US duties cause gloom in Germany: WV Stahl
The announcement by US President Donald Trump of a new set of duties – a general 10% for most countries but 20% for the EU – has rung alarm bells in Germany’s steel industry.
It was a “day of gloom for trans-Atlantic trade,” says Kerstin Maria Rippel, managing director of steel federation WV Stahl.
More than any other European country, Germany depends on exports, with many goods sent to the USA containing steel, she points out. Indirect steel exports through products such as machinery or tools add up to a steel volume of 2.4 million tonnes, Kallanish hears.
German machinery makers and plant builders association VDMA underlines the short-sightedness of Trump’s measures. Importing US manufacturers need machinery suppliers from abroad for certain key technologies, representing cooperation that has existed for decades, VDMA notes. In a poll made among members, 60% of the companies stated that they will be hit, or even strongly hit, by the new US tariffs.
Meanwhile, thyssenkrupp Steel Europe and Salzgitter have called for the European Commission’s Steel and Metals Action Plan to be implemented as swiftly as possible to shield the sector from the US tariff measures, Reuters writes. Their claim was brought forward at a virtual meeting with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen held on Monday.
The steelmakers also called for an introduction of binding minimum quotas for “European content” in private and public procurement in order to strengthen domestic markets, one participant said.
Tariff uncertainty prompts Worldsteel to pause short-range outlook
Uncertainty surrounding tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump has prompted the World Steel Association (worldsteel) to postpone its April 2025 Short Range Outlook (SRO), Kallanish discovers from an association press release.
“Worldsteel believes that the imposition of tariffs by the US administration could render the SRO outdated,” states the press release. “The SRO will be reviewed and reissued at an appropriate time.”
Brussels, Belgium-based worldsteel issues a biannual SRO for steel demand coinciding with its general meetings of members in April and October.
The organisation is one of the industry’s largest global associations, with members in every major steel-producing country.
European HRC prices up slightly amid still-positive sentiment
Fastmarkets calculated its daily steel hot-rolled coil index domestic, exw Northern Europe at €654.38 ($716.63) per tonne on Tuesday, up by €2.38 per tonne from €652.00 per tonne the previous day.
The Northern European index was up by €9.38 per tonne week on week and by €23.00 per tonne month on month.
Offer prices for June/July delivery HRC in Northern Europe hovered around €670-700 per tonne ex-works, sources told Fastmarkets.
One buyer source reported some transactions being done at close to the lower end of the range, but that could not be widely confirmed by other market participants and most still regard €640-660 per tonne ex-works the workable level.
The current upward trend in the HRC prices in Northern Europe was attributed mainly to limited imports and the reduced domestic supplies, with actual demand stable at low levels, Fastmarkets understands.
But some customers who really needed to replenish stocks were willing to accept the new, higher prices, sources told Fastmarkets.
In Southern Europe, Fastmarkets’ daily steel hot-rolled coil index domestic, exw Italy was calculated at €631.25 per tonne on Tuesday, up by €2.50 per tonne from €628.75 per tonne the previous day.
The index was up by €6.25 per tonne week on week and up by €11.25 per tonne month on month.
One Italian supplier was heard offering HRC with lead times of 4-5 weeks at €660-670 per tonne delivered, which would net back to €650-660 per tonne ex-works.
A second Italian supplier, which was recently offering HRC at €630 per tonne ex-works was said to have withdrawn from the market, sources told Fastmarkets.
An integrated European mill was still offering June delivery HRC in the Italian market at €680-700 per tonne delivered, Fastmarkets understands, but demand in the Italian market remains subdued and no transactions were reported on Tuesday.
Some bids were heard at €620-630 per tonne ex-works, but suppliers were not willing to accept that level, sources said, but most buyers said the tradable level was closer to the bid level.
In terms of imports, Indonesian HRC was on offer to Italy at €560 per tonne CFR.
And Turkish HRC continued to be offered to Italy at €580-590 per tonne CFR, including the anti-dumping duty, with some small-volume transactions reported at close to that level, sources told Fastmarkets.
Europe looks set to apply counter tariffs on US imports; some key products could be spared
After a meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council to discuss the tariffs, their effects on the EU economy and the EU’s response, the EU Commission said it was ready to negotiate with the US on tariffs, but it was also ready to move forward with counter tariffs of its own.
“The current trade situation with the United States, our most significant partner, is in a tough spot,” European Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic told a press briefing after the meeting. “A range of tariffs is hitting significant portion of EU exports. In fact, €380 billion ($415 billion) worth of EU exports to the US, 70% of our total exports, are facing tariffs of 20% or 25%, or even higher when combined with existing most-favored-nation tariffs like 27.5% duty on passenger cars altogether.”
“While the EU remains open to and strongly prefers negotiations, we will not wait endlessly,” Sefcovic continued. “Until we see tangible progress, we will be working along three tracks: defend our interests through countermeasures, diversify our trade through new agreements and deter harmful trade diversions.”
President Donald Trump later said the US was not interested in negotiating with the EU “unless they pay us a lot of money on a yearly basis.”
Widespread measures considered
The Commission on Monday sent a list of goods and proposed tariffs to member states in response to US tariffs on aluminium and steel. The member states are expected to vote on the measures on Wednesday April 9. The final list will be adopted on April 15. The first set of measures would come into effect that day and a second set would kick in on May 15, Sefcovic said.
According to reports, the list is wide-ranging and includes diamonds, eggs, dental floss, sausages and poultry. They indicate the EU is also considering tariffs on soybeans from December 1. Sources close to the matter said they believed most pulp and paper products have now been removed from the list.
The EU imports around 900,000 tonnes per year of pulp from the US, mostly fluff pulp, and close to 600,000 tpy of paper and board. On the other hand, the EU exports a lot of paper and board to the US, about 1,600,000 tpy, and a lesser amount of pulp, around 350,000 tpy.
The EU is reportedly also considering quotas and/or tariffs on some metals. The European Commission declined to comment officially on the proposed countermeasures when contacted by Fastmarkets.
Soybeans added to the list
In terms of additional countermeasures for agriculture products, it seems only soybeans are mentioned, as US corn is already expected to be subject to a potential 25% tariff starting from mid-April, when a previously suspended tariff is reintroduced.
In 2024, the US was the second-biggest supplier of soybeans into the EU with 6.01 million tonnes imported or 33.6% of the total. If the talk of a 25% tariff on US soybeans from December is confirmed, it means that the EU has to find an alternative source, and most probably will switch even more toward Brazil, which is already the main supplier with a 41% market share.
At the same time, the timing of potential implementation means that the EU could still try to import the needed amount of US beans before that. The US soybean export season usually starts in September/October.
No clarity on metal
There has been no clarity on possible exemptions for metals so far, according to Fastmarkets’ sources.
“In response to US outrageous tariffs on steel and aluminium, the EU will implement countermeasures in mid-April; as of today [April 8] it’s still not clear if some specific metals could be exempt from these countermeasures,” a source familiar with the matter said.
The so-called “liberation” tariffs, announced by the US administration on 2 April, affect all US trade partners, including the EU. All EU-origin imports to the US are now faced with 20% blanket tariffs from April 9, affecting an already-struggling European manufacturing sector.
The “liberation” tariffs will not target steel and aluminium, which are already subject to 25% tariffs in the US as of March 12.
Some sources suggested that Europe’s rebalancing countermeasures would include a mirror 25% tariff on steel and aluminium imports from the US, as was suggested in March.
But sources suggested that the EU might “spare” some metals from tariffs, like the US did.
Notably, the US has granted exemption from “liberation” tariffs for some products, including coal and a wide number of non-ferrous metals. The full list of all exempted products can be found here.
Several sources also suggested that for some critical products the EU might set alternative agreements – setting tariff-rate quotas, as it was done for example in 2021-2022 respectively.
Fabrizio Di Gianni: EU taking aggressive stand to protect industry
At the EUROMETAL Steel Day & YISAD Flat Steel Conference held at Istanbul Marriott Hotel Asia on Tuesday, April 8, in cooperation with SteelOrbis, Fabrizio Di Gianni, partner at law firm Van Bael & Bellis, talked about the recent developments in EU trade policy, its Clean Industrial Deal and its Action Plan on Steel and Metals.
Mr. Di Gianni gave details regarding the recent dramatic changes in the EU’s trade policy. He noted that, even though current trade defense instruments continue to play a crucial role, upcoming legislation is equally important for Turkish steelmakers to maintain trade relations with the EU, to keep the possibility of exporting and penetrating the European market, and to gain a strategic advantage.
One of the aspects of the trade policy is the Clean Industrial Deal (CID), which aims to decarbonize energy-intensive industries such as steel and aluminum that are the foundation of industrial growth.
Mr. Di Gianni said there are three main topics in the CID that are of importance to Turkish companies.
One are the Clean Trade and Investment Partnerships (CTIPs), which complement the free trade agreements. Under the CTIPs, clean energy supply chains and strategic trade relations will be strengthened. It will also prioritize clean technologies, renewable energy, and decarbonization.
Secondly, the European Commission (EC) will simplify the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) to reduce the burden on the industry, while ensuring carbon-intensive imports are regulated and global decarbonization is promoted. One of the most important changes to the CBAM will be the removal of about 90 percent of importers, mostly small and medium enterprises, from the scope of the mechanism. In addition, the EC will extend the scope of the CBAM to downstream products and to indirect emissions.
Lastly, the CID indicates the possibility of adjusting current tariffs to ensure a level playing field and the strengthening of trade defense instruments such as antidumping and countervailing duties, as well as safeguard measures to cope with the risk of trade frictions, especially as a result of the recent US measures.
Regarding the Action Plan on Steel and Metals, Mr. Di Gianni pointed out that the most crucial aspects of the plan for Turkish companies are the prevention of carbon leakage, and the promotion and protection of European industrial capacities. Therefore, in order to prevent carbon leakage, the threshold for quarterly emissions under the CBAM will be reduced to 50 percent from 80 percent.
The EC is also considering the possibility of extending the CBAM to certain downstream products to eliminate the risk of circumvention. Moreover, as the EC is taking a more aggressive stand, it will change its methods for the investigation. It would normally require evidence that imports from a certain country caused a major material injury.
With the new changes, it will proactively open investigations based on the threat of injury. Furthermore, the commission will launch stronger market surveillance. Also, there might be some modifications to the lesser duty rule, under which antidumping duties are set on the basis of the lowest level between dumping and injury margins. In the meantime, with the introduction of the melted and poured principle, origin will no longer be determined by the country of processing but by the country where the steel was originally melted.
The Van Bael & Bellis official concluded his presentation by saying that, by the third quarter of this year, the commission will consider limiting scrap exports. This could limit access to EU scrap for third-countries recyclers and may reduce the availability of scrap for export, he noted.
Jaap Jan Aardenburg: EU has to be more resilient in the face of more challenging conditions
Speaking at the EUROMETAL Steel Day & YISAD Flat Steel Conference held at Istanbul Marriott Hotel Asia on Tuesday, April 8, in cooperation with SteelOrbis, Jaap Jan Aardenburg, head of trade affairs of Tata Steel Nederland, made a presentation on the reasons leading to the widespread adoption of protectionist policies in the global market, how these policies affect the globe and how the EU’s preferred protectionist policies are given shape.
Mr. Aardenburg started his presentation with a general view of Tata Steel Nederland’s recent operations. Tata Steel Nederland has two blast furnaces at its integrated plants and has the capacity to produce more that 7 million mt of finished steel annually in more than 17,000 different specifications.
Employing more than 9,000 workers directly and creating 40,000 indirect job opportunities, Tata Steel Nederland has the second-largest steel service center in Europe. Moreover, the company has already started supplying low-carbon steel to end-users, while it is also aiming to replace one of its blast furnaces by EAF- and DRI-based production by 2030.
Addressing the global protectionist policies, the Tata Steel official stated that free trade has much empirical evidence on why it is better for a country’s economy and outlined several factors leading to the adoption of protectionism.
Listing national security, protection of infant industries, environmental policies, protection of jobs, and retaliation like that taken against Trump’s tariffs this year among these reasons, he pointed to the issue of global excess capacity as the single most important reason leading the global markets towards protectionism.
Mr. Aardenburg stated that global excess capacity is currently 602 million mt, and that the fact that demand has weakened in recent years while capacities have continued to increase has made the problem even worse. Regarding China, the country that has fueled this excess capacity problem the most.
He stated, “Since demand in the Chinese domestic market cannot reach the capacity levels, pressure is being exerted on foreign markets.
We recently heard that China will reduce its production capacity. You can disregard this possibility. Although there is pressure on China in the global market in this direction, one of the biggest key performance indicators of the Chinese government and local administrations is employment, which will eventually diminish in the case of production stoppages. For this reason, I think they will continue production.”
Stating that the EU is also dealing with the energy price crisis caused by the Ukraine-Russia war and the gradually weakening demand for steel, Aardenburg argued that the EU should be resilient in solving these problems.
The EU, he said, which applies fairly fair protection measures, has pursued policies in line with principles such as ensuring a level playing field, ensuring material availability and not imposing a tax on steel imports, but these measures implemented so far have been inadequate.
He added that the EU now acknowledges how important the manufacturing sector is and Trump’s second term as president has increased the necessity to follow a new policy and the Steel and Metal Action Plan prepared in this direction will ensure that the EU protects its competitiveness and its own steel sector.
Laurent Taylor: Turkey is strategically positioned to benefit from regionalization trend
At the EUROMETAL Steel Day & YISAD Flat Steel Conference held at Istanbul Marriott Hotel Asia on Tuesday, April 8, in cooperation with SteelOrbis and with nearly 400 participants, Laurent Taylor, senior trader at Manuchar Steel, shared official statistics regarding EU-Turkey steel trade and also his view regarding the strategic importance of this trade collaboration.
Starting his speech by pointing to the historical development of trade between Turkey and the EU, Mr. Taylor stated that for over 60-65 years there has been a strong partnership between these markets. “Today the trade in these two areas amounts to €206 billion.
With the worldwide trade of goods in total being €25 trillion in 2024, it represents more than 0,8%. Turkey is Europe’s fifth largest trade partner. On the other hand, Europe is the main export and import partner for Turkey. Over the past 10 years, the trade has also expanded by 80 percent,” he stated.
Commenting on the shift from globalization to regionalization, the Manuchar Steel official stated that over the past 40 years the Asian end-user market was not mature and cheap labour costs had driven production in the East.
However, the Asian end-user market has picked up strongly, labour costs in the region are not cheap anymore, and logistical challenges such as the Suez Canal blockage and Red Sea attacks severely impacted global trade. “If we look at the world today, we are not where we were 30 to 40 years ago.
Low labor costs are gone, we have a lot more barriers, and we have a lot more logistic challenges, which are making ships go all the way around and complicating things. So, following globalization, what we are noticing is regionalization. It is not about one single country like the US,” Taylor stated.
He underlined that Turkey is strategically positioned to benefit from the regionalization trend, while Turkish steel mills will certainly have a competitive advantage considering the high quality of their scrap-based production.
Mr. Taylor said that 60 percent of EU scrap exports account for just over half of Turkish scrap imports. “It highlights the importance of each side to the other. Looking into the trade between Europe and Turkey, both benefit from each other.
Europe is the key supplier of raw materials and also a good market for finished steel products. Global political instability has now increased even more thanks to Donald Trump.
We are seeing that there is going to be a greater and greater trend for regional closeness to be able to manage the fluctuations of prices in the world. So, it’s better to buy from your neighbor than to go all the way to the other side of the world,” he commented.
Tolga Yalgı: Polarization in global markets makes cost-competitiveness more challenging
Speaking at the EUROMETAL Steel Day & YISAD Flat Steel Conference held at Istanbul Marriott Hotel Asia on Tuesday, April 8, in cooperation with SteelOrbis, Tolga Yalgı, CEO of Turkish steel producer Tatmetal, informed participants about the company’s investments and shared his opinions regarding global market developments.
Stating that Tatmetal is continuing its strategic growth in domestic and foreign markets and its investments in technology, Mr. Yalgı said that they shipped nearly one million metric tons of coated products to foreign markets in 2024.
He also stated that, with the commissioning of new cold rolling and galvanizing lines with an annual capacity of 1.5 million metric tons, they are now able to produce annealed and coated products in different sizes.
“With this investment, we are now able to produce coated products with thicknesses of 0.24 mm to 4 mm and widths of 800 mm to 1,650 mm with high quality.
Thus, we can provide higher standards and faster service to the white goods and automotive sectors,” he said. On the other hand, he stated that they also have serious investments in the energy sector. “11 of our wind turbines have started generating energy.
When they are fully operational, our plant will have an installed capacity of 66 megawatts and will produce 200 million kilowatt/hours of energy per year.
The solar power plant at our factory will also be completed this year and we will be producing an additional 180 million kilowatt/hours of electricity per year, meeting all our needs with green energy. We also expect our new 50-megawatt wind power plant to be commissioned at the beginning of 2026,” he said.
The Tatmetal CEO also discussed the risks, uncertainties and recent developments in the global market. He said that the new import taxes announced by the US, and the restrictions imposed by the EU on the origin of raw materials being processed, besides the current antidumping and quota practices, will create serious difficulties in terms of export competitiveness.
“The reshaping of global commercial, military, and political alliances brings new polarizations. These polarizations also cause changes in the availability and prices of raw materials. Accordingly, it becomes difficult to compete,” he said.
He also underlined that the starting point of these difficulties may have resulted from China, noted that the country has transformed from a country that produces low-priced products with its industrialization, cheap labor costs, state support and incentives into a global actor that challenges the global system, producing advanced technology.
Referring to the EU’s moves in the global market, Yalgı said, “Despite the EU imposing additional taxes on certain products imported from China, trade between the EU and China has increased continuously in the past 10 years.
The EU’s harsh protectionist measures against China’s breakthrough in the electric vehicle sector and China’s retaliation against the EU on certain products have marked the beginning of new trade relations between the two markets.
These developments are important for Turkey, which exports to the EU and imports the most from China.”
EUROMETAL & YISAD Steel Conference brings flat steel sector together in Istanbul
At the EUROMETAL Steel Day & YISAD Flat Steel Conference held at Istanbul Marriott Hotel Asia on Tuesday, April 8, in cooperation with SteelOrbis and with over 400 participants, Metin Tayfun İşeri, chairman of Turkey’s Association of Flat Steel Exporters and Manufacturers (YISAD), and EUROMETAL president Alexander Julius made the opening speeches.
Mr. İşeri started his speech by drawing attention to the changes in the global steel and iron market. He stated that, during US President Donald Trump’s first administration in 2018, a new era in global steel and iron trading began with the introduction of the Section 232 tariffs, resulting in a switch to protectionism from free trade.
Mr. İşeri said that, after Trump, the Biden administration granted exemptions and exceptions under the Section 232 tariffs. However, during the Biden administration, the US imported 27 million mt of steel, 3 million mt of which were subject to tariffs, whereas the remainder entered the country under exemptions.
The YISAD official underlined that, during the same period, Turkey only exported 300,000 mt of steel to the US while paying tariffs, representing 10 percent of the total steel imports of the US, and became the most punished country.
Following all these developments, Trump has now removed all exemptions and exceptions and imposed 25 percent tariffs on steel imports from all countries.
According to İşeri, this is not bad news for Turkey as the new tariffs have leveled the playing field. He concluded his speech by saying that the direction of world trade will become clearer in the coming period.
Meanwhile, Alexander Julius, president of the European Federation of Associations of Steel, Tube and Metal Distributors (EUROMETAL), stated that, even though the new tariffs imposed by US President Trump have created chaos in the global markets, EU steelmakers consider these challenges to be positive.
According to Mr. Julius, facing more and more challenges amid weaker steel demand in Europe, the European Commission has started to support the local manufacturing industry again following the new tariffs and has started to make the local steel industry more independent. “We have made clear the issue of tariffs on steel derivatives, namely, finished products.
This subject has to be addressed by the EC,” he stated. Julius underlined that the EU must first support its own green steel production before pushing the green transition goals on a global scale. EUROFER is working together with the European Steel Association (EUROFER) in this regard, he said, emphasizing the direct proportionality between manufacturing and steel demand.
The EUROMETAL official welcomed the new safeguard measures by the EU, such as the reduction of quotas, and said he hoped that these measures remain tightened until 2026, while the European Commission is expected to bring new measures to the table in July 2026.
He ended his presentation with inviting the participants to EUROMETALS’s 75th Anniversary meeting in Luxembourg on July 2-3 this year.
Thyssenkrupp breaks economic link with Hüttenwerke-Krupp Mannesmann
Thyssenkrupp Steel Europe, subsidiary of German steelmaker Thyssenkrupp Steel, is breaking its economic link with Hüttenwerke-Krupp Mannesmann (HKM), the joint venture between Thyssenkrupp Steel, German steelmaker Salzgitter and French pipe manufacturer Vallourec.
The company has announced that it has decided to terminate the supply contract with HKM. As a result, Thyssenkrupp Steel Europe’s obligation to purchase around 2.5 million mt of steel per year will expire on December 31, 2032, at the latest.
Last year, Thyssenkrupp Steel had declared that it intended to divest its stake in HKM as part of its restructuring plan, while the negotiations with Hamburg-based CE Capital Partners on the sale of Thyssenkrupp shares in HKM failed, as SteelOrbis previously reported.
“Due to market conditions, we will have to reduce our production capacities in the long term from the current 11.5 million mt of steel to a shipping target of 8.7 to 9 million mt. The separation from HKM is therefore imperative for us in order to achieve a competitive cost position, to maintain our location in Duisburg-Nord, and to make Thyssenkrupp Steel economically robust and geared up for the future. Irrespective of the termination of the supply contract, the sale of the shares in HKM remains our preferred option. We are open to discussions with all serious interested parties,” Dennis Grimm, spokesman of the executive board of Thyssenkrupp Steel, said.