Amid an uncertain market environment, the company is seeking the EU’s protection against low-priced imports affecting the local market.

The CEO of Ferroglobe, Marco Levi, announced that the company plans to shut down silicon metal operations in Europe until at least the end of this year. According to insights, the suspension may last until the end of Q1 2026.

Project Blue estimates that if the company does indeed shut down its European silicon metal facilities, the estimated production losses would amount to approximately 18–20kt in 2025 and around 20kt in 2026 . Although this strategic move is often employed to counter higher costs in France during winter, the company’s operations in Spain are typically kept online to supply customers with products that have a wide variety of applications, including active anode material. Meanwhile, the Selma silicon smelter in the USA remains idle and is reportedly set to undergo conversion.

This move seems to contradict Ferroglobe’s latest quarterly results, in which it reported a 26% y-o-y increase in overall sales and a significant improvement in adjusted EBITDA. However, the company withdrew its 2025 annual guidance due to market uncertainty, noting a substantial decline in prices, primarily for silicon metal. During Ferroglobe’s Q2 earnings call, Marco Levi cited “an extremely uncertain environment” as the reason for the withdrawal. However, he expressed optimism about future trade policy decisions, noting expectations of “meaningful tailwinds from trade decisions in both the US and Europe.”

According to Project Blue and some market participants, Ferroglobe’s move is not primarily due to economic or market reasons, but rather to put additional pressure on the European Commission (EC) and encourage the adoption of restrictive measures on imports as part of the ongoing safeguard investigation, which was initiated in December 2024. However, contrary to expectations, in August, the EC did not announce the introduction of protective measures; instead, it postponed the deadline to November. At the same time, several insiders still doubt the viability of any measures regarding imports of manganese and silicon alloys into the EU.

Meanwhile, according to customs statistics, there has been no significant growth in imports of silicon metal (HS 2804.69) into the EU in recent years. In 2024, imports totalled 609.9kt (gross), compared to 594.7kt (gross) in 2023 and 656.4kt (gross) in 2022. Furthermore, in the first seven months of 2025, deliveries reached 350.3kt (gross). Since 2022, the leading suppliers of silicon metal to the EU market have included Norway (39% of total deliveries), Brazil (up to 12%), and China (approximately 8%). Meanwhile, prices for silicon metal 5-5-3 in Europe declined by an average of 12% per year from 2022 to 2024. In 2025, the downward trend continued, with prices already having fallen by 19% since the beginning of the year.