STEEL NEWS

Are Europeans ready to buy low-emission steel at higher prices?

According to Platts, according to the Austrian Mining and Steel Association, European steel markets are attracting customers interested in purchasing low carbon steel products at higher prices.

New low-emission steel plants and investments will require disruptive technology, financing and competitive energy prices, as well as favorable markets and legislation, Roman Stiftner, managing director of the Austrian Mining and Steel Industry Association, said on June 22.

“We need customers, we need a green market,” Stiftner said in a presentation at the Sustainable Steel Strategies Summit, in conjunction with Steel Times International.

“We are already seeing that there are many customers who are willing to pay a little more for the so-called green steel and therefore possibly for a different price level,” Stiftner said. "I think this is a good situation because we have access to all these transformations in society, and together with industry we can solve them."

Higher production costs for low-emission steel and demand for increasingly high-quality steel raw materials and clean energy, as well as metals supporting the energy transition, will have to be supported by consumers and regulations such as the EU's proposed Carbon Boundary Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM). - he said.

Austrian company Voestalpine plans to use hybrid and hydrogen steel technology in stages using renewable energy sources to cut emissions by 80% in 2050, Stiftner said. ArcelorMittal uses hydrogen and carbon steelmaking processes at several sites in Europe.

Steelworkers SSAB and Ovako are working with truck manufacturer Volvo Group on separate initiatives to use hydrogen-based steel products with lower emissions.

Steelworkers may require a government bailout regime for environmentally sound investments in addition to CBAM.

“We have to finance this transition, we have a lot of funds in the EU, and in general we are now on the path to finding a sustainable financing regime, the so-called taxonomy regime,” said Stiftner. “Of course, the steel sector should be a part of it, and it should be the main sector positively affected for sustainable financing.”