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Italy's steel association Federacciai warned that soaring energy costs are threatening the continuity of domestic steel production and urged the EU to suspend its Emissions Trading System (ETS). It said the combined burden of high electricity prices and carbon costs has left Italian mills, particularly electric arc furnace operators, facing unsustainable pressure, with some lines at risk of shutdown. Federacciai called on the EU and the Italian government to take emergency measures, including halting ETS allowance auctions and adjusting carbon cost pass-through rules, to protect steel supply and jobs. Spanish peer Unesid also warned of a 658 million EUR energy cost overrun (about 710 million USD) and sought an emergency plan. Source: Federacciai.

The European Commission proposes barring Egypt from importing EU-origin ferrous and non-ferrous scrap once the revised Waste Shipment Regulation fully takes effect on 21 May 2027. Egypt, with India, Pakistan, Morocco, Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia, failed to prove environmentally sound waste management. Egypt imported 1.86 million tonnes of EU scrap in 2025 and 2.12 million tonnes in H1 2026, up 59.7% y-o-y, ranking third globally; about half its ferrous scrap supply comes from the EU. Mills would need alternative scrap or more DRI: European freight is 20-25 USD/tonne versus 35-40 USD/tonne from China or the US. Egypt has also lost 213 million USD of steel exports to EU and US anti-dumping measures. Feedback closes 16 October; adoption is planned for Q4 2026.

Salzgitter and its partners at Hüttenwerke Krupp Mannesmann (HKM) have permanently decommissioned blast furnace A in Duisburg, removing the unit from the production chain. The JV, held by Salzgitter, thyssenkrupp Steel and Vallourec, supplies slab for seamless pipe and flat products. With no restart option retained, the partners avoid future carbon costs and free capital and site space for electric arc furnace and direct reduced iron capacity. The move aligns with Salzgitter's SALCOS low-carbon programme, which targets a roughly 95% cut in CO2 emissions at its flagship works by 2033. For the market, it means a further structural contraction of German blast furnace crude steel supply, as ETS costs and high power prices accelerate the retirement of ironmaking assets.