Mycron drops challenge to Malaysia's removal of steel import duties

As of October 16, the latest SMM data shows that total iron ore inventory across 35 main ports in China stood at 148.3 million mt, up 2.85 million mt MoM, with overall inventory trending higher. Daily average port pick-up volume edged down 50,000 mt to 3.185 million mt.

Britain will enforce a new steel safeguard regime from 1 July 2026, cutting tariff-free import quotas by 60% and charging a 50% duty on above-quota shipments. India is seeking product-specific carve-outs for MSME-linked steel lines with heavy UK exposure: hot-rolled sheets and strips, stainless steel bars and light sections, stainless steel wire rod, merchant bars, gas pipes and other welded pipes, roughly six categories in all, two of which involve relatively high MSME participation. New Delhi says it will not let as many as 88 steel lines be swept into the new regime without relief, treating steel as part of the wider trade package. The standoff has delayed rollout of the FTA signed in July 2025. India's iron and steel exports to the UK reached 566.69 million USD in FY26, up from 526.96 million USD in FY25 and 383.82 million USD in FY24.

The European Commission has cleared Tenaris' acquisition of 100% of Romanian seamless pipe and steel producer Artrom Steel Tubes under EU merger rules, finding no competition concerns. Tenaris signed the deal in May with seller GLGH Steel, a unit of Chicago-based Great Lakes Global Holdings, for 86 million EUR (about 93 million USD). Tenaris said the deal widens its industrial pipe portfolio and European manufacturing network; it has owned Romanian seamless pipe maker TenarisSilcotub since 2004. Artrom's Reșița plant has about 450,000 tonnes of annual steel capacity; its Slatina mill can roll up to 200,000 tonnes of seamless pipe a year. GLGH Steel bought the company last year from Serbia's Hefestos Capital, which acquired TMK Artrom in December 2022 and renamed it.