Category: Latest Updates

Italian longs prices are holding steady following the increases implemented in March in response to rising costs linked to the US-Iran conflict. Further hikes are being applied or considered this month, but the market is showing resistance to additional increases.

Several sources tell Kallanish they are in a wait-and-see mode ahead of the Tube and Wire trade show in Düsseldorf this week.

Domestic merchant bar prices have risen against pre-conflict levels, with a further €20-30/tonne ($23.37-35.06/t) increase under consideration or already implemented, depending on mill.

Demand, however, remains subdued, with multiple buyers and sellers reporting low activity levels. One source notes that volumes purchased in March could take up to three months to deplete, while several sellers and distributors describe last month as solid, with apparent demand having resurfaced. That momentum has since faded, particularly for merchant bar but also across other long products including rebar, Kallanish notes.

Current contracts for merchant bar are heard at €300-320/t base ex-works, equivalent to €720-730/t including size extras. Some mills are now implementing further increases to €330-340/t due to persistently high costs.

March was initially a slow month for sections sale as the European increases have encountered refusals in some countries, particularly in Germany.

In Italy after an initial resistance soon after the conflict, demand has picked up at increased prices. Section prices in Italy rose by some €40-50/t compared to the beginning of March. The first category of sections is now at €800-810/t delivered on average with the sellers increasing their prices by another €20/t pushing up new levels to €830/t. Agents and buyers report steady activity in the sections segment with steady demand coming from infrastructure projects.

Romania-based investor UMB Steel, part of the construction focused UMB Group owned by Dorinel Umbrarescu, has received clearance from the Romanian Competition Council for its acquisition of Romanian steelmaker ArcelorMittal Hunedoara, reinforcing its ongoing efforts to expand its footprint in the domestic steel sector.

As previously reported by SteelOrbis, the company has acquired the production assets of ArcelorMittal Hunedoara for €12.5 million, marking a concrete step forward in strengthening its position within the local market.

ArcelorMittal Hunedoara has been idle since September 2025, with operations suspended due to high energy costs, weak domestic demand and pressure from low-priced imports. The plant had been producing around 200,000-300,000 mt of long steel products annually and had already been operating under challenging conditions prior to the shutdown, reflecting broader difficulties faced by regional producers.

The relatively low acquisition price points to an opportunistic move into distressed assets. However, market players remain cautious regarding the likelihood and timing of a potential restart, given continued pressure on margins, limited pricing power and still subdued demand in the Romanian market.

At the same time, the deal is viewed as part of a longer-term positioning strategy. If successfully implemented, it could gradually reshape supply dynamics in Romania’s long steel segment by reducing reliance on imports and aligning production more closely with infrastructure-driven demand.

The approval follows UMB Steel’s earlier acquisition of the Otelu Rosu plant in 2024 and its attempt to acquire Liberty Galati in October 2025, which did not materialize, underlining the group’s increasing interest in building a more integrated presence in the domestic steel industry.

The European market for green steel remained quiet in the week to Thursday April 9, with spot activity close to nil; buyers focused on long-term offtake agreements to ensure future supply security, Fastmarkets heard on Thursday.

Market participants said that demand for long-term offtake agreements remains in place, particularly for green steel deliveries scheduled for 2028-2030 and later. They expect interest in lower-carbon steel to grow over time, supported by evolving regulatory frameworks.

A European buyer noted that although green steel output is set to increase in the next decade, the pace of expansion has been slower than initially anticipated.

New capacity additions across Europe are expected to come mainly from electric-arc furnaces (EAFs) and direct-reduced iron (DRI) facilities. But many producers, including Salzgitter and ArcelorMittal with SALCOS and Gijón respectively, have delayed or postponed integrated DRI projects to focus resources on EAF construction, Fastmarkets reported.

New EAF-based green steel output, using a mix of natural gas-based DRI, pig iron and scrap, is forecast to reach around 35 million tonnes in 2030, Fastmarkets estimates.

In the spot market, meanwhile, buyers’ readiness to pay premiums for reduced-emissions steel remains limited. Sources highlighted high premiums and ongoing uncertainty around definitions and standards for green steel in Europe as a key factor restraining wider adoption along the value chain.

Under Fastmarkets’ framework, European green steel refers to material produced with combined Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions not exceeding 0.8 tonnes of CO2 per tonne of steel.

Buyer estimates suggest that achievable premiums for such material are typically in the range of €100-150 ($117-175) per tonne, although some deals may have been concluded at minimal or zero premium for strategic or marketing reasons. In contrast, mill sources indicated that premiums should be at least €150-170 per tonne.

During the assessment period, offers for qualifying green steel were reported at €200-300 per tonne above conventional material, although producers acknowledged that discounts could be negotiated for larger volumes.

No new spot sales were reported during the assessment week.

“We had two inquiries [for green steel] since the beginning of April, 100-150 tonnes, but no sales,” a supplier source said.

As a result, Fastmarkets’ weekly assessment for the green steel domestic, flat-rolled, differential to HRC index, exw Northern Europe was unchanged week on week at a premium of €100-150 per tonne on April 9, narrowing downward from €100-170 per tonne seven days earlier.

Meanwhile, Fastmarkets’ assessment of the flat steel reduced carbon emissions differential, exw Northern Europe was €0-50 per tonne on Thursday, stable week on week.

For steel produced in blast furnaces with reduced carbon emissions of 1.4-1.8 tonnes of CO2 per tonne of steel, offers for premiums were reported at €70-80 per tonne.

Estimates of achievable premiums came in at €0-50 per tonne.

Market participants also pointed to uneven demand from end-use projects, with activity remaining sporadic rather than consistent. While projects such as thyssenkrupp Steel’s recent supply of around 1,000 tonnes of CO2-reduced bluemint® steel — a mass-balanced product with a higher share of recycled content — for a water pipeline in Angola highlight the use of green steel in infrastructure, such cases remain limited in scale. Sources said that project-driven demand has yet to provide a steady or material uplift to overall consumption, reinforcing the view that uptake across the market remains gradual and fragmented.

The European domestic markets for steel hot-rolled coil showed little movement on Friday April 10, with an the absence of urgency among both buyers and sellers curtailing activity. With neither side under pressure to secure volumes, business was limited.

Nevertheless, sentiment remained positive and some mills have already indicated higher asking prices for material scheduled for delivery in the third quarter amid expectations of further reductions in import activity because of imminent sweeping changes in the region’s safeguarding system.

Second-quarter coil availability was largely exhausted at integrated mills in Germany and the Benelux area, although a few suppliers were still offering limited June-delivery HRC tonnages within the range of €720-730 ($856-868) per tonne ex-works, with estimates of workable prices at €710-720 per tonne ex-works.

No major deals were heard during the day. A seller source said that if some business was being done now it was only “back to back.”

Indications of offers for July-delivery material were heard at €740-760 per tonne ex-works earlier this week.

Fastmarkets’ daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Northern Europe, was €720.00 per tonne on April 10, unchanged day on day.

The index was, however, up by €1.24 per tonne week on week and by €15.62 per tonne month on month.

The corresponding daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Italy, was calculated at €700.00 per tonne ex-works on April 10, up by €1.00 per tonne from €699.00 per tonne on April 9.

The index was up by €1.25 per tonne week on week and by €12.50 per tonne month on month.

Trading in the Italian market was also muted, with no major deals reported during the day.

Market sources reported limited supplies due to a local re-roller being forced to suspend production earlier this month for technical reasons. Demand, however, also left much to be desired.

Market participants estimated a workable price to be €700 per tonne ex-works.

Industry sources from both Northern and Southern Europe said that this week was quiet because of Easter holidays, and expected at least some clarity or revival of activity next week, during the Wire & Tube trade fair in Dusseldorf, Germany, over April 13-17.

Several European long steel producers are implementing or considering price increases of €20-50/tonne ($23.37-58.43/t) across rebar, sections and wire rod, driven by rising costs linked to the US-Iran conflict.

According to sources, ArcelorMittal is increasing its values by €50/t across its range of longs.

Despite the ceasefire in Iran, energy price volatility remains elevated and the outlook for costs remains highly uncertain. ArcelorMittal is said to be limiting the validity period of its quotes in response to the ongoing uncertainty around input costs.

Turkish HMS 80:20 prices are also rising sharply, causing scrap increases in several Western European countries. Last week, an increase of some €10/t also emerged in Germany. Strong export demand and high volumes of material leaving northern ports have prompted scrap suppliers to push through increases of up to €15/t compared to March settlement levels, with mills forced to pay the hikes given their substantial procurement needs this month.

The Tube and Wire trade show in Düsseldorf this week will be used as a focal point for announcements, with both producers and buyers telling Kallanish they are awaiting the event to assess market sentiment. While buyers confirm there is no panic buying at present, some apparent demand is resurfacing across most long products thanks to supply uncertainties linked the conflict.

One long products producer notes that scrap is not the only pressure. He also reports significantly higher logistics costs.

A southern European producer adds that price increases implemented in March have proved insufficient to cover the rising input costs. A Western European mill is said to be finalising the level of its next price increase, which is believed to be at least €35-40/t.

The quota for European hot-rolled coil under category 1A has been exhausted by India following the start of the new quota period on April 1, according to the latest data published by the European Commission.

India had a total quota of around 225,305 mt that appeared to be over-subscribed in the first few days, a similar trend to the quota from the prior quarter.

The exhaustion comes ahead of the widely expected safeguard measure changes from July 1, which would see the European Commission cut quotas by almost 50%, increase the out-of-quota duty rate to 50% from the current 25%, and look at introducing a melt-and-pour origin rule.

Any additional material from India that is cleared before June 30 will now incur a duty of 25%. Importers will also need to budget for the purchase of CBAM certificates in February 2027 to cover for embedded emissions in material that has been imported in 2026.

After the first quarterly CBAM price was confirmed at Eur75.36/mtCO2e, importers at least have a firmer basis to calculate their 2027 costs using default values, but uncertainty still surrounds the use of actual emissions values, in particular with the speed of the verification process for exporting mills.

The quota for Turkey has also seen high rates of utilization since April 1, with a balance of 169,607 mt from a total allocation of 398,355 mt, not including over 18,000 mt that is awaiting clearance.

Taiwan has a balance of around 71,100 mt from a total allocation of 111,491 mt, but other country-specific quotas are largely untapped in a time of import uncertainty.

Since the start of the Middle East war, fresh import deals have been scarce as freight cost volatility and longer lead times for certain routes dampen interest, which, sources said, has shifted focus into sourcing some material domestically instead.

With a two-week ceasefire announced by the US and Iran, importers will be evaluating the situation to see whether the risk of ordering material from certain regions will be reduced.

Platts, part of S&P Global Energy, last assessed imported HRC in Northern Europe at Eur550/mt CIF Antwerp, and in Southern Europe at Eur540/mt CIF Southern Europe, both up Eur35 month over month.

Author: Riley Waters 

spglobal.com