Salzgitter to take over HKM steel joint venture
German steelmaker Salzgitter said it will be the sole owner of the Hüttenwerke Krupp Mannesmann (HKM) joint venture from 1 June 2026 after agreeing to buy out the co-owners of the company, according to a joint statement from Salzgitter and thyssenkrupp Steel.
Under the plan, thyssenkrupp Steel will sell its shares in HKM to Salzgitter, effective 1 June 2026, for an undisclosed sum, providing the latter sole responsibility in a reduced scope.
Thyssenkrupp owns 50% of HKM, while Salzgitter and Vallourec control 30% and 20% of the company, respectively.
Implementation of the plan is subject to the approval of Salzgitter’s governing bodies and a positive assessment of a going concern report, which Salzgitter has already commissioned. The agreement is also conditional on the third owner, Vallourec, also agreeing to sell its shares to Salzgitter.
HKM will continue to supply slab to thyssenkrupp Steel until the end of 2028, instead of previously planned 2032.
Thyssenkrupp closed its heavy plate mill, which used HKM’s slabs as feedstock, in 2021. In addition, under the restructuring proposal, thyssenkrupp planned to cut production from 11.5 mt/y to 8.7-9.0 mt/y and to separate from HKM – either by selling the asset or shutting the plant if no buyer was found.
“This agreement is an important milestone and brings us a good step closer to establishing a sound industrial future for HKM. It creates clarity for everyone involved in this process, while offering HKM’s workforce a positive perspective. HKM will thus become part of the process of transforming to low-CO2 steel production in the Salzgitter Group,” Gunnar Groebler, CEO Salzgitter, said.
To learn more about decarbonisation projects in Europe and globally – check Global Green Steel Profile.
HKM has a capacity of around 6 mt/y of crude steel, with semi-finished products manufactured via the blast furnace-basic oxygen furnace (BF-BOF) route.
Salzgitter’s announcement confirmed rumours that one of HKM’s shareholders was planning to continue production despite earlier plans to divest the asset as the mill can supply slab to the spot market to substitute imports.
European re-rollers, mainly producing heavy plate, rely heavily on imported slab, though the introduction of the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) on steel imports to the EU from January 2026 has resulted in a significant increase in costs. European re-rollers estimated CBAM duties for import slab at EUR40-80/t, but those numbers could be higher if the exporting steelmaker does not get emissions verification in time in which case the buyers would have to pay the duty based on default emission values.
A few market sources have reported revived domestic slab market activity in Europe with HKM offering slab on the spot market.
ADI EUR390m loan approved by EU; plans BF restart
The European Commission approved a rescue loan of up to EUR390 million to flat steel producer Acciaierie d’Italia (ADI) under EU state aid rules, the Commission said on 10 February.
The funds were allocated to ensure that the steelmaker can cover operating costs until the new owner is selected in the ongoing tender.
“Italy expects to complete the sale process soon and transfer the operation to the selected bidder. Until then, ADI faces serious liquidity needs to cover operating costs such as paying suppliers and wages. The rescue loan authorised by the Commission aims to cover these operating costs for the months ahead,” the Commission said.
Late last year Flacks Group, a United States-based investment firm focused on the turnaround of distressed businesses, emerged as the preferred bidder for ADI. The company plans to double steel output at ADI to 4 mt within one year. As part of its decarbonisation initiative Flacks Group plans to replace existing blast furnaces (BFs) with two electric-arc furnaces (EAFs) and keep only one BF running.
ADI has annual production capacity capped at 6 mt of crude steel. But it currently operates only BF No. 4.
The steelmaker plans to restart BF No. 2 around 20 February, according to Italian press reports. ADI did not reply to McCloskey’s request for confirmation of this information.
Earlier this year, the extraordinary administration of ADI sued ArcelorMittal seeking approximately EUR7bn in damages alleging that ArcelorMittal mismanaged the assets when it was in control. ArcelorMittal categorically rejected all allegations.
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ArcelorMittal has confirmed a EUR 1.3 billion electric arc furnace investment in Dunkirk
Saarstahl rebrands processing companies
The processing companies of Saarstahl group located in Saarland state are to operate under new names tailored to its products, Kallanish learns from the German maker of special bar.
Drahtwerk St. Ingbert will operate as Saarstahl Precision Wire and Saar-Blankstahl will be known as Saarstahl Precision Bright Steel.
Additionally, Schweissdraht Luisenthal and Saar-Bandstahl will in future offer their products under the names Saarstahl Precision Welding and Saarstahl Precision Strip.
“We are using the names and the new corporate design now to also show the outside world what is inside our products,” says Daniël van der Hout, chief sales officer at Saarstahl.
He adds the new identify will help it to continue expanding its position in the international market.
In their new design, the processing companies are adopting the elements and colour scheme of Saarstahl as well as the shared slogan “We are Pure Steel+” as part of its decarbonisation efforts.
German stockholder sales remain largely stable during 2025
Germany’s stockholding distributors sold a slightly higher tonnage of steel products in 2025 than a year earlier, according to figures from industry federation, BDS.
At 9.472 million tonnes, the volume was roughly 0.4% up on the 9.435t sold in in 2024, which itself had seen a more minimal increase over 2023.
Sales of long products rose by 5% to 2.973mt, after they had suffered a steeper drop from 2023 to 2024, by 15%. Sales of flat product totalled 5.610mt, which was another drop by 3%, which occurred the previous year as well.
BDS has not provided any interpretation alongside its statistics.
The relative recovery of long products may be an adjustment from the preceding drop that was caused by halted construction activities and higher power prices for EAF production since 2022.
Flat products, which can be more impacted by imports, may have gone directly to users from the ports, bypassing distributors. However, it is likely distributors have been involved in these transactions also.
This compares to the large production drop of German mills by 9% year-on-year in 2025, and by some 11% at oxygen-route mills, which are largely makers of flat products.
Kallanish also observes the notable increase in the “other products” category which totalled 890,000t, an increase of 50,000t, after an even larger increase of 140,00 the year earlier. The category includes wire rod but is otherwise little defined.
Salzgitter, Volvo closed-loop recycling partnership starts
The first train load of scrap from Volvo Cars has arrived at Salzgitter as part of the closed-loop recycling cooperation between the two companies, Kallanish hears.
Salzgitter is already supplying the Volvo Cars body parts plant in Olofström in southern Sweden with flat steels. It is now taking in considerable quantities of the steel scrap that accrues at the Swedish plant, which will be delivered directly to Salzgitter Flachstahl.
In Volvo’s production process, steel and aluminium off-cuts from the stamping process are separated into different material streams and segregated. Then they are tightly compressed into cubes to reduce volume during transport, Salzgitter explains.
Rather than returning an empty train back to Salzgitter, a train is loaded with scrap metal, to be melted down and processed back into steel. The first train with 25 scrap wagons and a length of 545 metres arrived at a Salzgitter station last week.
The train covered the 700km route between the two locations, in one and a half days. This has been made possible by the use of powerful, interoperable locomotives that allow for a high towing load and the use of 100% carbon-neutral electricity for traction, Salzgitter notes.
The two companies first announced the establishment of the closed loop scheme, which has been named ScanLoop, last year.
Besides Salzgitter Flachstahl, the cooperation involves group units Salzgitter Mannesmann Scandinavia, scrap collecting division DEUMU, and railway operator VPS Verkehrsbetriebe Peine-Salzgitter.
Italian distributors struggle to pass on longs hikes
Italy’s distribution sector is reporting very weak demand over the past two weeks, following improved activity and order intake during January, sources tell Kallanish.
“Demand is at minimal levels,” one large distributor says. He expects tube and sheet prices to continue rising, supported by CBAM and other protectionist measures, but is more pessimistic about the sustainability of price increases in long products.
The source adds that the private residential construction sector has almost come to a standstill. Most customers, mainly construction companies, are currently active thanks to PNRR-funded infrastructure projects, but payments are often delayed or temporarily blocked, further slowing the market. The PNRR projects are financed through the EU’s post-pandemic recovery fund.
Other distributors in both northern and southern Italy confirm the ongoing uncertainty. They say the unsustainable price increases are prompting buyers to limit purchases strictly to immediate needs. Customers are buying small volumes and mixed grades of tube and long products.
“As distributors, this is a service we can provide, whereas producers typically require larger volumes of a single grade. That is why we still have some activity,” one company says, adding that overall demand has been close to zero over the past two weeks. The source also reports several cases of delayed payments and defaults, warning that liquidity in the market is beginning to tighten.
Another distributor agrees with this view, saying companies are being extremely cautious in managing customer credit risk, although the threat of payment defaults remains. Given the downstream situation, the source believes further price increases for long products are unlikely to be sustained, while demand for coil-derived products is also seen as unreliable.
In Italy, long steel producers are currently seeking price increases of around €20-30/tonne ($23.69-35.53/t) for wire rod, merchant bar, beams, rebar and mesh, depending on the product. Some prices have ticked up by around €10-15/t compared with early January, while others remain unchanged.
Italian merchant bar prices are reported at around €670-680/t ex-works, including size extras, slightly higher on-month. First-category section prices are flat month-on-month at around €735-740/t delivered. Rebar is assessed at €560–570/t ex-works, also showing a modest uptick, while drawing-quality wire rod remains unchanged from January at around €620/t delivered.
Meanwhile, some producers in northern Europe confirm they have temporarily halted sales in order to assess the impact of recent rises in energy and raw material costs before issuing new price lists.
Sections mills in northwestern Europe have seen some success with increases at the start of the year. One market observer tells Kallanish that mills sought increases of €30/t, but distributors cannot hand that down to their buyers. Buyers confirm this and see the increases limited to €20/t. Prices are around €750/t for category 1 sections (see Kallanish passim).
European HRC market flat amid quiet trading
The European domestic hot-rolled coil market was quiet on Monday February 9, with trading activity limited and prices largely flat.
Offers from European integrated flat steel producers for April-delivery coil continued to vary within €670-685 ($791.51-809.24) per tonne ex-works.
Both sellers and buyers reported contracts being signed within €645-655 per tonne ex-works. Trading activity, however, was said to be moderate because customers’ inventories remain high.
Fastmarkets’ daily steel hot-rolled coil index domestic, exw Northern Europe was €653.33 per tonne on Monday, down by €2.92 per tonne from €656.25 per tonne on Friday February 6.
The index was up by €2.50 per tonne week on week and by €18.33 per tonne month on month.
Italy-origin HRC was reported traded to Northern Europe at €655-660 per tonne delivered.
A similar situation was observed in the domestic market of Italy. Local suppliers have largely sold out March-delivery HRC, with April-delivery coil offers quoted at €660-685 per tonne ex-works.
Tradeable levels, meanwhile, continued to vary within €640-650 per tonne ex-works.
Fastmarkets’ daily steel hot-rolled coil index domestic, exw Italy was calculated at €645.00 per tonne on Monday, down by €2.92 per tonne from €647.92 per tonne on Friday.
The index was down by €6.67 per tonne week on week but up by €15.00 per tonne month on month.
