Flat steel
Buying interest for decarbonized steel remained muted across Europe.
“The interest [for green steel] from the distribution chain is not really there. End users should push customers to put green steel on their agenda,” a steelmaker source in Europe told Fastmarkets.
Fastmarkets’ methodology defines European green steel as “steel produced with Scope 1, 2 & 3 emissions at a maximum of 0.8 tonne of CO2 per tonne of steel.”
During the assessment week, leading European suppliers maintained the premiums for such steel at €200-300 ($227-340) per tonne.
Buyer sources estimated achievable premiums for green steel with such levels of emissions to be at €120-180 per tonne, claiming that, for bigger tonnages, mills were keen to provide discounts to spur buying interest.
As a result, Fastmarkets’ weekly assessment of the green steel, domestic, flat-rolled, differential to HRC index, exw Northern Europe was flat at €150-200 per tonne on May 8.
Despite limited activity in the spot market, industry sources were still largely optimistic regarding green steel uptake in the years ahead, despite the challenges.
“Today, I prefer buying green steel for tomorrow,” a buyer source told Fastmarkets.
Notably, industry sources expected a greater uptake of green steel across supply chains once environmental regulations, such as the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), were implemented. This was why more buyers were seeking to secure long-term supplies of steel with reduced carbon emissions in long-term contracts.
“Currently, only four flat steel suppliers in Europe can produce green steel with emissions below 1 tonne of CO2 per tonne of steel,” a mill source said. “And new projects are expected to start production only in 2026-28. So, potentially, there will be a bottleneck in green steel supply.”
Long steel
Buying interest for the green long steel was even slower compared with the flat steel market.
“Buyers are not willing to pay a single euro more in this market, no matter green or gray,” a mill source said.
Premium offers were reported within the range of €20-50 per tonne, unchanged week on week, but only low-end figures are accepted, sources said.
In the German market, transactions for green rebar were reported at €20-40 per tonne ex-works, but sources said that volumes were small.
Thus, the price assessment for green steel, differential to steel reinforcing bar (rebar), domestic, delivered Northern Europe was €20-40 per tonne on Wednesday May 7, widening upward from €20-30 per tonne seven days earlier.
