Kompetenzzentrum der ArcelorMittal für klimaneutrale Stahlproduktion in Deutschland

Die deutschen Standorte der ArcelorMittal in Bremen, Duisburg, Eisenhüttenstadt und Hamburg arbeiten intensiv an der Dekarbonisierungsinitiative XCarb®. Zu diesem Zweck wurde nun eine Forschungsabteilung eingerichtet, die ihren Sitz in Hamburg hat.

Wir sprachen mit Herrn Dr. Frank Schaub, dem Leiter des Kompetenzzentrums für Forschung und Entwicklung, über die Herausforderungen und Chancen, die sich durch die neu geschaffene Abteilung ergeben.

marketSTEEL: Wann hat die neue F+E-Abteilung ihre Arbeit aufgenommen?

Offiziell begonnen haben wir am 1. März dieses Jahres. Aktuell sind wir noch dabei, die Abteilung weiter aufzubauen. Das bedeutet, dass wir, einschließlich meiner Person, zu dritt die Zusammenarbeit mit anderen Abteilungen des Konzerns vorbereiten. Bei Forschungsförderthemen arbeiten wir zum Beispiel auch mit externen Partnern zusammen.

marketSTEEL: Wie viel Mitarbeiter sind mittel- und langfristig für die Abteilung vorgesehen?

Da es sich bei der Transformation der Stahlindustrie um einen enorm komplexen Themenbereich handelt, werden sich auch die Kompetenzen der Mitarbeiter aus vielen verschiedenen Fachrichtungen zusammensetzen. Im Lauf der kommenden zwei Jahre rechne ich mit etwa 10 bis 12 Mitarbeitern, die uns bei unserer Arbeit unterstützen werden.

marketSTEEL: In das Netzwerk der neuen F+E-Abteilung sind nur die deutschen Standorte eingebunden. Wie sieht die Zusammenarbeit global aus?

Nachdem ArcelorMittal insgesamt etwa 1.500 Mitarbeiter in den einzelnen F+E-Standorten hat, von denen der französische Standort in Metz mit 500 Mitarbeitern der größte ist, wird hier ein reger Austausch von Studienergebnissen mit den Kollegen stattfinden.

Allerdings legen wir natürlich den Schwerpunkt auf die deutschen Standorte und alle regionalen Herausforderungen, die mit der Transformation in unserem Land einhergehen.

marketSTEEL: Sind bei konkreten technischen Studienergebnissen auch Machbarkeitsstudien geplant? Wie praxisnah wird in der F+E-Abteilung gearbeitet?

Machbarkeitsstudien sind ganz wichtig. Wir müssen unsere Forschungen am Bedarf ausrichten. Daher wird praxisorientiert gearbeitet und wir koordinieren dies auch mit allen Standorten. Dennoch müssen wir für die Grundlagenforschung offen sein: Schließlich geht es um die Klimaneutralität einer gesamten Branche, die das Ziel schrittweise in den nächsten Jahren bis spätestens 2050 erreichen will. Und aus der Grundlagenforschung heraus ergeben sich immer wieder neue Ansatzpunkte.

Das bedeutet, dass auch neue Technologien immer wieder neu bewertet werden müssen. Schließlich geht es darum, wirtschaftlich und ökologisch vernünftige Lösungen zu finden und letztlich um Entscheidungen, welche Technik weiterentwickelt werden soll.

Aktuell müssen wir neben der Dekarbonisierung des Stahls insbesondere auch an die Nachhaltigkeit vieler weiterer Prozesse denken, wie z.B. die Verwendung der veränderten Stahlwerksschlacken sowie die Kreislaufführung von eisenhaltigen Hüttenreststoffen die in den Produktionsprozess zurückgeführt werden müssen.

marketSTEEL: Herr Dr. Schaub, wir danken Ihnen für das Gespräch.

Hubert Hunscheidt

Italy rebar price narrows upward; further rises expected in January

The price of rebar in Italy increased in the week ended Wednesday November 7, with the buy-side of the range seeing most of the upward movement.
Fastmarkets’s weekly assessment for steel reinforcing bar (Rebar) domestic, exw Italy was €850-870 ($892-913) per tonne, up from €810-860 per tonne a week earlier.

According to one distributor, mills have sold their December tonnages and were no longer competing for sales, and the lowest offers had disappeared from the market as a result.

“The producers have already sold the quantity that they will produce in December, that’s why they do not need to sell at cheaper prices,” said the distributor.

A similar sentiment was heard from a Spanish mill.

“We feel we have sold enough at previous price levels, and we don’t want to play with fire anymore. [We] want to protect ourselves a bit more, so we are trying to offer higher [prices].”

Rebar prices is Spain remained stable, however.

Fastmarkets’ assessment for steel reinforcing bar (Rebar) domestic, delivered Spain was unchanged on Wednesday at €730-760 per tonne.

Additionally, scrap prices have increased since mid-November, which has given further support to rebar prices.

Fastmarkets’ daily calculation for steel scrap HMS 1&2 (80:20 mix) North Europe origin, cfr Turkey was $381.09 per tonne on December 7, up from $361.44 per tonne a week before.

Market participants also said energy prices were expected to rise, which would lead to higher rebar prices in January.

Published by: Ross Yeo

Europe’s steel hollow sections market hits price floor, traders say

Prices for steel hollow sections in Europe remained unchanged in the week to Wednesday December 7, with traders saying the market had found the price floor.
Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel sections (medium) domestic, delivered Northern Europe was €890-920 ($934-965) per tonne on Wednesday, unchanged since November 23.

“Prices have reached a bottom, I would even say that the prices will go up again,” a source in Germany said. “Mills will push for higher prices for next year.”

Demand for sections remained low in the week, Fastmarkets heard, and traders said they expect weak construction consumption in the new year but greater price stability.

A second market participant in Northern Europe said they believed demand would pick up in January, while other traders felt the current trend of hand-to-mouth purchasing could continue up to the end of the first quarter, or first half, of 2023.

Prices for sections were heard offered at €800 per tonne in the week, but these levels were not widely confirmed by the market. Sources said any material sold at such low levels was likely older stock or imported material.

Some Italian mills have also announced longer-than-usual maintenance outages this year, which could last from three to four weeks, or up to a month.

Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel sections (medium) domestic, delivered Southern Europe was €880-920 per tonne on Wednesday, unchanged from November 30.

Fastmarkets heard sections prices to Poland had flattened at €745-760 per tonne levels, while sections prices to Romania were heard at €730 per tonne CPT.

Costs for the product’s feedstock, hot-rolled coil, moved up in the week, with producer sources expecting prices to rebound in the first quarter of 2023.

Fastmarkets’ daily calculation of its steel HRC index domestic, exw Northern Europe was €626.88 per tonne on Wednesday, up €5.63 per tonne from €621.25 per tonne a week earlier.

Published by: Holly Chant

European downstream flat-steel prices mostly unchanged despite producers pushing for increases 8

European cold-rolled coil (CRC) and hot-dip galvanized coil (HDG) prices were largely flat week on week, despite producers’ bullishness, sources told Fastmarkets on Wednesday December 7. CRC Insufficient end-user demand and still-high stock levels at buyers continued to limit buying interest for CRC in Europe.

European mills continued to push for higher prices, however, citing the increasing costs of raw materials and energy.

“We need to increase CRC and HDG prices by at least €100 ($105) per tonne to barely make a profit,” a steel producer in Northern Europe told Fastmarkets.

Buyers’ estimates of achievable prices for CRC in both Southern and Northern Europe ranged between €700 and €730 per tonne EXW. Producers were aiming higher, however, targeting €750-770 per tonne EXW.

Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel cold-rolled coil domestic, exw Southern Europe was €700-730 per tonne on Wednesday, unchanged since the previous week.

Competitive overseas CRC offers have been putting additional pressure on CRC prices in Southern Europe, sources said.

Offers for CRC with February shipment from Southeast Asian and Indian suppliers were reported at €650-670 per tonne CFR Southern Europe. The most recent bookings were reported within this range in late November.

But most overseas suppliers withdrew from the market to reconsider offers during the current assessment week, sources said.

Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel CRC domestic, exw Northern Europe was €700-750 per tonne on Wednesday, narrowing downward by €20 per tonne from €720-750 per tonne seven days earlier.

The assessment was based on the few concluded deals, the lower end of offers, and market sources’ estimates of achievable prices.

One buyer source reported a transaction for CRC at €680 per tonne EXW during the week, but it was not widely confirmed by other market participants.

Mill sources called €750 per tonne EXW “barely the cost line,” and they said they anticipate CRC prices in the region moving closer to €800 per tonne EXW in the first quarter of 2023 on expectations of a demand rebound.

HDG
HDG offers from mills in Northern Europe were heard at €750-760 per tonne EXW during the week.

Some mills were targeting even higher prices in the range of €760-780 per tonne EXW.

Buyers, however, indicated tradeable values to be at €730-750 per tonne EXW, with most recent deals reportedly closer to the lower end of the price range, but for small volumes.

European buyers’ HDG coil stock levels have generally been falling, and they are not ruling out the possibility of small upticks in stock levels before the end of the year, market sources said.

As a result, Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel HDG domestic, exw Northern Europe was €730-750 per tonne on December 7, unchanged from the previous week.

Fastmarkets’ corresponding weekly price assessment for steel HDG domestic, exw Southern Europe was €730-750 per tonne on December 7, also flat week on week.

Published by: Julia Bolotova

Published by: Julia Bolotova

Stalprofil reduces profit, cautions over withheld EU funds

Stalprofil’s revenue surged 56% on-year in the third quarter to PLN 575.95 million ($129.4m) but net profit slumped 41% to PLN 15.77m due to higher costs, Kallanish notes.

Steel product sales volumes rose 9.4% in Q3, the firm says without providing tonnages, with sales value up 24%. In the transmission infrastructure (pipeline) segment, which includes pipe coater subsidiary Izostal, revenue soared 121% thanks to sales to Polish pipeline operator Gaz-System, which were almost zero a year earlier.

Steel demand tapered off and supply increased in Q3, leading to a continuation of the pricing downtrend seen since Q2. Mills responded to this and rising energy costs by limiting production, which helped balance supply with demand, and stabilise prices at pre-Ukraine war levels, Stalprofil says.

The withholding by the EU of Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) funds for Poland creates significant uncertainty for Poland’s economy amid the onset of difficult times, Stalprofil says. Those funds were supposed to be allocated to infrastructure investments, meaning their blocking may result in a notable fall in investments.

In the nine months through September, consolidated revenue surged 54% on-year to PLN 1.76 billion but net profit fell 6% to PLN 87.74m.

Adam Smith Poland