FerroMac Europe joined as member of EUROMETAL
EUROMETAL is delighted to welcome FerroMac Europe as a new member company.
FerroMac Europe is a leading international steel trading company, acting as a vital bridge between steel producers worldwide and their customers.
Their expertise encompasses the entire supply chain, from production and shipping to documentation and financing.
Their team of qualified professionals, based in both Antwerp headquarters and overseas branch offices, ensures a smooth and efficient process for all involved.
Driven by a commitment to excellence, innovation, and exceeding customer expectations, FerroMac Europe has established itself as a key player in the global steel industry.
Website: ferromac.com
UK to provide £13.5 mln to support supply chain while Tata Steel transitions to green steelmaking at Port Talbot
The government said the funding was for “immediate release” to support those local businesses that rely on Port Talbot steelworks by helping them turn toward new markets and customers. Details of exactly how to access the funds will be announced soon, the government added.
The money is the first tranche from the Tata Steel/Port Talbot Transition Board fund – a dedicated fund of £100 million to be invested in skills and regeneration programs to support workers directly and indirectly affected by Tata Steel’s plans for Port Talbot. The funding will help them to find new jobs where relevant, provide access to skills training and enable them to gain new qualifications.
Tata Steel Europe’s decarbonization plan for the Port Talbot steelworks includes the construction of a new 3.2 million tpy electric-arc furnace, with the total amount of the investment reaching £1.25 billion, including financial support from the UK government.
The decarbonization plan also includes the gradual closure of the two remaining blast furnaces at the Port Talbot steelworks. BF5 was closed on July 4 and BF4 will be closed by the end of September.
Tata Steel Europe said that it would provide £20 million of the total transition fund, while £80 million will come from the UK government.
A spokesman for Tata Steel Europe told Fastmarkets the company has already started spending some of its £20 million contribution on an employee support scheme – to help workers get formal accreditation for their skills by gaining National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs) and that it will soon appoint an outplacement support agency.
More than 50 companies, including Fintech Wales, The Royal Mint, Cardiff Metropolitan University, RWE Energy, Ledwood Mechanical Engineering, and Pro Steel Engineering, have committed to supporting workers forced to leave their jobs in the steelworks. According to the UK government, support includes guaranteed interviews for anyone made redundant, training and coaching.
On August 1, TV Narendran, chief executive officer of India-headquartered parent company Tata Steel, confirmed the company’s intention to continue with its decarbonization plans for The Port Talbot steelworks.
“In the UK, we have safely ceased operations at one of the blast furnaces (BF5) at Port Talbot and are on track to close the remaining blast furnace by September 2024,” he said at the time.
And a Tata Steel Europe spokesman said that no hot metal will be produced at the site until the new EAF is up and running in 2028.
On August 15, the UK government’s Welsh Secretary, Jo Stevens, chaired the second meeting of the Tata Steel/Port Talbot Transition Board and said that, despite Tata Steel’s management being firm about its schedule for decommissioning, “negotiations with Tata Steel on the future of the site will continue.”
The UK Business & Trade Secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, said: “We’re working in partnership with trade unions and industry to secure a green steel transition that’s right for the economy, [for] our talented workforce and [for] local communities for generations to come.
“Our negotiations with Tata [Steel] remain ongoing.” he added.
And Tata Steel UK’s CEO Rajesh Nair, said: “The transition board [has a] very important role [to play] in supporting the transformation of our business to low-CO2 steelmaking and [in] encouraging regeneration and inward investment to the area, while [at the same time] helping to mitigate the impact those changes may have on our people, our supply chain and our communities.”
Pressure on UK HRC prices
The Port Talbot steelworks produces hot-rolled coil and, according to Tata Steel, the annual output of the new EAF will be equivalent to the combined output of the last two blast furnaces.
But the previous closures and the fact that no steel will be produced at the site from September “has led to an increase in imports consistently exhausting part of the quota for Category 1 steel [which includes hot rolled flat steel products] across four consecutive quarters,” according to the UK Trade Remedy Authority (TRA).
“This in turn has driven up the cost of these products for the UK market,” the TRA said.
To remedy this, the TRA, announced on August 9, that the import quota for flat steel products will be almost tripled due to the “changed circumstances” in the market, with particular reference to the blast furnace shutdowns at Port Talbot.
The current quota of 1 million tonnes per year for Category 1 steel, will be expanded to 2.9 million tpy, by dividing Category 1 into two subcategories – 1A and 1B – to reflect whether the interested parties want to import material for commercial applications (1A) or for downstream processing (1B).
The quota Category 1A – which covers the steel commonly used as a raw material for other types of steel – will be set at 1 million tpy.
The quota for Category 1B – steel that has been subject to further downstream processing – will be set at 1.9 million tpy.
The TRA said that if limits are breached, importers will need to pay a 25% tariff.
European green steel premiums narrow downward; end-user demand slow
During the assessment week, offers for green steel with Scope 1, 2 and upstream Scope 3 carbon emissions below 0.8 tonnes per tonne of steel were reported at €200-350 ($219-329) per tonne from European suppliers, stable week on week.
Buyer sources, however, pointed out that for bigger volumes European mills could accept lower prices.
As a result, buyers’ estimations of tradeable values for such material were heard at €100-150 per tonne. The lower end, however, was deemed unworkable by sellers so far.
A distributor source reported a booking of flat steel with carbon emission content of around 0.6-0.8 tonne per tonne of steel at €170-200 per tonne in end-July-early August.
Fastmarkets’ weekly assessment of the green steel domestic, flat-rolled, differential to HRC index, exw Northern Europe was €170-200 per tonne on Thursday, narrowing from €170-250 per tonne seven days ago.
The corresponding green steel base price, HRC, exw Northern Europe, daily inferred was €780.38 per tonne on August 15.
Demand, however, remained limited. Transactions for steel with reduced carbon content in most cases were done directly between steelmakers and end users. The automotive industry remained the major buyer of green steel in Europe, market sources said.
“The market [for green steel] is sleepy, there is a seasonal slowdown, and automotive is not performing well, so overall demand [ for green steel] remains on the low side,” a buyer in Germany said.
“Green steel market is not big, but we see more interest from automakers, and the construction industry is starting to catch up in some regions,” a seller source said.
But even key consumers were seen booking mainly test batches, and green steel uptake in general has been quite low across the steel supply chain so far, Fastmarkets understands.
Per the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol Corporate Standard, Scope 1 refers to direct emissions generated by an entity or its subsidiaries. Scope 2 refers to indirect emissions from energy used by an organization. Scope 3 refers to indirect emissions – from activities of the entity – that occur from sources beyond their control.
Liberty launches Częstochowa bankruptcy appeal
Poland’s Liberty Częstochowa, part of Liberty Steel, has launched an appeal against the start of bankruptcy proceedings, it tells Kallanish in an emailed statement.
The court in Częstochowa had chosen to initiate bankruptcy proceedings against the idled plate-maker following a lawsuit by a creditor launched in April, and the company went into receivership in June.
Liberty says it has a plan to restart the 700,000 tonne/year EAF and 1.2 million tonne/year plate mill. It believes it has shown that it has strong support from its largest creditor and a letter of intent for a €100m ($110m) loan from a credible financial institution.
The restart plan involves leasing the plant to its parent company, Liberty Steel Group. It notes that it has begun work on restarting the plant and it intends to reimburse July salaries if the operating lease for the plant is granted.
Liberty Częstochowa says the restart of the plant is the best way to “secure the preservation of jobs, the uninterrupted payment of employees’ salaries, ongoing production at the plant and the timely repayment of all creditors.”
Suitors looking to purchase the Polish mill include Ukraine’s Metinvest.
Liberty Steel has had trouble financing its other mills in central and eastern Europe. These include the Ostrava steelworks in the Czech Republic and Liberty Galati in Romania, which restarted a blast furnace in July.
Lower automotive prices, volumes hurt thyssenkrupp
Thyssenkruppp Steel Europe saw orders and sales drop in its third fiscal quarter through June, affected by a challenging environment that included high energy costs and growing import pressure in Europe.
Order intake amounted to €2.7 billion ($3 billion) and revenue to €2.8 billion. Each fell by around half a billion euros in comparison to the corresponding previous-year quarter. This was due both to significantly lower prices and decreased volumes, especially in the automotive sector. Adjusted Ebit in the segment was €100 million, which was almost half the prior-year level of €190m.
The distribution unit of thyssenkrupp group, thyssenkrupp Materials Services, fared slightly better, Kallanish heard during a conference call with chief financial officer Jens Schulte. Orders in this division amounted to €3.1 billion and revenue to €3.2 billion, following year-on-year declines respectively by €200m and €100m, due to lower prices, especially for finished steel.
The segment nevertheless increased adjusted Ebit to €58m versus €50m a year earlier. The international supply chain and direct-to-customer businesses, as well as the North American distribution units and service centres contributed most to this growth.
At both divisions, positive earnings effects came from the efficiency measures bundled in the APEX programme, such as the negotiation of new prices, the reduction of freight costs and other site consolidation activities.
Including its other divisions – Decarbon Technologies, Automotive Technology, Marine Systems – thyssenkrupp AG’s consolidated revenue amounted to €9 billion, down from €9.6 billion a year earlier. Order intake fell from €9.4 billion to €8.4 billion. Adjusted Ebit came to €149m versus €243m last year.
Christian Koehl Germany