Category: Latest Updates

Author: SteelRadar Editorial Team

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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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

Long steel products buyers in Poland have withstood price increases attempted by mills in recent weeks, particularly in the segment of wire rod, Fastmarkets heard on Friday February 6.

High competition and the availability of cheap-import downstream products were named as the key reasons for the pushback against price rises.

A wire rod buyer source reported that nails (a finished product made from drawing quality wire rod, CN code 7317) are not included in the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) and therefore can be imported without additional costs.

Screws (another downstream product, CN code 7318), meanwhile, do fall within CBAM.

Under such conditions, some wire rod buyers resisted rises for drawing quality wire rod, as they face difficulties in passing on these costs, at least in the nails market segment.

Mills, at the same time, are being pressured by growing production costs, particularly of scrap and electricity.

Offers varied within the range of 2,750-2,950 zloty ($770-826) per tonne delivered, whereas estimates of workable prices came in at 2,700-2,780 zloty per tonne delivered.

Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel wire rod (drawing quality), domestic, delivered Poland dropped to 2,700-2,780 zloty per tonne on February 6, falling by 20-50 zloty from 2,750-2,800 zloty per tonne on January 30.

In the rebar segment, customers’ behavior was similar, but the reason for the pushback was seasonally slow activity in the construction sector and a colder-than-normal winter.

Mills’ offers varied within the range of 2,650-2,700 zloty per tonne cpt, while transactions were heard at 2,550-2,600 zloty cpt over the reported period.

Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), domestic, cpt Poland was 2,550-2,600 zloty on February 6, down from 2,600-2,650 zloty per tonne on January 30.

Indian steel major Tata Steel is adopting differing approaches to decarbonisation in Europe and India, reflecting local market realities, the company’s chief executive officer and managing director T.V. Narendran has told Kallanish’s Green Steel Challenge podcast.

In Europe, high carbon costs and stricter regulations are pushing the company towards electric arc furnace (EAF) steelmaking and greater use of scrap. At Port Talbot, Tata Steel is utilising this model, backed by a €500 million ($630m) government grant. Narendran says Europe faces a “survival and transition” challenge, with limited availability of affordable green hydrogen and renewable energy.

In India, steel demand remains strong and capacity additions are ongoing. Tata Steel is therefore focusing on gradual emissions reduction rather than wholesale asset replacement. The company is investing in gas-based direct reduced iron (DRI), hydrogen injection trials in blast furnaces, and the development of a professional scrap supply chain through its Tata FerroBaling programme. Tata FerroBaling part of the steelmakers recycling business, designed to formalise India’s largely unorganised scrap market and improve supply quality and transparency.

Narendran says the global steel transition is multi-speed, adding, “while the goal is global, the journey is regional.” He notes that “Europe has a clear case for rapid transition due to high carbon taxes and public demand for cleaner production, while India’s focus is on greening the growth as capacity continues to expand.”

He further adds: “No steel company in the world can realise the transition… without government support.” He points out that Europe is ahead because governments are footing 40%–60% of the capital costs.

Since India is adding 100–150 million tonnes of capacity every decade, he insists the priority is keeping that growth sustainable rather than just replacing old assets, which is the European focus.

The two-pronged strategy highlights how policy frameworks, geography and raw material availability are shaping the economics of green steel.

India is likely to remain a key production hub in the near term, while Europe continues to lead in low-carbon branding and circular steelmaking.

Tata’s split approach allows it to remain competitive in price-sensitive Indian markets while complying with tighter European decarbonisation rules, potentially widening the gap between domestic and export-oriented mills.

European scrap recyclers are able to invest in improving grades, but this must be done through communication with steelmakers, with margins sufficient to justify the investment, delegates heard at the Kallanish Steel Scrap 2026 conference in Istanbul on 5 February.

Higher grades of scrap will be necessary as the European steel industry targets the production of more flat steel through electric arc furnaces. In Europe, only 15% of flat products are produced from EAF steel, compared to 55% in the USA.

The difference between the two is not just technical but about communication, argues Alain Eeckman, commercial director of Casier Recycling.

In the USA, scrap suppliers and EAF mills openly discuss the best way to produce scrap products that allow the EAFs to produce better quality steel.

This has resulted in specialised low copper grades and also joint investment in scrap processing capacity. In the EU meanwhile, mills and scrap suppliers do not talk to each other effectively, Eeckman warns.

Olivier Francois, president of industry association Recycling Europe agrees, noting that European mills would always say they wanted higher quality scrap but then would not be willing to pay sufficient premium when offered it.

Recyclers would lose money if they invested heavily for a product which did not achieve a higher price.

Meanwhile, on the sidelines of the conference, a scrap buyer from a major European steelmaker said it was true there needed to be investment in upgrading the quality of scrap.

However, he noted that he could not be expected to pay more if his customers also would not be willing to pay more for greener steel products. If he accepted a higher scrap price without being able to pass this on to customers, it would be his margins which would be squeezed.

Author: Tomas Gutierrez UK