Le rendez-vous à ne pas manquer: Convention FFDM 2017 à Paris!

Nous avons retenu comme thème général de notre XIème Convention annuelle « LES GRANDS PARIS ».

Cette manifestation se déroulera les 27 et 28 septembre.

· Le mercredi 27 septembre, nous nous retrouverons pour un dîner-croisière à bord du « Mirage » des Yachts de Paris.

· Le jeudi 28 septembre, notre Convention s’articulera autour des « paris » géographiques, sociétaux, économiques avec des intervenants de qualité.

Merci de bien vouloir nous renvoyer le formulaire d’inscription dûment complété au plus tard le 10 juillet 2017.

Ci-joint, l’invitation, le programme et tous les documents nécessaires à votre inscription.

Invitation Programme Convention FFDM 2017

Convention FFDM 2017 – Formulaire d’inscription

Pour plus d’informations, n’hésitez pas à nous contacter.

Dans l’attente de vous y retrouver.

Bien cordialement.

Valérie EXCOFFON
Pour Michel JULIEN-VAUZELLE
F.F.D.M.
65 avenue Victor Hugo
75116 PARIS
Tél. : +33 (0)1 45 00 72 50
Fax : +33 (0)1 45 00 71 37

How the steel markets works? Training and workshop at Düsseldorf

10% discount for EUROMETAL Members

S&P Global Platts Training brings you the most comprehensive “go-to class” covering the steel market you’ll find anywhere. This live, interactive training is led by industry experts with rolled-up-sleeves experience in the steel industry. From the raw materials used to make steel, to the fundamentals of making the steel, steel products, consumption, recycling, secondary markets, international trade and trade laws, pricing, hedging, buying and selling – our experts cover it all. Be prepared to bring your questions – you’ll have plenty of opportunities to draw on the experience and knowledge of our steel market veterans.

The two-day Training Class curriculum includes these top-line topics:

  • Raw materials: where are they, who uses them and how
  • Making steel: the basics at the mill — Blast Furnace, BOF, and EAF
  • Casting, rolling, coating and alloying
  • A comparison of the economics of making steel throughout the world
  • Steel’s primary end use markets and market forecast modeling
  • Macro view of global markets
  • How steel buys are conducted and structured
  • Hedging and price risk management tools for steel
  • The dynamics of international steel trading
  • The effects and use of international trade law
  • You’ll even bend some steel as part of your class experience
  • Thorough Q&A with the experts

The one-day Hedging Workshop curriculum includes these top-line topics:

  • What is price risk management
  • What tools are available for managing risk in the steel market
  • Hedging vs. Speculation
  • Risks and Benefits
  • The role of indexes
  • The role of exchanges
  • Hands-on hedging exercises
  • Thorough Q&A with the experts

Both events offer great opportunities to learn, grow, and network. Attend one or attend both.

Who Attends

Courses are intended for market newcomers AND experienced professionals wanting to refine their approach.

Attendees at both the training and the workshop include CEO’s, Directors, Vice Presidents, and Managers, in roles like Purchasing, Procurement, Sales, Business and Market Development, Planning, Logistics, Finance, Analysis, Product Management, and more.

This class size is limited, so register early to reserve your seat. If your company would like to send more than one person, we offer a team discount.

Trainers and Workshop Presenters

session

speaker

Our experts have an average of over 20 years apiece worth of steel industry experience. To learn more about their backgrounds and qualifications, visit Trainers.

Like what you see but this session doesn’t fit into your schedule?

We add new cities and dates throughout the year. Visit the Global Metals Training and Hedging Workshops website, or contact the Head of Global Training, Preston Gibson at +1 412-431-1765 or preston.gibson@spglobal.com to learn about available options.

[ REGISTRATIONS & INFORMATIONS ]

 

ArcelorMittal Investco reaches agreement on Ilva

ArcelorMittal Investco Italy has concluded its exclusive negotiation phase and reached a binding agreement concerning the lease and obligation to purchase Ilva and its subsidiaries with the Italian Government, ArcelorMittal and Marcegaglia announced in a press release Friday afternoon.

According to the note, the initial documentation will be completed by 30 June. The agreement is subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions precedent, including information and consultation requirements and EU merger approval.

As expected, Intesa Sanpaolo will formally join the consortium before the transaction closes, the note reported. “Today marks an important step in the Ilva sales process. We are keen to get started and will now focus on reaching completion as soon as possible,” Lakshmi Mittal, Chairman and CEO of ArcelorMittal, stated.

“We have a very sound understanding of what needs to be done to improve the performance of the company and, importantly, its relationship with stakeholders and local communities. Our vision is for Ilva to become a benchmark for modern integrated steelmaking and this will be realized through the implementation of our industrial and environmental plans, backed up by significant investment,” he added.

In another note released by Ilva, the deal was made in accordance with bidding rules that fulfill all the Italian government’s priorities such as keeping the level of workers at no less than 10,000 and the defining of contractual clauses to guarantee the execution of the plans.

Annalisa Villa, PLATTS

EU looking at firm actions if US S232 measures go ahead

The European Union is considering taking action in response to the US’s Section 232 investigation against steel imports, should this go ahead, as it could have a “disastrous” impact on world steel trade, said speakers at S&P Global Platts’ European Steel Markets conference in Barcelona Monday.

“We can expect some degree of firmness by the EU in this case: we are looking at all potential options at this time,” said Francisco Perez Canado, head of unit of market access, industry, energy and raw materials of the European Commission. “In a global role you need global rules.” The actions could include WTO or bilateral action, he said.

“A more symmetrical approach is needed by China and others in a world that has gone beyond a tipping point,” to create the conditions for a healthy steel industry, Perez Canado said.

The 232 investigation, on which a decision or announcement is expected this week, is examining whether the US’s imports of steel products constitute a threat to US national security.

Jeroen Vermeij, European steelmakers association Eurofer’s director for market analysis and economic studies, and Henrik Adam, chief commercial officer of Tata Steel Europe, both expressed the EU industry’s deep concern over the Section 232 investigation. The speakers pointed out that this could bring the US into conflict with its World Trade Organization obligations and misses the fundamental problem of continuing overcapacity in the world steel industry.

“We call for governments and the commission to apply WTO rules… to create a fair scenario for EU steel industries,” said Adam. “26 million metric tons of steel could float around the world if Section 232 goes ahead; this will be a huge risk for the European domestic steel industry and a risk to US (steel) users. Trump is looking to aid US steel companies… it’s not about protecting national security: it’s about saving US industries.”

For Eurofer’s Vermeij, if Section 232 measures go ahead, this may give US authorities “unprecedented powers”, and have a “disastrous impact” on trade, even if there were to be product or country differentiation, “as foreign suppliers would turn massively to the EU.” At present just 15% of the EU’s steel exports go to the US and these exports are on a falling trend, he said.

“Only coordinated action at an international level can address the global steel market’s problems,” said Vermeij, highlighting that the main problem is of overcapacity, put by various speakers at the event at between 300 million mt and more than 700 million mt. The speakers noted that the OECD steel forum, comprising 33 countries including China, will meet in Hamburg alongside the G-20 summit next month to review advances made in tackling overcapacity and discuss how to advance in this area.

Yuriy Rudyuk, a partner in law firm Van Bael & Bellis, said that if Section 232 measures are imposed, this “may change the scenario altogether: protectionism could become even more evident.” This could also have a domino effect: if applied for steel today, aluminum or other products could be next, he said. Also, other major markets including the EU may take actions in response, by initiating their own safeguard investigations against likely import diversion, as was the case in the year 2002, the lawyer said.

Timothy Gill, chief economist of the American Iron & Steel Institute noted that US imports of steel rose to their highest volume terms in 2014 and 2015, reaching a share of some 34% of apparent demand in 3Q 2015 – at the same time that the US steel industry’s shipments and employment levels slumped – before receding to some 26% in Q1 2017.

“Trade cases have helped,” he said. However, imports are still not yet down to their historic levels and finished product imports have in fact risen again in the year to date, being up 23% over the same period in 2016, he said.

Diana Kinch, PLATTS

EC mulling safeguards in reaction to section 232: sources

The European Commission is considering introducing its own safeguard measures against steel imports to counteract a potential influx if the US introduces its section 232 order next week.

The US Department of Commerce is investigating the impact of steel imports on the country’s national security and, according to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, the result could see tariffs increased beyond the current anti-dumping duties, the introduction of a quota system, or a hybrid of the two (see other story).

European steel producers have criticized the action and one source warned of a “tsunami” of steel forced towards the European Union market. “If he [President Trump] imposes that, there’s going to be an awful lot of steel floating around that doesn’t have a home anymore and logically that would go to Europe, destroying whatever we have here,” a mill source said.

S&P Global Platts understands the EC is investigating a similar action to the one taken in 2002 in reaction to then President George Bush’s section 201 order, which imposed three-year tariffs of 30% on eight of 16 categories of steel imports.

The EC responded by introducing non-discriminatory tariff rate quotas in which a certain volume was allowed in duty free with a duty applied to tonnages above this. The quota was roughly equivalent to 2001 import levels. “It’s really at the initiative and at the level of the EC itself. It’s not like a trade case where we drive it and have to explain everything, this is more the EC looking at it from a trade potential,” another producer said.

A trade lawyer confirmed any measure would not take the form of a duty. “The European Union has to show that the increase in imports is: sharp, due to unforeseen developments, causing (or threatening) serious injury to domestic industry (a higher level of injury than the material injury required for anti-dumping and anti-subsidy), and that safeguards are in the interest of the EU (a requirement beyond WTO obligations).”

The European Commission did not respond to requests for comment by the time of publication.

Peter Brennan and Annalisa Villa, PLATTS

Belgian reinforcement fabricator in ‘faillite’

One of the largest Belgian reinforcement fabricating companies, Columbus Steel, was on Monday officially declared in bankruptcy by the commercial court of Ghent, Dendermonde district, a source close to the matter told S&P Global Platts.

When Platts called to speak to Columbus, the person who answered the phone on Tuesday said the CEO was absent, but confirmed that the company was in “faillite” (bankruptcy). Platts’ further efforts to reach the CEO were unsuccessful.

The bankruptcy judgment will be published soon, Platts understands.

Platts was told that Columbus had liquidity problems due to large investments as well as difficult business conditions in the cutting and bending sector.

“The problem is that transformers buy short and then have to give prices and deliver for long-term projects,” an industry source explained. “Steelmakers… and also small suppliers and subcontractors lost money with this [bankruptcy]”, he added.

French reinforcement company Sotralentz entered receivership last year due to the economic downturn and low oil prices, aggravated by the fact that its rod provider changed its payment terms.

According to Columbus Steel’s website the company processes over 80,000 metric tons/year of steel.

Annalisa Villa, PLATTS

EU invites expiry review for duties on Chinese coated sheet

The European Commission has advised EU steel producers that anti-dumping and countervailing duties on imports of organic-coated sheet from China will soon expire. It has invited them to apply for an expiry review which could result in the duties being extended.

In notices published in its Official Journal this week, the EC said the AD and CV duties imposed in 2013 will expire on 16 March 2018, unless a review is initiated.

The notices said EU producers of organic-coated sheet can request such a review if they apply by a deadline three months before the expiry date. Under EU procedures, the request must be in writing and must contain sufficient evidence that the expiry of the measures would be likely to result in a continuation or recurrence of dumping/subsidisation and injury, the notices said.

“Should the Commission decide to review the measures concerned, importers, exporters, representatives of the exporting country and Union producers will then be provided with the opportunity to amplify, rebut or comment on the matters set out in the review request,” it added.

Duties currently in force against the Chinese organic-coated sheet are 5.9-26.1% (according to company) for dumping and 13.7-44.7% for countervailing.

Henry Cooke, PLATTS

Independent distributors nervous of mill consolidation

Mergers and acquisitions in the European steel-producing industry could have important consequences downstream, with independent service centers increasingly nervous that they could be squeezed out of the market.

The potential ArcelorMittal/Ilva and ThyssenKrupp/Tata Steel mergers would see an estimated 65% of total coil market supply in the European Union centered around just two players. While for years the industry has acknowledged the need for consolidation, the presence of those steelmakers in the downstream sector means independent businesses competing with those companies are nervous.

“The situation is not good for downstream independent operations. ThyssenKrupp, Tata Steel and ArcelorMittal have their own downstream operations which make up almost 40% of the market,” a service center source in Iberia said.

The source said mills would show favor to their own service centers, while the reduction of import options means it will be increasingly difficult for independents to source material and compete. “We are very worried with these anti-dumping sanctions coming, it means the sourcing opportunities are less and less. At the moment more or less we’ve been able to survive, but I’m afraid that with more AD it could affect us.”

Some expect the European Commission to act and force parts of the newly formed steel giants to cut off their distribution arms.

“I expect ThyssenKrupp to have to sell off the distribution [unit]. When you look at ThyssenKrupp and Tata, the materials they can supply to their subsidiaries it means a number of service centers belong to both, particularly in Germany. So they will have to do that – either merge them together or offload them to Klöckner. So a number of sites will close which will be a good thing,” a service center source in the Benelux said.

A source at another major independent downstream player was bullish however, noting that anything that pushes steel prices upwards can only be good for them. But generally the reaction in the downstream sector is one of concern.

“If they support their own service centers that could be a big threat to the privately-owned companies. It could be a big threat and the steel mills could get even more control of the market than they have today,” another source concluded.

Peter Brennan, PLATTS

Die Welt zu Gast am Rhein

Knapp 150 Teilnehmer aus Stahlproduktion, -Verarbeitung und -distribution trafen sich Mitte Mai auf Einladung des europäischen Stahldistributionsverbands Eurometal zu einer internationalen Konferenz in Düsseldorf. Moderiert wurde die Veranstaltung von Eurometai-Präsident und CEO von Tata Steel Distribution Europe Dr. Jens Lauber, sowie von Eurometal Vice President und BDS-Vorstand Oliver Ellermann.

Themen der zweieinhalbtägigen Konferenz waren die gesamtwirtschaftlichen Entwicklungen mit ihren Auswirkungen auf die globalen Stahlmärkte und Veränderungen im weltweiten Stahlhandel, insbesondere vor dem Hintergrund zunehmender Antidumpingmaßnahmen.

Auch die Veränderungen der Geschäftsmodelle innerhalb der Stahldistribution, die Perspektiven verschiedener stahlintensiver Abnehmerbranchen sowie das Thema Digitalisierung entlang der Wert-schöpfungskette spielten eine wichtige Rolle. Abgerundet wurde das Programm durch zwei Betriebsbesichtigungen, zum einen bei Tata Steel Hille & Müller in Düsseldorf, zum anderen bei der Europipe Group in Mülheim an der Ruhr.

PDF Stahlreport 2017 06 Eurometal World Steel Summit

EU distributors see shipments decrease to end-April

European distributors and flat service centres saw their shipments fall during the first four months of the year, according to the latest data published by distributors’ association EUROMETAL.

Flat service centres saw shipments decrease -1.9% y-o-y during the period to the end of April, while multi-product distributors saw a fall of some -3.9% y-o-y, Kallanish notes.

Despite the reduction in shipments, both service centres and multi-product distributors registered higher stocks in April compared to the same period twelve months before. The stock volume index closed at 116 in April 2017, compared to 104 in April 2016 (average 2015 = Index 100), EUROMETAL says.

This indicates that while real demand has suffered somewhat so far in 2017, apparent demand has remained relatively firm.