Day: 21 July 2020

Heute hat das Bundeskabinett das federführend vom Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Energie erarbeitete „Handlungskonzept Stahl – Für eine starke Stahlindustrie in Deutschland und Europa“ beschlossen.

Bundeswirtschaftsminister Altmaier: „Mit dem Handlungskonzept Stahl senden wir ein starkes Signal für klimafreundlichen Stahl ‚made in Germany‘. Wir wollen zeigen, dass ambitionierter Klimaschutz und eine wettbewerbsfähige Industrie Hand in Hand gehen. Es ist wichtig, dass wir jetzt handeln, damit dieser für unsere Volkswirtschaft so wichtige Industriezweig auch in 30 Jahren aus eigener Kraft wettbewerbsfähig und klimafreundlich in Deutschland produzieren kann. Dafür haben wir heute die richtigen Rahmenbedingungen gesetzt.“

Hans Jürgen Kerkhoff, Präsident der Wirtschaftsvereinigung Stahl: „Die Stahlindustrie in Deutschland begrüßt die Verabschiedung des Handlungskonzepts Stahl durch die Bundesregierung. Damit liegt ein kohärentes, industriepolitisches Gesamtkonzept vor, das die Herausforderungen für die Branche adressiert. Die kommenden Monate müssen nun in verschiedener Hinsicht genutzt werden: Die Folgen der Corona-Krise müssen bewältigt, eine erneute Stahl-Importkrise verhindert und faire Wettbewerbsbedingungen in der Energie- und Klimapolitik geschaffen werden. Zudem gilt es zeitnah in Deutschland und auf europäischer Ebene die politischen Instrumente für die Transformation in eine CO2-arme Stahlproduktion auf den Weg zu bringen.“

Jürgen Kerner, Hauptkassierer der IG Metall und für die Stahlindustrie zuständiges geschäftsführendes Vorstandsmitglied: „Aus Sicht der Beschäftigten setzt das Handlungskonzept ein wichtiges Signal in Richtung grüner Stahl. Die Bundesregierung hat damit eine gute Grundlage geschaffen, die Transformation der Stahlindustrie zu fördern. Nur wenn der Weg zur klimaneutralen Stahlindustrie konsequent beschritten wird, sichert dies die 85.000 Arbeitsplätze in der Stahlindustrie und viele weitere entlang der Wertschöpfungskette. Aus dem Handlungskonzept Stahl müssen nun schnell konkrete Förderprogramme und eine praktische Umsetzung erwachsen. Die aktuelle Krise und die damit verbundene Unterauslastung der Branche kann zu massiven Liquiditätsschwierigkeiten führen und erfordert eine enge Begleitung durch Bund und Länder. Nur so werden wir „grünen Stahl“ in Deutschland realisieren können.“

Mit dem Papier legt die Bundesregierung ein politisches Gesamtkonzept für eine langfristig starke, international wettbewerbsfähige und klimaneutrale Stahlindustrie am Standort Deutschland vor. Stahl soll auch langfristig innerhalb Europas nach den europäischen Umwelt- und Klimaschutzstandards konkurrenzfähig produziert werden. Mit dem Handlungskonzept verfolgt die Bundesregierung das Ziel

• Chancengleichheit auf dem globalen Stahlmarkt zu schaffen;
• den Carbon Leakage-Schutz für die Stahl- und andere energieintensive Industrien zu stärken;
• eine Umstellung auf eine klimafreundliche Stahlproduktion zu ermöglichen und die Chance zu nutzen, Vorreiter innovativer Klimaschutztechnologien zu werden.

Auf der Grundlage des „Handlungskonzept Stahl“ sollen künftig Investitionen in treibhausgasarme /-freie Technologien in der Stahlindustrie unterstützt und die industrielle Nutzung von Wasserstoff vorangebracht werden.

Die Lage der Stahl- und anderer Grundstoffindustrien erfordert eine Überprüfung des handelspolitischen Instrumentariums der EU und muss bei der Reform des Emissionshandelssystems und der Überarbeitung des Beihilferahmens für den Green Deal berücksichtigt werden. Daher soll die Zukunft der Stahlindustrie auch Thema der deutschen EU-Ratspräsidentschaft werden. Das internationale Umfeld für die Stahlindustrie hat sich in den letzten Jahren erschwert, unter anderem durch Überkapazitäten auf internationalen Märkten, durch ein nicht einfaches handelspolitisches Umfeld und durch ambitionierte Umwelt- und Klimaziele. In dieser herausfordernden Lage müssen Stahlunternehmen nun langfristig wirkende Investitionsentscheidungen zugunsten CO2-armer Stahlerzeugungsverfahren treffen. Nach überschlägigen Berechnungen der Branche werden dafür Investitionen in einer Größenordnung von rund 30 Milliarden Euro in Deutschland prognostiziert.

Autor: von Hubert Hunscheidt

Quelle und Foto: BUNDESMINISTERIUM FÜR WIRTSCHAFT UND ENERGIE

The Italian re-roller subsidiary of Ukrainian steelmaker Metinvest has signed its first facility with Italy’s Cassa Depositi e Prestiti S.p.A (CDP) for €15 million ($17m), Kallanish learns from Metinvest.

The six-year term loan facility, with a two-year grace period, is being issued under an Italian government programme guaranteed by SACE S.p.A., the state-owned export credit agency. This comes under the “Garanzia Italia” initiative to support companies through the international health crisis.

The proceeds will be used to implement the capital expenditure programme at Metinvest Trametal. This represents the debut term loan for Metinvest Trametal’s business development since the Ukrainian group acquired the asset in 2008, the company says in a note.

“Such financing will help enhance Metinvest Trametal’s product quality, production volumes and business efficiency,” says Metinvest chief executive Yuriy Ryzhenkov. “In turn, this will ensure the Group’s continued ability to meet customers’ needs while improving its financial and operational performance.”

Metinvest Trametal is located in San Giorgio di Nogaro, north-eastern Italy. Its quarto reversing rolling mill has an annual production capacity of 600,000 tonnes of high-quality, hot-rolled plate for use in shipbuilding, pipe manufacturing and for other industrial purposes. The Italian subsidiary – comprising around 300 employees – is primarily fed by Metinvest slab produced in Ukraine.

The Italian government approved the €200 billion “Decreto Liquidità” in April. This is a state emergency support programme under which CDP and other financial institutions and banks offer Italian companies capital financing guaranteed by SACE. The programme provides businesses with medium and long-term financing to support investments and activities in Italy following the Covid-19 pandemic.

Germany’s stockholding distributors began to suffer increasingly from the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic towards the end of the second quarter, according to the association of stockholders, BDS.

In a poll carried out among BDS members in June, close to half (48%) of companies said they felt a “…noticeable decline in demand from customers attributable to the Covid-19 crisis.” This result differs notably from an earlier poll carried out in mid-April. Until around Easter, 80% of companies polled still felt little to no major decline in demand. However, one third already then reported a decline in order intake.

Asked about their customers, distributors in June related that 59% of consumers reported a decline in business activity caused by the coronavirus. Only 4% were heard saying they had no such issues. Similarly, only 4% of distributors did not expect an upcoming decline in demand from their customers. All others expected either a major (46%) or minor (50%) decline coming, Kallanish learns.

Regarding the nature of customer groups, the industries named as most impacted were automotive and mechanical engineering, but also general metals processing. For construction, only 4% expressed pessimism. Distributors specialising in rebar and their bending shops are the ones suffering least from a lull in activity.

New EU safeguard quotas have become available from the beginning of July, but a number of specific allocations are already reaching a critical level, Kallanish learns from the official calculation system provided by the European Commission.

As expected, Turkish rebar importers have quickly used up almost all the quotas available until the end of September. Similarly, Russian wire rod imports have almost completely used the over 80,000-tonne of tariff-free quotas available.

In the flat products sector, organic coated sheet imports have used up most quotas specifically allocated to Turkish imports as well as those for the “other countries” section. This excludes imports from India, South Korea, Taiwan, Turkey and Macedonia.

Despite the slowdown in the automotive sector, Chinese hot-dip galvanized coil specifically for the automotive sector has used almost all of the over 134,000t quotas available in the 4b sub-group.

Finally, the “other countries” allocation for cold rolled stainless flat products was also used completely until the end of September. This includes all imports not arriving from South Korea, Taiwan, India, USA, Turkey, Malaysia and Vietnam.

Tata Steel Europe confirms it is actively discussing with the UK government several options for the future of its UK operations, to address existing structural challenges. One of these is understood to be the possible replacement of the blast furnaces at Port Talbot with electric arc furnaces.

UK press has in recent weeks reported on speculation that Tata Steel would agree to convert its integrated production at Port Talbot to EAF-based output in order to reduce CO2 emissions. These rumours were understood to be only part of the many scenarios discussed between the company and local authorities.

The company did not give specifics, but confirmed the possibility of cooperation with or participations from the UK government in future developments, Kallanish notes.

“We are in active discussions with the UK Government on several options for the future of our UK operations, including potential co-operation and participation from the Government to create a sustainable decarbonised footprint for the future,” a Tata Steel spokesperson says. “Given prevailing market conditions and disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, it is clear that our UK operations face structural challenges that need to be urgently addressed.”

“Discussions with the Government are constructive and ongoing, and at this stage no decisions have been made,” the spokesperson continues. “It would therefore be inappropriate to comment on unsubstantiated speculation about the outcome of these discussions or the potential impact of any changes to secure our sustainable long-term future.”

UK trade unions have expressed their concerns over the possibility of converting Port Talbot to an EAF-based works, as this could have a direct impact on employment. The option of EAF steelmaking has been raised many times during the last five years.

Last month Celsa agreed with UK authorities an important loan to support its activities in the country; a similar loan – albeit higher in value – is expected to be announced for Tata Steel.

Spanish technology manufacturer Fagor Arrasate will supply Swedish steel producer SSAB with a new fully automated longitudinal cutting line for Ultra High Strength Steel (UHSS), Kallanish learns from Fagor.

The high-performance line will allow SSAB to reach high levels of productivity and profitability, the Spanish supplier says.

With a speed of 150 m/minute, the line is able to process the most resistant steels, with a high yield strength of 1500 N/mm2, in coils up to 6mm thick and 1,550mm wide.

“The quick change of the cutting tools and the position of the separators is carried out automatically,” Fagor explains. “This shortens machine set-up times and reduces manual operations, improving ergonomics and safety for operators.”

German crude steel production continued to experience a heavy decrease in June, falling 27.3% year on year to 2.48 million mt, German steel federation WV Stahl said July 20.

June marks the third consecutive month of “significant” decreases in output from Europe’s largest steel-producing country.

“The negative effects of the coronavirus crisis on German crude steel production are clear to see,” WV Stahl said.

German crude steel production using blast furnaces shrank 35.8% year on year in June to 1.53 million mt, while production using electric arc furnaces fell 7.3% to 941,000 mt.

In the second quarter, crude steel production was down 26% on the year, after a 6% drop in Q1. Total crude steel production in the first half of 2020 was 17.46 million mt, 15.7% lower than a year earlier.

Pig iron production plummeted 34.5% on the year in June to 1.45 million mt, taking the H1 total to 10.9 million mt, an 18.2% fall from H1 2019.

June hot-rolled steel production dropped 29.7% to 2.1 million mt, taking the H1 total 15.1% lower to 15.2 million mt.

Although steel prices in Northwest Europe are slowly increasing, with industrial production recovering, capacity cuts at German steelmakers remain in place until further notice. The summer holidays are expected to curb production further as mills will conduct their usual maintenance work, with some extending stoppages because of weak demand.

Most companies across the entire steel supply chain have short-time working in place, meaning reduced shifts and government aid for workers’ pay.

— Laura Varriale

The investment company Sunningwell International Polska is planning to make an offer to buy the Polish heavy plate mill Huta Czestochowa at the end of July, Marek Frydrych, Sunningwell’s president, said July 20.

Frydrych told S&P Global Platts that Sunningwell is will exercise its preemptive right to buy the mill as its current operator and leaseholder.

The first tender, closed on June 3, was inconclusive as no valid offers, not even from Sunningwell, were submitted.

Local media in Poland reported that other companies showing interest in Huta Czestochowa were the Liberty group and Metinvest.

The new starting price for Huta Czestochowa, currently under bankruptcy and controlled by the receiver, has been set at Zloty 220 million ($56 million), down Zloty 30 million from the initial asking price. Interested parties can submit their offers by July 27.

Frydrych said he believes the targeted price of Huta Czestochowa is greater than the real value.

“The lack of maintenance and modernization work at the mill is visible; a lot of equipment and machinery needs to be replaced or upgraded,” he said. “The valuation of the mill reflects more the balance sheet than the real situation. We’ll probably overpay for the mill; we could bid a lower price, but the tender is restricting the minimum level.”

The mill’s recent monthly output fell to 35,000 mt heavy plate, lower than planned, due to the negative impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the steel demand. During more prosperous times, the mill could supply 50,00 0mt of heavy plate per month.

Huta Czestochowa remains under lease by Sunningwell until Sept. 19.

— Wojtek Laskowski