Christopher Rivituso

British Steel has secured a 5-year agreement to supply rail to Network Rail, the infrastructure manager of the UK’s rail network. Under the tenets of the deal, the steelmaker will provide 70,000 to 80,000 metric tons per year.

ArcelorMittal recently announced the sale of its steel plant as well as its stake in its iron ore mine in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with news reporting stating that the steel industry giant will unload the plant to Bosnian industrial conglomerate Pavgord Group. According to the details of the deal, Pavgord Group will acquire the longs producer in Zenica, located approximately 75 kilometers north of the capital, Sarajevo, as well as its iron ore plant in Prijedor, which is in Republika Srpska.

Chinese automaker BYD recently appointed Austria’s Voestalpine as its first steel supplier for the planned production plant in Hungary. On June 24, the Linz-headquartered steel industry leader officially announced it will begin supplying autobody and outer-skin components from its rolling mills to BYD’s Szeged plant in Q4 2025.

German flats producer ThyssenKrupp Steel recently commissioned a modernized strip mill at its main site in Duisburg as well as new upstream equipment. On July 4, the steel industry titan released a statement detailing that the modernized hot rolled strip mill will be able to roll 3.1 million metric tons of hot rolled coil in widths of 900-1,600mm and in 1.2-9mm gauges.

In September, the European Steel Association (Eurofer) plans to introduce a proposal for an early and intensified safeguard system on imports. According to director Axel Eggert, this would replace the current general safeguard system used by the steel industry.

Sources tell MetalMiner that lower seasonal demand has continued to push hot-rolled coil prices down in northern Europe since late June. In terms of steel prices, this means that mills are now quoting €540–550 ($625–640) per metric ton ex-works for August rolling and September delivery, down from €570 ($660) reported on June 23. It is also important to note that cold rolled coil typically carries a premium of about €100 ($115) per metric ton.

ArcelorMittal plans to idle blast furnace No. 3 at its Dąbrowa Górnicza plant in Poland’s Silesian Voivodeship. The steel industry giant made the initial announcement back in September, citing current and future market factors. “The reason for this decision stems from the extremely difficult and constantly deteriorating market conditions,” ArcelorMittal Poland said on July 24.

Sources tell MetalMiner that lower seasonal demand has continued to push hot-rolled coil prices down in northern Europe since late June.

Steelmakers in Europe are seeing a large jump in hot rolled coil prices as people start to return to work from their summer holidays, which could have significant implications for the steel industry. “Stocks are low,” one source said about inventories for the flat rolled product held by both stockists and end-users.

The copper market recently experienced a significant development that could have big implications for global supply. Metals and mining multinational Anglo American has finalized an agreement with National Copper Corporation of Chile (Codelco) to merge operations at their respective Los Bronces and Andina copper mines, putting them among the top 5 largest sites in the world. According to a September 16 announcement, the agreement will unlock up to $5 billion in value from the adjacent sites.