German steel producer thyssenkrupp Steel has faced constraints to raw materials supplies to its Duisburg site due to low water levels in the River Rhine waterway, and has reduced its hot metal production as a consequence, a spokesperson at the steelmaker told Fastmarkets on Thursday July 16.
The recent heatwave in Western Europe has lowered water levels on the Rhine, affecting inland waterway transport and increasing logistics costs, according to market participants and media reports.
“The persistent and worsening low-water situation on the Rhine is now affecting the supply of raw materials to thyssenkrupp’s Duisburg site,” the company said on Thursday.
According to the steelmaker, the delivery disruption has prompted it to adjust its hot metal production.
“The current development is leading to constraints in our raw material supply. We have therefore adjusted our hot metal production accordingly,” thyssenkrupp told Fastmarkets, adding that customer supply was currently not at risk.
Thyssenkrupp said that its own push-barge fleet has been taken out of service because of the low water levels, and that it was currently using externally chartered vessels, secured as a precautionary measure. These can continue to operate due to their smaller depth of draught.
The company said that developments in the situation and their effects on supply and production were being monitored by a dedicated low-water task force.
Fastmarkets asked thyssenkrupp Steel about the change in raw materials supply volumes, the expected decline in steel production and the likely consequences of higher logistics costs on steel prices, but had not received a response at the time of publication.
The announcement about delivery disruptions came just weeks after the steelmaker resumed trial operations at its Hot Strip Mill 4 (HSM4) in Duisburg in early June, following repairs after a fire in October 2025.
Thyssenkrupp’s hot strip mill in the Bruckhausen area has an installed capacity of 3 million tonnes per year of HRC, according to Fastmarkets’ information.
The Duisburg site has a designed production capacity for around 11.7 million tpy of pig iron from four blast furnaces, and around 11 million tpy of crude steel, although shipments from its steel assets have remained below full capacity in recent years, according to company data.
Market reaction, HRC trends
A source familiar with the matter told Fastmarkets on Thursday that there was no immediate risk of a production stoppage at the Duisburg site, and that the output had only been reduced for the time being.
The source said that the steelmaker might “use this narrative” to support price increases, but added: “Of course, if [the] drought continues, [thyssenkrupp] would have real problems” – because transport by rail or truck was at a much higher cost.
The same source said that the producer received most imported raw materials via Rotterdam in the Netherlands, where large ocean-going vessels discharge cargoes of about 100,000-200 000 tonnes, before iron ore and coal are shipped by barge along the Rhine to Duisburg.
Meanwhile, a trade source said that there was “nothing too controversial” about the situation, describing it as a consequence of the summer heatwave and the resulting low water levels on the Rhine.
“The Rhine not having water in July and August is not controversial. There is a far bigger disaster going on,” the trade source said on Thursday, in reference to to the reduction in steel import quotas under the new EU safeguard measures from July 1 and the additional costs related to the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), increasing the final prices for imported material that European buyers would have to pay.
Meanwhile, HRC trading activity in Northern Europe showed some signs of recovery in the week to July 13, but market participants said that demand was still soft.
Mills started to quote offers for September-October delivery after the new EU steel import quotas were announced, but buyers were resisting the large price increases announced by some producers.
Fastmarkets’ daily steel hot-rolled coil index, domestic, exw Northern Europe, was calculated at €710 ($810) per tonne on July 15, stable day on day.
