Category: Latest Updates

The European Commission (EC) has cleared French recycling group Derichebourg Environnement’s acquisition of Germany’s Scholz, finding the transaction compatible with the internal market and the EEA agreement, Kallanish learns from an official note.

The Commission received notification of the proposed concentration on 30 June. Under the deal, Derichebourg Environnement, controlled by Daniel Derichebourg, will acquire sole control over Scholz Holding and Scholz Recycling and their subsidiaries, currently held by Hong Kong-based Chiho Renewable International Holding, through a share purchase.

“The European Commission has concluded that the notified operation falls within the scope of the Merger Regulation and of paragraph 5 (d) of the Commission Notice on a simplified treatment for certain concentrations under Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004. (4). The European Commission has decided not to oppose the notified operation,” the note says.

In May, Fitch Ratings placed Derichebourg’s long-term issuer default rating and senior unsecured rating, both at BB+, on Rating Watch Negative. This reflects Fitch’s expectation that the acquisition of Scholz Recycling Group will push up gearing, with a longer deleveraging given Scholz’s weak profitability and the time required to integrate Derichebourg’s systems and practices.

Derichebourg expects scrap demand to strengthen in the second half of the year, driven by the introduction of tighter EU quotas and new customs duties in July. In its first-half earnings note covering the period ended 31 March, Derichebourg warns that a prolonged closure of the Strait of Hormuz could spread the current crisis to the broader economy (see Kallanish passim).

Tk accelis, formerly thyssenkrupp Materials Services, has signed a new ten-year long-term agreement with Swedish bearings producer SKF, Kallanish learns.

Under the agreement, its supply chain solutions segment will manage the supply of steel bar materials supporting SKF’s manufacturing operations across France and the UK.

The contract forms part of the distribution group’s global control tower offering. Designed to help manufacturers navigate increasingly complex global supply chains, tk accelis explains says it provides end-to-end transparency, predictive planning and proactive risk management.

“This long-term agreement with tk accelis Supply Chain Solutions represents an important step in supporting our continued growth across France and the UK,” says Ivan Bourgeois, SKF Aerospace’s purchasing manager for Europe.

The two companies have a long-standing partnership. In late 2024, thyssenkrupp Aerospace and SKF signed a two-year contract extension for the supply of steel, stainless steel, titanium, aluminium and copper to SKF’s facility in Lons le Saunier, France.

Tk accelis Supply Chain Solutions (formerly thyssenkrupp Materials Services), a subsidiary of German industrial group thyssenkrupp AG, has signed a 10-year strategic agreement with Swedish bearing manufacturer SKF to manage the supply of steel bar products for the company’s manufacturing operations in France and the UK.

Under the agreement, tk accelis will oversee the supply of steel bar materials through an integrated supply chain approach aimed at ensuring secure, reliable and efficient material availability across SKF’s operations.

Agreement centered on Global Control Tower solution

The contract is part of tk accelis Supply Chain Solutions’ Global Control Tower offering, a technology-enabled platform that combines strategic material sourcing, supply chain management, logistics, inventory optimization and digital supply chain visibility.

According to the company, the solution is designed to help manufacturers manage increasingly complex global supply chains by providing end-to-end transparency, predictive planning and proactive risk management while ensuring materials are available when and where they are needed.

Partnership to improve resilience and inventory performance

By integrating steel supply with advanced supply chain management capabilities, tk accelis said it will support SKF in strengthening operational resilience, improving inventory performance and increasing supply chain efficiency across its facilities in France and the UK.

François Pillavoine, chief sales officer of tk accelis Supply Chain Solutions France, said the long-term agreement reflects SKF’s confidence in the company as a strategic supply chain partner and expressed confidence in supporting SKF’s manufacturing ambitions over the next decade.

SKF targets greater supply continuity

Ivan Bourgeois, aerospace purchasing manager Europe at SKF, said the agreement represents an important step in supporting the company’s continued growth in France and the UK.

According to Bourgeois, working with a partner that has expertise in materials management and access to a resilient global supply network will help SKF improve operational efficiency, strengthen supply continuity and respond more quickly to changing market conditions.

The companies said the agreement reflects the growing demand for strategic partnerships that go beyond traditional material distribution by enabling manufacturers to build more agile, data-driven and resilient supply chains.

Flacks Group has renewed its bid for the future of Acciaierie d’Italia with an updated plan centred on the creation of Flacksider, a new company in which the US investment group is seeking the participation of the Italian state and two industrial partners.

According to local sources, the proposal is intended to preserve operations at the Taranto site during the transition, while gradually replacing the existing production route with facilities based on direct reduced iron technology and electric arc furnaces. The project also includes the environmental remediation of the industrial area and the continuation of downstream operations using externally sourced semi-finished products.

Once fully operational, the new configuration is expected to reach a production capacity of around 4 million metric tons per year of low-emission steel. The transition would take place gradually, with the blast furnaces currently in operation being progressively phased out.

Key details remain to be clarified

Flacks had previously named Italian plantmaker Danieli and Ukrainian steelmaker Metinvest among the potential industrial partners involved in the project. According to the information available, Danieli has confirmed its participation, while Metinvest has not issued any official statement.

Several elements of the proposal have yet to be clarified, including the final ownership structure, the extent of any state participation, the financing required and the investment timetable.

The US group maintains that the plan would limit the employment impact of the transition by gradually bringing direct employees back into production and supporting the recovery of activities among contractors and other companies in the local supply chain. According to Flacks, any workforce reduction would be confined to the initial transition period and would be reversed once the new facilities begin operating.

Flacks positions its plan against Jindal proposal

The proposal is being presented as an alternative to the project attributed to Jindal Steel International. Flacks argues that the competing option would reduce primary steel production in Taranto and turn the plant mainly into a re-rolling hub supplied with semi-finished products from abroad.

According to local sources, the Italian government and the extraordinary commissioners are continuing discussions with Jindal over the possible operation of Acciaierie d’Italia’s assets. The Indian group’s plan is understood to involve greater use of imported slabs, potentially produced at a future facility in Oman.

Both industrial options remain under assessment. The full terms of the proposals and the related guarantees have not yet been made public.

Court ruling adds urgency to Taranto talks

Flacks’ renewed initiative comes at a particularly sensitive time for the Taranto plant, following recent court decisions concerning the hot-end facilities.

As previously reported by SteelOrbis, the Milan Court of Appeal ordered the suspension of hot-end operations within 90 days unless the environmental issues identified in its ruling are addressed. Any restart would be conditional on the complete removal of asbestos still present at the plant and the implementation of measures capable of bringing fine particulate emissions within acceptable safety limits.

Against this backdrop, Flacks argues that the risk of a blast furnace shutdown makes it necessary to identify quickly a model capable of maintaining operational continuity during the plant’s conversion.

Federacciai criticises requirements for Taranto’s hot-end facilities

Antonio Gozzi, president of Federacciai, has also commented on the consequences of the ruling. In a statement sent to SteelOrbis on July 27, Gozzi argued that the requirements imposed on the former Ilva facilities would be technically incompatible with blast furnace operations. “Requiring the removal of asbestos from a blast furnace’s hot-blast stoves means imposing a condition that is incompatible with the technology of the plant itself: it is like expecting a car to run without an engine,” the Federacciai president stated.

According to Gozzi, applying the same criteria to other European plants would force the continent’s blast furnaces to shut down. The head of the Italian steelmakers’ association described the situation as unfairly penalising the domestic industry, arguing that this interpretation of the rules would effectively make integrated steel production impossible.

“Protecting public health is a non-negotiable priority, but it cannot result in technically unworkable requirements that put a strategic sector for the country at risk,” Gozzi added. In his view, the ruling would effectively amount to closing the plant, with serious consequences for thousands of workers, their families and the entire Italian steel supply chain.

The comments reflect Federacciai’s position in the ongoing debate and form part of the broader discussion over how to reconcile continued production, health protection and the environmental upgrading of the Taranto site.

Decision now rests with Italian authorities

The Flacksider proposal has brought the future industrial structure of the Taranto site back to the centre of the debate. One option would preserve primary steelmaking capacity through new DRI and electric furnace facilities, while the other would place greater emphasis on downstream processing and the use of imported semi-finished products.

The final decision will rest with the Italian government and the extraordinary commissioners, which will be required to assess the financial strength of the bids, the feasibility of the investments, their employment impact and their compatibility with environmental requirements.

European domestic hot-rolled coil prices edged lower on Tuesday July 28, with the summer holiday lull damping trading activity across the region.
A buyer source from Germany said that this week the market has become even quieter than last week.

Mills in Northern Europe were said to be looking for €700-730 ($797-831) per tonne ex-works for September and October-delivery material, with customers resisting prices at the upper end of the range.

Estimates of tradeable levels varied within the range of €700-710 per tonne ex-works, with no fresh transactions heard during the day.

Fastmarkets’ daily steel hot-rolled coil index domestic, exw Northern Europe, was calculated at €708.75 per tonne on July 28, down by €3.75 per tonne from €712.50 per tonne on Monday July 27.

The index was down by €3.54 per tonne week on week but up by €26.25 per tonne month on month.

In Italy, offers were reported within the range of €710-715 per tonne ex-works, with tradeable levels estimated at €700-715 per tonne ex-works.

The corresponding Fastmarkets daily steel hot-rolled coil index domestic, exw Italy, was €709.69 per tonne on Tuesday July 28, up by €0.31 per tonne from €709.38 per tonne on July 27.

The index was up by €7.19 per tonne week on week and up by €35.92 per tonne month on month.

The EU’s carbon border levy means Ukrainians “are being hit in two of their major exports to the EU — steel and electricity”, Pascal Lamy told Contexte in a 22 July interview.

He called for an exemption that could be tied to specific milestones in Ukraine’s decarbonisation, linked to its EU membership bid.

Lamy, a former EU commissioner for trade and ex-head of the World Trade Organization, is now a coordinator of the Jacques Delors network of think tanks and a member of the board of directors of Ukrainian energy company DTEK.

According to Ukrainian consultancy GMK Center, Ukrainian exports of long steel products to the EU fell by more than 60% year on year to the first quarter of 2026.

At the end of 2025, by volume, Ukraine was the largest exporter to the EU of steel covered by CBAM, the Commission said.

In a separate report, Bruegel estimated that CBAM could reduce Ukrainian electricity exports to the EU by more than 60%.

Several MEPs and one trade association have already called for the EU candidate country to be exempted from CBAM.

contexte.com

Polish domestic long steel prices showed mixed trends in the week to Friday July 24, with rebar prices adjusting downward while wire rod levels remained stable amid weak demand, low buying appetite and subdued trading activity.
“The market is stagnant; it’s the holiday season,” a distributor source told Fastmarkets.

Buyers largely maintained a wait-and-see approach, while liquidity remained thin and transactions were limited.

In the rebar segment, workable levels were reported at 2,650-2,700 zloty ($697-710) per tonne CPT.

Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), domestic, cpt Poland, narrowed downward to 2,650-2,700 zloty per tonne on Friday, from 2,680-2,800 zloty per tonne a week earlier.

Wire rod trading activity remained limited during the assessment week. Market participants reported tradable levels at 3,000-3,100 zloty per tonne delivered, with offers heard at those levels.

Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel wire rod (drawing quality), domestic, delivered Poland, remained unchanged at 3,000-3,100 zloty per tonne on Friday.