The European Union has already imposed sanctions on some Russian steel sales and has targeted most of the country’s oligarchs who own large chunks of the Russian steel industry. And the war has all but stopped Ukrainian steel production.

The cost of rebar steel in Europe last week surged to a record of 1,140 euros per tonne, up 150% from late 2019. And the price of hot-rolled coil, a popular form of steel, has reached a record high of about 1,400 euros per tonne, up nearly 250% from just before the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.

One reason for the price spike is the sheer size of the Russian and Ukrainian steel industries. Russia is the world’s third biggest steel exporter, behind only China and Japan, while Ukraine is the eighth largest.

Colin Richardson, head of steel at Argus, a price reporting agency, reckons that Russia and Ukraine together account for about a third of the EU’s steel imports, or nearly 10% of the region’s domestic demand. And Russia, Belarus and Ukraine together account for about 60% of total EU imports of rebar. They also have a huge share of the market for slab — the chunky pieces of semi-finished steel.

Probably happy times if you're a steel manufacturer in the EU.