The UK will implement its final steel trade measures from July, keeping in-quota steel imports duty-free and imposing a 50% tariff on above-quota volumes. UK Steel welcomed the framework, saying it could support domestic resilience, capacity utilisation and investment. However, concerns remain over high quota allocations for galvanized steel, packaging steel and hollow sections. Tata Steel UK said some quota levels may still allow heavy import penetration and pressure domestic producers.

At 4:15 PM on June 8, 2026, a ladle explosion at the SMS-1 steelmaking shop of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP) — operated by Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL) — unleashed molten metal at over 1,500°C onto the working platform below Caster-2. According to a preliminary report by India's Chief Inspector of Factories, the cause was a sudden release of gas entrapped within the liquid steel, which ruptured the ladle seal before the sliding gate was opened, triggering a catastrophic spill.

【SMM Steel】A major fire broke out at a processing line at Tata Steel's Port Talbot plant in south Wales around 8pm on June 3 causing part of the building to collapse. Firefighters from 16 stations worked through the night with the response scaled down the following evening. Tata Steel confirmed all personnel were safely evacuated with no injuries. Unite general secretary Sharon Graham confirmed the fire caused substantial damage to a vital production line urging Tata and the government to rebuild operations swiftly and protect jobs at the plant and across the supply chain. The company said the incident was unrelated to a controlled demolition of a redundant gas holder carried out earlier that evening. The full extent of damage and production impact has not yet been assessed.

[SMM Steel] Tata Steel expects India’s steel demand to grow by 7-8% annually over the next 20 years, supported by infrastructure development and industrialization. The company plans to expand its domestic steelmaking capacity to over 40 million tonnes per year and strengthen its presence in the Maharashtra market. More than 60-65% of Tata Steel’s annual capex budget of Rs 20,000 crore will continue to be allocated to India. Meanwhile, the company is enhancing supply chain diversification, scenario planning, and hedging strategies to manage geopolitical risks, while focusing on cost and commercial improvements in Europe amid weak demand and high energy costs.

Tata Steel’s latest performance shows a company moving from a traditional volume-based steel business toward a more margin-focused and transformation-driven model. It is driving growth and profitability, financial performance is recovering through better margins and cost control, while the company’s key business activities are increasingly focused on downstream expansion, raw material security and low-carbon steelmaking.

I. Background of China's Demand Decline ◼ In 2026, the global iron ore market is facing a critical turning point. As the Chinese government continues to strengthen steel capacity regulation and accelerate the industry's green and low-carbon transition, compounded by global trade barriers constraining export opportunities, China's steel production is expected to continue its YoY decline. As the world's largest iron ore consumer (absorbing approximately 75% of seaborne iron ore volume), China's weakening demand coincides with the supply side being about to see massive volume releases—represented by the phased commissioning of the Simandou project with a designed annual capacity of 120 million mt. With supply and demand moving in opposite directions, global iron ore prices will face significant downward pressure. Data source: SMM ◼ Against this backdrop, market attention naturally turns to the world's second-largest crude steel producer— India . As an emerging market in steel consumption, India is driven by infrastructure and real estate as its core growth engines, with downstream steel consumption growing rapidly, strongly propelling the robust development of crude steel production, with an average annual growth rate of 10.5% . Although countries such as Vietnam, Indonesia, Turkey, Mexico, and the US also maintain relatively fast development in their steel industries, over the next five years, the highest compound annual growth rate among these countries is only 5%, forming a notable gap with India. Data source: SMM II. Analysis of India's Iron Ore Supply-Demand Structure 2.1 India's Iron Ore Production Continues to Grow, but Structural Differentiation Is Evident ◼ 2.1.1 India Is Rich in Iron Ore Resources, Ranking Third Globally ◼ From a resource perspective, India is relatively rich in iron ore resources. According to the latest 2024 Iron Ore Resource Annual Report released by India's Ministry of Mines, India's iron ore resource reserves total 35.29 billion mt. Magnetite accounts for 33%, and hematite accounts for 67%. The predominant hematite resources are mainly distributed across Odisha, Goa, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Karnataka — these five states. Among them, Odisha in the east (production accounting for over half of the national total, grade 62%-65%) and Chhattisgarh (home to the large Bailadila mining area, with estimated total reserves of 3 billion mt and grade as high as 65%), as well as Karnataka in the south (primarily magnetite). Data source: SMM 2.1.2 India's Iron Ore Production Is Largely Concentrated in State-Owned Mines ◼ India's iron ore mining market combines state-owned and private enterprises. By company ownership, 36% of mines are controlled by state-owned enterprises, with the remaining 64% controlled by private enterprises. Representative state-owned mine enterprises include National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) , Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) , and Kudremukh Iron Ore Company (Kudremukh); representative private mine enterprises include Tata Steel Company, etc. ◼ In FY2025/26 (April 2025–March 2026), India's iron ore production is expected to reach 305–310 million mt, up approximately 7% YoY. Specifically: NMDC (state-owned producer) production reached 53.15 million mt, up 20.6% YoY; OMC production reached 40 million mt, up 11% YoY. Commercial mine production grew 15% to 190 million mt, while captive mine production declined 3% to 120 million mt. Production growth was primarily driven by commercial producers, and the supply structure is shifting, but growth is concentrated among a few large producers, meaning supply conditions are not balanced. Data source: WSA, SMM 2.1.3 India's New Iron Ore Project Capacity to Increase by 60 Million mt by 2030 ◼ Facing tight balance pressure from downstream steelmaking capacity expansion on supply and demand, industry leader NMDC is actively implementing a capacity expansion strategy. By accelerating mine development and technological upgrades, it is committed to enhancing supply-side flexibility and resilience to ensure continuous fulfillment of the widening rigid demand in the Chinese market. ◼ In addition to NMDC planning to increase capacity from 45 million mt to 67 million mt in FY2025/26, Tata Steel plans to invest 100 billion rupees (approximately $1.18 billion) over the next five years to expand mining capacity from 40 million mt to 55 million mt, and some private enterprises are also increasing iron ore capacity. Based on existing new iron ore capacity estimates, India's iron ore capacity is expected to increase by 60 million mt by 2030. Data source: SMM 2.1.4 Imbalanced Iron Ore Grade Structure — Both an Exporter and Importer ◼ According to the latest India resource report, although India has abundant iron ore reserves, the raw ore grade varies significantly. Currently, total explored reserves across India stand at 6.21 billion mt, of which high-grade iron ore accounts for 23%, medium-grade ore approximately 42%, and low-grade ore approximately 25%. Based on product classification of India's industry leaders, iron ore with grade above 60% accounts for 43% of production, while that below 60% accounts for approximately 57%, indicating that India's iron ore products are predominantly low-grade. However, India's major steel producers have high raw material requirements and prefer iron ore with grade above 60%. Therefore, iron ore below 60% grade is mainly exported to China, Japan, and other countries. The high-grade shortfall is mainly met through imports from Brazil, Oman, Australia, and other countries. Data sources: India Resources Report, WSA, SMM III. Key Constraints on India's Ability to Absorb China's Declining Iron Ore Demand 3.1 Vast Volume Gap Hard to Bridge, but Incremental Offset Can Provide a Floor ◼ In recent years, China's annual iron ore imports were approximately 1.2 billion mt, while India remains primarily an exporter, with annual exports of 23.56 million mt and imports of 12.31 million mt—its import scale being only 1% of China's. Even if India redirected all its export resources to meet its own demand, the absolute scale would still be two orders of magnitude smaller than China's demand decline. ◼ However, as China's iron ore demand declines and India's demand rises in the future, India's share in the global iron ore market will grow significantly. According to World Steel Association data, China accounted for 59% of global iron ore demand in 2025, while India accounted for only 10%; by 2030, China's share is expected to decline to 52%, while India's will rise to 15%, with particularly impressive growth momentum. The incremental demand from India will offset part of China's decline, providing a floor for iron ore prices. Data sources: WSA, SMM 3.2 Government Policies & Import Grade Restrictions Limiting Imports ◼ Based on India's iron ore import and export data, India's exports in 2025 declined 34% compared to 2024, while imports surged 129%. Despite the massive increase in imports and significant room for further growth driven by rising domestic demand, the Indian government has already introduced measures requiring priority fulfillment of domestic demand and reducing exports, which will to some extent suppress the growth potential of its iron ore imports. Meanwhile, the continued degradation of resource endowments at major global mines has intensified the structural shortage of high-grade ore, making the high-grade resources available for India's future imports relatively limited. Furthermore, as requirements for green steel production increase in and outside China, China's future demand for high-grade iron ore will also rise correspondingly, a trend that will further constrain India's iron ore import capacity. ◼ In the long run, if demand for high-grade ore continues to trigger structural tightness, the price spread between high-, medium-, and low-grade iron ore will continue to widen. Against this backdrop, India's own ore product mix may undergo significant adjustments, and its exports may continue to decline. Data sources: WSA, SMM 3.3 Green Steel Policies Driving Higher Electric Furnace Share, Iron Ore Demand Growth Under Pressure to Slow Down ◼ From a production process perspective, India's share of electric furnace steelmaking far exceeds China's, at approximately 30% in 2024. According to India's *National Steel Policy (2017)*, the country plans to raise its annual crude steel capacity to 300 million mt by FY2030 (ending March 31, 2031), with blast furnace-converter process capacity accounting for 60%-65% and electric furnace process capacity accounting for 35%-40%. As global carbon emission policies advance further, the share of green steel will increase significantly in the future, which aligns with the electric furnace capacity share target in India's National Steel Policy. Under this trend, the rising share of electric furnace steelmaking will, to some extent, curb the incremental demand for iron ore in India. Data sources: WSA, SMM IV. India's Iron Ore Demand Growth: Sufficient to Offset, Insufficient to Reverse ◼ According to the World Steel Association's forecast, global total iron ore demand is expected to maintain a modest growth trend from 2026 to 2030. China's iron ore demand is expected to decline by 8%, a reduction of approximately 113 million mt, while benefiting from continued expansion in steel production, India's total iron ore demand over the same period will grow by 55%, an increase of approximately 128 million mt. Meanwhile, based on estimates of global iron ore project capacity and commissioning pace, by 2030, approximately 300 million mt of new iron ore capacity is expected to be added globally on a cumulative basis. Overall, although India's demand growth is robust, it remains difficult to offset the large-scale supply increase on a global scale. However, the rise in India's demand can, to some extent, counteract the negative impact of declining demand from China, providing floor support for iron ore prices. ◼ In addition, as global carbon emission policies advance further, blast furnace capacity will gradually contract and crude steel production will trend downward, while the share of direct reduced iron (DRI) and electric furnace steelmaking is expected to continue rising. Against this backdrop, demand for high-grade iron ore will grow significantly in both China and India, which will further intensify the structural tightness in the high-grade ore market, thereby pushing up high-grade premiums. The price spread between high- and medium-grade iron ore is expected to widen notably in the future. Data source: SMM Data source disclaimer: Data other than publicly available information is derived by SMM based on public information, market communication, and SMM's internal database models, for reference only and does not constitute decision-making advice. Note: This article is an original article of this official account. For reprinting, whitelisting, cooperation, or other needs, please contact us. Without permission, it is prohibited to reprint, modify, use, sell, transfer, display, translate, compile, disseminate, or disclose the above content to third parties in any other form, or license third parties to use it. Otherwise, once discovered, SMM will pursue legal liability for infringement through legal means, including but not limited to demanding liability for breach of contract, return of unjust enrichment, and compensation for direct and indirect economic losses. Scan the QR code to get information for free

[SMM Steel] Tata Steel UK received an exemption from US steel tariff rules, allowing steel processed at its Port Talbot plant in Wales to qualify for the lower 25% US tariff rate applied to UK steel exports. The exemption permits products manufactured at Port Talbot to be treated as UK-origin steel even if raw materials are sourced outside Britain. Under current US trade measures, most steel imports face a 50% tariff, while UK-origin steel meeting “smelting and casting” requirements qualifies for the reduced tariff rate.

[SMM Steel] Tata Steel Nederland said it is evaluating the accelerated closure of its KGF 1 and KGF 2 coke and gas plants after Dutch regulator ODNZKG announced plans to revoke operating permits for the facilities. The company stated that shutting down the units earlier than planned would be technically and logistically complex, with significant environmental and safety considerations. Tata Steel warned that regulatory uncertainty could create additional operational risks for the company and affect its broader production transformation plans. The coke plants are a key part of TSN’s integrated steelmaking chain. The development follows a recent EUR8.5 million fine imposed on Tata Steel Nederland in April 2026 for exceeding emission limits at one of its coke facilities.

[SMM Steel] Tata Steel reported consolidated net profit of INR29.26 billion ($304.9 million) in Q4 FY2025/26, more than double year on year but below analysts’ forecast of INR30.8 billion. Earnings were pressured by a 16.7% rise in material costs, 8% growth in total expenses to INR585.02 billion, and one-time restructuring costs at its Dutch unit. In India, Q4 crude steel production rose over 14% YoY to 6.22 million tonnes, while domestic shipments increased 10.5% YoY to 6.19 million tonnes. The company also continued expansion projects, including a 0.75-million-tonne EAF in Ludhiana and a 2.2-million-tonne CRM complex in Kalinganagar.

【SMM Steel】Tata Steel IJmuiden has signed a cooperation agreement with low-carbon cement technology company Ecocem to develop new applications for steelmaking slag in cement and concrete production, targeting lower CO₂ emissions and greater circularity in construction. The companies have signed an MoU. Unlike widely used blast furnace slag, these materials are currently underutilized. By replacing clinker—the most carbon-intensive ingredient in cement—these slag-based materials can significantly cut emissions while creating value from industrial by-products. The partnership supports Tata Steel's Groen Staal decarbonization program and expands sustainable material options for the construction industry.