Category: Latest Updates

In April this year, new passenger car registrations in the EU increased by 5.1 percent year on year to 972,314 units, according to the European association of car manufacturers ACEA.

In the given month, the French market (-0.3%) saw the only decline, while Italy (+11.6%), Spain (+8.4%) and Germany (+2.7%) reported positive results.

In the first four months of this year, new car registrations in the EU rose by 4.2 percent year on year to 3.79 million units. France (-1.6%) showed a negative performance. On the other hand, Italy (+9.8%), Spain (+7.8%) and Germany (+4.5%) posted an increase.

European domestic prices for rebar remained steady in the week to Wednesday May 27, with weak demand stifling market acceptance of attempts by Italian mills to push for higher prices, sources told Fastmarkets.

Market participants said that demand remained subdued across Europe, due to the weak construction sector, high prices, adverse weather conditions and slow project development.

“The residential market in Italy, except Milan, is weak,” a buyer source said. “In addition, orders from public infrastructure sites are slow due to financial and weather issues.”

Tradable prices in Italy remained unchanged week on week, despite the upward pressure from producers, sources said.

“Producers have responded by cutting production and/or exporting,” one seller source told Fastmarkets.

In the north, tradable levels were reported at around €710-730 ($826-849) per tonne ex-works, while in the south, prices remained at about €750-770 per tonne ex-works, but no meaningful volumes were traded at the upper end of the range.

Transactions were concluded within those ranges, but buyers were taking a wait-and-see-approach.

Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), domestic, ex-works Italy, was €710-750 per tonne on May 27, unchanged week on week.

In Spain, the tradable level was reflected in Fastmarkets’ price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), domestic, delivered Spain, which remained at €750 per tonne delivered (16 mm base).

And domestic rebar prices in Germany were also stable, with the tradable level at around €710-730 per tonne delivered, with limited variations across the market, sources said.

Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel reinforcing bar (rebar), domestic, delivered Northern Europe, was €710-730 per tonne in the week to May 27, unchanged from the previous week.

Steel wire rod followed the overall trend in long steel prices and was unchanged from May 20, amid subdued demand.

Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel wire rod (mesh quality), domestic, Northern Europe, was unchanged at €705-720 per tonne delivered on May 27.

In Southern Europe, wire rod prices were reported at €690-720 per tonne delivered, with offers and transactions heard at similar levels.

Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel wire rod (mesh quality), domestic, delivered Southern Europe, was unchanged at €690-720 per tonne.

Local steel heavy plate prices in Italy declined week on week amid increasing competition among suppliers and weak demand, sources told Fastmarkets on Thursday May 28. Meanwhile, German plate prices remained largely stable, with no fresh trading activity heard in the market during the week.

Southern Europe
Latest deal levels for steel plate in Italy were heard at €730-750 ($851-874) per tonne ex-works, down from €740-775 per tonne ex-works a week earlier, with sources saying that “competition is increasing for July-August delivery.”

Offers were reported in the range of €740-760 per tonne ex-works, with one producer saying that starting offers for the latest deals were at €750-760 per tonne ex-works, but were “less and less achievable even for smaller tonnages in pure commodity specs.”

Demand in the market had been weak throughout May, with sources linking this to fewer working days, resulting in lower output.

“For the time being, there are still sufficient quantities in local ‘port-stocks’ at somewhat reasonable prices available,” a trader said on May 24.

A second trader indicated S275-grade plate at €740-750 per tonne ex-works for end-June to early-July production.

Meanwhile in Italy, S355-grade material was offered at €770-800 per tonne ex-works, depending on order volumes, the trader said. A re-roller currently facing production issues was reported to be offering €790-800 per tonne ex-works for the same grade, but S355 is not included in Fastmarkets’ methodology.

Earlier in May, a major steel plate re-roller in northern Italy was reported to have paused production at one of its rolling mills, with plans to restart in early June.

A source at the producer said on May 27 that the rolling mill was undergoing maintenance and should restart in mid-June but added that overall plate production has not stopped.

Fastmarkets contacted the re-roller for an official statement but had not received a response by the time of publication.

Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel domestic plate 8-40mm, exw Southern Europe, was €730-755 per tonne on Thursday, widening downward from €740-775 a week earlier.

Offers for plate imports into Italy were heard at €740-750 per tonne DDP, including CBAM costs, but were described as not “very attractive” in the market.

However, one producer source said imported S275-grade plate from Indonesia was booked at €780 per tonne DDP Spain, not below this level, although one trader doubted this information.

“I strongly doubt that any trader will take the risk of the high default values,” the trader said.

These prices were not included in Fastmarkets’ assessment since they are based on DDP, rather than CFR levels.

Plate offers from India into Europe were heard at €690-700 per tonne CFR for May shipment, but sources were unsure about the delivery destination and noted limited recent activity in the market.

Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel plate (8-40mm), import, cfr main port Southern Europe, was €700-750 per tonne on Thursday, unchanged from April 16.

Germany
Offers for domestic plate in Germany were heard in the range of €790-850 per tonne ex-works during the week.

Some market sources reported lower levels at €790 per tonne ex-works, but Fastmarkets considered this information to have low confidence compared with other data and prevailing market conditions.

“The German market is completely dead, so I cannot confirm any orders being booked,” one trader source said on Thursday, but noted that German mills were “not booking below €800 per tonne ex-works… these days.”

Other offers were heard at €830-850 per tonne ex-works, while indications reached €840-880 per tonne ex-works, although these were linked to a supplier that is not typically active in the spot market.

The trader added that no new offers have been heard from other suppliers, owing to bank holidays and fewer working days in May.

“Therefore, I think we have to wait to see a bigger restocking, which so far does not take place, to judge the real price level,” they added.

Offers for Italian-origin plate in the region remained higher at €850-880 per tonne delivered, a second trader source said, reflecting more favorable price conditions for local German mills.

Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel domestic plate 8-40mm, exw Northern Europe, was €800-850 per tonne on Thursday, unchanged week on week.

The plate import offer from India at €690-700 per tonne CFR was also considered for Northern Europe, although the exact delivery destination remained unclear.

“Due to shipment problems arising in the Middle East and upcoming summer holidays in the EU, presently, [there is] not much interest in [plate] imports into Northern Europe,” a trader source said on May 24.

Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel plate (8-40mm), import, cfr main port Northern Europe, was €700-750 per tonne on Thursday, unchanged from April 16.

European domestic prices for steel hot-rolled coil were little changed on Thursday May 28, and with the recent round of restocking now concluded and no sign of a meaningful increase in consumption in the near term, industry sources saw little room for a rebound in domestic prices over the summer.

In Germany, July-delivery HRC was heard traded around €680-685 ($797-803) per tonne ex-works.

Official offers of July-delivery coil were reported in the wider range of €710-730 per tonne delivered (€695-715 per tonne ex-works) from integrated suppliers in Germany and the Benelux area. An offer from a re-roller was heard lower, around €660-670 per tonne ex-works.

Trading in the region was really slow, with most sources on the buy side reporting sufficient stocks and no urgent need for material.

“We have enough [HRC] in stock until September. Some of our peers have enough to last until October, considering the levels of real demand,” a steel-service centre in Germany said.

“The level of stock [of HRC] is high and it is going down very slowly, so there is no need to restock,” a second steel service center in Europe said.

Overall, industry sources saw no real opportunity for any immediate price rise during summer.

Some integrated suppliers indicated higher offers for late-third-quarter deliveries as well, up to €760-800 per tonne delivered, although those were more indications than firm offers. But buyers have deemed those totally unworkable so far.

“It’s not just ArcelorMittal – some other mills have indicated similar [higher offers] for late-third-quarter deliveries, counting on support from the new [EU] safeguards” a buyer in Northern Europe said.

“But the effect from new trade measures [in the regime coming into force on July 1] will not be immediate either – there is a significant volume of import tonnage in the pipeline arriving in June. But by September and October, tighter import availability will start to bite,” the buyer added.

Fastmarkets’ daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Northern Europe, was calculated at €680.73 per tonne on May 28, up by €0.73 per tonne from €680.00 per tonne on May 27.

The index was up by €0.31 per tonne week on week but down by €24.90 per tonne month on month.

Meanwhile, in the secondary market, sales of 4mm S235-grade HR sheet were heard around €750 per tonne CPT in Germany, with one supplier from central Europe selling aggressively at €740 per tonne CPT, while sources also reported sales of import material from stock at €720-730 per tonne CPT.

In Southern Europe, Fastmarkets’ daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Italy, was calculated at €670.42 per tonne on May 28, down by €5.83 per tonne from €676.25 per tonne on May 18.

The index was also down by €7.08 per tonne week on week and down by €29.58 per tonne month on month.

Weak demand and comfortable inventory levels at buyers continued to damp trading activity in the Italian HRC market, with offers heard at €700 per tonne delivered (€685 per tonne ex-works).

Industry sources noted, however, that lower prices could be achieved on larger tonnages, with achievable price estimates coming in at €660-680 per tonne ex-works.

As for imports, buying interest in overseas material was limited by regulations – both the upcoming new trade regime and the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM).

New measures to shield the EU steel market cleared the European Parliament on May 19, 2026, with formal European Council approval still pending before they enter into force on July 1.

The reform replaces existing safeguards with a tariff-rate quota system that sharply tightens import conditions – slashing allowable volumes by around 47% from the 18.3 million tonne annual benchmark set in 2024 and doubling out-of-quota duties to 50%.

Precise quota allocations by country were expected to follow in June, according to sources close to the process.

Recently, European buyers have been prioritizing Turkish or Algerian coil bookings due to shorter lead times and lower potential CBAM costs. No fresh offers have been reported from either origin so far this week due to the Eid al-Adha celebrations.

Two sources reported a large HRC sale from Indonesia to Spain in May around €590-600 per tonne CFR, exclusive of CBAM costs. But it was not confirmed at the time of publication.

Other industry stakeholders, however, reported new offers from Indonesia no higher than $650-670 per tonne CFR to Italy.

“Indonesia is a huge risk,” an Italian buyer said, “because of the high emissions default values they have under CBAM, so I’m surprised anyone would risk buying it.”

 

SSAB says it will be supplying decarbonised steel to Vattenfall for the construction of the ground-mounted solar park Juliusburg/Krukow in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein.

The steel, SSAB Zero, produced from recycled scrap using fossil-free electricity and biogas, will be used in the supporting structures on which the solar panels are mounted. In total, more than 9,000 steel profiles will be used, with a combined weight of 209 tonnes, SSAB informs Kallanish.

“The electricity generated from this solar farm will help reduce Germany’s dependence on imported fossil fuels. But for us fossil freedom does not end with electricity generation – it starts right at the beginning of the supply chain,” says Claus Wattendrup, head of solar and batteries at Vattenfall.

CO2 emissions will be reduced by 67% along the supply and construction chain, compared with conventional steels, Vattenfall notes. The energy group also uses reduced carbon emissions steels in its wind farm projects Clashindarroch (UK), Nordlicht I and Nordlicht II (North Sea).

The Juliusberg/Krukow solar park will have a capacity of 80 megawatts, and an annual electricity yield of 120 gigawatt hours, the approximate amount to feed 30,000 households.

The coming months should see increased Polish construction activity after April output soared following a disappointing start to the year, says ING Bank. This will mainly be driven by accelerating infrastructure projects enabled by EU funds through Poland’s National Recovery Plan (KPO).

Construction activity rose by 4.5% year-on-year in April, above ING’s forecast of 0.5% and the consensus estimate of 1.3%, after severe winter weather froze output in January and February, Kallanish notes.

In recent months, doubts have arisen over whether KPO funding will be fully disbursed to final beneficiaries before the end-2026 deadline to ensure their full utilisation.

Investments financed by EU debt, including for defence purposes, through KPO loans and SAFE programme loans, will also support construction production this year, the bank says.

“With some delay, we will also see a rebound in the housing sector due to the increase in the creditworthiness of potential buyers (effects of earlier interest rate cuts, rising wages, slowing down of housing price increases),” ING writes in a note.

Polish industrial production rose 3.1% year-on-year in April, slowing from 7.5% growth in March.

“In recent quarters, stagnation trends have been visible in the manufacturing sector of our main trading partners (weak production in Germany, although orders are rebounding there). These trends are now being reinforced by disappointing readings of manufacturing PMI indices from the eurozone. Furthermore, some sectors are struggling with growing competitive pressure from China,” ING notes.

“We fear that the industrial recovery in the coming months will be moderate, and a return to a situation where production grows faster than GDP is doubtful. Poland is launching massive public and defence investments, which will revive the industry, but the activity of the defence sector, for example, may prove insufficient to immediately provide a noticeable boost to the entire industry, where we are more reliant on other infrastructure and public investments,” the bank concludes.

Several European organisations are calling for a clear ban of beaching and landing methods for shipbreaking and the guarantee of a real level playing field for the ship recycling sector. 

The call is led by non-governmental organisation (NGO) Shipbreaking Platform, a global coalition of organisations working to reverse the environmental harm and human rights abuses caused by current shipbreaking practices. In its appeal, it has been joined by industry federations Eurofer and Recycling Europe.

The three groups already voiced a call in December to the European Commission to boost ship recycling capacity in the EU, which would complement the Commission’s initiative to review the guidelines for ship recycling yards in third countries.

To guarantee a level playing field for recyclers in and outside the EU, the groups demand a clear ban on beaching and landing as dismantling methods, and to only authorise facilities with full containment. They also demand that dismantlers be obliged to acquire authorisations and permits needed for inclusion in the European list in line with the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).

The NGO in this context points at Turkey, namely yards located in Aliağa. The country’s shipbreaking sector is exempt from the Environmental Permit and Licence Regulation and EIA procedures, it notes.

“Together with Turkish civil society organisations, we reiterate the call to remove Turkish facilities from the EU List until necessary improvements are properly implemented,” Kallanish reads in the joint statement.

The situation as it is now “undermines the very objective of the List to act as the role model for best practices for the ship recycling sector,” the signees say.

The Italian government has approved a new €100 million ($116.35m) loan to Acciaierie d’Italia (ADI) as part of the recent decree on fuel excise duties approved by the Council of Ministers last week.

This is the second tranche of a total €240m loan package, with a further €140m expected to be approved in July. The funds are provided “to meet the urgent and unavoidable need to preserve the operational continuity of the steelmaking equipment … pending the completion of the ongoing sale procedure,” the decree reviewed by Kallanish states.

The new funding will exhaust the maximum ceiling of €390m in aid authorised by the European Commission earlier this year. A source close to the company confirms the loan is limited to covering operational expenses and has to be repaid within six months. The financing will be used to cover liquidity for works, suppliers and salaries.

Meanwhile, the sale process for ADI’s assets is dragging on, with negotiations said to be stalling with the two international bidders, Flacks Group and Jindal Steel International. An informed source says Jindal’s requests are deemed unacceptable, while Flacks has asked the Italian government for a €500m bridge loan to support the site’s relaunch.

Earlier this year, the Italian government approved a €149m loan for ADI to sustain operations at the Taranto steelworks. The loan, published in the Official Gazette, was granted to prevent the immediate and irreversible shutdown of the blast furnaces, protect workers and preserve the ongoing sale negotiations with the bidders (see Kallanish passim).

According to the latest monthly report published by the German Central Bank (Bundesbank), Germany’s economic output increased significantly during the first quarter of 2026, indicating greater resilience than previously expected despite ongoing economic pressures. Industrial production, industrial sales, and goods exports recorded strong performance during the period.

The Bundesbank stated that industrial activity benefited from stronger domestic and international demand, while exports were particularly supported by shipments to non-eurozone markets, especially the United States.

Labor market conditions continue to weaken

Despite the stronger-than-expected economic performance, the Bundesbank warned that Germany’s labor market continued to deteriorate. According to the report, the weakening labor market reflects not only softer employment conditions but also ongoing demographic challenges affecting the country’s workforce structure.

The central bank also noted that business sentiment in parts of the services sector worsened significantly following the outbreak of the war in Iran.

Higher energy prices push inflation upward

Inflation remained elevated during the first quarter, mainly due to rising energy prices linked to geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. The Bundesbank stated that prices for fuels and heating oil increased sharply in March after crude oil prices rose following the outbreak of the Iran conflict.

Although services inflation eased somewhat, it remained above historical averages. Germany’s annual inflation rate increased further to 2.9 percent in April and is expected to remain elevated in the coming months. According to the report, future inflation developments will remain heavily dependent on how the Middle East conflict evolves.

German economy expected to stagnate in Q2

The Bundesbank stated that Germany’s economy is expected to stagnate during the second quarter of 2026 due to the economic impact of the Middle East conflict.

Higher inflation and declining purchasing power are weighing on private consumption and consumer-related service sectors. At the same time, elevated energy prices and supply bottlenecks are negatively affecting industrial activity and the construction sector.

Frontloading effects may prove temporary

The report also noted that some industrial sectors temporarily benefited from frontloading effects as companies accelerated orders in anticipation of future supply shortages. However, the Bundesbank cautioned that these supportive effects are likely to be temporary.

According to the central bank, the negative consequences of the conflict are expected to increasingly burden German industry in the coming months through higher costs, weaker demand, and continued supply chain disruptions.

Several major European Union member states are pushing for a tougher trade and industrial policy toward China as concerns grow over market distortions, industrial overcapacity and the impact of Chinese exports on European manufacturing.

According to media reports, A France-led group of five EU countries, including Italy, Spain, the Netherlands and Lithuania, are calling for stronger trade defense tools and expanded market protection measures ahead of key discussions in Brussels on the bloc’s future China strategy.

European governments seek stronger trade protections

The push reflects increasing concern within Europe over Chinese industrial overcapacity, subsidized exports, and growing pressure on European manufacturing sectors including steel, automotive and clean technologies.

EU member states are reportedly urging the European Commission to make greater use of antidumping measures, anti-subsidy investigations, foreign subsidy rules, and procurement restrictions. The discussions come as the EU increasingly seeks to balance economic ties with China against industrial security and strategic autonomy objectives.

Germany shifts toward tougher stance

Germany, traditionally viewed as one of Europe’s more China-friendly economies due to strong industrial ties, is reportedly supporting stronger trade instruments amid rising concern over unfair competition and economic dependency risks. However, the country is having an internal debate on revising ties and has yet to sign the paper.