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 Bowen Coking Coal faces finance challenges
Australia's Bowen Coking Coal faces finance challenges
Sydney, 20 June (Argus) — Bowen Coking Coal (BCC) has become the second Australian coal mining firm this month to seek capital to enable it to continue operating, as weak coal prices have cut cash flow across the industry. BCC has not revealed the amount of money it is looking to raise, but warned today that it may need to temporarily pause or cut production at its 5.5mn t/yr Burton mine complex if it does not secure additional cash. The company is looking into debt, equity and hybrid funding arrangements, but it is not certain that it will be able to secure enough funding to continue operations as usual. BCC's cash flow problems stem from persistent price weakness in the coking and thermal coal markets. Coking coal accounted for 55pc of the company's total sales over July 2024–March 2025 — the first three quarters of the financial year. Argus' 5,500kcal thermal coal price has fallen over the 2024-25 financial year (July-June), from $86.92/t fob Newcastle on 1 July to $66.62/t fob Newcastle on 19 June. Its metallurgical coal premium hard low-volatile fob Australia price declined from $237/t to $175.75/t over the same period. BCC is also facing financial challenges unrelated to prices. Queensland's coal royalty rates — which progressively increase based on commodity prices — are unsustainable and this is putting extreme pressures on producers, the company said. BCC's capital-raising campaign comes just weeks after US-Australian producer Coronado inked a $150mn financing deal with Australian state-owned electricity generator Stanwell, to ease its cash availability challenges. US credit ratings agency Fitch downgraded Coronado's credit rating from B to CCC+ on 14 May, citing volatile premium hard coking coal prices. It does not rate BCC's credit worthiness. Coal firms that rely on longer-term supply contracts and offtake deals are better positioned to manage coal price fluctuations than producers reliant on spot markets. Long-term coal supply deals and offtake agreements often include price floors that protect producers from price swings, easing cyclical pressures. Australian producers of higher-calorific value (CV) coal — around 6,000kcal — are likely facing some pricing difficulties, but have more breathing space than BCC. Australian producer Whitehaven Coal and Chinese-Australian producer Yancoal will probably only start losing money on high-CV operations when prices drop to around $80/t, based on their costs and operating margins. Argus ' 6,000kcal thermal coal price was last assessed at $102.08/t fob Newcastle. By Avinash Govind Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Recent deep-sea and short-sea cfr Turkey scrap deals
Recent deep-sea and short-sea cfr Turkey scrap deals
London, 19 June (Argus) — A summary of the most recent deep-sea and short-sea cfr Turkey ferrous scrap deals seen by Argus. Ferrous scrap deep-sea trades (average composition price, cfr Turkey) Date Volume, t Price, $ Shipment Buyer Seller Composition Index relevant 18-Jun 35,000 339.50 (80:20) July Marmara Baltics/Scan HMS 1/2 80:20, bonus N 17-Jun 27,000 340 (80:20) July Izmir Baltics/Scan HMS 1/2 80:20, shred, bonus Y 13-Jun 25,000 339 (80:20) July Samsun Baltics/Scan HMS 1/2 80:20 Y 11-Jun 40,000 336.50 (80:20) July Marmara Russia HMS 1/2 80:20, shred, bonus Y 2-Jun 35,000 336.50 (80:20) July Izmir UK HMS 1/2 80:20, shred, bonus N 2-Jun 25,000 332 (75:25) July Izmir Cont. Europe HMS 1/2 75:25 N 2-Jun 40,000 340.50 (80:20) July Marmara Baltics/Scan HMS 1/2 80:20, shred, bonus Y Ferrous scrap short-sea trades (average composition price, cif Marmara) Date Volume, t Price, $ Shipment Buyer Seller Composition Index relevant 20-May 3,000 328 (80:20) May Marmara Cont. Europe HMS 1/2 80:20 Y Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
ArcelorMittal halts DRI-EAF projects in the EU
ArcelorMittal halts DRI-EAF projects in the EU
London, 19 June (Argus) — Luxembourg-based steelmaker ArcelorMittal said it will not proceed with previously announced direct-reduced iron (DRI) and electric arc furnace (EAF) decarbonisation projects at Bremen and Eisenhuttenstadt in Germany, citing the unfavourable policy and market environment. The company initially planned to supply DRI from Bremen to the EAF in Eisenhuttenstadt after their construction. But in November last year, the company said it was unable to take final investment decisions on building the DRI-EAF assets in the EU because of challenging energy, policy and market environments that were not moving in a favourable direction. ArcelorMittal this week announced that it will carry out repair works on blast furnace 5A at its Eisenhuttenstadt site next week until 28 June, similar to the repairs last year. The blast furnace has capacity of 2.5mn t/yr. The company has urged the EU to accelerate enforcement of the carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM), strengthen trade protections and implement the EU Metals Action Plan to restore the competitiveness of low-emissions steel. In May, ArcelorMittal confirmed its intention to invest €1.2bn in a new EAF at its Dunkirk site in France. Market participants suggest the company was delaying its DRI investments in Ghent, Belgium, and Dunkirk, but the steelmaker has yet to comment. The French government in 2023 approved an €850mn grant to ArcelorMittal to decarbonise its Dunkirk asset. By Elif Eyuboglu Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Nationalisation may prop up surplus steel: Worldsteel
Nationalisation may prop up surplus steel: Worldsteel
New York, 19 June (Argus) — Redundant steelmaking capacity is unlikely to be reduced by decarbonisation and market forces, given global fragmentation and the focus on resilient supply chains, Edwin Basson, director general of international industry organisation Worldsteel, told Argus this week. "If you asked me five years ago, I would have said I suspect decarbonisation and market forces would have led to reductions in redundant capacities, but the few recent examples we've seen of nationalisation or re-nationalisation, quasi-nationalisation, will most likely see countries try to retain steelmaking capacity," Basson said on the sidelines of the Global Steel Dynamics Forum in New York. There are several instances of governments becoming involved in the operation of troubled mills in Europe and the UK. Basson said the industry's future direction depends on three main forces — environmental, employment and economic efficiency. In previous decades, economic efficiency was the main driver, allowing inefficient capacity to close or be modified. But the zeitgeist of reshoring, re-regionalisation and focus on employment has challenged this force, also contributing to the continued operation of surplus capacity that is not necessarily required by the market. "The strength of this efficiency force has reduced the labour and the environmental force is receiving more prominence at the moment. The moment you put a national interest filter on top of all of this, then the efficiency force becomes of minimal importance," he said. And there is limited room to consolidate producers in developed markets, such as the US and EU, given competition concerns, which also dampens cross-border consolidation to some extent. There is scope for consolidation in China, which is still behind the targets set by the government in the previous five-year plan — of 60pc of capacity being consolidated — and in smaller developing economies, shrinking the long tail of smaller producers. Worldsteel forecasts that half of all steel will still be made in blast furnaces in about 20 years from now, despite the current focus on decarbonisation. There is insufficient scrap in the world for the whole industry to move away from blast furnaces and insufficient high-quality direct-reduced iron feed, Basson said. In the EU, where decarbonisation is perhaps the most pressing issue as mills face mounting carbon taxes, the energy challenge is of particular significance. "There is a reason that Scandinavia is, at least in the EU, the home of very progressive decarbonisation producers," he said. "They have access to high-quality materials, direct-reduced iron and so forth, and access to high-quality sustainable energy that is not carbon-based. It's a very different story in other parts of northern Europe, where energy is a key question, and a different question again in the south, where it's energy and access to raw materials." "There will be multiple pathways to decarbonise, depending on location, and Europe may soften its policies to enable existing production routes to remain a force for a number of years longer," he said. Exponential breakthrough technologies related to the blast furnace could see emissions fall to a similar level as the gas-fed direct-reduced iron/electric arc furnace of 1.3-1.4t of carbon per tonne of steel. By Colin Richardson Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
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