[Pakistan's Pak Steel Eyes Rebar Investment in Uzbekistan to Escape High Energy Costs at Home]

POSCO officially broke ground on its KRW 480 billion ($360 million) No. 8 continuous galvanizing line (8CGL) at its Gwangyang Works in South Korea. Dedicated to processing high-value automotive steel sheets, the new line is strategically designed to expand POSCO's output of advanced high-strength galvanized steel for global automakers undergoing light-weighting and electric vehicle transitions. [SMM Iron Ore]

Japan's JFE Steel expects its output to fall by about 600,000 tonnes after heavy rain in August and further flooding from Typhoon No. 25 in September damaged facilities at its East Japan Works in the Chiba area. The impact is expected to be prolonged, as the typhoon caused additional damage while the company was still working to return its blast furnace to normal operations following the earlier August flooding. Products affected by the production cut include flat-rolled steel, stainless steel, and iron powder made at the Chiba site, with certain deliveries already delayed. JFE said the estimate may change as restoration progresses and it continues assessing the impact on output and earnings. No injuries were reported. The Chiba plant produced 3.59 million tonnes of crude steel in fiscal 2025, against JFE Steel's total output of 21.37 million tonnes for the year

The European steel industry's annual carbon costs could more than double from around €3.4 billion in 2026 to approximately €8.2 billion in 2031 under proposed revisions to the EU Emissions Trading System, according to estimates published by the European Steel Association EUROFER. EUROFER estimates that carbon costs for conventional blast-furnace steel could rise to around €100/tonne by 2030 and exceed €200/tonne from 2031 as free ETS allowances are progressively reduced. The association warned that the increase could occur even if steelmakers implement currently planned decarbonisation investments. EUROFER called for the transition from free ETS allowances to the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism to be aligned with the availability of affordable low-carbon energy, effective carbon-leakage protection, markets for low-carbon steel, access to ferrous scrap and investment support. The association argued that these enabling conditions will not become available uniformly across EU member states. The €8.2 billion figure is EUROFER's industry estimate under the proposed ETS framework and is not an official European Commission forecast. The warning comes as European steelmakers face rising decarbonisation costs alongside weak demand and increasing pressure to finance the transition from conventional blast-furnace production to lower-emission steelmaking.