Thyssenkrupp’s Twin Tracks: Green Steel Takes Shape Amid Protests and Profit Surge

Thyssenkrupp stock gains 17% in 2025 while protesters warn of watered-down green steel goals. The company advances its €2B direct-reduction plant and restructures units, eyeing EU tariffs and defense tailwinds.

Thyssenkrupp is pulling off a delicate balancing act. Its stock has gained 17% since the start of the year, closing Friday at €11.36 with a weekly advance of 2.21%. But on the ground, 1,700 protesters gathered in Berlin and Völklingen last week, with IG Metall warning that the group’s green steel ambitions may be watered down as the German economy stutters and Brussels prepares to overhaul the EU Emissions Trading System in July. The disconnect between market sentiment and street sentiment could hardly be starker.

The company’s answer is a twin-track strategy. On one side, the transformation to climate?neutral steelmaking is moving into a concrete phase. Drees & Sommer has just won the detailed planning contract for Thyssenkrupp’s new direct?reduction plant in Duisburg?Walsum, a site the size of 40 football pitches. Construction by SMS Group kicked off in mid?2024, and once completed the facility will produce 2.5 million tonnes of CO??reduced pig iron annually. The project is backed by €2 billion in combined federal and state aid, with the goal of cutting emissions by up to 3.5 million tonnes a year — a fifth of Germany’s total steel?industry output. The plant will initially run on natural gas, halving harmful emissions, before switching fully to green hydrogen from 2029. That will require 143,000 tonnes of H? yearly, to be supplied via a dedicated pipeline from Dorsten to Duisburg by 2027.

On the other side, the group is reshaping its internal structure to unlock value. The Materials Services division has been rebranded as tk accelis, a move designed to accelerate organic growth and improve market access. The unit is already delivering: second?quarter revenue rose 5% to €3.2 billion, while adjusted operating profit surged 179%. Meanwhile, Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems continues to ride the geopolitical tailwind, providing a long?term earnings buffer against the heavy upfront costs of the steel transition.

External factors are also shifting in the company’s favour. From July, the EU will slap a 50% punitive tariff on selected steel imports, a measure aimed at repelling cheap Asian products. Combined with the revised emissions?trading rules, the new tariff regime will redefine the competitive landscape for European steelmakers. Against this backdrop, the German industry’s output has already fallen to 34.1 million tonnes — the lowest since 2009 — underscoring the urgency of Thyssenkrupp’s dual pivot.

Chart watchers see a robust technical picture. The stock now trades comfortably above its 50?day moving average of €10.07 and has cleared the 200?day line as well. A relative?strength index of 56.4 confirms the uptrend is intact but not overbought. The real test, however, will come with the next quarterly earnings report. The numbers will need to prove just how effectively the defence boom is offsetting the cost of building a greener steel business — and whether shareholders’ optimism is backed by operational reality.