Austria decreases steel production in September
Austria’s steelmakers decreased crude steel production in September compared with the previous month, according to worldsteel data.
Output amounted to 468,856 tonnes, down by 0.6% from August and 1% less year-on-year, Kallanish notes.
Austria fell to 23rd place in the ranking of top global steel producers, worldsteel data shows.
In January-September, the country produced 5.48 million tonnes of steel, down 0.7% on-year.
Overall EU output in September was 0.3% more on-year at 10.46mt. In the first nine months of the year, steel production was 9.4% higher on-year versus the same period in 2023 at 97.7mt.
Earlier, Austrian steelmaker voestalpine has concluded negotiations for the sale of its German Buderus Edelstahl subsidiary to Mutares SE & Co. KGaA, a German investment company.
Voestalpine has previously issued a profit warning following disappointing preliminary results for the first half of its business year.
The reorganisation of German unit Buderus Edelstahl led to a negative one-off of about €50 million ($55m) for the second quarter of its 2024/25 business year.
Voestalpine expects Ebitda of around €300m for Q2, and €720m for H1, which is below market expectations. For the full 2024/25 financial year, the management board now expects Ebitda of around €1.4 billion.
The results for H1will be published on 13 November.
Svetoslav Abrossimov Bulgaria
Diminished imports fail to boost EU plate prices
The attractiveness of plate imports into the EU continues to diminish amid higher prices and a looming investigation by the European Commission into some Asian mills of origin, note European plate buyers.
This has nevertheless not provided support for European domestic prices. After months of very little movement, a recovery is still not imminent, as demand is not picking up notably.
According to various sources, Asian-origin import offers have risen by more than €70/tonne ($77/t) in a matter of weeks. Shiploads arriving now are for orders placed in May at prices of €570/t cif Antwerp for S355 grade plate.
Adding supplementary costs for handling, reloading and transport, the delivered price would be €600/t or more, one mill source calculates.
“For new import orders you are looking at prices of €680/t, inching towards €700/t, and that’s where ordering from overseas makes no sense anymore,” he tells Kallanish.
By comparison, offers from European domestic integrated mills are still mostly in a range of €730-760/t for S355 delivered.
He notes that some volumes arriving at North Sea ports this quarter would still be available at old prices as “shiploads are never completely pre-sold”.
New orders, which would arrive in March at the earliest, cannot compete with domestic European mills’ prices.
One Dutch buyer notes that inventories at ports are still overloaded from incoming deliveries since August.
For intra-European trade opportunities, he points at Italy, where he says he could order at €700/t delivered, whereas deliveries from northern European mills would cost him €780/t.
Christian Koehl Germany
Green steel needs standardisation for global recognition: BIR
The lack of industry agreement on the definition of low-carbon, or green steel, and the many challenges to achieve a globally recognised sustainable steel are impacting the ferrous recycling industry, Kallanish learns.
These challenges include emissions certification and standards, trade policies, energy costs and unwillingness to use recycled steel, noted panellists during the BIR Ferrous Division at the recent World Recycling Convention at Singapore.
Sustainability was a challenging and complex area for recyclers, Patrick Davison, director of sustainability at European Metal Recycling told delegates.
“Can blast furnaces be green?” he asked, “They are claiming to have high volume material, high quality materials but actually we have a significant environmental footprint associated with the manufacture of materials from there.”
He called for collaboration within the recycling industry so that the challenges are jointly understood, and that “we are very clear and consistent about what we think green steel is.”
Without common regulations globally, it was going to be hard to drive reductions in the carbon footprint of steel production and make more sustainable steel, George Adams, ceo of SA Recycling said.
He noted it was “easier for mills to run iron ore pellets” than recycled steel in US and “they’re not as focused on their carbon footprint as they are on their bonuses”.
But he stressed that recycling remains crucial. “It doesn’t matter whether it’s aluminium or steel or copper, nothing reduces carbon more than recycling. The EU is much more ahead of the US on [regulation] because, at the end of the day, customers are still looking at the cost.”
However, Emmanuel Katrakis, Director of Public and Regulatory Affairs at Galloo noted that 70% of US production is via EAF and recycled steel.
He added that the EU was facing an energy crisis because of the war in Ukraine which has decoupled energy prices from the rest of the world. At the same time, the US had implemented its Inflation Reduction legislation, and “Big players in Europe invested in decarbonisation, not in Europe but in the US because of that financial stimulus.”
In an earlier presentation Adina Renee Adler, executive director of Global Steel Climate Council told delegates that data on emissions should be collected throughout the supply chain of steel production.
However, Adams pushed back on this, saying that scrap should simply be counted as having zero emissions. He cautioned that some scrap will not get recycled in instances where being situated too far away would incur too large a carbon footprint.
Additionally, he was concerned gathering such data would be “too challenging” for the smaller scrap collectors.
Shane Mellor, managing director, at Mellor Metals and BIR Ferrous Division President agreed, adding “a product comes to the end of its life when it enters the recycling facility. You’re at zero at that point.”
Anna Low Singapore
Italian rebar flattens as mills prepare increases
Italian rebar producers have been encouraging buyers to complete contracted deliveries by end-October in anticipation of fresh price increases for November orders. According to industry sources, the increase will amount to €30-40/tonne ($32.62-43.49) over current prices.
Buyers and sellers confirm to Kallanish that until business close on Thursday, prior to Friday’s public holiday, all steelmakers were quoting at €270-285/t base ex-works. Customer activity is slow, with only back-to-back purchases occurring. New prices are projected to range between €300-310/t base ex-works in November, depending on producer.
Contract values have been mostly stable in recent weeks. Domestic market transactions took place at €270-280/t base ex-works. Including size extras at an average cost of €260/t, effective prices are hovering at around €530-540/t ex-works. Domestic mesh is pegged at around €380/t, excluding transport costs and €300/t size extras, sources suggest.
A number of producers are executing stoppages, some involving temporary layoffs. Some mills are implementing longer production halts for the 1 November bank holiday.
Multiple sources indicate that Egyptian rebar vessels are currently available in Sicily, with product priced at €530/t ex-vessel for orders up to 1,000 tonnes. A trader says that an Egyptian rebar seller needed to enhance sales volumes and increased exports to neighbouring countries, including southern Italy. One mill source claims the Egyptian material exemplifies dumping and will be reported to the relevant authorities.
Natalia Capra France