European Mills Intends to Expand the Capacity of Electrical Steel in the Next Quarters of 2023

In the European market, the prices for Electrical Steel have risen in the week ending March 10, 2023, owing to strong order books at local mills, longer lead times, and limited imports. As per market players, the main driver of downstream Electrical Steel price growth in Europe was reduced availability. Major European market players intend to increase their production of Electrical Steel in the upcoming Q2 and Q3 of 2023. Domestic manufacturers aim to improve their competitiveness in the Electrical Steel market by raising the production of European Silicon Steel. Amidst its broad spectrum of applications, Electrical Steel has become a highly sought-after product, particularly in the automotive industry. Thus, the Electrical Steel (50 WW 800) Coil prices for Ex. Ruhr and FOB Hamburg settled at USD 2480/MT and USD 2540/MT, respectively.

According to our sources, the most promising aspect of this situation is the increased emphasis on the production of electric vehicles and Electrical Steel and the rise in the inquiries for electric motors and charging stations. As a result, the primary strategies of European-based Electrical Steel producers are to invest in basic resources to increase production capacity. It is estimated that the cost of Electrical Steel sales in Europe last year was around USD 6.29 billion. According to market participants, the European Electrical Steel market will grow at a 10% annual rate over the next ten years.

With the rise in demand for electric vehicles and the impact of the automotive sector's growth, the market will most likely be characterized by higher growth rates. Meanwhile, strong demand for small tonnages is anticipated in March 2023, offering traders opportunities. However, buyers are still unsure whether the upward trend will continue in upcoming quarters, given the still-weak end-user demand and rising supply caused by capacity restarts. Due to weak market fundamentals in the fourth quarter of 2022, European steelmakers were forced to idle some of their capacity. Since January 2023, this process has been gradually restarting. As a result of firm downstream inquiries from the automotive industry, ChemAnalyst anticipates that Electrical Steel prices will show an upward trend in the coming weeks.