepares BF B restart after revamp
German steel plant Hüttenwerke Krupp Mannesmann (HKM), owned by Salzgitter, said it is preparing to resume operations at blast furnace B after maintenance.
While the steelmaker did not specify the date of the BF B relaunch, it will perform equipment tests during the next two weeks before restarting. The furnace relining was announced in late May 2026 and started soon after the statement was made.
HKM is equipped with two BFs: furnace B has annual capacity of 2.7 mt of pig iron and BF A – 2.5 mt.
In July this year, Salzgitter acquired 100% of HKM’s shares, finalizing the transfer of ownership from Thyssenkrupp and Vallourec.
Following the share acquisition, Salzgitter initiated decarbonization plans for the HKM subsidiary, signing a contract with Tenova for the engineering, delivery, and installation of an electric arc furnace (EAF). The new furnace will be Germany’s largest and the second largest within the European Union with an annual capacity of 2.5 mt and a planned production target of 2 mt of green steel. The implementation phase will start in August this year and is scheduled for completion in 2029.
To learn more about Salzgitter’s decarbonization initiatives and those of other steelmakers globally, see McCloskey’s Global Green Steel Profile.
Author: Maria Tanatar
European CRC, HDG prices rise amid tight supply, improving demand
Tight supply is mainly seen in the cold-rolled coil segment. Market participants explained that the earlier availability of significant volumes of relatively cheap imports forced local suppliers to reduce production. While there are still some previously delivered volumes of imported CRC available in ports, after they are depleted it will be difficult to replenish them, considering a tighter safeguard quota and the burden of Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) costs and anti-dumping duties.
In such conditions, the market’s reliance on locally produced CRC will increase, which in turn may spur mills to increase production. However, so far market sources report that one of the German suppliers will not have many volumes to offer for the spot market until the end of the year, having allocated the volumes to be produced to its regular customers.
In such conditions, the remaining producers are increasing prices.
In Northern Europe, the most recent deals as well as indications of tradeable levels came within €845-850 per tonne ex-works, versus €825 per tonne ex-works in the first half of August.
Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel cold-rolled coil domestic, exw Northern Europe moved up to €845-850 per tonne on August 26, from €825-830 per tonne on August 19.
After the assessment was filed, sales at €850-860 per tonne ex-works were reported.
The market in Southern Europe was comparatively quieter, as market participants, especially from Italy, had not yet fully returned after the summer break.
Most recent targets of Italian mills were voiced at €860 per tonne delivered or €845 per tonne ex-works before the end of the summer break, but no transactions were heard above €835 per tonne ex-works.
In the Iberian Peninsula, the most recent deals were said to be done at €860 per tonne delivered or €845 per tonne ex-works, with the key supplier targeting €880 per tonne delivered in the new round, which is netting back to €865 per tonne ex-works.
The assessment for steel cold-rolled coil domestic, exw Southern Europe was €835-845 per tonne on August 26, up from €830-835 per tonne on August 19.
Hot-dipped galvanized coil prices were somewhat lower compared with cold-rolled coil prices, reflecting better availability. However, a market source from Germany pointed out that demand from the automotive industry is picking up, which should help match HDG prices with those for CRC.
In Northern Europe, deals and tradeable levels for hot-dipped galvanized coil varied within €820-835 per tonne depending on the size of the cargo, which was reflected in the corresponding Fastmarkets assessment.
The weekly price assessment for steel hot-dipped galvanized coil domestic, exw Northern Europe was €820-835 per tonne on August 26, widening upward from €820-830 per tonne on August 19.
In the Iberian Peninsula, indications of tradeable levels came within €840-850 per tonne delivered, netting back to €825-835 per tonne ex-works.
Meanwhile, the Italian market was still quiet.
Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel hot-dipped galvanized coil domestic, exw Southern Europe moved up to €825-835 per tonne on August 26 from €815-825 per tonne on August 19.
On the import side, limited tonnages of South Korean CRC were heard offered at €860 per tonne DDP.
HDG offers from India were heard at $870-880 (€750-760) per tonne CFR.
Author: Vlada Novokreshchenova
Northern Europe HRC prices extend gains; Italian market quiet amid supply constraints
The Italian market was comparatively quieter amid supply constraints, while some market participants believed this would soon result in Italian prices matching those in Northern Europe.
The most recent indications of tradeable levels in Northern Europe varied within a wide range of €730-750 ($850-874) per tonne ex-works.
A seller source reported a tradeable-level indication for material scheduled for delivery in a week or two within the range of €730-740 per tonne ex-works, and another indication at €740-760 per tonne ex-works for material scheduled for delivery in October.
Other market sources contacted by Fastmarkets also indicated tradeable levels within the range of €730-750 per tonne ex-works.
At the same time, offers from suppliers in Germany and the Benelux area varied within the range of €770 per tonne ex-works to €800 per tonne delivered, which is equivalent to €785 per tonne ex-works.
Fastmarkets’ daily steel hot-rolled coil index domestic, exw Northern Europe was calculated at €741.25 ($863.58) per tonne on August 28, unchanged day on day.
The index was up by €19.17 per tonne week on week and by €32.50 per tonne month on month.
In Italy, the market leader was said to raise offers to €750 per tonne delivered or €735 per tonne ex-works; however, the most recent tradeable levels varied within the range of €710-720 per tonne ex-works.
Nevertheless, market participants interviewed by Fastmarkets believed the level targeted by the market leader would be quickly achieved, considering production issues at other suppliers, which, combined with constrained imports, are leading to reduced availability of the material in Italy.
Metinvest’s Ferriera Valsider has recently announced force majeure following a problem with its engine.
Meanwhile, Acciaierie d’Italia (ADI) might be forced to stop steelmaking by October, following the recent court ruling.
Fastmarkets’ daily steel hot-rolled coil index domestic, exw Italy was calculated at €717.5 per tonne on August 28, stable day on day.
The index was up by €5 per tonne week on week and by €7.81 per tonne month on month.
The import segment was quiet, with a minimal number of offers heard during the week to August 28.
Turkish HRC was available at €540 per tonne CFR, excluding any duties. The material from South Korea was offered at €720 per tonne DDP.
Author: Vlada Novokreshchenova
