Bekaert invests in clean energy for Italian plant
Belgian wire specialist Bekaert is investing in clean energy in Italy. It has signed a 12-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) for renewable electricity with Edison Next, part of the Edison Group, Kallanish notes.
Edison will finance and build a photovoltaic plant at Bekaert’s facility in the province of Cagliari, Sardinia, with a total power of 6.1 megawatts, scheduled for commissioning in 2025.
This will cover over 20% of the Cagliari plant’s energy requirements, producing over 11.2 gigawatt-hours a year and helping to cut the plant’s emissions. The solar project at Bekaert’s Sardinia plant “incorporates trackers that follow the path of the sun to optimise renewable energy production … Photovoltaic is a mature technology that, backed by the PPA formula, represents a primary fundamental element for energy transition by companies,” Bekaert and Edison Next explain in a joint note.
Bekaert intends to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 46.2% by 2030, and invest in solar plants in other countries.
In its 2023 financial report, Bekaert said economic uncertainty continues and several end-markets remain challenging. However, trading in 2024 has started well across the majority of the firm’s business units, with modest sales growth and stable margins forecast for this year (see Kallanish 5 March).
Natalia Capra France
Ascometal must deliver stock to gain time: unions
French trade unions have launched an urgent appeal to the French government to take immediate and decisive action to save Ascometal.
The company has been declared insolvent after the sale of its units to Italian long steel producer Acciaierie Venete was terminated last month (see Kallanish 28 March).
“Ascometal has about 14,000 tonnes of finished product in stock. It is complicated to ship this because transport needs to be paid and the company has no more money,” a source close to the firm says. He adds that to give it some financial breathing room, the firm will need to ship at least 6,000t of first-choice material very quickly.
“The second objective is to be able to restart the steelworks as quickly as possible because we have been asked to produce 11,000t,” the CFDT union says in a note. The company needs to urgently deliver to certain customers, it adds.
The proposed sale to Acciaierie Venete, announced in December last year, was to include the Hagondange facility in the Moselle region, Custines in Meurthe-et-Moselle, and the Le Marais plant in the Loire region, as well as Ascometal’s CREAS research centre.
Another source close to the dossier believes different buyers may be interested in some of Ascometal’s facilities but it will be challenging to sell all the facilities to only one buyer. Following the termination of the negotiations with Venete, Ascometal started judicial reorganisation proceedings – “procédures de redressement judiciaire” – for each of its units. A public tender will be held to find a buyer in the coming weeks.
Natalia Capra France
Europe longs: Mills expect firmer market
Most European producers increased their offers for long products this week, anticipating demand to improve after the Easter holiday period and propped up by a rebound in scrap costs.
The Argus weekly Italian rebar and drawing-quality wire rod assessments remained at €570/t ($620/t) ex-works and €645/t delivered, respectively.
In Italy, rebar sales prices remained at €560-570/t ex-works, including extras for sizes, but mills announced offers at up to €600/t ex-works, referring to increasing scrap costs. Buyers were sceptical about the price increases as mills still needed to fill their April order books and there were no expectations for substantial increases in consumption. Buyers that needed to replenish stocks placed orders in late March, when there were signs that prices had bottomed out.
In the nearby markets, no fresh offers were reported. Rebar was quoted at €570-580/t fca late last week, when some Italian mills were eager for new sales. In particular, the tradeable value for rebar in Poland was reported at €615-620/t delivered this week, while in late March deals were concluded slightly below this. In the meantime, offers for Polish rebar stood at €625-630/t delivered to domestic buyers, while in nearby markets prices were pegged at €625-640/t delivered. Similar prices were available for overseas material from docks in the Baltic region.
In Germany, prices for small-to-medium purchases of rebar remained at €630-640/t delivered. Spanish rebar was still quoted at €615/t cfr to northwest Europe, with small discounts deemed available. But mills are likely to try and increase prices should they see demand.
In the Balkan region, Bulgarian rebar prices settled at 1,190-1,210 lev/t (€608-619/t) delivered late last week, while in Romania rebar was available at €630-640/t delivered.
But some customers showed more interest in overseas offers in late March. Rebar was mainly booked from Turkey, as prices were at $585-590/t fob, which would be below €600/t delivered in any region. Egyptian rebar was quoted at $580-590/t fob, but was available for later shipment.
Southern and northwestern European customers were booking Asian wire rod at $520/t fob in late March, which is estimated at no higher than $600/t cfr depending on the ports. Some buyers expressed concerns that the next “other countries” quota could be exhausted promptly again, as almost 83,771t were awaiting clearance in the first days of April. Turkish allocation was estimated to be filled promptly in this period too.
Trade restrictions supported stronger prices for wire rod in Europe, with mills announcing up to €20/t price increases. In particular, new offers for drawing quality material in the Italian market were indicated at €650/t delivered. In other markets, mills pushed up offers from €660/t delivered to up to €680/t delivered. Mesh quality wire rod in Germany and other nearby markets was available at €620-630/t delivered.
