[SMM Steel] Kardemir commissioned its No.2 continuous caster with an annual capacity of 1.2 million mt, supplied by SMS Group. The five-strand caster will produce billets, blooms, and beam blanks, supporting Kardemir’s strategy to expand high value-added steel production and improve operational efficiency.

[SMM Steel] EU imports of semi-finished steel rose 34.6% YoY to 8.91 million mt in 2025, with slabs up 28.6% and square billets surging 51%. Russia remained the largest supplier (41.8%), while China recorded the fastest growth, with shipments increasing 134.5% YoY to 1.5 million mt. Brazil and Vietnam also expanded exports, highlighting stronger reliance on external supply amid cost-driven procurement by European rolling mills.

On April 2, 2026, the White House ushered US steel trade policy into "Version 2.0." This strategic shift goes beyond simple tariff hikes. It uses full-value taxation and melt-and-pour traceability to block low-end imported raw materials, while applying structural tariff reductions to finished products to ease manufacturing inflation. Ultimately, this two-pronged approach aims to forcibly bring the global supply chain back to domestic US steel production.

[SMM Steel] Germany’s SMS Group secured a contract from India’s SAIL to modernize billet casters at the Durgapur Steel Plant. The upgrade of two six-strand casters is expected to boost production capacity by over 60% and introduce a 150 mm × 150 mm billet section to support downstream rebar and wire rod production. The project will be implemented in two phases, with commissioning planned for Q4 2027 and Q3 2028.

Inter-product price spreads are a segment of the rebar spread system characterized by complex logic and abundant trading opportunities. Unlike the spot-futures price spread, which reflects the spot-futures structure, and calendar spreads, which reflect near- and far-term expectations, the core of inter-product price spreads lies in macroeconomic structural adjustment and profit distribution across the industry chain. From the perspective of the industry chain, inter-product price spreads for long steel products are mainly concentrated in the following four areas:

Global scrap metal prices experienced a predominantly upward trend in mid-March 2026, with the most significant increases recorded in Turkey and the United States. In Turkey, HMS 1&2 80:20 scrap prices rose by 3.9% between late February and late March, reaching $388.3 per tonne, the highest level since mid-2024. The price surge is primarily driven by a domestic supply shortage and rising freight rates linked to Middle East instability, forcing electric arc furnace operators to absorb higher costs as high-grade alternatives like Asian billets become increasingly scarce.