Železiarne Podbrezová is looking into reducing precision seamless cold-drawn tube sales in favour of growing seamless hot-rolled tube deliveries, which it can sell in larger volumes and are more profitable, the Slovakian producer notes. The firm hopes the EU’s new trade regime will allow it to increase product prices later this year.
In 2025, the firm failed to meet sales targets amid a challenging market. Cold-drawn tube activity was more difficult as automotive, mechanical engineering and energy sector output remained on the decline. However, overall sales were “satisfactory”, the firm says, without providing tonnages, with hot-rolled tube performing better for a third consecutive year.
Precision tube sales are not threatened by imports from outside the EU, with competition being almost exclusively between EU mills, but the market is shrinking. Hot-rolled tube is seeing growing imports from China and Ukraine in the long term, but imports are also currently having a limited impact given this is a low value-added product and transport costs play a major role in trade.
In terms of electricity prices, “we would accept comparable conditions as EU countries. However, we know that even if any state aid were to come, it would not be at a level that would make us competitive in the world,” commercial director Vladimír Soták Jr says in the company’s latest newsletter seen by Kallanish. The firm expects the Slovakian government to implement support measures this year.
Sourcing electricity competitively is a problem as both European futures contracts and spot market prices are elevated, it adds, leaving state compensation as the only solution.
As for the prospects for increasing exports, “if we want to gain new customers or some new markets, we have to be better than current suppliers in something. However, competition is very strong in the world and everything also depends on the input costs of individual manufacturers. So I do not see a very realistic massive expansion of our customer portfolio,” says Soták.
“We see a light at the end of the tunnel, which is also due to the fact that we have better gas contracts agreed and purchased in advance every year. And also, because imports from countries outside the EU will be limited to a certain extent [by the new trade regime], we will be able to slightly increase the prices of our products, which will also certainly help us,” he concludes.
Electric arc furnace-based Železiarne Podbrezová increased crude steel production 12% on-year in 2024 to 273,160 tonnes, according to the latest data, of which 215,031t was used captively for tube production. Tube production rose 8% to 176,508t, utilising 88% of capacity.
Steel bloom sales totalled 59,752t, all for export, with hot-rolled tube sales up 6% to 122,668t and precision tube sales falling to 40,160t. Exports comprised 94% of overall tube sales.
The firm installed a new 63-tonne ladle at the EAF in 2025. It uses mainly scrap as feedstock.
