Month: January 2017

Im November 2016 stieg die Nachfrage nach Flachstählen in der Europäischen Union. Die Flachstahl-Service-Center verzeichneten im Vergleich zum Vorjahrjahresmonat eine Zunahme um 4 %, teilte EUROMETAL, der europäische Verband der Distributeure von Stahl, Rohr und Metall, mit. In den ersten elf Monaten ergibt sich im Jahresvergleich ein Plus von 1,4 %. Die auf Flachstähle spezialisierten Stahl-Service-Center lagerten Ende November  2016 Produkte für 62 Verkaufstage. Ein Jahr zuvor reichte der Vorrat für 63 Tage.

Auch die nicht spezialisierten Stahlhändler spürten im November 2016 eine Belebung des Geschäftes. Nur Rohre und nichtrostende Stähle waren davon ausgenommen. Der Absatz stieg im Jahresvergleich um 0,1 %. Die Lagerbestände reduzierten sich auf ein Volumen für 69 Verkaufstage nach 72 Tagen im November 2015.

stahleisen.de

Shipments of flat products by European service centres increased by some 4% year-on-year in November according to Eurometal, the European Federation of Steel, Tubes and Metal Distribution and Trading.

Macroeconomic data has been increasingly positive in Europe with purchasing managers’ indices suggesting strength in manufacturing and construction. Strength in these steel intensive sectors is now being reflected in sales volumes as well as the rising European steel prices.

For the first 11 months of 2016, service centre shipments were up 1.4% on the same period in 2015. Stock volumes were barely changed on-year at 62 days.

Peter Brennan, PLATTS

European steel distributors’ association EUROMETAL tells Kallanish that European Union (EU) distribution sector shipments increased while inventories decreased year-on-year for both flat and long products in November.

Flat steel service centres (SSC) saw EU shipments grow by 4% y-o-y in November following a -7% fall in October. Over the first eleven months of 2016 shipments have risen by 1.4% on-year. Stock volumes within EU SSC, when expressed in days of sales, noted 62 days in November 2016, compared with 63 days in November 2015, EUROMETAL says.

EU Multi-Product & Proximity Stockholding distribution, mainly involving longs, tubular products and stainless steel, also registered an increase in shipments in all main product lines, except for tubular products and stainless steels, EUROMETAL adds.

November shipments in this sector rose by 2% y-o-y and grew slightly by 0.1% y-o-y for the first eleven months of 2016. Stocks within the EU Multi-Product & Proximity Steel Stockholding Distribution sector, expressed in days of sales, reached 69 days in November 2016, the association continues. This compares with 72 days during the same month of 2015.

The European Commission (EC) announced Friday HRC imports from Russia and Brazil into the EU are now subject to registration, a move which could lead to a retroactive duty if the ongoing investigation results in the imposition of anti-dumping duties.

The EC said in its official Journal that, following evidence provided in a complaint from Eurofer, it set the estimated dumping margin at 20-50% ad valorem on the CIF import value. The EC assessed that despite the rising trend of import prices from Russia and Brazil, the absolute level of import prices remained at a “critically low level”. “In particular, it was lower than the costs of production of the EU’s [steel] industry at the end of 2015,” the EC said.

As reported, Eurofer lodged a complaint concerning HRC imports from Brazil, Iran, Russia, Serbia and Ukraine in May 2016 and filed a registration request in October after records showed imports rising significantly following the start of EC investigations in July.

As part of this investigation the EC examined the third quarter of 2016 and concluded that “this substantial increase in the level of these Russian and Brazilian imports is likely to seriously undermine the remedial effect of any definitive duties, unless such duties would be applied retroactively”.

According to the latest data (to October 2016) from Eurofer, Russian imports reached their highest level of 2016 in October at 211,000 metric tons, compared to the 85,000 mt of imports made in October 2015. In contrast Brazil’s EU imports fell, reaching its highest point in 2016 for October at 102,000 mt, compared to 107,000 mt imported in October 2015.

According to the EC, imports from Iran, Serbia and Ukraine saw no substantial increase in volumes during the time period.

Investigations usually take nine months at the EC, but recent investigations have been sped up, taking just eight months. The registration measure can be reaffirmed in six months’ time.

In a separate case, the EC imposed an anti-dumping margin of 13.2-22.6% on Chinese HRC imports in October last year.

Laura Varriale, PLATTS