Katowice, Poland – 27 February 2026

February is always a weird month because of the Lunar New Year holidays in Asia, but February 2026 feels like the moment the “Global Map” of metallurgy officially changed forever. We are seeing a mix of holiday slowness and new taxes hitting the market at the same time.

India’s Big Moment. This is the big news of the month: India has officially become a “net exporter.” This is a huge shift in history. They used to buy a lot of steel from the world; now they are producing so much (up 11% this month) that they are selling it to everyone else. Their own imports have crashed because they are making everything at home. If you are looking for where the “action” is in the metallurgy world, it’s not Shanghai or London anymore—it’s Mumbai. They are the ones setting the pace.

The Quota Race in Europe. In Europe, it was a “mad dash” this month. Because of the new CBAM rules and trade limits, everyone was trying to get their steel through the ports before the “quotas” (the limits) were reached. Turkey used up its whole allowance for hot-rolled coil almost instantly. Germany showed a “15% increase” in production, but don’t let that fool you. Last February was so incredibly bad that anything looks like a big increase now. They are still way below where they used to be ten years ago. Service centers say orders are down 20%—the demand just isn’t there because people are worried about the future.

Manganese is Getting Expensive. If you are buying manganese ore, I have some bad news for your budget. Prices in China hit a one-year high this month. MOIL in India also raised prices by another 5-10%. Why? It’s not because demand is booming, it’s because the cost of getting ore out of the ground and onto a ship is rising. Energy is expensive, labor is expensive, and shipping is a mess. We call this “cost-push inflation,” and it’s a giant headache for every foundry manager. You have to pay more for raw materials, but you can’t raise your own prices because the customers don’t have money.

Final Thought for February: The market is totally split. China is waiting to see if its economy wakes up, Europe is drowning in “green” red tape, and India is taking over the world market. It’s a tough time to be a buyer, but an interesting time to be an observer. See you in March!

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Primeore Trading (Polska) Sp. z o.o. is a trading arm of Primeore Ltd. which is responsible for handling of all international trading and trading-related operations of the group. The company is involved into operations with manganese ore, ferroalloys, coke and coal products worldwide.

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