Speaking of Steel

New tariff-rate quotas are “biting hard” on imports and bright spots of steel demand are increasingly scarce, according to guests on MEPS’s UK Metals Expo preview episode of the Speaking of Steel podcast.

The new podcast looks ahead to the two-day event, which will take place at the NEC Birmingham on November 4 and 5, exploring the hot topics that will be discussed in MEPS’s on-stage panel debates focussed on the carbon and stainless steel markets. It also reveals MEPS’s plan to officially unveil its new steel price intelligence portal, MEPS 360, at the annual event.

International Steel Trade Association president Godfrey Watt, Langley Alloys director Rodney Rice and Seven Steel commercial director Laura Thomas joined the MEPS team for the discussion.

The 35-minute UK Metals Expo Special podcast is available now and includes insight into:

• How a “transitional period” delayed the significant effects of the UK’s new tariff-rate quota regime.
• UK CBAM’s implementation: what we know now and market participants’ hopes for greater near-term clarity.
• In -show opportunities to preview the new MEPS 360 steel price intelligence portal.
• Details of MEPS’s carbon and stainless steel panel debates at Theatre 4 of the Birmingham NEC event.

Ukrainian production outages and rising fuel costs have focussed Central European steel buyers’ attentions on domestic coil supply, MEPS’s latest Market in Minutes podcast reveals.

A tightening of supply in Poland and Czechia helped to support the price of coil products assessed by MEPS in its latest International Steel Report. However, steel market analyst Chris Jackson expects subdued demand to undermine the upward price trend.

Jackson said: “In the longer term, it's fair to say that it may be  a difficult task for steel mills and the supply chain to maintain those kinds of price levels if there is little improvement in demand.”

MEPS managing editor Tom Sharpe hosts the Poland and Czechia-focussed Market in Minutes podcast which is available now via YouTube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

The full 12-minute podcast also discusses:

• Central Europe’s steel demand bright spots, including the region’s automotive and defence sectors.
• Central European service centres’ and end-users’ Brussels protests over increased downstream competition from overseas suppliers.
• Rising interest rates and their effect on steel demand.

CBAM experts shared insight and real-world experience to bring clarity to the EU’s emissions-based border controls in MEPS’s new Speaking of Steel podcast.
MEPS steel market analyst Jon Carruthers-Green was joined by carbon and energy specialist Andy Proctor, from Auditel, and international trade expert Kieran McCann, of Allied Group, to provide a 40-minute update on CBAM. 
Alongside detail from a series of recent European Commission “document dumps”, which provide new detail on the legislation’s continued rollout, the episode features real-world accounts of potentially costly compliance issues encountered by steel importers, as well as:

• Steel importers’ key contractual considerations when agreeing DDP import terms to mitigate CBAM costs.
• The January 2027 launch of a UK CBAM and its possible implications for EU trade.
• Northern Ireland’s unique position between EU and UK import frameworks and its impending relationship with CBAM.

The future of the North American steel industry’s cross-border trade could be undermined by the US government’s failure to commit to a long-term renewal of USMCA, a new Market in Minutes podcast heard.

MEPS US steel market analyst Laura Hodges discusses the effects of USMCA negotiations on the North American steel market with managing editor Tom Sharpe in the new episode of the regular podcast.

Listen to the full episode now to hear insight about this, alongside insight on:

• Whether an easing of the upward trend in US steel prices is an indicator of longer-term reductions.
• How US steel imports are increasing as a result of tight supply and elevated prices.
• Data centre developments’ role in sustained construction sector steel demand.
• Feedback from MEPS respondents in Canada and Mexico about the effects of faltering North American trade relations.

Stringent new quotas have increased the risk of exposure to elevated steel import tariffs, making overseas procurement a “high stakes gamble” for buyers in the EU and United Kingdom, a new MEPS podcast concludes.

The new episode, featuring insight from steel market analysts Jon Carruthers-Green, Adam Crookes and Benedicte Mikolajczak and hosted by MEPS managing editor Tom Sharpe, covers the following topics:

• Winners and losers: the revised TRQs already exceeded, creating cost concerns for buyers
• Flexibility or complexity? The EU Steel Regulation’s new “overflow” quotas for countries with a free trade agreement
• Incoming EU “melt and pour” rules of origin: their influence on overseas procurement and future TRQs
• The steel supply squeeze created by reduced imports and its influence on prices as inventories decline
• The UK steel production limitations behind buyers’ supply concerns

Not all large global steelmakers have leveraged high steel prices to return strong profits during the first quarter of 2026, research conducted for MEPS’s latest Speaking of Steel podcast revealed.

MEPS’s head of price analysis and forecasts, Kaye Ayub, joined steel market analyst Laura Hodges and managing editor Tom Sharpe to explore the profitability of the largest steel producers in the United States, Europe and Asia in the latest episode.

Among the topics explored are:

• The quarter one profits of large steelmakers in the US, Europe and Asia
• Raw material prices and the prospect of rising production costs
• Escalating trade defences and their effect on procurement
• How changes in the EU market outlook has stalled takeovers and long-term investments
• Whether elevated prices can be sustained[JP9]  amid continued low demand

MEPS’s new Market in Minutes podcast revealed that an uptick in domestic stainless steel procurement, driven by tightening trade defences, could be starting to slow across Europe.

Stainless steel market analyst Michelle Kirton delivers a 15-minute overview of Europe’s stainless steel market in conversation with MEPS managing editor Tom Sharpe in the latest edition of the monthly podcast.

MEPS’s new Market in Minutes podcast, entitled “Policy-driven trends define European stainless market” addresses:

• How steelmakers’ selling price gains have slowed after six months of increases
• UK stainless steel long product buyers’ concerns about planned import restrictions
• The stainless steel-consuming sectors providing pockets of strong demand
• MEPS outlook for stainless steel prices in Europe

Nordic steel prices are being supported by anticipated supply constraints and rising costs, MEPS’s latest Market in Minutes podcast reveals.

Steel market analyst Adam Crookes joined MEPS managing editor Tom Sharpe to provide an 11-minute overview of the steel markets in Finland, Denmark, Norway and Sweden in the new episode.

Crookes said that steel demand had failed to live up to expectations during the first four months of the year. However, supply concerns have prompted a degree of restocking and some notable price increases. MEPS's Nordic hot rolled coil prices have risen by an average of more than 10% during the period.

Also discussed in the Nordic-themed Market in Minutes podcast are:

• Rising inflation and the risks it poses to a steel demand recovery
• How steelmakers’ delivery lead times indicate available capacity for certain products
• Long products’ continued price rises amid increasing EAF production costs

Representatives from UK Steel and the Independent Steel Trade Association (ISTA) debated the possible repercussions of proposed steel import restrictions in the latest edition of MEPS’s Speaking of Steel podcast. ISTA president Godfrey Watt told MEPS that the Department for Business and Trade’s proposed July 1 cuts to tariff-free steel import quotas had provoked a “massive reaction” from steel traders.

Meanwhile, UK Steel director general Gareth Stace described the new measures as “the biggest policy issue that I’ve come across”, adding: “I’m quite surprised that some commentators are throwing mud rather than saying what should happen so that whole steel supply chain is much more healthy in the future.”Listen to MEPS’s ‘Reshaping UK steel imports’ podcast, via YouTube, Spotify or Apple Podcasts, to hear the full debate, including:How TRQ reductions of up to 98% suggest UK steelmakers are ready to secure a record market share.

The political aspect of TRQs: how EU and US trade relations could yet influence the availability of tariff-free imports.

MEPS’s latest insight into UK steel buyers’ response to import quota reductions, including rising prices and a step back from new overseas orders.

MEPS’s new Speaking of Steel podcast debates whether demand from the United States construction sector will support surging long product prices during 2026. 

Sarah Martin, associate director of forecasting at Dodge Construction Network, joins MEPS US steel market analysts Laura Hodges and Gary Sanders for the debate. The podcast episode, hosted by MEPS managing editor Tom Sharpe, can be accessed via YouTube, Spotify or Apple Podcasts. 

Listen now to benefit from: 

• A US construction sector outlook, delivered by Sarah Martin, associate director of forecasting at Dodge Construction Network 

• Analysis of areas of strength and weakness in the US construction sector, and the outlook for steel demand 

• Discussion around the effect of US Section 232 tariffs on the supply of rebar and beams to the construction sector, and the upward pressure applied to prices 

• Consideration of the possible effects of the Middle East conflict on inflation and interest rates