Steel
Overview
The price indices in our Argus Ferrous Markets and Argus Global Steel services are widely used by companies in physical supply contracts around the world – for iron ore, coking coal, hot-rolled coil (HRC) and ferrous scrap.
Many of them are used as the settlement prices for cash-settled futures contracts launched by exchanges to allow users of the derivatives who also transact in the physical market to minimize basis risk while hedging. These cash-settled monthly futures contracts are settled against the arithmetic mean of all the published Argus prices during each calendar month.
Using indices allows companies to trade material on an index-linked basis, not only via fixed-prices sales. This offers significant advantages when prices are volatile, yet the modern finished steel market remains primarily transacted on a fixed price basis. The addition of futures markets offers opportunities to enhance supply chain resilience further.
Latest steel news
Australia's Simcoa may buy carbon credits until 2028
Australia's Simcoa may buy carbon credits until 2028
Sydney, 21 March (Argus) — Australia's silicon producer Simcoa will likely need to buy and surrender Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) until 2028 for safeguard mechanism compliance obligations before it completes a key decarbonisation project, it told Argus today. The project was awarded federal funds on 20 March. Australia's federal Labor government granted Simcoa A$39.8mn ($25mn) under its Powering the Regions Fund (PRF) to expand charcoal production at its Wellesley facility in Western Australia (WA) and remove the use of coal in silicon production. The project is expected to reduce the company's scope 1 emissions by around 90pc, or approximately 100,000 t/yr of CO2 equivalent (CO2e). Simcoa is Australia's only silicon manufacturer, which is a key component of solar panels. The funding will help maintain silicon manufacturing capability in the country in addition to cutting emissions, energy minister Chris Bowen said. The company currently uses 35,000 t/yr of metallurgical low ash coal in its operations, and anticipates usage will drop to zero after it doubles its charcoal production capacity by 25,000 t/yr to 50,000 t/yr. The completion date for the expansion is not expected before 2028. The firm may continue to buy [ACCUs] as it must use coal as a reducing agent for part of its production for calendar years 2025-27, or until the expansion project can be commissioned, the company told Argus on 21 March. Simcoa surrendered 22,178 ACCUs in the July 2022-June 2023 compliance year as it reported scope 1 emissions of 122,178t of CO2e with a baseline of 100,000t CO2e at its Kemerton silicon smelter. Figures were lower for the July 2023-June 2024 compliance period, the company said, without disclosing details. Australia's Clean Energy Regulator (CER) will publish 2023-24 safeguard data by 15 April . Simcoa anticipates scope 1 emissions at the Kemerton smelter to be "considerably below" the baseline once the charcoal expansion is completed and could make it eligible to earn and sell safeguard mechanism credits (SMCs), which traded for the first time in late February . "We will take whatever opportunity is available to us," the company said on potentially holding or selling SMCs in future. By Juan Weik Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
EU delays retaliatory tariffs on US goods to mid-April
EU delays retaliatory tariffs on US goods to mid-April
Brussels, 20 March (Argus) — The EU has decided to delay its countermeasures to US tariffs on steel and aluminium imports until mid-April, allowing extra time for negotiations with Washington and consultation on which goods to include in its retaliatory levies, EU trade commissioner Maros Sefcovic said today. The EU had planned to impose its tariffs in two phases, the first on 1 April and the second on 13 April, but it has now decided that both sets of measures will be brought in together on 13 April. The first round of EU tariffs is a reinstatement of levies that the bloc imposed during President Donald Trump's first term in office in 2018 and 2020 on goods "ranging ranging from boats to bourbon to motorbikes". The second round is a new package of additional measures to reflect the fact that Trump's tariffs this time around are broader in scope and affect a higher value of trade. The European Commission needs to review with stakeholders the list of US products to be included, Sefcovic said. "We are now considering to align the timing of the two sets of EU countermeasures so we can consult with member states on both lists simultaneously," he said. Sefcovic noted that a US trade investigation into copper and wood, including derivatives, could lead to additional tariffs against EU products and that the US is considering measures on shipbuilding that could have negative effects on EU maritime firms. By Dafydd ab Iago Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
US tariffs to slash Brazil's steel exports, output
US tariffs to slash Brazil's steel exports, output
Sao Paulo, 19 March (Argus) — Brazil's steel exports and production could fall by 11pc and 2pc, respectively, in 2025 because of recently imposed 25pc US tariffs on all imported steel, according to national economic research institute Ipea. The decline in steel output resulting from the US import tariff is estimated at 700,000 metric tonnes (t)/yr, leading to an export loss of 1.6mn t, according to Ipea. Brazil was the US' top semi-finished steel supplier in 2024, shipping 3.4mn t of slabs there, which accounted for nearly 80pc of its total slab exports last year , according to customs data. The US tariffs will have a negligible impact on Brazil's overall exports and GDP, according to Ipea's study. The Chinese threat But Brazilian steelmakers are more concerned about Chinese imports than US tariffs. Chinese steel dumping causes greater harm to the industry and the economy than US tariffs, according to Brazilian steelmaker CSN's executive director Luis Fernando Barbosa Martinez. Brazil levied a 25pc import tariff on 11 steel products in June 2024 following the domestic steelmakers' push for safeguard measures. The move proved ineffective as imports hit record highs in 2024, nearly 70pc of which shipped from China . The government's import methodology, criticized for setting quotas by adding 30pc to the average steel imports from 2020-2022 for 11 products, is set to expire in two months. Importers and steelmakers are on opposite sides of the issue, with the former advocating against and the latter asking for more safeguards. Political implications Political dynamics are expected to influence steel prices just as much as the balance between supply and demand. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva — whose popularity has hit its lowest point across his three terms, just one year ahead of the 2026 elections — and vice-president Geraldo Alckmin — who also serves as trade minister — have been meeting with key stakeholders, including automakers, steelmakers and household appliance manufacturers, for the past two weeks. Automaker Stellantis recently announced R30bn ($530mn) in investments, while steelmakers pledged R100bn ($17bn) last year, aligned with the imposition of tariff quotas. Both sectors highlight their potential to create jobs. Steel industry chamber Instituto Aço Brasil warned of job losses and idled furnaces unless further measures are taken to weaken Chinese imports' flow. The steel industry supports 72,700 direct and 49,000 indirect jobs, according to the latest data from Instituto Aço Brasil. And the automotive sector currently accounts for 108,000 jobs, national association of motor vehicle manufacturers Anfavea said. Importers argued that additional tariffs may drive inflation and higher interest rates, as well as slash demand and harm the economy as a whole. By Isabel Filgueiras Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
EU mulls competitive metals decarbonisation
EU mulls competitive metals decarbonisation
Brussels, 19 March (Argus) — The European Commission today presented its steel and metals action plan, setting out actions to boost the sector's decarbonisation while countering unfair competition from outside the bloc. The plan has a strong focus on combatting global market distortion, whether in terms of trade or combined with circumvention of the bloc's emissions trading system (ETS) and carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM). "We will strengthen the current safeguard clause. We aim for a reduction of up to 15pc in [steel] imports," said industry commissioner Stephane Sejourne. Aside from revised steel safeguard measures , trade actions include a ferro-alloys safeguards investigation "expeditiously" by 18 November. And the commission promises to assess whether the bloc's use of the lesser duty rule regime requires changes. In addition to a CBAM scheme for exported goods , the measures also cover energy prices, decarbonisation through electrification and more flexible rules for low-carbon hydrogen. The commission promises revised rules to enable more EU states to provide indirect cost compensation for steel and aluminium firms for carbon costs passed on through electricity bills. And Brussels wants EU states to lower costs for energy-intensive industries through network tariffs, facilitating power purchase agreements (PPAs) and lowering electricity taxation to zero. With direct electrification not always possible or cost-effective, the commission points to hydrogen as a key enabler of decarbonisation in the steel and metals industries. Some measures have been toned down from drafts. The commission's plan no longer mentions implementing a melt and pour clause , "effective immediately". The commission will now "assess" whether it should adapt its practice by introducing a melted and poured rule, regardless of the place of subsequent transformation and origins. But the commission now promises that the delegated act on low-carbon hydrogen will provide rules that are "as flexible as possible" to achieve greenhouse gas emission-reduction goals for low-carbon fuels in a "technology neutral way". Industry association Hydrogen Europe welcomed the commission's direct acknowledgment of hydrogen as the best route to decarbonisation for primary steel production. "Labelling schemes, sustainability criteria, and dedicated funding mechanisms are necessary first steps to incentivise the offtake of green products," said Hydrogen Europe's industrial policy director Laurent Donceel. The commission's paper sends a clear message that "a strong European Union needs a strong European steel industry", said Henrik Adam, president of European steel association Eurofer. But the association also called on the EU to implement "meaningful solutions through ambitious measures". By Dafydd ab Iago Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
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Explore our steel products
FOB China HRC
The rise of the Chinese steel market has moved in lock-step with the development of the country’s economy. Crude steel output soared since the start of the millennium and that spurred raging raw material demand, which upended the coking coal and iron ore markets.
By 2012, China had established itself as a source of steel without peer, and while export volumes have moderated since then, China still exerts the dominant influence over Asia’s steel pricing.
In March 2019, the London Metal Exchange (LME) launched a new FOB China HRC futures contract to help market participants to manage their price risk. The contract is settled against the monthly average of the daily price assessments published in our Argus Ferrous Markets and Argus Global Steel services, and it has rapidly established itself as the most successful finished steel futures launch to-date.
European HRC
Current European steel capacity is most densely concentrated in an area encompassing parts of France, Germany and Benelux. While capacity has rationalized, the European industry has proven resilient throughout decades of change and faces the problems of raw material and finished goods price volatility as well as globalized price competition.
Steel prices remain regional by nature and, like Asia, Europe is only beginning to experiment with steel price indexation. To support market participants with their price risk management, CME Group launched a North European HRC futures contract in March 2020. The LME has announced plans to launch their own N. Europe HRC futures contract in late 2020.
Argus has been selected as the provider of choice by both exchanges, and both futures contracts will be settled against the monthly average of the daily Argus price assessments provided in our Argus Ferrous Markets service.
CFR Taiwan Ferrous Scrap
The US East Coast and Europe look to Turkey to set bulk scrap price direction. Conversely, the US West Coast & Japanese supply looks to Taiwan to set container scrap price direction, which sets wider Asian scrap pricing.
Container markets parcel sizes are more liquid and frequently-traded markets, and the LME has launched a new Steel Scrap CFR Taiwan futures contract in July 2021 to support market participants hedge their risk.
Argus has been selected as the provider of choice by both exchanges, and both futures contracts will be settled against the monthly average of the daily Argus price assessments provided in our Argus Ferrous Markets and Argus Global Steel service.
