Day: 12 September 2023

And price undercutting among steel service centers in Europe could put pressure on downstream prices, Fastmarkets understands.

Fastmarkets calculated its daily steel HRC index domestic, exw Northern Europe at €645.00 ($690.04) per tonne on Monday, up by €0.21 per tonne from €644.79 per tonne on September 8.

The index was down by €14.17 per tonne week on week, but up by €0.42 per tonne month on month.

Most buyers estimated the tradable values for HRC in Northern Europe at €640-650 per tonne EXW.

Fastmarkets’ calculation of its corresponding daily steel HRC index domestic, exw Italy was €637.50 per tonne on Monday, up by €4.17 per tonne from €633.33 per tonne on September 8.

The Italian index was down by €0.83 per tonne week on week, but up by €3.82 per tonne month on month.

Most buyer estimates put the workable price at about €625-640 per tonne ex-works, with some higher indications reported at €670 per tonne EXW.

Offer prices were reported at closer to €660 per tonne ex-works for October/November delivery and any offers above €640 per tonne EXW were not considered workable given the current market conditions.

Import offers from Asia for shipment in the first quarter of 2024 were reported at €610-620 per tonne CFR to Italy.

Published by: India-Inés Levy

Yukselen Celik, a leading Turkish specialty steel producer, aims to enter the German market, following its US entry, to expand its export activities in the European market, the firm says in a bourse filing seen by Kallanish.

In addition to increasing its awareness in international markets and expanding its field of activity, the firm aims to increase its export revenue and exports’ share in total sales. To do this, it has established a fully-owned subsidiary named Rising Stahl GmbH in Düsseldorf, Germany.

The subsidiary will start its operations primarily as a European sales office and will have warehouse/storage areas to be able to stock products over time. If deemed necessary, a steel service centre or metal processing plant will also be established in the future. From the subsidiary in Dusseldorf, Yukselen Celik aims to sell its products across Germany and other EU countries, with a particular focus on North Rhine-Westphalia.

Rising Stahl’s establishment procedures are planned to be completed by the end of 2023, with operations starting in the first half of 2024 at the latest. As of H2 2024, it is expected to have a positive impact on the export and transit trade activities of Yukselen Celik.

Yukselen Celik established a wholly-owned subsidiary named Rising Steel Inc. in Chicago in 2022 in order to increase the share of exports in total sales revenue, which has hitherto been small. The firm increased the share of exports in revenue by approximately 6.5% as of the end of 2022, with the contribution of the export office opened in Istanbul and the subsidiary established in the USA. This is in addition to the capacity increases realised previously. This share rose to over 15% in H1 2023.

Burcak Alpman Turkey

South Korean steelmaker Posco plans to see rapid development of its hydrogen reduction steelmaking technology during 2026-2030.

The steelmaker said at the 2023 Korea Environment & Energy Trade Fair last week that it will use green hydrogen through HyREX technology to produce direct reduced iron (DRI) to feed electric arc furnaces. HyREX (Hydrogen Reduction) is a steelmaking method that manufactures molten metal using iron ore fines and hydrogen, based on Posco’s FINEX fluidized reduction technology. The steelmaker will cooperate with Primetals on developing this.

Posco aims to complete a 300,000 tonnes/year hydrogen reduction steelmaking plant by 2026 and introduce a 1 million tonnes/year commercial production plant by 2030, Kallanish notes. The factory was designed in July last year. If HyREX proves successful, it could gradually replace Posco’s blast furnaces after optimisation, and help the steel mill become carbon neutral by 2050.

The European Commission has reserved its final decision on the proposed merger between Swiss Steel and Jacquet Metals. It has invited interested third parties to submit their observations on the transaction.

In February, Swiss Steel signed an agreement for the sale of several distribution subsidiaries to Jacquet Metals, a distributor of specialty metals (see Kallanish passim).

The transaction includes Swiss Steel s.r.o in the Czech Republic, Swiss Steel Baltic OÜ in Estonia, Swiss Steel Magyarorszag Kft in Hungary, Swiss Steel Baltic SIA in Latvia, Swiss Steel Baltic, UAB in Lithuania, Swiss Steel Polska in Poland and Swiss Steel Slovakia, belonging to the Swiss Steel group. Together, these generated a total net revenue of €158 million ($169m) and Ebitda of €12m in 2022, with 267 employees, by selling mostly non-Swiss Steel products.

It is the second significant agreement between Swiss Steel and Jacques Metals, following the sale of distribution entities in Germany, Austria, Belgium and the Netherlands in 2015.

Natalia Capra France

Representatives of the European metals industry, including ferrous and non-ferrous metals, have initiated the process to discuss and establish their own EU Transition Pathway, in collaboration with the European Commission.

The objective of the plan being put together is to ensure the sustainability and resilience of the metals sector, which is central to the overall green and digital transition of the EU’s economy.

“The Transition Pathway for Metals is a timely opportunity to collectively craft a long-term vision for our industry with a fresh approach that transcends policy silos and encompasses various areas, from decarbonisation to energy and circularity policies,” Axel Eggert, general director of Eurofer, says in a note sent to Kallanish.

Europe aims at ensuring the security and sustainability of its metals supply to deliver on its 2030 clean energy goals. Steel, together with non-ferrous metals, is indispensable to develop electric vehicles as well as wind, solar and hydrogen technologies.

The Pathways will lay out the challenges to be faced in the transition towards 2050, including investments required to overcome the challenges and necessary policy framework to encourage new investments. The process will accelerate over the next semester, with the objective of completing the work by the end of March 2024.

Emanuele Norsa Italy

Uncertainty persists in the Italian scrap market despite activity restarting after the August break. The continued bad performance of finished product markets is responsible for the current lull, local trade association Assofermet says in its market report monitored by Kallanish.

Some domestic price decreases have been registered so far, but no contracts have been implemented for large scrap volumes. The situation may however change, with price increases possible and clarity foreseen in the second half of the month. “Today’s prices are considered low by sellers. Should the scenario change, they will most likely undergo increases,” Assofermet forecasts, and highlights scrap shortages in Italy.

Meanwhile, the association notes a general weakness in the pig iron market. “Good availability remains, as do price differences depending on origin, with a still important gap between pig iron of Russian origin and other sources,” the note says. Price increases are to be expected in the second part of the month.

Over the past two weeks, ferroalloys prices have increased in India but other markets have not followed the Indian hikes. Better visibility on international prices will also be achieved in the coming weeks. The shutdown of the manganese mine in Gabon could also have an impact on prices, Assofermet concludes.

Natalia Capra France

SteelBuy, an easy-to-use online marketplace where businesses can buy and sell metals quickly and securely, has recorded over 300 transactions and £1m+ sales revenue since it was launched at the start of the year.

Users from across the UK are leveraging the technology to achieve faster and more efficient deals for their mild steel, stainless steel, and aluminium, with all the logistics and invoicing managed through the encrypted platform.

Sellers can post their material with product specifications, test certificates and price per tonne and these can be found by potential buyers within seconds. With listings taking just one minute to complete, it is estimated that 37 hours can be saved each week in the average purchasing and sales function.

Importantly, all transactions are anonymised so buyers and sellers do not know who the other party is, essential when sensitive data, such as prices and stockholding, must remain confidential.

“This is much more than just a place to buy and sell materials,” explained Terry Sargeant, CEO of SteelBuy.

“We are not just providing an exciting new channel for customers to buy and sell metals, we are selling a vision of the future of the industry.”

He continued: “SteelBuy enables users to effortlessly digitalise their purchasing and sustainably modernise their business and this is just the start – there’s so much unexplored potential in materials trading and distribution, through the power of digitalisation.

“The metals sector is traditional by its very nature, yet just eight months after our launch and we have proven time and time again that we can reduce costs, boosts sales and speed up what can be an extremely time-consuming process.”

SteelBuy was the original idea of Cameron Sargeant, who came up with the idea of selling material online whilst working in sales for thyssenkrupp.

22 people were recruited for the new venture, a mix of software, marketing, sales and engineering experts, who all share a passion for harnessing the power of digitalisation in the metals industry.

Terry, who has been involved in the sector for more than 40 years, went on to add: “We’ve got producing mills, steel service centres, stockholders and even traders using our platform, with the average delivery time of metal, from listing to arriving at the buyer, at just three days.

“This is transformative for both parties. When it comes to buying steel and aluminium, deals often take too long to complete, with lead times traditionally excessive (up to 12 weeks for mill production) – we can reduce this by almost 90% by matching supply and demand.

“For sellers, we deliver greater market visibility and reach for both your surplus metals and commodity products. By using our online platform, they have an opportunity to sell to anyone, from anywhere and not have to worry about relationships, payment terms or credit risks. SteelBuy removes all the hassle.”

Shirley-based SteelBuy has ambitious plans to take its technology into the European marketplace, as well as rolling out new features that reflect user feedback to make the process even easier.

The company will be making its first public exhibition appearance this week, when it looks to showcase the huge benefits of its online platform on Stand F50 at the UK Metals Expo (13-14^th September) in Birmingham.

Terry concluded: “We have big plans, and we won’t stop until SteelBuy is the largest global online marketplace for the metals industry.

“Initial feedback has been really encouraging, not to mention the 300% growth in transactions we’ve seen over the last six months.”

Source: steel-buy.com

The EU ETS has been always presented as being central to EU climate policy. While it is part of a toolbox, the change that the act of putting a price on CO2 emissions has brought cannot be denied or minimised. Its continuous good functioning and relevance is of the outmost importance.

Over the years, the functioning of the EU carbon market and its governance have been one of the central preoccupations in the work with have undertaken. At ERCST we have always been intrigued by the discussions of how to manage the carbon market, and the governance that we put in place, which needs to be able to respond to the EU ETS circumstances.

ERCST Reflection Note: EU ETS Post-2030 : a European Central Carbon Bank to manage the EU ETS?

Author(s): Andrei Marcu, Juan Fernando López, Gabriele Romeo

Als Fachverband der deutschen Stahldistribution unterstützt der BDS bereits seit mehr als fünf Jahrzehnten deutsche Stahlhandelsunternehmen mit regionaler und internationaler Bedeutung. Als neuer ideeller Träger der in Düsseldorf stattfindenden Fachmesse Tube erweitert sich nun das Aufgabenspektrum.

„Wir sind sehr froh, dass wir mit dem BDS einen sehr wichtigen und namhaften Partner gewinnen konnten. Gemeinsam wollen wir ab jetzt die Tube weiterentwickeln“, freut sich Daniel Ryfisch, Director wire/Tube & Flow Technologies der Messe Düsseldorf. Viele der Tube-Aussteller, die alle zwei Jahre als Leitmesse der Rohrbranche in Düsseldorf stattfindet, sind Mitglieder im Verband. Bereits zur kommenden Tube Düsseldorf 2024 kooperiert der Verband mit der Leitmesse Tube Düsseldorf. Sie gilt als internationale Branchen-Community mit hoher Expertise und Fachmesse Nr.1 für die Rohrherstellung, Rohrverarbeitung und den Rohrhandel. „Durch die Kooperation interagieren wir als Interessenvertretung für unsere Mitgliedsunternehmen direkt mit der für die Rohrdistribution wichtigen Messe Tube“, ergänzt Oliver Ellermann, Vorstand des BDS.

Über den Bundesverband Deutscher Stahlhandel

Seit fast fünf Jahrzehnten ist der Bundesverband Deutscher Stahlhandel ein etablierter Fachverband mit inhabergeführten und börsennotierten Stahlhandelsunternehmen von regionaler bis internationaler Bedeutung. Er versteht sich als schlagkräftige Interessenvertretung, welche die die Konkurrenzfähigkeit des Stahlhandels nachhaltig störken will. Als Fachverband weist der BDS neben den Bereichen Research und Berufsbildung einen verbandstypischen dritten Bereich auf, den der Kommunikation. Hier bündelt der Verband in den Bereichen Mitgliedsunternehmen, Netzwerk und Handelspolitik die Segmente, ohne deren sich auch wechselseitig ergänzende Funktionalität verbandliche Arbeit nicht möglich ist.

Über die Fachmesse Tube

Die Tube ist eine internationale Rohr-Fachmesse in Düsseldorf und wird zusammen mit der Wire durchgeführt. Sie findet seit 1988 im Zweijahres-Rhythmus jeweils meist zweiten Quartal statt. Für die Auflage 2022 meldete die Messe Düsseldorf als Ausrichter 43.000 Besucher sowie 765 Aussteller auf einer Ausstellungsfläche von 39.592 m². Neben der ITA (International Tube Association) ist der BDS der zweite Branchenverband, den sich die Tube an ihre Seite stellt, um sich noch stärker innerhalb der Branche zu vernetzen und wertvolle Synergien für die Aussteller der Tube zu erzielen.