Outokumpu sees market recovery continuing in Europe
Finnish steelmaker Outokumpu said May 7 the market recovery in Europe was continuing, and it expected second-quarter stainless steel deliveries to rise 5%-15% from Q1.
Outokumpu also said the political strike in Finland hit its first-quarter results by Eur30 million ($32 million) and it expected a similar impact on Q2.
“After a weak second half of the year 2023, the new year started off relatively well,” President and CEO Heikki Malinen said. “From a market perspective, we have seen positive signals. Gradual recovery in Europe has continued.”
“However, a wave of unexpected political strikes in Finland impacted Outokumpu … We have done everything under our control to mitigate the situation in order to limit the negative impacts of the four-week strike to Eur60 million from the earlier estimated Eur80 million,” Malinen said.
Q1 stainless steel deliveries were 12% lower year on year and 1% down from Q4 2023 to 444,000 mt, as volumes decreased significantly in Europe due to the strike in Finland and a weaker overall market environment.
The strike indirectly impacted the company’s operations in other countries through disruption to internal material flows in both Europe and Americas.
Outokumpu was, however, able to partly mitigate the effect in Europe with higher realized prices. A tight scrap market impacted the profitability of both stainless steel businesses, while costs remained relatively stable.
Annalisa Villa
thyssenkrupp Materials Processing Europe to provide low carbon steel to Autoliv
Steel and aluminum service center thyssenkrupp Materials Processing Europe has agreed to supply global automotive safety systems provider Autoliv with its low-carbon steel, bluemint, from the end of 2026, it said May 7.
The bluemint steel will be produced by thyssenkrupp Steel Europe from its planned direct reduction plant in Duisburg that is expected to start in 2027, with thyssenkrupp Materials Processing Europe processing the master coil into slit strip for just-in-time delivery to Autoliv.
thyssenkrupp said the agreement expanded the two companies’ existing steel supply collaboration to include low carbon steel.
“The plan underlines the long-term partnership between thyssenkrupp Materials Processing Europe and Autoliv: both companies are consistently pursuing their sustainability activities and have set themselves the goal of operating climate neutrally by 2030,” thyssenkrupp said.
Autoliv aims to achieve net-zero emissions across its entire supply chain by 2040, for which CO2-reduced and CO2-neutral materials are essential.
“The collaboration with thyssenkrupp Materials Processing will be a significant step in our aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in our products by utilizing low-emission steel and to achieve our goal of net-zero emissions across our supply chain by 2040,” Autoliv Global Raw-Material Area Director Cosmin Bakai said.
thyssenkrupp said it was starting the first joint projects with its bluemint CO2-reduced steel in 2024, with the aim of gradually increasing quantities over the next few years.
“We process the emission-reduced and emission-neutral materials steel, stainless steel and aluminum for our customers,” thyssenkrupp Materials Processing Europe CEO Marcus Wohl said.
This is the second low carbon steel supply agreement signed by Autoliv in a week. On April 30, it signed a supply agreement with Italian steel producer Acciaieria Arvedi for the delivery of its low-carbon steel product Arvzero.
Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, assessed domestic hot-rolled coil prices in Northern Europe at Eur635/mt ex-works Ruhr on May 3, down 8% since the start of 2024.
European Commission approves Nippon-US Steel acquisition
The European Commission has approved the acquisition of US Steel by Nippon Steel Corporation, it says in a note seen by Kallanish.
The Commission concluded the transaction would not raise competition concerns, given the companies’ limited market positions resulting from the proposed transaction. The notified transaction was examined under the simplified merger review procedure.
US Steel owns the 4.5 million tonnes/year crude steel capacity blast furnace-based steelworks in Kosice, which has been touted to transition to electric arc furnace steelmaking. Although the investment has received Slovakian government backing, the plant’s new owner will also need to provide capital for the project’s financing requirement to be covered.
In the US, the Nippon acquisition has hit a political stumbling block, with President Joe Biden and the US Steel union both opposing the deal.
The Japanese steelmaker said last week the transaction will be delayed to the third or fourth quarter. Nippon and US Steel have each received a request for additional information and documentary materials from the US Department of Justice in connection with the DOJ’s review of the proposed acquisition.
Adam Smith Poland
