Year: 2026

Calls are growing for revisions to be made to the proposed changes to the UK’s steel tariff-rate quota (TRQ) allowances, Kallanish learns from market players.

Gareth Stace, director general of UK Steel, tells Kallanish he is “almost certain” there will be changes to the import quota levels in the final determination.

“The whole purpose of publishing these provisional measures is to invite feedback and representation from market players and organisations. This process ensures that the final numbers will more accurately reflect the import levels needed across the many different categories,” he says.

UK Steel, among others, continues to engage with the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) after the announcement of the proposals back in March. The construction and manufacturing sectors have also been seeking alterations, with numerous letters written by the British Construction Steelwork Association (BCSA) and the Confederation of British Metalforming (CBM).

The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) has also issued warnings over rising manufacturing costs, while the Construction Leadership Council confirmed a government meeting had taken place in April to discuss concerns.

These changes are already pushing up prices for flat products, with a substantial rise already seen on UK HRC. For many buyers, it comes at a time of tepid demand and elevated costs due to the Middle East conflict.

A petition, created by Giles Throup of Coker Engineering, with suggested quota changes has gathered more than 1,500 signatures in less than a week. Throup tells Kallanish he hopes the petition acts as a spotlight to give more weight to the argument for adjusting quotas, and increases visibility of the problem. He adds that SMEs in the UK often lack a voice despite being exposed to just as much risk as the bigger companies.

He also notes that for some steel products there “aren’t even the capabilities to manufacture in this country but the commodity codes are on the list”. Throup also highlights the lag between bringing idled capacity online and the material coming onto the market.

A government spokesperson tells Kallanish: “The new steel trade measure aims to strike the right balance between protecting UK steel production and maintaining secure supply. We continue to take feedback from industry, including UK Steel and CBM, on it to ensure the best outcomes to protect UK industry, and we will also conduct a formal review after 12 months to ensure it remains effective.”

The DBT has previously said it would explore a transitional arrangement under which the new tariff would not apply to goods under contract agreed before 14 March and imported to the UK between 1 July and 30 September 2026.

However, importers say they do not feel the government is listening to their concerns, or understands the impact they are facing. A growing area of concern are steel derivatives and the circumnavigation of the new quotas. The BCSA says the exclusion of fabricated steelwork from the quotas is a “glaring omission”.

At the same time, the EU is preparing to reduce its own TRQs, causing concern for UK exports. Stace has previously expressed concern over this, as 80% of UK exports go to the region. These negotiations are believed to also be ongoing.

The European Council presidency and Parliament have reached a provisional agreement on the tariff elements of the EU-US trade deal. This includes enabling the EU to suspend tariff preferences for the US if the latter continues to apply a tariff rate higher than 15% on so-called steel and aluminium “derivatives” imports from the EU beyond end-2026.

The agreement is now valid through 2029, compared to the previous draft which envisaged expiry in March 2028, with an extension possible through a legislative proposal, Kallanish notes.

In August 2025, the US added 407 product categories to the list of derivative steel and aluminium products subject to tariffs. Parliament considered that these new tariffs increased the level of trade instability and pushed for this issue to be addressed in the main regulation.

The Commission will also be able to suspend tariff preferences if the US fails to address the Union’s concerns regarding the tariff treatment of Union exports which until 24 February 2026 benefitted from the 15% all-inclusive tariff ceiling, the European Parliament says.

These products include semiconductors and autos and auto parts. Since the provisional Turnberry deal signing last July, EU vehicles are temporarily levied with a 15% duty in the US; however, US President Donald Trump has been threatening in recent weeks to reinstate the full 25% Section 232 duty if the EU does not quickly agree to the US trade deal.

The co-legislators also agreed to establish a safeguard mechanism in the event that the tariff preferences granted to the US lead to increases in imports that threaten to cause serious injury to EU industry.

Six months after the regulation enters into force and every three months thereafter the Commission will report any changes in trade volumes and values of US exports to the EU of the goods covered by the regulation. Six months before expiry, the Commission will present a comprehensive assessment of the regulation’s impact.

The International Trade Committee (INTA) will now organise an extraordinary committee to discuss and vote on the outcome of negotiations. This will take place on 2 June.

Following the vote in committee, the file can be tabled for a vote at the following Parliament plenary on 15-18 June. It will then be the turn of the Council to approve the agreed text.

Once the text has been formally approved by the co-legislators, the new legislation will enter into force on the day after its publication in the EU’s official journal.

Some market participants in the northwestern European flat products market are blaming the recent dip in coil prices on distributors rather than mills. 

While mills have brought down their prices also, it is the distributors that moved first, causing mills to follow, one southern German manger is sure. “The pressure on prices came from the distributors, not the mills,” he says.

He cites one German market group which, among others, “sold a lot, and at low prices”. According to him, the low offers originally came from service centres “from purchases made earlier at lower prices, and now sold for less than they would pay the mills for a refill.”

He tells of sales prices for sheet and slit strip of around €800/tonne ($930/t), which would calculate back to a mill base price of €700, plus customary surcharges, transport and cutting/slitting services.

Although he says he has not received mill offers of €700/t or less, big buyers did, with prices in the range of €680-710/t ex-works for several weeks now, they tell Kallanish.

One Benelux service centre manager confirms that “various service centres and distributors have had to lower their selling prices slightly to remain in line with the market”. He refers to low demand and reservation among steel users, although he refrains from admitting that the service centres were the first to make price concessions.

Observers largely agree that inventories are full enough to allow service centres sales without margins, for the sake of cash flow, and apparently many are quite busy, especially in Benelux.

According to another German buyer, lead times for sheet can now easily be three to four weeks, rather than three to four days. And while service centres enjoy business on the sale side, they continue to postpone their intake of new coil from mills, German as well as Benelux sources say.

European domestic prices for steel rebar remained stable in the week to Wednesday May 20, despite some attempts by Italian mills to push for higher prices, with market acceptance constrained by weak demand conditions.
Market participants reported that demand was still weak, with limited buying activity due to high prices and adverse weather conditions, which led major construction sites to restart work only toward the end of May.

“Domestic producers are all reducing production to guarantee an optimum demand/supply balance,” one seller source told Fastmarkets.

Deals continued to be concluded within earlier established ranges, with buyers showing resistance to higher prices and taking a wait-and-see-approach.

In Italy, tradable prices varied within the wide range of €710-770 ($832-903) per tonne ex-works, depending on the region. In the north, price ranges were €710-730 per tonne ex-works, unchanged week on week. In the south, tradable levels were within the range of €750-770 per tonne ex-works, but no meaningful volumes were traded at the upper end of the range.

A few higher indicative offers were heard in the range of €850-860 per tonne, but no deals were agreed to support them.

Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), domestic, ex-works Italy, was €710-750 per tonne on May 20, unchanged week on week.

In Spain, tradable prices for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), domestic, delivered Spain, were reported at €750 per tonne delivered (16mm base), indicating stable market conditions, which was reflected in Fastmarkets’ assessment.

In Germany, prices for domestic rebar were reported within the range of €710-730 per tonne delivered, with limited variations across the market and subdued trading.

Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), domestic, delivered Northern Europe, was €710-730 per tonne in the week to May 20, unchanged from the previous week.

Steel wire rod prices remained largely stable across Europe in the week.

In Northern Europe, tradable prices were reported within the range of €705-720 per tonne delivered, with no significant change from the previous week.

Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel wire rod (mesh quality), domestic, Northern Europe, was €705-720 per tonne delivered on May 20, unchanged week on week.

In Southern Europe, wire rod prices were reported within the range of €690-720 per tonne delivered, with offers within that range.

Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel wire rod (mesh quality), domestic, delivered Southern Europe, was €690-720 per tonne on May 20, also unchanged week on week.

European sections and beams

European domestic section prices were reported stable at €800-840 per tonne delivered, which was reflected in Fastmarkets’ monthly price assessment for steel sections (medium), domestic, delivered Southern Europe.

The corresponding monthly assessment for steel beams domestic, delivered Northern Europe, was €790-820 per tonne, rising from €780-810 per tonne in April.

Domestic beam prices edged upward month on month, with tradable prices reported at €790-820 per tonne delivered across Europe, with a deal heard at €815 per tonne.

European hot-rolled coil prices were broadly stable amid an extended trading standstill, with industry stakeholders seeing no room for a rebound during the summer months, Fastmarkets heard on Thursday May 21.
“We won’t see prices [for HRC] with a ‘7’ in front until the end of summer,” a buyer in Europe said.

A supplier source agreed it was increasingly difficult to secure transactions even at €700 ($820.56) per tonne delivered, let alone on an ex-works basis.

In Germany, deals were reported at €675 per tonne ex-works on Tuesday May 19. Earlier in the week, transactions were heard at €675-685 per tonne delivered (€660-670 per tonne ex-works).

“Mills need to fill order books for summer, and some of them are opting for volume over price,” a buyer in Germany said.

A supplier in the Benelux area was not active in the market due to a pending technical issue, sources said.

“[Integrated mill in the Benelux area] does not actively offer coil. Their lates offers for July [delivery] were well above €700 [per tonne ex-works], which is not workable now, but they are also not in a hurry to sell,” a buyer in the Benelux area said.

The supplier continued to face technical issues with a slab thinning unit, leaving it short by around 70,000-80,000 tonnes of HRC in the near term and limiting its pricing flexibility.

As a result, Fastmarkets’ daily steel hot-rolled coil index domestic, exw Northern Europe was calculated at €680.42 per tonne on May 21, down by €1.58 per tonne from €682 per tonne on May 20.

The index was down €3.33 per tonne week on week and down €27.58 per tonne month on month.

In Southern Europe, Fastmarkets’ daily steel hot-rolled coil index domestic, exw Italy was calculated at €677.50 per tonne on May 21, down by €0.50 per tonne from €678 per tonne on May 20.

The index was up €2.50 per tonne week on week but down €22.50 per tonne month on month.

The Italian HRC market remained similarly quiet. Weak demand and comfortable inventory levels at buyers continued to dampen trading activity, with offers heard at €700 per tonne delivered (€685 per tonne ex-works).

Industry sources noted, however, that lower prices could be achieved on larger tonnages, with achievable price estimates coming in at €665-680 per tonne ex-works during the week commencing Monday May 18.

In the secondary market, 4mm S235-grade hot-rolled sheet prices consolidated at €770-780 per tonne CPT Italy, easing from €780-800 per tonne CPT reported at end-April.

Import market activity was similarly muted. Lingering uncertainty over the shape of the new trade regime due to take effect in July 2026, alongside a lack of clarity on costs tied to the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), kept buyers on the sidelines and dampened appetite for fresh import bookings.

On pricing, one Indian mill was heard offering material around €595-605 per tonne CFR to Italy earlier this week.

Turkey-origin coil was heard offered at €695 per tonne DDP in Italy, inclusive of anti-dumping duty and CBAM costs.

Asian HRC was heard offered at €640-660 per tonne DDP from stock in Antwerp. The price reportedly included CBAM costs.

The European import flat steel market was largely quiet in the week to Wednesday May 20, with the majority of buyers preferring to take a wait-and-see stance until the details of the new safeguard come to light, which is expected to happen in June.

Hot-rolled coil

Turkish material was reported available within the range of €590-600 ($684-696) per tonne CFR Italy, excluding anti-dumping duty, with information circulating about one cargo being sold at the upper end of the range.

Market sources also mulled an Algerian cargo being sold at $750-760 per tonne CFR, which is equivalent to €644-653 per tonne CFR, but this information could not be widely confirmed by the time of publication.

Additionally, sources reported new offers of Algerian coils coming at the equivalent of €670 per tonne CFR, which was considered too high by customers.

Indian coil was heard available at $685-705 per tonne CFR, which is equivalent to €590-605 per tonne CFR.

As a result, Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel hot-rolled coil import, cfr main port Southern Europe was calculated at €590-605 per tonne on May 20, up from €550-615 per tonne on May 13.

On a DDP basis, offers of material from Asia and Turkey came within the range of €640-665 per tonne, which was reflected in Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel hot-rolled coil import, ddp Southern Europe on May 20.

In Northern Europe, offers of import HRC were not as numerous as in the south, with customers unwilling to take on risks related to the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) and the upcoming safeguard and preferring to cover their needs domestically.

Turkish material was heard available at €585-590 per tonne CFR, including anti-dumping duty.

Due to the lack of input about other origins, Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel hot-rolled coil import, cfr main port Northern Europe was moved to €590-600 per tonne on May 20, up from €560-600 per tonne on May 13.

On a DDP basis, offers varied within the range of €640-690 per tonne for origins including India, Vietnam, Indonesia and Turkey, which was reflected in the corresponding Fastmarkets’ assessment for steel hot-rolled coil import, ddp Northern Europe on May 20.

Cold-rolled coil

Cold-rolled coil offers were limited in the reported week as buyers showed little interest in foreign material.

Asian material was heard available at €780-800 per tonne DDP Italy, with indications of tradeable levels varying within the range of €750-780 per tonne DDP.

Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel cold-rolled coil import, ddp Southern Europe was €780-800 per tonne on May 20, narrowing from €750-825 per tonne on May 13.

Due to the lack of input, the corresponding Fastmarkets assessment for steel cold-rolled coil import, ddp Northern Europe was put in line with Southern Europe at €770-800 per tonne on May 20.

The automotive industry can play an essential role in supporting green steel projects by European mills to market-readiness, says Agora Industry, a European think-tank promoting the transition to climate-neutrality.

As steelmakers require robust, long-term demand signals for low- and near-zero emission steel to secure investments, the automotive sector can play a key role in stimulating these market signals. The sector requires around 15 million tonnes of primarily flat and high-quality steel depending on the year, Agora states.

For the steel industry transformation, Agora Industry has identified 34mt of announced near-zero capable steel projects in Europe using direct reduced iron (DRI) technology, Kallanish learns.

Its analysis has found that 25mt of these projects are moving forward through the pipeline, albeit at varying stages, with only a small number of projects reaching the crucial final investment decision (FID) stage and even fewer have started construction. These stages critically depend on solid demand signals from offtake agreements and clear lead market policies, Agora notes.

Automotive is a potential catalyst for this transition, because of the obvious volumes it consumes, and because of the low cost impact on consumer. An Agora analysis shows that steel represents only a small share of the final cost of a vehicle, accounting for less than 1% of the end price of a car.

“The project pipeline for clean steel production in Europe is there,” Agora says. “To turbo-charge Europe’s clean steel projects into the construction phase requires turning market signals from steel buyers into a bankable investment case.”

Italian heavy plate prices are largely flat compared to the beginning of May as market participants report weak demand amid uncertainty and high costs, Kallanish hears.

Producers expect prices to rise in the coming months as costs continue to climb amid higher slab prices and CBAM-related charges. Asian slab asking prices are reaching as high as $570/tonne fob, according to sources.

Mills have filled or almost filled June order books and are quoting €800/t ($930.77/t) base ex-works for S275 grade for July delivery. Current contracts remain at €760-770/t base ex-works, while slab contract prices in May reached $600/t cif Italy.

Meanwhile, the northwestern European plate market remains subdued with little transaction activity. One mill representative sees the market mood as especially harsh. “The willingness to buy is trending towards zero,” he says. The prices have not risen much beyond the mark of €800/t delivered for S355, where they already stood in late March, when the upward momentum ran out of previous months ran out (see Kallanish 6 May).