Issue 12, 2025 - This week's editorial: EU issues long-awaited steel plan, political unrest hits Türkiye

I hope you were buckled up, folks, because the steel market last week took quite an eventful ride! The European Commission published its hugely-anticipated Steel and Metals Action Plan, which caused delight and disappointment in equal measure, while India’s trade investigation body recommended a 12% safeguard duty, lower than expectations but enough to boost sentiment. The arrest of Istanbul’s mayor meanwhile prompted massive political and economic unrest in Türkiye, hitting market sentiment.

The Steel and Metals Action Plan includes some intriguing measure proposals, but also few guarantees that these measures will be implemented. Case in point being the Commission saying it will “assess whether to introduce” the melted and poured rule in trade defence measures, and will “consider proposing” scrap export duties.

Moreover, rather than detailing measures, the plan promises to provide some solutions in future. This is the case with the legislative proposal to amend CBAM, which the Commission will issue in the fourth quarter, and the Commission’s promise to propose in Q3 a long-term measure to replace the steel safeguard mechanism from July 2026. It also said it will propose to introduce resilience and sustainability criteria to encourage lead markets for steel.

Eurofer immediately pointed to the lack of concrete measures to reduce energy costs in the short term, while Italian trade association Assofermet highlighted the lack of any strategies to boost steel consumption.

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