NASS Steel Industry Training Programmes 2016

Please follow the links below to find more information about NASS Training Courses 2016

Health and Safety Passport Plus                               
19th & 20th October 2016
NASS Office, Birmingham

This is an advanced Health & Safety programme to enable employees in positions of responsibility to manage workplace Health and Safety and promote a safe working culture throughout the business. Designed for supervisors, team leaders and managers in the steel service centre industry, the Health & Safety Passport PLUS course has been designed by the metals industry for the metals industry, has been piloted by the NASS Health & Safety Committee and is RoSPA accredited. Participants who wish to extend their qualification may also take an NVQ in this subject, gained through the completion of a project at their own place of work, regular site visits will be made by the trainer to offer support.

NASS Introduction to Steel Metallurgy
2nd November 2016
NASS Office, Birmingham

The Introduction to Steel Metallurgy provides an overview of the basic principles of ferrous Metallurgy and how steel products are made. Joining Techniques are described and the physical properties, standards and definitions of Steel Grades are reviewed. The course concludes with guidance on the specifications and selection of Steel Grades for a wide variety of applications.

NASS Essentials for Inside Sales                                
15th & 16th November 2016
NASS Office, Birmingham

The NASS “Essentials for Inside Sales” two day training programme will be delivered by Tuesday’s Training, who provide motivational training and coaching, particularly specialising selling the Steel Industry, personal development, leadership, team building, communication, diversity and motivation.

Please contact:
Joy Graham (joy.graham@nass.org.uk)
The National Association of Steel Service Centres
The Citadel,
190 Corporation Street
Birmingham
B4 6QD
Tel: 0121 200 22 88
Fax: 0121 236 7444
www.nass.org.uk

European distributors boost shipments in H1

Shipments from steel service centres (SSC) and general steel distributors in Europe rose during the first six months of the year thanks to the boost registered in Q2, according to the data published by EUROMETAL, the European association for stockholders and distributors.

SSC saw their shipments recovering by 4% year-on-year during H1, thanks to the rise seen in Q2 when shipments increased 7% y-o-y. Multi-product distributors on the other hand saw their shipments increasing 3% y-o-y during the January-June period, with long products leading the recovery with a 7% y-o-y growth.

As reported, SSC shipments increased by 6% y-o-y in 2015, while multi-product distributors saw their shipments fall by 3% y-o-y last year.

While the recovery in shipments underlined a healthy demand in Europe, distributors remained cautious when managing their stocks; both SSC and multi-product distributors kept their stocks stable in June in terms of days of sales. In June SSC had 57 days’ worth of sales in stock, while distributors had 70 days.

— Emanuele Norsa

Knauf Interfer shuts down Dortmund stockholding site

Knauf Interfer, one of Germany’s biggest mill-independent steel distributors, is to close its stockholding site in Dortmund with “immediate effect”, the firm’s spokesperson told Platts on Tuesday. “The closure results from economic reasons,” said the spokesperson, adding that the Knauf Interfer’s management board decided to close the business in late June. The depot offers processing services and stocks quarto plate, round bars and special steels.

“For once, the closure is influenced by bad market development, in particular for the steel products traded at the site,” said the spokesperson, highlighting that the Russia embargo and Ukraine crisis as well as weak demand from the agricultural and construction machine business lowered sales volumes. “On the other hand there is a current regional oversupply by other steel distributors in the Dortmund region,” she said.

The closure is the second shutdown of a steel site in Dortmund, which is located in the Ruhr area, within a year. In summer last year, steelmaker Salzgitter announced to close its sheet piling works Hoesch Spundwand und Profil (HSP).

The shutdown of HSP had an effect on the city’s port, according to the January-June report of port operator Dortmunder Hafen, which cited the steel crisis and closure of HSP as “essential” factors for the drop in steel and iron handling. Container handling of iron and steel dropped by 32% year-on-year to 62,000 metric tons in the January-June period.

— Laura Varriale

Traders blast latest EU dumping case

Members of the European steel trading community were angered by the initiation of an anti-dumping investigation into imports of hot rolled coil from five countries with one warning that the current direction of travel will see the market develop into a mill-led monopoly.

For over a year the European Commission has been under huge pressure from steel producers to address what they consider to be dumping by certain countries. Last week Mattia Pellegrini of the European Commission outlined the situation telling the Platts Steel Markets Europe conference in Barcelona, “steel is the most vocal group. If they want to get access to [EC president] Junker, then the steel industry will get access to Junker”.

However, downstream players have become increasingly agitated with independent companies relying on imports to compete with domestic mills claiming that they are being squeezed out.

One trader said that while the EU “cannot be compared with the US” in terms of scale of trade barriers, “it is very clear that Eurofer is trying to close the European steel market for non-EU producers”.

In a statement reacting to the investigation, Eurofer told Platts, “we are pleased that the case has now been formally opened by the Commission, but we can only wait and see what the results will be months down the line if and when provisional duties are applied”.

Jeffrey Kabel, chairman of the International Steel Trade Association (ISTA) said the situation was becoming unfair, “this is beginning to look a tad like Fortress Europe – strange as the global market has been relatively buoyant. ISTA believes in free and fair trade. I would think both large and smaller steel buyers will begin to seriously challenge their potentially dwindling lack of choice”.

The trader concurred, “in the EU, more than 50% of the steel service sector is in the hands of the European steel mills. This is an increasing share. You will find the same tendency in building components and other sectors. Consequently, the mills have a direct influence on the market pricing of finished products and the competitiveness of independent (non-integrated) manufacturers”.

However, European producers claim that they support free and fair trade but that anti-dumping measures are required to create a level playing field for domestic suppliers.

— Peter Brennan

Positive 2016 start for SSC and distributors: Eurometal

The first five months of the year showed a significant recovery in shipments for multi-product stockholding distributors and flat steel service centres, according to European association Eurometal.

EU flat SSC shipments recovered 10% year-on-year during the Jan-May period, with May marking a 13% y-o-y recovery compared with the same month in 2015.

Multi-product distributors on the other hand registered a 4% y-o-y recovery in shipments during the first five months of the year. The main driver in the recovery was long products, which saw shipments increasing 8% y-o-y during the period. The increase in shipments is usually associated to stronger end-user demand for steel.

Both SSC and multi-product distributors decreased their stock levels during the first five months of the year. At the end of May, SSC had 64 days of shipments at their plants, down two days y-o-y. Multi-product distributors held 70 days of shipments at the end of May, compared with 81 days a year before.

— Emanuele Norsa