Industrial Policy & Trade Monitor· 2665 actions· ✨ 90 recent

The European Commission approved EUR 321.8 million (approx. USD 343.4 million) in additional German state aid (case SA.104276) for Salzgitter Flachstahl GmbH's SALCOS ("Salzgitter Low CO2 Steelmaking") Stage I decarbonisation project. The increment lifted the German federal and Lower Saxony state governments' combined funding commitment for Stage I to EUR 1.322 billion, split roughly two-thirds federal (BMWK) and one-third Land Niedersachsen, after the German government publicly confirmed the top-up on 24 February 2026. Stage I comprises a 100MW electrolyser, a direct-reduction-iron plant, and an electric-arc furnace intended to replace blast-furnace/basic- oxygen-furnace production and cut CO2 emissions from the affected process by up to 95%, targeting start-up from 2027.

On 29 December 2025, Brazil's national development bank BNDES approved R$1.13 billion (~USD 205 million) in financing for Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional (CSN) to modernise three industrial plants at the Usina Presidente Vargas in Volta Redonda (RJ). R$625.8 million comes through the Finem credit line for sintering-plant emissions-control upgrades (new electrostatic precipitators and bag filters) that partly reimburse investments CSN made since 2023 to satisfy a Term of Adjustment of Conduct (TAC) with Rio de Janeiro's state environmental agency (INEA). A further R$500 million comes through the BNDES Mais Inovação programme for innovative machinery, IT equipment and IoT technology services. BNDES states the financing "fortalece a cadeia produtiva nacional de equipamentos" (strengthens the national equipment supply chain), giving the operation a domestic-content-preference dimension alongside its environmental/innovation financing purpose.

On 2025-09-29 the Government of Canada and the Province of Ontario announced binding term sheets to provide Algoma Steel Inc. with C$500 million in liquidity support: C$400 million (including an C$80 million secured tranche) in loan facilities from the federal government via the Large Enterprise Tariff Loan (LETL) facility, administered by the Canada Enterprise Emergency Funding Corporation, and C$100 million (including a C$20 million secured tranche) from the Province of Ontario. The package is explicitly framed as protection for Canadian steel jobs against the impact of US Section 232 steel tariffs, intended to help Algoma sustain operations and continue its transition toward electric-arc-furnace steelmaking while reducing US-market dependence. The financing transaction closed on 2025-11-17.

On 2025-06-26, South Korea's National R&D Program Evaluation General Committee approved the preliminary feasibility study (예비타당성조사) for the "Korean-style Hydrogen Reduction Steelmaking Demonstration Technology Development Project," clearing state funding of KRW 308.8 billion (part of a KRW 814.6 billion total project cost) over 2026-2030. The program funds a 300,000-tonne-scale demonstration process using the domestic FINEX process to produce hydrogen-reduced iron and molten iron from iron ore and hydrogen, plus a parallel track for small and mid-sized firms to use hydrogen-reduced iron in existing electric-arc furnaces. The technology targets a 95%+ cut in per-tonne carbon emissions versus blast-furnace steelmaking, positioning Korean steel (POSCO, Hyundai Steel) for the EU CBAM and global green-steel premium markets.