Year: 2026

Prices for European domestic steel heavy plate in Italy remained stable in the week to Thursday May 21, with indications of weak demand in the market, while prices in Germany increased slightly week on week, market participants told Fastmarkets.

Italy

Tradeable levels for base-grade steel plate in Italy were heard at €740-775 per tonne ex-works, unchanged week on week.

Sources linked the lower end of the range at €740-755 per tonne ex-works to larger volumes, and the higher end at €755-775 per tonne ex-works to smaller volume-orders, all for end-June delivery.

One trader said that restocking for July deliveries was “still absent”, while several sources quoted weak demand in the market.

“Sales/processing in Europe stays on a low level and on top, May has a lot of bank holidays, so output is less during this month,” a second trader told Fastmarkets.

Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel domestic plate 8-40mm, exw Southern Europe, was €740-775 per tonne on Thursday, unchanged week on week.

Germany

Tradeable prices for steel plate in Germany were reported in a wider range of €800-850 per tonne ex-works, increasing from deals heard a week earlier at €800-830 per tonne ex-works.

One offer was reported within the same range as deals, at €810-825 per tonne ex-works.

One producer source in Italy reported lower tradeable levels for German plate at €800-810 per tonne ex-works, saying they were “confirmed by re-rollers” and should not be higher. However, a trader in Germany said deal prices were above €820 per tonne ex-works.

Prices for plate in the country differ by suppliers, accounting for the wider range of deals, sources said.

“They [suppliers] are completely different and have different production lines with different product portfolios, therefore the price is not so easy to set and the price range is quite big,” the Germany-based trader said.

A second source in Germany said the difference was due to “different segments: war zone grades and sizes, which all mills can offer, and grade/size combination only available at a few mills”.

Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel domestic plate 8-40mm, exw Northern Europe, was €800-850 per tonne on Thursday, widening upward by €5 per tonne from €800-845 per tonne a week earlier.

Global crude steel production dropped 1.9% on-year in April to 153.45 million tonnes, the eight consecutive month of decline, despite continued strength from the US, Korea, Germany and Turkey. India’s growth rate slowed, according to worldsteel data seen by Kallanish.

Chinese crude steel production fell 2.8% on-year in April to 83.63mt. Indian production grew 3.9% to 13.83mt, slowing from previous months, while Korean output jumped 4.8% to 5.25mt. Japanese production inched up 0.3% to 6.6mt.

EU27 production fell 1.8% in April to 10.95mt, due to estimated slumps in France, Spain and Poland, although German and Italian production grew 9.5% and 7.2% respectively to 3.2mt and 1.9mt.

Turkish production surged 9% to 3.29mt.

US output grew 9% to 7.16mt, while Brazil was estimated to have seen production rebound after a long streak of falls, rising by 2.8% to 2.7mt.

Russian production was estimated down 12.4% to 5.02mt and Ukrainian output was confirmed to have plunged 25% to 517,000t.

January-April global crude steel production thus fell 2% on-year to 613.3mt, with India, the US, South Korea, Turkey and Germany bucking the trend.

Spanish automotive production remains dependent on adapting to new lines and external demand, Kallanish notes. Output slipped month-on-month but was higher year-on-year in April, whilst exports remained stable.

“Although figures are improving compared with the same period last year, our factories continue to adapt their lines to new models and external demand, which is recovering unevenly across the main export markets in Europe,” says José López-Tafall, general director of Spanish automobile association Anfac.

Spain’s April production reached 209,571 units, compared with 211,028 vehicles in the previous month. This volume, however, was up 8.4% from the same period in 2025.

Four-month output totalled 783,100 units, a decline of 0.2% y-o-y. Of the total, 57.5% were gasoline and diesel-powered automobiles.

The Iberian country’s vehicle exports rose to 180,735 units in the month, from 176,765 units in March, and were 8.6% higher year-on-year. European markets had a 92.6% share in Spanish deliveries in April, down 1.1 percentage points on-year.

The main export destination during the month was Germany with 29,344 units, followed by France (26,519 units) and the UK (23,449 units), according to Anfac data.

Cumulative exports remained weaker at 661,396 vehicles, a fall of 1.4% y-o-y.

Italian rebar prices could rise in June as producers consider increases to cover rising costs and an additional energy-related charge that is due during the month.

Large volume orders remain absent, with buyers continuing to purchase moderate quantities frequently.

Producers are seeking €460/tonne ($535.19/t) base ex-works and transacting at this level, though only in very small volumes. They expect to consolidate at this level in the coming weeks. The majority of transactions, however, remain at around €440/t base ex-works.

Although elevated prices allow for some margin, low volumes are forcing producers to implement several days of stoppages this month, which will push up their costs.

Despite the high prices, one buyer tells Kallanish that the construction season is under way and that May has been busier than April.

A distributor sees continued weak consumption overall, with the construction sector supported by infrastructure projects funded by the European post-pandemic recovery fund. An agent reports demand from the railway sector, which is carrying out works across the country.

Including size extras of €260-270/t, effective transaction prices for Italian rebar are currently assessed at €700-730/t ex-works, up from around €540/t at the start of March. Mesh is at €530-540/t ex-works, before size extras of around €300/t.

Italy-based steelmaker Feralpi Group’s German rebar subsidiary Feralpi Stahl has announced plans to increase annual steel production capacity at its Riesa plant from approximately 1 million mt to as much as 1.3 million mt. The expansion comes one year after the commissioning of the company’s new spooler rolling mill, which is gradually ramping up operations.

Germany’s stockholding distributors sold 2.495 million tonnes of steel in the first quarter, Kallanish learns from figures issued by distributors federation BDS.

The tonnage represents a slight, 50,000t gain on Q1 2025. It is the second year with a year-on-year increase in the first quarter. However, the back-to-back hikes have not yet offset the 5% on-year drop seen in Q1 2024.

This year’s Q1 showed some deviations between product groups. Flat products, which make up roughly 60% of sales among Germany’s stockholders, accounted for 1.539mt this year, remaining virtually on par with Q1 2025.

Long products, traditionally accounting for some 30% of the total, saw a noteworthy increase, by 90,000t to 794,000t. The increasing trend in long products was already seen last year.

BDS does not provide explanations for the differing growth dynamics between products groups.

Another noteworthy change occurred from January to February, with total sales jumping by 75,000t month-on-month. Last year, a similar leap occurred from February to March.

The “Other Products” category, which includes wire rod, among other products, came to 246,000t, an on-year increase by around 11,000t.

A rapidly growing AI sector represents a major demand driver for steelmakers in the Philippines and Taiwan, industry participants said May 19 at the 2026 South East Asia Iron and Steel Institute Conference and Exhibition in Singapore.

The Philippines and Taiwan are both semiconductor hubs, and their steel sectors will play a crucial role in fueling the AI rush, which has sparked a surge in data center construction, semiconductor production, and the buildout of ancillary facilities.

“All AI projects need infrastructure, which requires steel,” Geraldine Santos, public relations officer of the Philippine Iron and Steel Institute, told Platts, part of S&P Global Energy.

“AI projects are not just virtual, you will need infrastructure to develop them,” Santos said.

The US-led Pax Silica supply chain initiative is expected to spur AI investments in the Philippines. Under the framework, the US plans to build a 4,000-acre industrial hub in the country to secure US supply chains for AI, semiconductors and critical minerals.

“What really makes Pax Silica especially important for the industrial and steel sectors is its targeted focus,” Santos said. “Ultimately, Pax Silica reflects a broad direction of the Philippine economy moving towards high-value industries, stronger industrialization and deeper integration into the global manufacturing efforts.”

Producing specialty steel for AI and other high-tech applications is also key for Taiwanese steelmakers to remain competitive amid the influx of Chinese steel in the market, according to Victor Chen, general manager of marketing at China Steel Corp. (Taiwan).

“Unless you can produce steel products as effectively or as cheap as [those produced by] Chinese manufacturers, I think we all have to find a way to be differentiated in our products,” Chen said. “Now we’re talking about robots and all these new high-tech [products] that require more special steel.”

The production ramp-up of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd., one of the world’s largest semiconductor manufacturers, bodes well for Taiwanese steelmakers, Chen said.

Platts, part of S&P Global Energy, assessed SAE1006 grade hot-rolled coil at $580/metric ton CFR Southeast Asia May 19, down $5/mt day over day and a $9/mt decrease from the previous week.

Spain’s steel production slipped 21% year over year in the first quarter of 2026 to 2.59 million metric tons, according to data published May 21 by industry association Unesid.

The volume was the lowest for the period on record since 2020, the data showed, with production curtailed by a blast furnace outage at the country’s largest production site in Gijon since the start of the year.

In March 2026, Spanish steel output reached 967,000 mt, down 19% year over year and marking an eighth consecutive monthly decrease, according to Unesid.

Trailing 12-month volume was down 9% year over year to 11.1 million mt, the smallest underlying volume since November 2023, the data showed.

Spain is Europe’s fourth-largest steel producer, behind Germany, Italy, and France, with a maximum capacity of around 23 million mt per year.

Spain’s scrap recycling volume was 2.25 million mt in the first quarter, according to Unesid data, a 13% year over year decline.

Scrap volume covered 87% of the Q1 production total, the highest Q1 share on record, the data showed.

However, total scrap volume declined 18% year over year in March to 800,000 mt, reversing a positive evolution since April 2024, the data showed.

World steel production continued to slow in April, falling 1.9% year over year, the World Steel Association reported May 22. The data covers 69 member countries.

Some 153.4 million metric tons of crude steel were produced in April. This was 3 million mt less than in the same month last year and 7.2 million mt, or 4.5%, less than in March. China, with its 86 million mt, accounted for just over 55% of that total.

The world’s monthly production has been declining year over year for the eighth straight month since September 2025, according to World Steel data.

Gains in most of the top ten steel-producing countries failed to offset declines in several major contributors. India’s output grew 3.9% year over year, or more than 500,000 mt. The US, South Korea, Turkey and Germany also posted significant increases totaling almost 1.5 million mt. However, these were not enough to offset a 2.4 million mt fall in China, a 700,000 mt fall in Russia and a 1.4 million mt drop in the Middle East.

The results for the top 10 steelmaking countries over January-April showed highly uneven changes, ranging from a 12% drop to a 9.4% gain.

The world’s total over January-April fell by 2%, or 12.5 million mt, year over year to 613.3 million mt, mainly due to 4.1% lower output in China and an estimated 12% fall in Russia’s output. Over the four-month period, China cut production by 14.1 million mt to 331.1 million mt, and Russia by 2.8 million mt to 20.6 million mt.

The decrease was partially offset by 9.4%, or 5 million mt, higher production in India and 6.6%, or 1.7 million mt, growth in the US. Over January-April, India made 58.7 million mt of crude steel, and the US produced 28 million mt, making them the second- and third-largest steel-producing countries behind China.

The period also saw single-digit increases in Turkish and German production, with the countries producing, almost on par, 13 million mt and 12.5 million mt, respectively. However, the total for the EU-27 fell by 2.2% to 42.8 million mt.

By region, the 12.8% fall in Middle East production, which shrank to 16 million mt, marked the largest decline over January-April, while the largest percentage gain was in Africa, where output expanded 8.7% year over year to 8.4 million mt.