Revista InfoAcero Enero 2024

En el siguiente enlace pueden acceder a la edición de Enero de nuestra revista  INFOACERO.

Destacamos a continuación algunos de sus contenidos:

  • Opinión – “El Panorama de la Distribución de Acero en España para 2024: Una mirada desde la UAHE” 
  • Evolución del Índice de Precios de Productos Siderúrgicos – UAHE
  • Información Asociativa: Asamblea de la Asociación de Alm. De Hierros de Galicia // Próximos Cursos UAHE
  • Sector Metal: Informe de Coyuntura del Metal y Comercio Exterior- Confemetal
  • Colaboración UNESID: “Tubos chinos vs instalaciones renovables frágiles” – D. Alfonso Hidalgo- Director Estudios Económicos
  • Colaboración ASCEM: “Porque necesito un plan de prevención de riesgos laborales en mi empresa”- Sr. Joan Carles Codina- Secretaría Jurídica
  • Próximo Steel Net Forum Iberia: 11 y 12 de Abril en Santiago. Programa preliminar

European Commission extends first CBAM report submission deadline

31 January is the first deadline for importers to submit their first report detailing emissions as part of the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM).
The European Commission nevertheless announced this week that due to a technical incident, it is offering the possibility to request for a 30-day delay for submission, Kallanish notes.

“In accordance with the guidance provided to National Competent Authorities (NCAs), no penalties will be imposed on reporting declarants who have experienced difficulties in submitting their first CBAM report. Delayed submission of a CBAM report due to system errors would, by definition, be deemed justified as long as the submission occurs promptly once the technical errors are overcome. In any event, penalties will not be imposed by NCAs before a correction procedure has been opened, allowing reporting declarants to provide justifications and correct any potential inaccuracies in their CBAM report,” the European Commission explains.

During the ongoing transitional phase of CBAM, European importers of steel need to file quarterly reports in the European Commission system, starting from those for the fourth quarter of 2023. During the transitional period, importers are to report on the quantity of imported goods, direct and indirect emissions embedded in them, and any carbon price due for those emissions, including carbon prices due for emissions embedded in relevant precursor materials; no payment will be due. The transitional phase is planned to conclude at the end of Q4 2025.

Emanuele Norsa Italy

kallanish.com

Italian heavy plate prices rise despite trading slowdown

Domestic prices for heavy plate in Italy have increased slightly in the week ended Jan. 26 although trading activity has slowed down.

“In plate market, there is no big restocking, but prices hold largely stable,” a mill source said. “There is regular trading and big buyers would have to return to the market looking for volumes soon.”

“Demand for plate is normal, slab prices are high, re-rollers are looking for higher plate prices and generally the market seems healthy,” a Germany-based distributor said.

Platts assessed domestic prices for heavy plate in South Europe up Eur5/mt on the week to Eur770/mt ex-works Italy on Jan. 26.

Majority of deals have been heard at Eur760-780/mt ex-works Italy. Italian mills have been aiming for Eur800/mt ex-works for the material.

Platts assessed prices for imported slab in the region at $660/mt CIF Italy on Jan. 26, down $10/mt on the week.

Deals for slab from Asia have been heard at $650-$660/mt CIF Italy and tradable values — at $670-$680/mt CIF Italy.

Some market participants, however, had less optimistic view on the demand.

“We have very poor inquiries and orders, the market is still suffering from the lowest turnover from stock in history in December and therefore a stock level which is not as low as expected plus big purchases in last year at old prices,” another Germany-based distributor said.

Platts assessed domestic prices for heavy plate in Northwest Europe down Eur10/mt on the week to Eur830/mt ex-works Ruhr on Jan. 26.

Offers of heavy plates from German mills have been reported at Eur810-850/mt ex-works Ruhr, but lower prices were available only for limited volumes.

Northwest European re-rollers have been offering the material at Eur800-850/mt ex-works and a supplier from Central Europe — at Eur800/mt ex-works.

Author: Maria Tanatar, maria.tanatar@spglobal.com

spglobal.com

Tata Steel to close coating line and service center in Turkey

Tata Steel Nederland has decided to halt operations of Tata Steel Istanbul Metal Industry (TSIM) in Turkey, which is part of the company’s colors business unit that offers color-coated steel products mainly in the European and the Turkish market, the company said late Jan. 25.

TSIM’s color coating line and service center, which started operations in 2000, are located in Adapazari, near Istanbul.

Tata Steel said the specificity and limited scale of the production operations in Turkey have been negatively affected financially by rapidly changing market conditions, such as increased competition, price fluctuations, and evolving market demands.

“As these challenges are anticipated to persist in the medium and long term, it has therefore been decided to cease operations in Turkey,” it said.

“With TSIM’s high differentiation of its product and service portfolio in colors, and considering the extreme market developments, sustaining its business model is no longer feasible,” said Gunilla Saltin, member of the board of Tata Steel Nederland, adding that they emphasize the uninterrupted continuity of their sales and after-sales services in Turkey.

The closure of production and operations at Adapazari will take place over the coming weeks.

Slow demand in main export markets, lower imported coated coil offers to Turkey, particularly from Asian suppliers, as well as high input costs pressured Turkish mills’ flat steel pricing throughout 2023.

Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, last assessed the weekly Turkish domestic HDG price at $890/mt EXW Jan. 19, down $10/mt on week.

Author: Cenk Can

spglobal.com

Thyssenkrupp opens Mexican service centre

Thyssenkrupp Materials Services’ new service centre (SSC) in Mexico was inaugurated last week, the company tells Kallanish.

The thyssenkrupp Materials de México SSC in San Luis Potosí will specialise in serving the growing local automotive industry, the company says, highlighting sustainability, electromobility and light vehicle-building. The firm invested $37 million in the unit, which will create around 65 new jobs.

TK Materials has now deployed a total investment of more than $100m in North America in the last 15 months, it notes.

The SSC will join three other service centres located in the country, in the cities of Saltillo, Puebla and Silao. The latter has a steel and aluminium blanking line, and will operate in conjunction with San Luis Potosí since they are situated 170km apart.

San Luis Potosí will feature a Schuler cutting line, which allows the cutting of raw pieces of aluminium and high-strength steels used in the automotive industry.

Christian Koehl Germany

kallanish.com

 

Steel sector unsettled by Red Sea shipping crisis

Attacks on cargo vessels destined for the Suez Canal will reduce the influence of new Asian steel import offers after revised shipping routes increased costs and extended delivery lead times.

Some Asian steelmakers withdrew from the European market following the addition of around USD75 per tonne in shipping costs and three weeks of transit around South Africa’s Cape of Good Hope. Major shipping companies, including Denmark’s Maersk, have diverted all vessels away from the Suez Canal. In normal circumstances, 15% of global shipping traffic passes along the route.

MEPS research partners report that the crisis has prompted a variety of responses from Asian steelmakers. Some have shifted to FOB offers, leaving steel buyers to make their own transport arrangements, while other offers exclude the payment of duties.

Arising in the same month that embedded carbon emissions reporting gets underway under the EU CBAM regulations, the challenges severely reduce the appeal and availability of imports. MEPS respondents suggested that this would help to consolidate the higher prices offered by European mills during January.

Wider economic impact

The Houthi rebels responsible for the Red Sea attacks have reacted defiantly to retaliatory action by the United States Navy and United Kingdom’s Royal Navy. Their response has heightened concerns about the longer-term impact on the European economy.

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the EU has increased its imports of oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the Middle East, via the Suez Canal. EU economy commissioner Paolo Gentiloni has warned that the Red Sea crisis could lead to a spike in energy prices.

Meanwhile, Tesla, Volvo and Suzuki have all announced the suspension of production at their European factories due to supply chain issues.

Economists believe that the EU’s key economies could experience the return of rising inflation if the shipping issues are not resolved quickly. This would negatively affect confidence in the steel sector. MEPS research partners remained hopeful that declining inflation will lead to lower interest rates as 2024 progresses – stimulating the construction sector and consumer spending.

Inflation in Germany rose from 3.2% to 3.7% in December, ending five months of decline. Energy products increased in price by 5.3% year-on-year in 2023 after an increase of 29.7% in 2022. The United Kingdom experienced its first rise in inflation in 10 months, meanwhile. UK inflation rose from 3.9% to 4%.

Overall eurozone inflation increased from 2.4% in November to 2.9% in December. This was largely attributed to the phasing-out of government energy subsidies.

EU safeguard quotas

Elevated raw materials prices and energy costs were among the factors that prompted steelmakers to raise their offers in January. Reduced domestic steel production and the limited import offers also contributed to the shift.

Tariffs will apply to certain imports after several EU steel safeguard quotas were quickly filled in the first week of January. The 923,594 tonne ‘other countries’ hot rolled coil quota was exceeded by 18.37% on January 4, with a further 169,658 tonnes awaiting allocation.

Hot dipped galvanised coil imports from China in the automotive-specific 4B grade also exceeded the 126,603-tonne balance by 52%. A further 65,499 tonnes of that material was awaiting allocation as of January 4.

Market participants are already looking towards quarter two with the expectation that EU safeguard quotas will be quickly filled.

Domestic producers are likely to welcome the reduced competition from imports, but conflict in the Middle East means that uncertainty remains.

This content first appeared in the January edition of MEPS International’s European Steel Review. The monthly report provides subscribers with steel prices, indices, market commentary and forecasts from across Europe.

mepsinternational.com

HRC bucks EU imports decline in 2023

EU hot rolled coil imports in 2023 increased by almost 18% year-on-year, according to the latest data shared by EUROMETAL and compiled using official customs numbers.

Overall, HRC imports surpassed 18 million tonnes. Italy was the largest importer with over 3.5mt, followed by Spain with 1.3mt, and Belgium with 900,00t, Kallanish notes.

The recovery in HRC imports nevertheless bucked the overall import trend last year in Europe. According to the same data, EU imports of flat products – including non-alloy and stainless – decreased 3% y-o-y to 19mt.

Similarly, all other major steel products imports registered a decrease in 2023.

Metallic coated sheet imports fell 18% y-o-y to 3.6mt, while cold rolled coil imports were down 1.5% to 2.5mt.

On the longs side, overall imports of non-alloy and stainless products registered a decrease of 20% y-o-y to 7.5mt. Rebar imports were down 29% to 1.2mt and wire rod imports decreased 25% to 2mt.

Emanuele Norsa Italy

kallanish.com

UK government disadvantages Tata Steel

The UK government is putting Tata Steel at a disadvantage compared with its European peers with the comparatively low level of funding it is providing to help the company decarbonise.

The government has committed to provide Tata with £500mn ($635mn) towards the cost of decarbonising its Port Talbot plant in South Wales, which will have an electric arc furnace with a capacity of about 3mn t. This equates to £166/t worth of assistance.

That level of funding would be insufficient to enable other technologies such as two electric arc furnaces or direct reduced iron. Tata itself is investing £700mn in the move, which has widely been criticised by unions and the Labour opposition as a “bad deal”.

In comparison, the German government is giving Salzgitter more than €525/t ($568.80/t) to facilitate its movement to hydrogen-fed green steel. Germany’s ThyssenKrupp will receive almost €870/t to help it transition to green steel at its flagship Duisburg site.

ArcelorMittal is receiving more than €600/t to help decarbonise its Sestao plant in Spain. At its Dunkerque site in France, it has received funding of €850mn to produce 4mn t of lower-carbon steel, equating to €212/t worth of financial assistance. Therefore, most European competitors are receiving greater state assistance.

To feed its electric arc furnace, Tata will still need to import direct reduced iron, pig iron or other metallics to complement the reservoir of domestic scrap. Sources suggest this could be as much as 1mn t/yr.

Should UK electricity prices remain high compared with Europe, there is a risk Tata’s electric arc furnace will still struggle to compete, although the reduction in fixed costs from job cuts and the ability to adjust output quickly will be financially beneficial.

“This steel plant was losing more than £1mn a day, putting it at risk of closure and threatening 8,000 jobs in South Wales and thousands more in the wider supply chain,” a government spokesperson said.

“The government’s unprecedented £500mn grant as part of the £1.25bn investment by Tata Steel will build a new electric arc furnace that protects thousands of long-term jobs, as well as delivering a much greener way of producing steel, cutting carbon emissions in Wales by 22pc.”

argusmedia.com

Acciaierie d’Italia low output impacts EU steel availability: Assofermet

The prolonged ownership crisis at Acciaierie d’Italia (ADI) and its lower output may lead to a structural shortage of flat steel products, not only in Italy but also at a European level, Italian steel trade association Assofermet warns.

“The quality products available thanks to Taranto production are very often not available within the EU perimeter. Buyers are therefore forced to turn mainly to Asian steel mills, facing import restrictions which increase costs … The crisis at ADI is part of an already very complicated context for the steel sector,” Assofermet says in a document sent to Kallanish.

EU safeguard measures result in a decrease in the quantity of steel imported into the EU. The Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) will meanwhile introduce a tax on goods coming from territories outside the EU from 2026. The result will be an inevitable increase in the cost of steel products available in the EU.

“The national [Italian] manufacturing sector’s growth needs a primary steel industry, upstream of the supply chain, that can support it with the necessary quantity of steel,” comments president of Assofermet’s flat steel division Paolo Sangoi.

ADI’s production crisis is happening at a time of low steel availability in Italy and Europe. “Steel output is decreasing: the production levels of 2012, the year of the seizure of the hot-end area of ​​the Taranto plant, have not been reached over the past ten years … With declining steel production and the rising cost of steel, it is essential to preserve the industrial value of the plant,” Assofermet concludes.

ADI, the joint venture between state company Invitalia and ArcelorMittal, registered steel output below 3 million tonnes in 2023, according to preliminary data. This is below the shareholders’ initial objective of 4mt in 2023 and 5mt target in 2024.

ArcelorMittal says it is open to an amicable solution to the conflict with authorities, and prepared to give up its stake to partner Invitalia for a price that “is only a fraction” of the company’s investment into ADI since 2018. While Invitalia refused ArcelorMittal’s recent offer, the steelmaking group assures it is still on the table (see Kallanish passim).

Natalia Capra France

kallanish.com

H2 Green Steel adds extra Eur4 bil funding for large-scale green steel plant

Swedish H2 Green Steel has secured an additional Eur4.2 billion ($4.5 billion) in new funds and has increased the previously announced equity by Eur300 million, while it has also been awarded Eur250 million grant from the Innovation Fund, to build one of the first large-scale green steel plant and Europe’s first giga-scale electrolyzer, according to a statement released Jan. 22.

Total equity funding to date amounts to Eur2.1 billion. H2 Green Steel has now secured funding close to Eur6.5 billion for the world’s first large-scale green steel plant in northern Sweden.

More than Eur3.5billion out of Eur4.2 billion is in senior debt from a group of more than 20 lenders, including the European Investment Bank, the company told S&P Global Commodity Insights.

In a separate press note, the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the Nordic Investment Bank (NIB) confirmed they will take part in the project finance, with the EIB that will contribute Eur314 million, of which Eur200 is backed by a guarantee from the European Commission under the InvestEU programme, and Eur114 million of intermediated financing to be provided through commercial banks participating in the project financing.

“The steel industry is a strategic sector, being at the heart of the EU economy,” Vice-President of the European Investment Bank, Thomas Östros, said.

“Our commitment to reach net zero by 2050 requires this sector to undergo transformative changes. It is important that the EIB, as the EU climate bank, is supporting H2 Green Steel in its pioneering development for a breakthrough clean technology to produce low-carbon primary flat steel products.”

“No one has scrutinized our project more thoroughly than those who back our financing. This massive commitment from lenders like the European Investment Bank [is] true recognition of the quality of our company,” Henrik Henriksson, CEO of H2 Green Steel said.

H2 Green Steel was founded in 2020 with the ambition to accelerate the decarbonization of the steel industry, using green hydrogen. Traditional primary steelmaking is very energy intensive and produces massive amounts of carbon emissions. The global steel sector is currently responsible for about 8% of global final energy demand and 7% of global CO2 emissions. The green steel from the plant will have a carbon footprint close to zero, with up to 95% less CO2 emissions compared to steel produced the traditional way.

The construction of the Boden plant has already begun, with the production expected at the beginning of 2027 and with half of the initial annual volumes of 2.5 million mt of low-carbon steel already being sold in offtake agreements to customers that range from carmakers to traders to furniture producers.

Platts, part of S&P Global, assessed Northwest European hot-rolled carbon-accounted coil stable on the day at Eur870/mt ($947.517/mt) ex-works Ruhr Jan. 22. The assessment was calculated in line with the sum of Platts daily carbon-accounted steel premium (CASP) assessment and Platts daily hot-rolled coil price assessment in Northwest Europe.

Author Annalisa Villa, annalisa.villa@spglobal.com

spglobal.com