Norway calls for stronger EU CBAM to prevent carbon leakage and close loopholes
The Norwegian government has submitted its views to the European Commission’s consultation on the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM). Norway emphasized that, while its domestic industries, particularly in primary aluminum, ferroalloys and silicon metal, already operate with significantly lower lifecycle emissions due to renewable electricity, they remain vulnerable to carbon leakage and unfair competition.
Welcoming the commission’s initiative, Norway stressed that a stronger CBAM is essential to maintain the competitiveness of hard-to-abate industries during the green transition.
Norway underlined that CBAM will only succeed if loopholes are closed. Excluding downstream products risks shifting production outside the EU, harming upstream producers. While acknowledging the difficulty of defining which downstream goods should be included, Norway recommended prioritizing those most closely linked in price to CBAM-covered products.
The government also urged continuous monitoring and updates to tackle circumvention. For example, process scrap in the aluminum sector or the use of substitutes should be addressed. Stronger emissions reporting standards and verification rules were highlighted as critical.
Norway noted that not all circumvention risks can be predicted. Therefore, CBAM should be designed to evolve with emerging threats, ensuring loopholes do not undermine its effectiveness.
Norway indicated that it pays special attention to the electricity sector, stressing that emission factors for imported electricity must be calculated consistently across all importers from the same country or bidding zone. Clear rules are also needed to incentivize third countries to decarbonize their energy systems, preventing carbon leakage in cross-border power trade.
UK’s new defense industrial strategy puts UK steel at core of national security
The UK government has unveiled its Defence Industrial Strategy (DIS) 2025, placing UK steel at the center of national security. For the first time, procurement reforms will allow the Ministry of Defence (MOD) to prioritize domestic steel producers, marking a turning point for the sector long sidelined in defense projects.
According to UK-based trade association UK Steel, the publication of the DIS signals a decisive policy change. UK Steel noted that, with the DIS 2025, the UK government is reshaping the rules of defense procurement. By putting steel at the heart of industrial security, the UK strengthens not only its defense capacity but also its economic resilience. Steel is now officially recognized as an “industrial security priority”, breaking from the previous “global competition by default” approach.
Key elements of the new strategy include:
- Support for UK businesses through long-term contracts, procurement reforms and a stronger focus on homegrown supply chains.
- Building resilience by securing domestic manufacturing capacity, stockpiles, and encouraging inward investment into defense-critical industries.
- Fixing procurement processes by simplifying requirements, increasing transparency and engaging industry early in defense planning.
Gareth Stace, director general of UK Steel, welcomed the commitment and said, “For too long, our producers have been overlooked in major defense contracts. The Defence Secretary’s commitment in the DIS is a welcome endorsement of the strategic role of our sector.”
He added that the new Defence Industrial Joint Council will further enhance cooperation between government and industry to showcase UK steel’s capacity to scale, innovate and deliver for defense.
European steel HRC prices still trending below mill targets on low demand
European prices for steel hot-rolled coil were stable to slightly higher on Wednesday September 10, but were still trending below mills’ target offer levels, Fastmarkets heard.
Mills were looking to push offer prices for October-November delivery coil to around €600-630 ($706-741) per tonne ex-works, but no deals have been reported at that level.
Buyers estimated the workable market at €570-590 per tonne ex-works on Wednesday, similar to prices heard over the past few days.
Despite the cautiously positive trend and limited import availability due to the coming implementation of the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), some market sources still saw persistent problems with real demand as factors affecting growth.
According to traders, the market should expect further increases in prices by the end of September, when more buyers will have a need to restock.
Fastmarkets’ calculation of the daily steel HRC index, domestic, exw Northern Europe, was €583.13 ($683.87) per tonne on September 10, up by €5.21 per tonne from €577.92 per tonne on September 9.
The Northern European index was up by €8.13 per tonne week on week and by €7.50 per tonne month on month.
Prices for overseas coil also increased over the past week.
Offers from Indonesia were heard around €490-500 per tonne CFR, offers from India were heard at €520 per tonne CFR and offers from Turkey were heard around €520-540 per tonne CFR.
Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel hot-rolled coil, import, cfr main port Northern Europe, was €490-520 per tonne on Wednesday, rising from €475-515 per tonne the previous week.
In Italy, workable prices for HRC in the spot market were still lagging behind target offers.
“In August, mills had comfortable lead times, especially considering maintenance closures, but after the restart in September it turned out that October [delivery] HRC still must be sold,” a local source said.
Target offers by local integrated mills were heard at €580-600 per tonne delivered (€570-585 per tonne ex-works) on Tuesday, but no trades at such prices have been reported so far.
Buyers’ estimates of the workable price remained at €540-550 per tonne ex-works, in line with the most recent transactions.
Fastmarkets’ daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Italy, was €548.50 per tonne on Wednesday, down by €0.88 per tonne compared with €549.38 per tonne on Tuesday.
The Italian index was up by €0.17 per tonne week on week, but down by €2.75 per tonne month on month.
In the secondary market, 4mm HR sheet was on offer at €650 per tonne CPT.
Market sources said that while steel service centers were looking to raise prices to €670-680 per tonne CPT, demand was not strong enough to support this.
Despite overall muted demand for overseas coil in anticipation of the CBAM implementation, several market sources reported a deal for Indonesian HRC.
Around 20,000-25,000 tonnes of HRC from Indonesia – “with guaranteed delivery in 2025, before CBAM kicks in” – was booked in Italy at €485 per tonne CFR.
Market sources familiar with the matter noted that in any case of late delivery in 2026, CBAM-related risks would be on the seller’s side. As Fastmarkets has reported, several Asian suppliers offered similar conditions for cold-rolled coil contracts to Europe.
Meanwhile, other overseas HRC offers remained flat on Wednesday.
Offers from Turkey were reported around €520-540 per tonne CFR, including the EU anti-dumping duty, for late November arrival.
From India, offers were reported at €520-530 per tonne CFR for October-November shipment coil.
Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel hot-rolled coil, import, cfr main port Southern Europe, was €485-520 per tonne, narrowing upward from €470-520 per tonne the previous week.
Julia Bolotova, Davide Montagner
BYD eyes Europe production localisation by 2028: report
Chinese electric vehicle maker BYD plans to build all electric vehicles (EVs) for Europe locally by 2028, according to executive vice president Stella Li.
“We are training ourselves to be more European in production,” Li told Reuters during the IAA Mobility car show in Munich. The executive added it would take the company “two to three years” to produce the EVs needed to supply European demand.
The automaker is currently building a factory in Hungary, with operations set to start by year-end. It recently selected Austrian steelmaker voestalpine to supply the factory in Szeged.
In addition, Li confirmed the recently launched compact EV Dolphin Surf would be the first car made in the upcoming Hungary facility.
“Europe is a tremendously important market for us, so it’s natural to confirm here, at the region’s largest auto show of 2025, that our iconic Dolphin Surf will be the first car that we manufacture in Hungary,” the executive said in a statement seen by Kallanish. “We’ve been consistent with our commitment to this project and we’re really excited to start selling cars produced in Europe.”
BYD offers 13 models in Europe, of which battery electric vehicles (BEVs) face a 27% tariff.
Facing the price war in the Chinese market, BYD recently reported a net profit of CNY 6.36 billion ($891.9m) for the second quarter, marking a 29.9% drop year-on-year.
According to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), BYD ranked second among complete vehicle exporters in the first half of the year, with export volume surging 130% y-o-y, and recorded the fastest growth rate among the top ten complete vehicle exporters.
Kallanish Asia , Reethu Ravi UK
Fives upgrades Lusosider galvanizing line
French technology supplier Fives tells Kallanish it has won an order from Lusosider, the sole Portuguese supplier of flat products, to optimise zinc consumption at its galvanizing line in Paio Pires.
The steelmaker is thereby expected to increase the reliability of its operations, achieving maximum quality and productivity while reducing costs.
The project includes the installation of an air-knife that fully automates the adjustment of wiping process conditions, optimising the operation of the equipment in the coating pot zone. This solution also significantly reduces zinc consumption and prevents quality issues.
“This digital model can control the wiping parameters during transitions and steadily adjust coating weight to limit overcoating and Zn consumption,” Fives explains.
The equipment can be adapted to any strip processing line thanks to its plug-and-play system and can also be integrated with other digital systems on the line, the supplier adds.
Ludosider is part of Brazil’s CSN group.
Todor Kirkov Bulgaria
Stegra joins LESS initiative
Swedish steel venture Stegra, formerly H2GreenSteel, has joined the Low Emission Steel Standard (LESS), Kallanish learns.
LESS is a voluntary emission standard, creating a unified and credible label for low- and near-zero emission steel.
After several of ArcelorMittal’s European companies joined LESS earlier this summer (see Kallanish 28 July), the initiative’s members now represent approximately 45% of Europe’s steel production.
Stegra is an industrial impact scale-up in the process of building its first plant for large-scale production of green hydrogen, green iron and green steel in Boden, Sweden.
“For us, a credible and transparent label like LESS is essential to demonstrate the decarbonisation level of our products and to enable access to future-oriented markets,” says Niklas Wass, head of operations at Stegra’s Boden site. “We believe LESS should be adopted as the official EU-label for low and near zero.”
“Stegra brings both technical excellence and a strong sustainability vision to our community,” says Carmen Ostwald, secretary general of LESS.
“Their participation reinforces our mission to build a harmonised framework for low-emission steel and to accelerate the sector’s transition toward climate neutrality,” she concludes.
Christian Koehl Germany
Tata Steel UK Advances Transition to Low-Emission Steelmaking
Tata Steel UK has reaffirmed its commitment to decarbonisation, with its Chief Commercial Officer, Anil Jhanji, confirming that the company’s transition to low-emission steelmaking is progressing on schedule. The cornerstone of this transition is the new electric arc furnace (EAF) project at Port Talbot, now officially underway following a groundbreaking ceremony in July.
The project, supported by a £500 million grant from the UK Government and backed by a total investment package of £1.25 billion, represents a major shift in the UK’s steel industry. The new facility is expected to begin production by December 2027, marking a critical step in reducing industrial emissions and modernising Tata Steel’s UK operations.
Jhanji expressed gratitude to Tata Steel’s customers for their trust and collaboration during the transition, noting the importance of long-standing partnerships:
“It’s like building a flyover while the traffic is flowing over it. Your continued confidence in us is making all the difference.”
The company has asked customers to provide more detailed forecasts of medium and long-term steel demand as it adapts to new sourcing models and longer supply chains. With traditional blast furnace operations phased out — including the decommissioning of Port Talbot’s Blast Furnace 4 — Tata is now operating as a re-roller, sourcing substrate globally.
Tata Steel UK says it is actively pursuing additional supply chain efficiencies and expanding its Tier 1 supplier network to ensure stable, high-quality steel supply during the transition period.
EU needs strict import caps, universal tariffs: Pinter
The EU must urgently implement new comprehensive trade measures which, among other things, set 15% import caps for carbon flat and stainless steel, and 5% for carbon longs, while applying tariffs universally to all products and countries. So says Michael Pinter, US Steel Kosice director of governmental and EU affairs, as well as European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) member.
The tariffs should also be applied to countries having free trade agreements with the EU, with no loopholes, exemptions or free rides, Pinter notes in his latest EESC article read by Kallanish.
Steel origins should be traced with “melted and poured” rules to stop circumvention. Carry-overs quotas need to be eliminated and strong above-quota tariffs enforced to send an effective price signal to the market, ideally at 50% – comparable to the US tariff level, he adds.
Protectionism will not be enough, however, with energy critical to competitiveness. Pinter suggests immediate energy price relief and network tariff rebates for energy-intensive industries, and overhauled electricity markets to decouple fossil-fuel prices from electricity prices – an alternative market design to transfer the cost benefits of low carbon electricity to consumers. Moreover, a dedicated hydrogen funding mechanism is needed to power the industrial transition.
As for CBAM, “current loopholes risk undermining its effectiveness, necessitating legislative action to preserve free allowances for exports to non-EU countries. CBAM scope should also expand to cover downstream steel-intensive sectors,” Pinter notes.
For scrap, the Commission should introduce comprehensive monitoring, potential export duties or tariff quotas, and enhanced enforcement against illegal exports, he adds.
The EESC proposed these measures and more in its opinion report on the EU Steel and Metals Action Plan published in July. One request was for the release of the legislative draft on CBAM, a hot topic of late among EU steel industry participants since CBAM benchmark values are still unknown.
The European Association of Non-Integrated Metal Importers & Distributors (Euranimi) recently rejected the “melt and pour” rule, saying it is “impossible to verify in practice”. Various studies published in recent months have meanwhile showed there is unlikely to be an EU scrap shortage in the coming decade as steelmaking decarbonises, with supply growth keeping pace with demand.
Adam Smith Austria
Steel market outlook remains poor as uncertainty surrounding U.S. tariffs and weak demand continue
The lack of a solution for steel in the EU-U.S. trade negotiations, the ongoing unpredictability of the global geoeconomic situation, and persistently weak demand against an ever-growing global steel overcapacity are squeezing the European steel market.
In 2025, the outlook points to stagnation, with potential recovery only in 2026 — conditional on improvements in the global economy and an easing of trade tensions. According to EUROFER’s latest Economic and Steel Market Outlook, another recession both in apparent steel consumption (-0.2%, revised upwards from -0.9%) and in steel-using sectors (-0.7%, revised downwards from -0.5%) is confirmed for 2025. Growth prospects are now delayed at least to 2026, with projections of a rebound for both apparent steel consumption (+3.1%) and steel-using sectors (+1.8%). However, steel imports continue to hold historically high market shares (25%) in 2025.
“The incapability of finding an agreement on steel and the vagueness of the U.S.-EU Joint Statement on trade is detrimental to our producers, who remain subject to a 50% tariff and de facto cut off from their second export market. It’s everything but the certainty we need in these already turbulent times. With cheap imports continuing to be diverted to the EU, we cannot help but fear further closures and layoffs — including in our downstream sectors — with the irreversible loss of strategic EU assets to the benefit of our direct competitors in the U.S., Asia, North Africa and Middle East. Our last resort to tackle global overcapacity lies with the upcoming new EU trade measure. If the European Commission fails to deliver on its promises, our sector will have no backstop left”, said Axel Eggert, Director General of the European Steel Association (EUROFER), following the publication of the Economic and Steel Market Outlook Q3 2025.
EU steel market overview
In the first quarter of 2025, apparent steel consumption increased for the second consecutive time (+2.2%, after +0.5% in the last quarter of 2024), reaching 33.8 million tonnes. However, the outlook for steel demand remains highly uncertain, with improvements expected no earlier than the first quarter of 2026, and consumption volumes still far below pre-pandemic levels.
Domestic deliveries also recorded a quarterly increase (+1.4%), following a drop at the end of 2024 (-2%) and an overall decrease in 2024 (-2.8%). During the same period, imports slightly contracted (-0.6%) after another surge (+6.3%) in the fourth quarter of 2024. However, the import market share remained at historically high levels (25%) also in the first quarter of 2025, after 27% in 2024.
EU steel-using sectors
In the first quarter of 2025, steel-using sectors’s output contracted again (-3.2%), after the previous quarterly sharp drop (-4.6%) and the overall marked recession (-3.6%) in 2024. Uncertainty due to U.S. tariffs is likely to intensify, further weighing on all manufacturing sectors, and notably automotive, the most exposed to trade fluctuations. This situation is expected to impact the Steel Weighted Industrial Production index (SWIP), which is set for another downturn in 2025 (-0.7%, further down from -0.5%) as a result of a significant decline in automotive (-4.2%) and a very modest output increase in construction (+0.4%). Growth is projected to return in 2026 (+1.8%).
Momentum fades in European HRC market amid lackluster demand
The European hot-rolled coil market was at a standstill on Tuesday September 9, with prices steady amid subdued trading, sources told Fastmarkets.
In Northern Europe, HRC prices have been stabilizing in recent days after suppliers managed to push through modest increased at the end of July and in early August. Since then, domestic prices have been broadly stable, with a second round of proposed increased unsuccessful so far.
“Momentum has stalled,” a buyer in Germany said. “[European suppliers] started with [HRC] offers at €620 per tonne delivered three weeks ago, stating [at the time that] it was not possible to [accept] a single euro less, but now [HRC is being sold] at €600 per tonne delivered.
“Demand is not strong enough to keep the momentum going,” the buyer said.
In Germany and the Benelux area, most buyers estimated the tradable level at around €570-580 per tonne ex-works, although one buyer estimated the workable price at €600 per tonne delivered (around €585 per tonne ex-works).
Offers for October-November delivery coil, meanwhile, stood at €600-630 per tonne ex-works. For December, one supplier was said to be aiming for €650 per tonne ex-works. But several market participants told Fastmarkets that that higher offers were “on hold” because of the lack of buying interest.
“We will see how the market develops. So far, uncertainty around the EU’s [Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism] (CBAM) and new safeguards helped to push [HRC] prices slightly higher in Europe, but demand still slow, so a new round of increases is not happening,” a buyer in the Netherlands said.
Fastmarkets’ calculation of the daily steel HRC index, domestic, exw Northern Europe, was €577.92 per tonne on September 9, up slightly by €0.84 per tonne from €577.08 per tonne on September 8.
The Northern European index was down by €1.87 per tonne week on week, but was up by €2.29 per tonne month on month.
In Southern Europe, meanwhile, Fastmarkets’ daily steel HRC index, domestic, exw Italy was calculated at €549.38 per tonne on Tuesday, down by €1.04 per tonne from €550.42 per tonne on Monday.
The index was down by €0.62 per tonne week on week and by €1.87 per tonne month on month.
Italian buyers were taking cautious approach to new purchases, however, so local mills were also struggling to implement increases.
Offer prices for October delivery HRC were heard at €580-600 per tonne base delivered (€570-585 per tonne ex-works) on Tuesday, but this level was not sealed in deals, sources said.
Buyer estimates of the workable price came in at between €540 per tonne and €550 per tonne ex-works – in line with the most recent transactions.
One buyer source said that transactions at €550 per tonne ex-works were now “rare.”
“Italian mills are struggling to implement a second round of price increases, but they are facing strong resistance from buyers who remain deeply concerned about weak end-user demand,” a local buyer said.
The appetite for imported coil was also limited across Europe, mainly because uncertainty surrounding implementation of the CBAM and the potential for the early introduction of new safeguard measures are continuing to act as a brake on purchasing activity.
Offers from Turkey were reported around €520-540 per tonne CFR, including the EU anti-dumping duty, for late November arrival.
From India, offers were reported at €520-530 per tonne CFR for October-November shipment of HRC. And HRC from Indonesia was on offer at €490 per tonne CFR.