Day: 24 September 2026

Germany-based steelmaker Salzgitter AG has announced that its subsidiary Hüttenwerke Krupp Mannesmann (HKM) has permanently shut down blast furnace A at its Duisburg plant after more than 53 years of production, as part of its transition toward lower-carbon steelmaking. The final tapping of the furnace took place on September 19.

Blast furnace A was commissioned in 1973 and produced approximately 93 million mt of pig iron over five campaigns during its operating life. A few days before its closure, HKM also shut down coke oven battery No. 2 at its Duisburg plant, as SteelOrbis previously reported.

BF route to be replaced with EAF from 2029

HKM plans to produce lower-carbon steel in Duisburg using a new electric arc furnace (EAF) from 2029. The EAF will have an annual production capacity of up to 2.5 million mt, making it Germany’s largest EAF and the second-largest in the EU.

The project is receiving €200 million in funding from Germany’s federal government and the state of North Rhine-Westphalia under the Federal Funding for Industry and Climate Protection program. Construction of the project started in August this year, while completion is scheduled for 2029.

Gunnar Groebler, Salzgitter CEO, said the closure represents another step toward the group’s goal of completing its transition to nearly carbon-neutral steel production by the mid-2030s. The company plans to replace the conventional blast furnace route in Duisburg with EAF-based production as part of this strategy.

Blast furnace B to maintain production during transition

Until the new EAF is completed, blast furnace B will maintain production at the Duisburg site. The furnace was restarted several weeks ago following a refurbishment lasting several months.

HKM’s two blast furnaces produced approximately four million mt of pig iron in 2025. Due to the refurbishment of blast furnace B and the permanent shutdown of blast furnace A, pig iron production is expected to decline to around three million mt in 2026. From 2027, HKM’s annual production capacity will stand at up to 2.5 million mt, initially using one blast furnace and subsequently the new EAF.

 

Italian special steel producer ABS – Acciaierie Bertoli Safau, the steelmaking division of Danieli Group – has inaugurated a new service center in Värnamo, Sweden, which will serve as the company’s hub for its Scandinavian operations. According to reports in the local Swedish press, this is ABS’s first service center outside Italy. The opening completes the project launched in 2025 with the development of ABS Steel Nordic and strengthens the group’s presence in the northern European market.

The new ABS Steel Nordic Service Centre covers an area of approximately 25,000 square meters and includes a newly constructed 5,500-square-meter building. The center combines stock availability, processing, cut-to-length services, logistics and metallurgical consulting, enabling ABS to serve large industrial customers, small and medium-sized enterprises and machine shops. The facility was built in approximately ten months and is equipped with automated and robotic systems for material handling and cutting.

The facility has also obtained Miljöbyggnad Silver environmental certification, the second level of Sweden’s leading building sustainability certification system managed by the Sweden Green Building Council (SGBC), confirming performance above the minimum requirements set by Swedish regulations in terms of energy efficiency, indoor environmental quality, and the selection and traceability of materials.

The center will serve key northern European markets

Värnamo was selected for its strategic location in relation to the key markets of Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland. The availability of material in stock will enable just-in-time deliveries and shorter response times to customers’ requirements.

The service center will focus on special steels and will stock, among other products, hot rolled products, peeled, cold drawn and ground bars, as well as forged products, with a dimensional range of approximately 20-300 mm. The cutting equipment installed at the center can handle larger-sized materials of up to approximately 560 mm. The product range will include carbon steel, case-hardening steel, quenched and tempered steel, and micro-alloyed steel, while technical and metallurgical support will be provided through the expertise of the ABS Centre Métallurgique (ACM) research center.

Camilla Benedetti, president of ABS Acciaierie, stated that the opening represents a decisive milestone in the company’s international growth, adding, “The Nordic market demands quality, sustainability and service. She emphasized that the new hub is aimed at bringing ABS even closer to its customers by integrating steel supply, logistics, cut-to-length services and technical consulting.

 

Steel hot-rolled coil (HRC) prices edged down slightly in the domestic market of Northern Europe under pressure from the downstream market and sufficient inventory. Italian prices remained broadly stable day on day, while imports in the region increased on latest deals, sources told Fastmarkets on Wednesday September 23.
In Northern Europe, participants said that weak downstream demand was limiting price increases in the market, as buyers were not rushing to restock. Meanwhile, mills were firm on their offerings due to the lack of importing competition.

Latest indications of workable levels in the market were reported within the range of €730-760 ($836-871) per tonne ex-works on Wednesday, while offers from mills were heard at €750-760 per tonne ex-works.

Higher offers reached €780-790 per tonne ex-works but they were considered unworkable for the moment, sources told Fastmarkets.

A distributor said that demand was even falling, while mills were trying to increase prices slightly, citing high energy costs in Europe.

Thus, Fastmarkets’ daily steel hot-rolled coil index domestic, exw Northern Europe was calculated at €740 per tonne on September 23, down by €3.75 per tonne from €743.75 per tonne on September 22.

The index was down by €5 per tonne week on week but up by €17.92 per tonne month on month.

Meanwhile, a supplier source said that steel service centres in Germany and Italy were willing to accept limited stock replacement not higher than €750 per tonne delivered, which they indicated around €730-740 per tonne ex-works.

“There is no appetite to take substantial volumes at these prices – no real stock-outs yet and difficulties to consolidate sheet prices at target levels of €850 [per tonne] CPT and higher,” the same source said.

The supplier added that steel sheet prices were pushed down by some producers in Northern Europe, putting realistic HRC levels in line with the Italian market, where sheets were supported by higher prices.

Despite the weak downstream demand in the market, HRC prices in Italy were holding a firm workable level around €730-740 per tonne ex-works, based on sources’ indications.

A distributor said that competition in the market was strong due to low demand, leading to narrowing margins.

Fastmarkets’ daily steel hot-rolled coil index domestic, exw Italy was calculated at €735 per tonne on September 23, stable day on day.

The index was up by €6.67 per tonne week on week and by €22.50 per tonne month on month.

In Central Europe, HRC mills were heard facing difficulties with production planning due to longer steel slab deliveries, taking around 60-90 days to arrive from overseas destinations. Restricted access to raw materials such as iron ore and coke was also limiting production accordingly, a source familiar with the matter told Fastmarkets.

However, no price increases were initiated this week, and the latest levels were indicated in line with previous deals at €730-740 per tonne ex-works reported on September 16.

Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel hot-rolled coil domestic, exw Central Europe was €730-740 per tonne on Wednesday, stable week on week.

On the import side, HRC deals into Southern Europe were heard at €555-570 per tonne CFR from Turkey and at $710-720 (€620-629) per tonne CFR from India on Wednesday.

Higher offers from Turkey were reported at €640-660 per tonne CFR but no deals were confirmed at these levels. Meanwhile, Egypt was heard offering material around €628-633 per tonne CFR.

As a result, Fastmarkets’ weekly assessment of steel hot-rolled coil import, cfr main port Southern Europe was at €555-629 per tonne on September 23, up from €550-620 per tonne a week earlier.

 

A book and claim (B&C) system for iron and steel could support a faster transition to net zero steelmaking, the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) says in a new report seen by Kallanish.

While multiple pathways already exist for decarbonising the sector, their deployment has been “frustratingly slow” due to high up-front costs and long lifetimes of existing assets, the clean energy think tank adds. On the buyers’ side, companies willing to pay a premium for low-emissions steel often find themselves unable to directly procure it.

A B&C model, RMI says, can help address this gap by enabling more market participants to support low-emissions steel supply beyond traditional procurement pathways. Essentially, the mechanism separates a product’s verified environmental attributes from the physical product. Producers can sell environmental attribute certificates (EACs) linked to verified low-emissions steel production, creating an additional revenue stream when physical delivery is not possible. For buyers, purchasing EACs offers a credible, transparent way to support green steel production and claim the associated emission benefits.

Some steelmakers such as Stegra already apply book and claim to the non-prime steel it produces. Last week, Google agreed to purchase EACs for a volume of up to 91,000 tonnes of steel from Stegra’s future steel production in Boden, Sweden. A year ago, the prospective steelmaker signed the first purchasing agreement for EACs with Microsoft.

“There is a clear demand for near-zero-emission steel and a willingness to pay a premium, especially in geographies where there is a cost for carbon,” Stegra was quoted as saying by RMI. “Unlocking the potential for customers more broadly to purchase the green value, through use of environmental attribute certificates, will spur further production for sustainably sourced steel.”

RMI proposes a dedicated B&C framework for iron and steel, featuring verified certification for low-emissions steel, a secure registry to issue, transfer, and retire certificates, and clear guidance for buyers to claim the associated emission benefits. These safeguards, it adds, are essential to prevent double counting, ensure climate integrity and build trust among market participants.

The think tank has developed its own framework for the sector, although it is not yet a formal certification standard or operational registry. Further testing and collaboration across the steel value chain will be required to strengthen certification, verification, tracking and governance the report concludes.

 

Buying steel in the 2020s has become a game of multiple skills and challenges, but ultimately, relationships and communication matter most, said speakers at the MBI Stahltag conference in Frankfurt on Tuesday.

“There was a time when a buyer only needed to buy steel,” Martin Brückner, managing director of conference organiser MBI Infosource, said in his opening speech. “Today, they need to know about emission trading, geopolitics, CBAM, artificial intelligence, and more; and, by the way, eventually they need to ask for the price.”

Provokingly, he said that “in Germany, we have the cleanest steel in the world, but no more customers who can afford it”. Brückner pointed out that “steel procurement will remain a people’s business. It takes trust, and a sense of judgement: Is the mill salesman being truthful about high capacity utilisation and long lead times, or is he only fibbing?”

A similar conclusion was drawn by Hans Boot of consultancy DDVC. “After all, man is an animal of communication,” he said at the event attended by Kallanish. “People want to talk with one another, and not only on [Apple calling application] FaceTime.”

This conclusion complemented several ideas he presented on artificial intelligence, which could help procurement, but is not yet extensively used. “The technology is there, we just need to train for it,” Boot said. The same is true for digital procurement platforms. Boot advocated a “Just do it!” approach. “I see people consider trying it, but after half a year they still talk about it, rather than giving it a try,” he observed.

He also addressed the widening range of tasks being taken on by purchasing departments. “In the future, the buyer will be more of an optimiser of supply chains, and will be called supply chain manager,” Boot said.

Moreover, he recommended that industry recruiters of Generation Z should consider people’s soft skills – “another term nobody used 20 years ago”.