[Argentina's Steel Production Increases Across the Board in May]

This week, Ningbo’s large-sample HRC inventory stood at 324,200 mt, down 8,000 mt WoW, or 2.35% WoW, and up 17.51% on a lunar calendar YoY basis.

Australia's Centaurus Metals Ltd. confirmed its capability to produce direct reduction (DR) grade pellet feed at its Jambreiro Project in Minas Gerais, Brazil. A pilot plant successfully produced 0.5 tons of concentrate featuring an average 68.7% iron content, with low impurities including 1.45% silica, 0.48% alumina, and 0.02% phosphorus. The company is evaluating the production of a DR grade pellet with 68% iron and combined silica and alumina under 2%. The development positions Centaurus to supply premium feedstock for electric arc furnaces (EAF), offering steelmakers a critical avenue to lower their overall carbon footprint compared to traditional blast furnace feeds.

The European Commission established a new steel trade regime with a total annual tariff quota volume of 18.35 million metric tons (mt) distributed across 26 product categories, with half allocated exclusively to free trade agreement (FTA) partners. Category 1A (hot-rolled sheets and strips) represents nearly one-third of the total volume at roughly 5.2 million mt, a significant reduction from 7.7 million mt in the previous quota year. Turkey received the largest Category 1A country-specific quota (CSQ) at 642,295 mt, followed by India (597,274 mt) and Japan (551,539 mt), while quotas for cold-rolled coil (Category 4A) and metallic coated sheets were sharply slashed to 1.5 million mt and 1.6 million mt, respectively. The steep reduction in volume allowances, particularly in flat products, highlights a protectionist pivot designed to shield European producers from import influxes amidst structurally weak domestic demand.