Raw material
After a sharp drop in prices for key raw materials and energy in the previous year, the 2024/25 business year has seen relatively stable pricing with only minor fluctuations. Within the voestalpine Group, the Steel Division and the Metal Engineering Division primarily use iron ore and coking coal or coke in the blast furnace process. These inputs, along with recycled scrap and alloys, are processed into pig iron in the steel plant. The High Performance Metals Division, on the other hand, mainly uses high-quality recycled steel scrap and various alloying elements in the field of electric arc technology.
IRON ORE
Iron ore is the most important raw material for the production of crude steel via the blast furnace route. In the 2024/25 financial year, iron ore prices remained relatively stable. Compared to the all-time high of around USD 220 per ton (62% Fe, CFR China) in July 2021, the average price in 2024/25 was about 50% lower. At the start of the financial year, the price of iron ore was around USD 100 per ton, rising to USD 120 per ton in May 2024 before steadily falling to just under USD 90 per ton by early September. In the second half of the year, the price moved within a narrow range between just under USD 100 and around USD 110 per ton. A key factor behind the moderate iron ore price trend was weak demand from China, the world largest consumer, where ongoing weakness in the real estate sector had a negative impact on steel demand. Globally, crude steel production fell by 1% to just under 1.9 billion tons in the calendar year 2024.
COKING COAL
Coking coal, also known as metallurgical coal, is a key raw material for producing metallurgical coke, which is essential in the production of crude steel using blast furnace technology. Australia is the largest supplier of metallurgical coal, while China is the biggest consumer of this crucial raw material for the steel industry. However, demand is also growing on the Asian subcontinent, especially in India and Indonesia. Prices for coking coal not only declined compared to the previous year but also decreased steadily throughout the 2024/25 financial year. In addition, price volatility has diminished compared to previous years. At the beginning of April 2024, the price of coking coal (HCC Premium, FOB Australia) was around USD 230 per ton, weakening to below USD 200 per ton over the summer. Prices subsequently remained under pressure and fell to around USD 170 per ton by the end of the 2024/25 financial year.
STEEL SCRAP
High-quality scrap is a valuable raw material in blast furnace-based steel production, where it supplements pig iron. In electric arc furnace steelmaking, however, steel scrap is the main raw material, used alongside high-purity iron carriers such as hot briquetted iron (HBI). One of the defining features of steel is its ability to be recycled again and again. Steel products at the end of their life cycle are reintroduced into the production process, making steel an integral part of a circular economy. As with iron ore and coking coal, the price trend for steel scrap in the 2024/25 financial year showed low volatility. In the first few months of the financial year 2024/25, prices for steel scrap ranged narrowly between USD 375 and USD 390 per ton. In the fall, they came under some pressure, falling to below USD 340 per ton in December 2024. The trend reversed in mid-January 2025, with prices returning to their starting level of around USD 380 per ton at the end of March 2025.
ALLOYS
Alloys are essential for the production of high-quality steel grades and represent a significant cost factor for the High Performance Metals Division. They are also used in steel production facilities as a supplement to pig iron and scrap in the manufacture of premium steel grades. Nickel is the most important alloying element for this division. At the start of the 2024/25 financial year, nickel prices rose sharply—by about 25%—from just under USD 17,000 per ton to over USD 21,000 per ton within two months. They subsequently weakened to below USD 16,000 per ton by the end of July 2024. As a result, price volatility eased, and nickel prices settled at around USD 15,000 per ton by the end of the financial year.
The price trend for other important alloys, such as ferro-vanadium, ferro-titanium and ferro-chromium, which saw massive spikes following the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, largely normalized during the past financial year and stabilized further in the current reporting period. Ferro molybdenum, a by-product of copper mining, also showed low price volatility in the 2024/25 financial year.
ENERGY
The most important energy sources for voestalpine are natural gas and electricity. The blast furnace-based steel sites of voestalpine in Austria are largely energy self-sufficient in terms of electricity, thanks to the internal conversion of the metallurgical gases generated in the production process. In contrast, the electric arc furnaces for the production of special steel in the High Performance Metals Division require large amounts of external electricity. The easing of energy prices following the massive distortions caused by the outbreak of the war in Ukraine continued into the 2024/25 financial year. At the start of the financial year, the price of natural gas was around EUR 25 per MWh (spot market THE Settlement, Germany). As the financial year progressed, the price of natural gas rose to around EUR 60 per MWh in February 2025 and fell to just under EUR 50 per MWh by the end of March 2025. For strategic reasons, voestalpine maintained its own gas storage capacities in the 2024/25 business year to secure the gas supply, particularly at the Austrian sites. However, due to reduced natural gas procurement risks, it was decided to reduce natural gas storage by 50% by the end of the 2025/26 business year. The price trend for electricity largely mirrored the trend for natural gas. While the electricity price was around EUR 60 per MWh (spot market EXAA AT Base) at the start of the 2024/25 financial year, it had risen to around EUR 140 per MWh by February 2025 and was just over EUR 100 per MWh by the end of March 2025.