Alacero Summit 2025: John Lichtenstein highlights the growing challenge of China’s indirect steel exports
At the Alacero Summit 2025, John Lichtenstein, Managing Partner at World Steel Dynamics, delivered a compelling assessment of China’s expanding global footprint in steel and steel-intensive manufacturing, underlining the rapidly growing challenge posed by indirect steel exports.
In his presentation, Lichtenstein explained how China’s global indirect steel exports — steel embedded in manufactured goods — have exceeded direct steel exports since 2017. Following the pandemic, these exports increased sharply and have continued to accelerate in recent years, driven in particular by China’s surge in automotive exports.
A key structural shift highlighted during the speech is the evolution of China’s indirect steel exports from lower-value general metal products towards higher-value automotive and mechanical machinery products. Automotive-related indirect steel exports alone are estimated to reach up to 25% of total indirect steel exports in 2025, significantly increasing competitive pressure on steel-consuming industries worldwide.
Lichtenstein stressed that the scale and pace of growth in China’s indirect steel exports represent a major and expanding threat to steel industries and downstream manufacturing ecosystems. He called for continuous and structured monitoring of indirect steel imports, not only by product type but also by their role in local supply chains.
This includes understanding whether imports consist of components, final products or productive capital assets, how they integrate into domestic manufacturing chains, who owns the importing entities, and whether the output is destined for domestic markets or re-exported.
The presentation also highlighted the importance of closely assessing Chinese foreign direct investment (FDI). While some investments may support industrial development, others can weaken domestic steel-consuming value chains if not aligned with long-term industrial strategies.
Lichtenstein concluded by urging governments to ensure that incentives for foreign investment go beyond headline indicators such as total investment value or employment creation. These criteria, he argued, must be applied alongside a clear strategy to strengthen domestic manufacturing supply chains, including those reliant on steel.
The full intervention by John Lichtenstein is available on YouTube:
EU urged to extend steel protection to steel derivatives
The European Commission is being urged to make a clear commitment to extend its trade restrictions to steel derivatives and start cooperating with downstream industries, steel companies, processors and associations including Eurofer, ArcelorMittal, Thyssenkrupp, Malvestiti Group, Trancerie Emiliane and others state in a joint note obtained by Kallanish.
The joint call aims at ensuring protection for strategically important electrical steel derivatives such as transformer laminations and stator/rotor cores for generators and electric motors. Also in focus are key electrical steel intensive components such as generators, transformers and motors used in renewables, power distribution and e-mobility.
These products are not currently covered by trade instruments, leaving a gap in the protection of the full value chain. Stakeholders say the Commission’s work should result in an initial legislative proposal within six months of the steel measures entering into force.
Europe’s steel and electrical steel value chain is facing a critical moment as deindustrialisation accelerates and global overcapacity depresses prices. Rising imports, from coils to laminations, rotor and stator cores, and transformer parts, are hitting utilisation rates and margins across the sector, the organisations point out.
Against this backdrop, the European Commission’s 7 October trade regime proposal is seen as a necessary intervention to restore fair competition. Companies in the steel chain are urging adoption by early 2026 so measures can take effect on 1 April “to stabilise the market and restore fair competition”.
While the proposal addresses distortions affecting 28 steel product categories, pressure is spreading fast to steel derivatives and downstream components used in energy-transition technologies and electric motors.
“Steel product protection alone is not sufficient. It could unintentionally expose downstream industries to intensified unfair competition and circumvention practices with the consequence of hollowing out the very industrial value chain it seeks to preserve. That is why we strongly support a coordinated two-step approach to strengthen Europe’s entire industrial ecosystem,” the note concludes.
Due to its high level of complexity, however, trade law experts anticipate the new trade regime is unlikely to be implemented before July 2026.
EU underestimates new safeguard measure price impact
The new safeguard measure the EU proposes to implement in 2026 will be exclusively in the interest of steelmakers, and much to the disadvantage of steel users, says German consultant Andreas Schneider.
“The European Commission has adopted all steelmakers’ demands to an extent hardly seen before in the interest of one particular industry,” Schneider writes in his blog on Stahlmarkt Consult. According to his calculations, imports of flat products will be reduced by 8.5 million tonnes/year, equalling more than 10% of EU consumption.
It is clear that all EU mills will use these conditions to bring up their prices, Schneider states. “Steel buyers need to adjust their costs forecasts for 2026 notably upwards,” Kallanish reads in the blog. He cites an estimate from a European Commission document, which predicts a price increase of 3.25%, which he calls “very much understated”.
He argues that Europe’s core crisis – a lack of industrial demand – will be aggravated by the measures, as they fail to also cover steel-containing manufactured goods, otherwise known as steel derivatives. This will exacerbate the cost disadvantages of EU fabricators against international competition, he concludes.
That point is also underlined by Alexander Julius, president of EUROMETAL. Unlike Schneider, he advocates safeguard measures in principle, but criticises that they stop short of including steel derivatives. “If steel derivatives are not added to the measures, I wonder who the European mills want to sell their steel to in future,” he said in a recent BBC interview.
He noted that exports of steel derivatives from China to Europe have grown by 20% annually in recent years.
Christian Koehl Germany
EU imposes Chinese screws, track shoes AD duties
The European Commission has imposed definitive anti-dumping duties on two Chinese-origin steel derivative products, screws without heads and steel track shoes (STS), confirming provisional measures introduced earlier in the year, Kallanish notes.
From 23 October, a definitive anti-dumping duty was applied to imports of screws and bolts, whether or not with their nuts and washers, without heads, falling under CN codes 7318 15 42 and 7318 15 48 and originating in China. The decision followed an investigation initiated after a complaint by European fastener producers represented by the European Industrial Fasteners Institute (EIFI). The European Commission also confirmed the definitive collection of provisional duties and extended the measure to all registered imports of the product concerned.
The final duty levels vary by company: Zhejiang Junyue Standard Part Co. is subject to 54.7%, the Brother Group (Jiaxing High-enter Fasteners Co., Zhejiang Morgan Brother Technology Co., Jiaxing Brother Standard Part Co.) to 57.1%, and the Chinafar Group (Jiaxing Chinafar Standard Parts Co., Jiangsu Zhe Fasteners Co.) to 72.3%. Other cooperating companies are charged 59.8%, while all other exporters face the general duty rate of 72.3%, calculated on a cif Union border price basis before customs duty.
From 20 October, the Commission imposed a 62.5% definitive anti-dumping duty on imports of steel track shoes from China, following a complaint by Duferco Travi e Profilati. The regulation applies to certain steel shoes, with or without rubber pads, whether or not assembled in a track chain, classified under CN codes ex 8431 39 00, ex 8431 49 20 and ex 8431 49 80.
Larger cast STS used in heavy-duty machinery such as cranes and excavators were excluded after the Commission accepted Liebherr’s technical argument that such products are not produced in the EU. The measures also cover track groups and full track groups, but the 62.5% rate applies only to the track shoe component, which must represent at least 31% of the total product value declared at customs.
Distributors’ association EUROMETAL says it welcomes the measures. It has recently intensified its calls for the European Commission to broaden the revised safeguard measures to include steel derivatives and downstream products. The association warned that the exclusion of derivatives risks creating a “dangerous imbalance – protecting upstream production while exposing downstream sectors to unfair competition”.
Elina Virchenko UAE
EU Commission implements anti-dumping measures on two Steel Derivatives
Commission imposes Anti-Dumping Duties on Chinese headless screws to protect EU industry.
The European Commission has announced the imposition of definitive anti-dumping duties on imports of screws without heads (also known as headless screws) originating in the People’s Republic of China.
These duties, which range from 54.7% to 72.3%, follow a detailed investigation that revealed unfair trade practices. The objective of the measures is to restore fair competition in a European market valued at €500 million.
Headless screws — including threaded rods, anchor bolts, and U-bolts — are essential components used to mechanically join parts in a wide range of industries.
These include construction, automotive, renewable energy, electrical appliances, agriculture…
The EU production base for these products is strategically distributed across ten Member States: Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, and Poland.
By addressing these unfair imports, the Commission aims to level the playing field for European manufacturers and ensure that competitive conditions are not distorted by artificially low-priced imports.
EUROMETAL welcomes this action and reiterates the importance of extending similar protection to all steel derivatives and downstream products. We have been actively calling on the Commission to include steel derivatives in the revised safeguard measures to ensure that the entire steel value chain is fairly protected.
Planning, innovation to offset trade barriers: Kallanish conference
Strategic planning and long-term vision in the steel industry’s downstream chain can turn tariff pressure into a catalyst for transformation and competitiveness, according to panellists and delegates at the Kallanish Global Flat Steel conference held in Istanbul on 16 October.
“Amid the current environment of higher costs and greater regulatory challenges, the manufacturing sector has the tools for sustained growth, with an export capacity above the global average, a well-structured and diversified market,” observed panellist Colakoglu Metalurji’s chairman, Metin Tayfun.
Delegates speaking on the sidelines of the conference agreed with this. The steel sector, which represents a large part of European industry, has the opportunity to accelerate its transformation through strategic foreign trade management, leveraging technology and market diversification.
“Trade protection and rising input costs present a dual challenge of maintaining export competitiveness while adapting to an increasingly regulated and digital business environment,” a representative from Turkis Borcelik told Kallanish.
Todor Kirkov Bulgaria
EU downstream steel sector warns of existential threats
EU steel distribution and end-user associations have warned of the significant, and potentially existential threat that the European Commission’s recent proposed overhaul of the EU’s steel protection framework presents to downstream manufacturing, calling on authorities to urgently address loopholes across its steel regulatory framework.
European distributors’ association EUROMETAL has the most extensive analysis of injuries already identified within the EU steel value chain, that threaten to compound if not addressed urgently, as published on its website on 7 October.
EUROMETAL’s analysis demonstrates that existing regulatory loopholes are sustained within the newly proposed framework, and have already permitted a significant increase in imports of steel-containing finished goods – steel derivatives – of 213% between 2010 and 2024, facilitating an environment in which the EU’s downstream manufacturing industries cannot compete, in relation to both trade and climate regulations.
According to EUROMETAL – and confirmed by recent statements from national political leaders such as Poland’s Donald Tusk, Germany’s Friedrich Merz, and France’s Emmanuel Macron – these pressures threaten to cause “structural and irreversible” damage to the downstream industry if not alleviated quickly. The association describes component manufacturers as increasingly price-sensitive above all other factors; service centers and distributors as “pushed out of the supply chain” by compliance costs; downstream industrial ecosystems “undermined at their base;” and the weakening of the EU’s upstream steel production, “putting the entire steel value chain at risk.”
This “endangers the economic fabric of Europe itself,” EUROMETAL warned, putting “over 3 million direct industrial jobs” at risk of extinction. “This trend must be recognized for what it is: a stealth mechanism of deindustrialization, undermining Europe’s ability to retain value creation, climate responsibility, and strategic autonomy.”
Italian distribution association Assofermet, European stainless steel trading association EURANIMI, European Automotive association ACEA, and a core EU Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) have also provided comments surrounding either the newly proposed framework, or existing regulatory loopholes in instruments like the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), calling for further action and clarification from the Commission.
The Commission has already committed in March’s Steel and Metals Action Plan (SMAP) to a legislative proposal to extend CBAM to steel derivative products before year’s end, in order to prevent carbon leakage being pushed downstream. The new proposal for reworked steel defenses similarly promises to consider legislation within two years – “if necessary” – to extend its protections to “additional steel products, including products that are made of or contain a significant amount of steel.”
The associations would likely see this two year review period as much too late.
Regulatory loopholes
The Commission’s new framework proposes new and intensified shields against imports of primary steel products – but European industrial competitiveness cannot be premised solely upon the survival of its steelmakers, as the extensive remit of steel as an input material gives it fundamental influence on the competitiveness of the EU’s downstream and derivative manufacturing sectors.
Existing steel trade measures like anti-dumping duties also primarily target commodity steel products, leaving the downstream segment comparatively unprotected.
Importers, and downstream industries dependent on imports of certain steel products, are also limited in preemptive stockpiling opportunities due to CBAM’s incoming definitive stage from January, and a sustained lack of clarity as to benchmark and default values integral to specific financial exposures to the mechanism. Lead times inherent to the import of international steel mean importers are effectively in the dark as to their actual financial obligations to the mechanism on present import orders due to arrive in 2026, and many prefer to share current out-of-quota duties of 25% pro-rata instead – as demonstrated by the quick exhaustion of Q4 safeguard quotas across various steel product categories.
Assofermet highlights that in this context, steel derivatives remain uncovered by CBAM, and so high-polluting nations could re-orientate their exports to the EU toward manufactured products, undermining the purpose of CBAM. In a note published 6 October, Assofermet requested that Italian ministries introduce exemptions for CBAM payments on steel imports both until reference benchmark and default values are published, and for five months thereafter.
“This information gap creates profound uncertainty about the real cost of CBAM , forcing importers to place orders “blindly” to avoid stock depletion and ensure continuity of supply to their customers,” said Assofermet. “[It] entails serious risks […] for the entire EU manufacturing sector, which is exposed to unpredictable price increases and a climate of commercial uncertainty.”
The US effect
Compounding matters, EUROMETAL highlights in its analysis that recent actions by the US to extend its own steel defenses to steel derivative products under the scope of section 232 could see such products bounced to the European market absent a downstream extension of the EU’s protection framework.
According to EUROMETAL, “initial data suggests that up to 15% of global steel derivative flows — previously targeting the US — are now being rerouted to the European Union, where such products are not yet subject to equivalent origin tracking or carbon pricing rules.” This risks the EU becoming “a dumping ground [..] and a bypass channel for global circumvention strategies,” vulnerable to “regulatory arbitrage.”
Consequent impacts threaten to undermine much of the European Commission’s industrial policy efforts, not only sustaining the possibility for high-carbon imports to enter the EU unprotected and incentivizing carbon leakage against CBAM’s intended purpose, but also undermining European efforts to reinforce industrial circularity if “processing and fabrication are outsourced.
In many ways, the Commission’s proposals for its new steel trade protections parallel the US framework – though will be pursued with alignment to WTO rules under article XXVIII of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) – in all but duty-free quota access and steel derivatives coverage, potentially deflecting downstream, rather than dissipating pressures on Europe’s steel industry.
Inflationary pressures
CBAM is, therefore, already presenting risks across the value chain, and the Commission’s new proposals could compound inflationary pressures.
Comparative analysis of the quota reductions at the product category level between the protections, new and old, demonstrate significant cuts variable by product category, and in fact actual volumes could see even greater reductions to import accessibility due to volumes historically imported out-of-quota at a 25% duty rate, but less likely to continue under the new 50% rate.
Looking at specific steel product categories, stainless steel imports are subject to an annual quota reduction averaging around 54%, according to McCloskey’s calculations. Christophe Lagrange, executive board member at stainless steel trading association EURANIMI spoke to McCloskey on the potential impact, describing the measures as a “radical game changer.”
“We expect this will cause a swift increase in domestic stainless steel prices, which could be a terrible blow for the downstream manufacturing industry as it will still have to compete against much cheaper imports of finished products,” said Lagrange. “While this measure is ‘positive’ in the short term for mills and distribution, we expect stainless steel consumption to decrease in the longer term as manufacturing is shifted outside of the EU against an instream of a wide range of new imports of downstream stainless products – all compounded by a global loss of competitiveness for EU manufacturers in our export markets.”
Indeed, these factors could ramp domestic steel prices beyond prior expectations, and create significant inflationary pressures within Europe’s steel-consuming industries, such as the automotive sector, which according to EUROMETAL’s analysis is the destination for 40% of total steel derivative imports.
“Automobile manufacturers source approximately 90% of their direct steel purchases in the EU and are most concerned about the inflationary impact that an effective continuation of the safeguard will have on European market prices,” said ACEA. “The Commission needs to look individually at sectors like automotive where, despite a heavy reliance on domestic steel supply, our manufacturers still need to import certain quantities and qualities.”
Speaking to McCloskey, a high-level representative for a core European OEM stressed the need for a big-picture perspective:
“We celebrate that the Commission has finally looked into appropriate protections for their steel industry, but the measures lack necessary actions on steel-containing goods,” the source said. “The proposal will drive domestic steel prices higher on import restrictions, which could become blocked entirely with CBAM on top, but this will only make the import of steel derivatives, like components, even more attractive.
“Imported components are already cheaper than domestic equivalents,” the OEM source said. “The Commission needs to zoom-out and look at the steel industry as a whole, not just patch defenses for steelmakers. We need to send a clear signal to EU authorities that they will swiftly look into steel derivatives, because right now we have no choice but to default to [downstream] imports to stay competitive.”
A call to action
Europe’s downstream steel and steel-consuming associations are unanimous in their call for further attention to these loopholes and wider issues facilitating steel derivative imports, with Eurometal in particular giving detailed proposals that could extend shields to steel derivative imports, and thus protect European manufacturing.
EUROMETAL outlines a wide range of potential policy remedies: the extension of both CBAM, and new and old trade protections to downstream or derivative steel products via incorporation of new TARIC codes; the implementation of ‘melted and poured’ declarations at customs across both primary steel, and steel-containing goods; a strengthening of monitoring tools to tighten circumvention loopholes; new objective thresholds for future regulatory shields, focusing on steel products exceeding a 100kt annual import volume or evidencing a 30% increase in volume over a ten-year period; as well as general measures to incentivize domestic industrialization and reward compliance, rather than suffer its effects.
Benjamin Steven Journalist, Steel
Maria Tanatar Associate Director, Steel and Green Steel
Steel derivatives imports weakening Europe’s industrial base
A surge in steel derivatives imports is quietly eroding Europe’s industrial base and threatening more than three million jobs across the steel, manufacturing, construction, mobility, and energy sectors, distributors’ association EUROMETAL writes in a letter sent to EU policymakers.
It notes that these steel derivatives are not classified as steel under EU customs codes and therefore largely bypass the EU’s existing trade defence instruments (TDIs) and the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM).
To restore fairness and competitiveness, EUROMETAL is calling for the EU to extend CBAM and its TDIs to cover these products, adopt a European “melt & pour” tracking system, and strengthen customs surveillance to close classification loopholes, Kallanish notes.
The letter cautions that urgent intervention is needed with the “silent circumvention” weakening the EU’s industrial strength and climate goals. This is especially the case in strategic sectors such as renewable energy, electrification, mobility, defence and infrastructure.
This loophole creates a dual market distortion with EU producers and distributors bound by strict environmental, carbon pricing, and trade compliance obligations, while imported steel-intensive goods face none of these requirements, it says.
The result is a growing influx of cheap, high-carbon products from regions with subsidised, overcapacity-driven steel industries, particularly in Asia, that undercut European manufacturers on price and compliance costs.
Between 2010 and 2024, imports of steel derivatives into the EU more than doubled, rising by over 213% to surpass 8 million tonnes. The surge is concentrated in the sectors of automotive, machinery, electrical equipment, and prefabricated structures, which account for most of the import growth.
It also highlights how these imports have coincided with the weakening performance in the basic metals, fabricated metal products, machinery, automotive, and furniture sectors.
Many of these imported products are manufactured using carbon-intensive steel and processed abroad, meaning that the EU is not only losing industrial capacity but also exporting its environmental footprint, it says.
It also notes the extension of the Section 232 tariffs by the US on more than 400 categories of steel derivatives and that the country introduced a “melt & pour” rule, requiring exporters to declare where the steel was originally melted and cast. The EU’s lack of similar mechanisms has turned Europe into a dumping ground for high-carbon steel derivatives diverted from the US market, EUROMETAL warns.
Elina Virchenko UAE
EUROMETAL flags growing threat from hidden steel derivative imports bypassing CBAM, EU safeguards
On October 2, European steel distributors’ association EUROMETAL sent two letters to the European Commission, addressing steel derivatives imports issues for the already struggling European steel industry.
The first letter, an executive summary sent to Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, called for urgent intervention to stop steel-intensive imported goods from bypassing EU safeguards and undermining strategic policies including the Green Deal, CBAM, circularity and reindustrialization goals.
The second letter, a detailed follow-up to Maroš Šefčovič, European Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security and for Interinstitutional Relations and Transparency, and Commissioner Stéphane Séjourné, reiterated these concerns and proposed specific countermeasures.
EUROMETAL highlighted that imports of steel-intensive manufactured goods — including electric machinery and railway equipment, prefabricated metal structures, automotive parts, etc. — have more than doubled since 2010, rising by 213% to over 8 million tonnes in 2024.
“These are finished products that escape EU steel classifications but carry high embedded carbon and steel content,” EUROMETAL said. “They bypass
trade defense instruments and CBAM entirely, creating a new circumvention path that penalizes compliant EU producers.”
The federation estimates that over 3 million industrial jobs are now at risk as imports of unregulated derivatives continue to increase. It warned that Europe’s manufacturing core — particularly in automotive, mechanical engineering and metal products — faces structural deindustrialization if policymakers fail to act.
Between 2022 and 2025, the EU’s steel-weighted industrial production index fell from 100 to 96.9, while imports of steel derivatives increased sharply. The largest import growth was recorded in the automotive sector, which accounts for around 40% of all derivative inflows, followed by electrical machinery, railway equipment and prefabricated structures.
The automotive sector is the second-largest steel consumer in the EU and accounts for around 20% of total steel consumption in the bloc, according to regional steel industry association Eurofer.
“Foreign finished goods are replacing EU semi-finished products,” an EU service center source said. “Without carbon pricing or traceability, these imports gain an unfair cost advantage of up to €50-80 [$58-94] per tonne.”
Shift from the US market
According to EUROMETAL, the surge in European-bound shipments is partly a result of the US Section 232 measures, which extended tariffs and “melt and pour” origin rules to over 400 derivative products.
“Exporters from overcapacity countries have redirected these goods to Europe, where no equivalent origin-tracking or carbon rules exist,” the report noted.
Industry sources said that up to 15% of global steel derivative flows have been diverted to the EU market since the US tightened its origin rules.
Call for EU action
EUROMETAL urged the Commission to extend CBAM and trade defense instruments to cover high-risk steel-containing goods, and to implement mandatory origin tracking for all imports.
Key recommendations include:
- Extending CBAM and Trade Defense Instruments (TDIs) to mechanical assemblies and metal components with proven steel intensity;
- Introducing a “melt and pour” origin declaration for all steel-containing imports;
- Strengthening customs surveillance and data-sharing among Member States;
- Defining high-risk categories for enhanced scrutiny — products showing >30% import growth or >100,000 tonnes in annual volume;
- Reinforcing EU scrap retention and onshore fabrication as part of Green Deal industrial policy.
“This is not a technical issue — it is a matter of political will and industrial survival,” the federation said. “Europe must not allow the backdoor entry of carbon-intensive steel through derivative products.”
Market impact
Traders said the issue is increasingly influencing purchasing strategies.
“There’s a clear two-tier market now,” a steel mill in Northern Europe told Fastmarkets. “On one side, EU-made steel under CBAM rules; on the other, imported assemblies that use the same steel but avoid the costs.”
Market participants warned that unless the Commission closes these gaps, price distortions between regulated and unregulated goods could deepen — weakening domestic fabrication margins and discouraging investment.
And while steel imported into the EU to produce finished goods is subject to CBAM regulations, those same products — such as cars and white goods and other steel-intensive products — can be imported directly without falling under the scope of CBAM.
Steel market participants are therefore worried about the leakage of high-value-added production outside the over-regulated European market, thus echoing EUROMETAL’s concerns.
“Instead of bringing the steel coil from Asia and processing it in the EU, we buy the ready tailor-made steel structure without quota, without the anti-dumping and CBAM. That means that all this added value for Europe is gone,” a source in the EU steel market said.
“The situation is very unclear right now,” a mill source in Northern Europe said. “If derivatives and finished steel goods remain outside CBAM, the competitive gap will only widen, but if the scope expands suddenly, importers could face major unplanned costs.”
Uncertainty surrounding the final CBAM framework and its rollout has continued to weigh on trading in the European flat steel market in recent weeks.
Market participants said demand for imported hot-rolled coil has been subdued, with buyers largely pausing new bookings while they assess regulatory and cost exposure linked to CBAM.
“Import deals are practically off the table right now,” a Northern European buyer source said. “Even if offers look competitive, the risk of the cargo being cleared after January 1, 2026 — once CBAM becomes fully operational — is too high.”
A trader in Italy also reported minimal appetite for overseas coil, citing uncertainty over how future customs declarations will treat embedded carbon.
Some Asian mills were heard offering to absorb part of the potential CBAM cost to encourage orders, sources said, though only within limited thresholds — typically up to around €35-40 per tonne, Fastmarkets reported.
“At this point, no one can say what the true landed cost will be once all the carbon charges are factored in,” a Southern European buyer commented.
Several industry participants suggested that reduced import availability could eventually bolster reliance on domestic coil, potentially lending modest support to local prices in the coming weeks, but the effect “would only be short-lived, since [steel] consumption remains muted with no signs of recovery,” a German soruce said.
Fastmarkets’ calculation of the daily steel hot-rolled coil index domestic, exw Northern Europe was €575 per tonne on Friday October 3, stable day on day, reflecting continued muted demand from downstream fabrication sectors.
The Northern European index dropped by €2.71 week on week, but was stable month on month.
EUROMETAL urges EC to act on steel derivative imports, CBAM benchmark
EUROMETAL, the trade association representing EU steel distributors, traders and service centers, has called on the European Commission to take decisive steps to tackle the escalating threat posed by imported steel derivatives and regulatory gaps in the EU’s trade defense frameworks.
In a letter sent to the commission late on Oct. 2, EUROMETAL highlighted urgent concerns, including the circumvention of existing Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism rules by steel-intensive finished goods, the protracted delay in finalizing CBAM benchmark values, and the need for immediate action on import quotas to protect Europe’s steel-based manufacturing ecosystem.
EUROMETAL’s letter emphasized that the uncontrolled surge in steel derivatives, which are manufactured goods heavily reliant on steel, has been rapidly undermining the EU industry. These products often evade current trade defense instruments (TDIs) and CBAM measures, entering the market at low prices with unaccounted embedded carbon emissions.
The association warns that this loophole results in unfair competition, leads to carbon leakage, undermines the EU’s circular economy efforts, and threatens over 3 million industrial jobs.
The letter cites import growth figures from 2010 to 2024 showing a more than 200% increase in steel derivative imports. EUROMETAL highlights the need to extend CBAM and TDIs explicitly to these steel-containing derivatives based on steel content and strategic sector relevance, in order to “close regulatory loopholes” and restore a level playing field for European producers.
CBAM benchmark delay
In addition, EUROMETAL criticized the commission’s postponement of finalizing CBAM benchmark values until early 2026. The association’s president, Alexander Julius, described the delay as causing “uncertainty and unclarity on a cost basis” that has led to hesitation and standstills in contract negotiations across the steel supply chain.
Industry voices warned that unclear CBAM rules jeopardize the EU manufacturing base by complicating import purchasing decisions, particularly amid volatile global carbon pricing disparities.
EUROMETAL’s concerns align with the commission’s proposed legislative measure to halve steel import quotas and raise tariffs on volumes exceeding quotas to up to 50%. This move aims to replicate US and Canadian tariff measures and provide relief to the EU steel industry grappling with global overcapacity, energy and raw material cost challenges, and continued capacity closures and job losses.
EUROMETAL said Europe must take a similarly firm stance as the US’ expanded Section 232 measures and ‘Melt & Pour’ origin tracking rules, which have curtailed steel derivative imports from high-carbon, subsidized producers. The association urged the EC to invoke fast-track safeguard measures for strategic sectors, implement mandatory steel origin declarations at customs, and reinforce customs surveillance to stop misclassification and circumvention near EU borders.
