Day: 27 July 2020

The European Commission has appointed Mr Denis Redonnet to the function of Deputy Director-General in the Directorate-General for Trade (DG TRADE) which encompasses the new role of Chief Trade Enforcement Officer (CTEO).

The appointment of the CTEO is an important step in strengthening the EU’s implementation and enforcement agenda, both inside the EU and globally. The CTEO will also help EU exporters gain more value from partner markets and will also strengthen the enforcement of sustainable development commitments, notably in relation to the climate agenda and labour rights.

Commissioner for Trade, Phil Hogan said, “I warmly welcome the appointment of Denis Redonnet to this important position. He brings with him considerable experience which I am sure he will use to great effect. This appointment is a statement of the Commission’s commitment to the enforcement and implementation of our trade agreements. As well as ensuring that our partners deliver fully on their commitments, the CTEO will be crucially important in relation to ensuring that our SMEs, which are the backbone of the European economy, get maximum value from our trade deals.”

Today’s appointment also delivers on the commitment of President von der Leyen who, in her Mission Letter to Commissioner Hogan, said that “The College will appoint a Chief Trade Enforcement Officer to work under your direct guidance to monitor and improve the compliance of our trade agreements. He or she will report regularly on the state of play and keep the European Parliament and the Council abreast of all developments.”

Denis Redonnet, a French national, is currently the Director for “WTO, Legal Affairs and Trade in Goods” in DG Trade. Previously he headed the WTO division and the Strategy division of this DG. Before that, he served as Deputy Head of Cabinet to the EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson and advisor to EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy. Over the course of his career at the European Commission, he has held positions in DGs dealing with monetary, international economic affairs and the internal market. He is an economist by training, and started his career as a corporate banker for a French bank in the city of London. The date of effect of this appointment will be determined later.

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Nucor plans to navigate the upcoming surge of Covid-19 capacity restarts by keeping its costs low, Kallanish learns from the company’s second-quarter earnings call with analysts. 

Ceo Leon Topalian estimates that about 13 or 14 blast furnaces that were taken offline during the pandemic will return by August, or about 10 million short tons of capacity. 

That still leaves a further 10m st offline, he says – and some of that may never come back. 

“What I would tell you is the ultimate driver is the low-cost producer wins,” he says. “And so Nucor’s focus and taking care of our team from a safety perspective is also matched by ensuring that we remain in a low-cost position so that we can continue to be the supplier of choice and/or market share.”

Growth in the auto sector is also becoming a sharper focus for Nucor in the age of Covid-19, he says. 

“While we’re not GM’s or Ford’s or BMW’s or Mercedes’ Tier 1 biggest supplier, we’re working hard every day to be their best supplier,” he says. “So even though auto will be down this year and really probably for the next year in terms of pre-Covid levels, our share of that opportunity is going to grow. And we think by the end of the year, we will surpass the shipping level of what we did in 2019.”

US steel producer Nucor expects long product demand to remain steady in the second half of fiscal 2020, Kallanish reports.

In its second-quarter earnings conference call, the company revealed that it expects its long products divisions to benefit from sustained demand in a solid non-residential construction market for the remainder of the year.

“We continue to see the benefits of our recent initiatives to improve the performance of our businesses that serve the [non-residential construction markets], specifically in rebar fabrication and metal buildings,” says ceo Leon Topalian.

Following a volume decline in Q2 as a result of Covid-19, the company expects a strong rebound in its long divisions as development projects come to fruition. Specifically mentioned during the conference is the company’s Frostproof, Florida, rebar micro mill, which is on track to start-up in Q4.

“Our new Sedalia rebar micro mill Missouri has already achieved positive Ebitda from June,” adds Topalian. “We forecast that the mill will be bottom-line profitable by September, and will be capable of full production capacity early in the fourth quarter.”

“Year-over-year, we’re up 8% in rebar and then 3% on the construction product side,” notes cfo Jim Frias.

As the COVID-19 pandemic hit demand notably, especially in April and May, Turkish buyers’ imports of hot-rolled coil in the first five month of the year remained lower than the same period the previous year. However, imports from some Asian countries, particularly South Korea and Japan showed some notable year on year surge in that period,S&P Global Platts observed from the latest Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK) data.

Turkey imported 1.48 million mt of HRC in January-May, lower than 1.72 million mt imported in the same period the previous year, the data showed.

Despite a notable 46% on-year decline, Russia remained Turkey’s largest HRC supplier at 374,000 mt in the five-month period, while imports from Ukraine totaled 269,000 mt, higher than the 211,000 mt imported in the same period the previous year.

Some Asian suppliers raised their shares notably in the Turkish market this year with competitive prices. South Korea exported 132,550 mt of HRC to Turkey in the five-month period, sharply higher than 15,000 mt exported in January-May 2019.

According to the terms and conditions of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) signed by Turkey and South Korea in 2013, the gradual reduction period in customs duties finished January 1, 2020 and the customs duty on all steel products from South Korea zeroed, as Platts has reported.

Turkish imports of HRC from Japan also surged in January-May to 62,380 mt, significantly higher than just 3,160 mt imported in the same period of 2019.

Imports from France remained strong in January-May at 153,000 mt, up 21% on year, while Romania shipped 113,200 mt of HRC to Turkey in the five-month period, down from 140,700 mt in the same period the previous year.

Turkey’s other HRC suppliers in January-May were the Netherlands (91,800 mt), Italy (59,300 mt), Brazil (46,700 mt), Germany (39,300 mt) and Belgium (34,600 mt).

Turkish buyers even imported 20,400 mt of HRC from Tanzania in January-May, Platts observed from the latest TUIK data.

— Cenk Can