Fastmarkets’ assessment of the green steel domestic, flat-rolled, differential to HRC index, exw Northern Europe was €100-170 per tonne on Thursday, widening downward from €120-170 per tonne seven days ago.
Fastmarkets’ methodology defines European green flat steel as “steel produced with Scope 1, 2 or 3 emissions at a maximum of 0.8 tonnes of CO2 per tonne of steel.”
Premiums for such steel were set at a minimum price of €200 ($233) per tonne among European mills, with some offers reported as high as €300 per tonne in the Nordics.
Buyers estimated achievable prices much lower, at €100-130 per tonne, adding that mills were willing to grant discounts for volumes above 2,000 tonnes.
Suppliers estimated achievable prices higher at €150-170 per tonne.
One mill reported a bid for 25 tonnes of green steel at €70 per tonne, but said it was rejected.
“Some bids we receive are ridiculously low. Green steel production is expensive, and we can’t sell [steel] produced with emissions below 800 kg per tonne at such a price,” the mill source said.
At the same time, mill sources confirmed that demand for green steel was very niche, and the number of inquiries they were receiving had declined in the past few weeks.
“Buyers say they have other issues on the table to deal with: CBAM, safeguards 2.0, poor demand, bad economy etc, etc, etc,” a second mill source said.
A buyer in Germany confirmed that they were holding back on new purchases of green steel due to subdued demand.
In contrast, a source in Norway claimed that local companies were procuring green steel for public projects, although they admitted that volumes remained limited.
Meanwhile, Fastmarkets’ assessment of the flat steel reduced carbon emissions differential, exw Northern Europe was also unchanged week on week at €40-60 per tonne on Thursday.
For steel produced in blast furnaces with reduced carbon emissions of 1.4-1.8 tonnes of CO2 per tonne of steel, offers for premiums were reported at €60-70 per tonne during the assessment week.
Buyers’ estimates of tradable prices were around €20-50 per tonne, with most of the estimations reported at €50 per tonne.
