While the green steel segment has been experiencing something of a quiet period – and attention remains focused on traditional steel products given the significant regulatory developments presented this week – timelines are moving forward, and policy commitments for lead-market support such as an official green ‘steel definition’ as promised in the European Steel and Metals Action Plan (ESMAP) shouldn’t be too far away.
European steel distribution association EUROMETAL announced its creation of a green steel working group this week, and Hydnum Steel’s greenfield renewables-powered direct-reduced iron to electric-arc furnace route steel plant (DRI-EAF) – to operate on green hydrogen inputs – announced a circular supply agreement with automotive OEM Gestamp.
As regards CBAM and its incoming definitive stage from January, market participants are becoming more consolidated in their expectations for CBAM’s benchmark and default values: around 1.3t and 0.2t CO2e/t for blast furnace and electric-arc furnace route steel, respectively, estimating relevant import costs at around EUR50-80/t.
McCloskey tracks the value of a single unit of reduced carbon among the EU’s domestic decarbonised offerings, calculated on the basis of all green HRC premia surveyed on week and currently standing at EUR47.62/t. McCloskey’s reduced carbon price remains largely consistent with the market’s CBAM cost estimations, soon in effect as the European steel market’s first product-level carbon cost.
Weekly green steel
| EUR/t | Term | 10-Oct | Change |
| Green Northwest Europe HRC premium (scopes 1-3 CO2 0.8t) | 80.00 | 0.00 | |
| Green Northwest Europe ex-works HRC (scopes 1-3) | EX-WORKS | 660.00 | 5.00 |
| Green HRC premium (scopes 1-2 CO2 0.5t) | 80.00 | 0.00 | |
| Green Northwest Europe ex-works HRC (scopes 1-2) | EX-WORKS | 660.00 | 5.00 |
| Green HRC reduced carbon price (scopes 1-3) | 47.62 | 1.61 |
Source: McCloskey by OPIS
