Day: 17 April 2020

Russia’s NLMK confirms to Kallanish it is resuming production at its heavy plate plant in Verona.

NLMK Verona produces plate and ingots and is supplying those sectors considered crucial by the Italian government, such as medical and energy equipment, and therefore exempt from Covid-19-related restrictions.

The mill will produce at a reduced capacity due to the low market activity and government measures to combat the pandemic.

NLMK also produces plate in Europe at its plants in Denmark and Belgium. The group has strip rolling plants in Belgium and France. Its other European assets are currently unaffected by stoppages, NLMK’s spokesperson adds.

Vitkovice Steel says it is continuing production as scheduled despite the Covid-19 pandemic, by taking measures to prevent the spread of the virus.

“The communication both with suppliers and customers is now more intense with a view of ensuring continuous and smooth production and shipment,” the Czech steelmaker says in a note seen by Kallanish. “The crisis team plays an essential role at the company at present. It acts daily (including night-time, if necessary) handling all problems so that the production can run at the maximum pace.”

While no production has been curtailed, adjustments have been made to staffing, with some employees working from home.

Vitkovice has a 755,000 tonnes/year capacity plate mill and seldom-used 170,000 t/y heavy sections mill. The firm switched to sourcing merchant slab when it shut down its 950,000 t/y electric arc furnace-based meltshop in 2015 (see Kallanishpassim).

Fellow Czech steelmaker Liberty Ostrava, on the contrary, has announced it will idle a blast furnace until end-August due to Covid-19-related disruption (see separate story).

Separately, last month Vitkovice Steel completed the CZK 6 million ($241,374) modernisation of a cutting machine, which will allow it to produce new steel shapes and secure projects for construction and machinery industry customers. It has already been awarded the first contract from a customer in Poland.

Liberty Ostrava will at the end of April idle blast furnace no.2 until the end of August after an assessment of market conditions resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic, the Czech steelmaker says. Blast furnace no.3 will remain in operation.

The move will allow Ostrava to adapt to reduced European steel demand by decreasing hot metal production by -20% and more efficiently managing inventories, the firm says. In recent years, the May-July period has been the construction sector’s seasonal peak, which sees the highest volume of steel dispatches, but now Ostrava says its customers are reporting -30% lower demand.

“We plan to return the furnace to full operational capacity by the end of August, which could be brought forward by one month if market conditions allow,” Liberty Ostrava chief executive Pascal Genest says in a note seen by Kallanish. “The Covid-19 pandemic has caused disruption across the European steel industry and our customers are no exception. We will continue to be in a position to meet their current and future requirements.”

BF2 will be placed under care and maintenance, enabling it to be re-opened swiftly once the economic environment improves, Ostrava explains. The 400 employees affected will be redeployed where there are vacancies, while others will be rotated on temporary unemployment with 70% salary.

Meanwhile, Ostrava’s strategic investment announced in February continues. The firm expects to submit an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) application for its new hybrid furnace to the Czech Ministry of Environment this month. It believes that, with fast track approval by authorities, the furnaces will be operational in 2022.

“In spite of the pandemic, we remain ambitious for the future of the Ostrava steelworks and look forward to serving the regional Central European steel market,” Genest concludes.

Volkswagen and other German carmakers are resuming production despite the continued Covid-19 pandemic. This is because the availability of parts has improved, government restrictions have eased, and there have been positive developments in sales markets.

The VW Passenger Cars brand will restart production step-by-step. First production is to be resumed at the plants in Zwickau and Bratislava (Slovakia) in the week from 20 April, Kallanish learns from a corporate announcement.

The other plants in Germany, Portugal, Spain, Russia and the USA are to restart production in the week from 27 April. In the course of May production will be resumed in South Africa, Argentina, Brazil and Mexico.

Volkswagen Group Components had already resumed production at its plants in Brunswick and Kassel from 6 April, followed by the plants in Salzgitter, Chemnitz and Hanover. The Polish resumed on 14 April.

“Following the decisions by the federal and state governments in Germany and the loosening of restrictions in other European states, conditions have been established for the gradual resumption of production,” says Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand chief operating officer Ralf Brandstätter. Short-time working will continue and the numbers of employees will continue to be reduced.

The Daimler group has also decided to resume production in Europe. From 20 April this will affect the car powertrain plants in Germany, followed by the Mercedes-Benz car plants in Sindelfingen and Bremen, as well as the van plants. These plants will initially produce in a one-shift operation. The truck and bus plants will also resume production from 20 April.

Audi plans to start up car production at its main plant in Ingolstadt at the end of April.

Porsche, however, will keep production at its main plants in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen and Leipzig suspended for at least another week, the company says.

ArcelorMittal has received commitments from a group of banks for a new credit facility of $3 billion.

“The new Credit Facility will have a maturity of 12 months and can be used for general corporate purposes,” the steelmaker says. “While the company has no immediate need to draw on this new facility, it will provide additional financial flexibility in the current extraordinary circumstances.”

The company already has a €5.5 billion revolving credit facility, which remains undrawn and is fully available until December 2024, Kallanish notes.

Some of Turkey’s largest automotive producers have continued extending output suspensions due to disruptions in procurement, sales and delivery related to the expanding COVID-19 outbreak, which is expected to pull down automotive steel demand further in Turkey.

Coronavirus cases have continued to rise notably in Turkey, taking the total number of infections to 69,392 on Wednesday, while the death toll reached 1,518.

Following Ford Otosan’s decision in this sentiment to extend the stoppage until April 27, another of Turkey’s largest auto producers, TOFAS, has also decided to extend the stoppage until May 4, S&P Global Platts learned Thursday.

Bursa-based TOFAS is a joint venture of Turkey’s Koc Holding and Italian Fiat Chrysler with automobile production capacity of 450,000 units/year.

“In our statement dated March 31, within the framework of the effects of the COVID-19, which influenced the world and our country, the disruptions in the supply and delivery processes from abroad were evaluated and factory closure until April 20, 2020 was announced to the public. As similar developments [are] continuing, the period was extended until May 4,” the company said.

As the suspensions by Turkey’s major automotive producers are extending, automotive steel demand in Turkey could be effected more than expected.

Some Turkish steel producers and re-rollers have already announced output cuts due to sluggish market sentiment arising from the coronavirus outbreak, as reported.

— Cenk Can

Activity by companies in the French construction sector slowed month-on-month in March, according to l’Institut National de la Statistique et des Études Économiques (Insee) report monitored by Kallanish. Some responses from the sector were collected before 16 March, the date when the country’s lockdown started.

In March 2020 fewer companies than in the previous month expected an increase in their activity for the next three months. Companies said they were more pessimistic than the previous month about the prospects for future activity and the general state of the French construction industry. In March employment prospects were also deemed less favourable than in February, the report says. 

Also, fewer companies than in February considered their order-books to be well-filled. Companies still assessed their order-books as providing almost eight months of work, higher than the long-term average of 5.7 months.

The production capacity utilisation rate fell significantly in March. At the same time, 45% of companies reported production bottlenecks due to workforce shortages, a little less than the previous month.

In March fewer companies than in January announced that they will increase their prices over the next three months, the report reveals.