Data: SHFE, DCE market movement (Jul 10)

Cleveland-Cliffs officially announced on July 1, 2026 that it had received a $400 million sole-source, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract from the US Defense Logistics Agency to supply grain-oriented electrical steel (GOES), a critical material for transformers and other power equipment. The five-year contract, which runs through September 2030, was originally awarded in September 2025 but was formally announced by the company this week. GOES production has become a strategic US priority amid concerns over grid infrastructure resilience and reliance on imported transformer steel. The contract is expected to support jobs at Cleveland-Cliffs' Ohio operations, where the company produces the specialty steel grade. The announcement adds to a series of defense- and infrastructure-linked demand signals for US electrical steel producers this year

Swiss trading and steelmaking group Trasteel signed an agreement to lease the business operations of Liberty Magona's plant in Piombino, Italy, following approval of a recovery plan by Italy's Ministry of Enterprises and Made in Italy (MIMIT). Under the deal, Trasteel will pay €36 million over eight months from signing, deductible from an eventual purchase price, and steel production at the roughly 500-employee facility is scheduled to resume in the second half of September 2026. The lease structure allows Trasteel to take operational control while sidestepping the need to immediately resolve the full range of Liberty Steel Group's financial and legal obligations tied to the site, and is seen as a step toward Trasteel's planned outright acquisition. The agreement follows an extended period of uncertainty over Magona's future, during which a prior bid process involving Greensill-linked financing had stalled. The restart would add flat-rolled capacity back to the Italian market after a prolonged idle period. Date: July 3, 2026

measures to support the country's steel industry, which it described as facing an "emergency situation" driven by global overcapacity, including raising import tariffs on a wide range of upstream and downstream steel products by between 10% and 30% to align with South Africa's WTO bound rates. The measures aim to protect domestic producers such as ArcelorMittal South Africa and Columbus Stainless, boost demand for locally made steel, and accelerate the sector's transition to greener production technologies. The announcement comes as South African steel exporters simultaneously face tighter access to the EU market following the bloc's July 1 safeguard overhaul, which cut duty-free quotas and imposed a 50% tariff on volumes above quota. South Africa has also separately sought an extension of a 90-day pause on threatened US reciprocal tariffs of 31% on its exports, which was due to expire around July 9. Details of the state-led revival plan's implementation timeline were not fully specified