Category: Latest Updates

Steel producer ArcelorMittal has joined the fight against coronavirus and started 3D printing ventilators and face shields, the company said Monday.

ArcelorMittal has joined forces with medical professionals in Spain to produce ventilators ramping up efforts to find solutions for treating coronavirus. Working in full coordination with Minister of Innovation of Asturias Region, Spain, the ventilators have been produced using 3D printing and took one week to design, the company said.

The ventilators are currently undergoing trials and safety tests and will be contingent on regulatory approval. Once approved, they could support patients with acute respiratory difficulties, which occur in severe cases of COVID-19.

“Enabling a rapid supply of ventilators and face shields is critical in helping beat this virus and I am very proud that our company and our people are able to contribute their skills and expertise to help make this a reality,” said ArcelorMittal CEO Lakshmii Mittal.

De Beers said Monday that its UK-based subsidiary has converted its 3D printers from developing parts for synthetic detection machines to instead making headbands for face shields that form part of the personal protection equipment (PPE) being worn by healthcare staff. The four printers will be working 24 hours a day and it expects to produce between 25 and 30 of these headband components per day.

— Len Griffin

The Italian steel industry is planning to resume production little by little after the Easter holidays, as the steel supply chain is running out of stocks and politicians are worried that the pandemic will turn into a crisis with high unemployment rates, Italian industry players told S&P Global Platts on Monday.

“Mill owners, government representatives and unions are in talks to ensure that the health of the workers will be not compromised while at the same time production will resume after Easter so that mills can continue to serve their customers,” a spokesman for Italian steel federation Federacciai confirmed to Platts, underlining however that the discussions are still in due course.

According to the Italian coronavirus decree, all mills should be temporarily shut down with some exemptions until April 13 and then depending on how much the slowdown of the virus has been tackled a gradual re-opening can be put in place.

Politicians are trying to balance economics and safety as company closures and restrictive measures to try to beat the coronavirus are likely to reduce the Italian GDP by around 10-15%. IHS Markit’s latest business data showed confidence fell to the lowest level since the global financial crisis and new orders were at the lowest rates in over 20 years.

It is understood that the first steel mills that will restart production are the one linked to the bio-medical industry as well as with the food, transportation and energy industries.

This week’s new move towards the gradual reopening of mills is supported by the fact that most major mills have been granted a green light by their own local prefects to restart deliveries.

For example, the largest Italian steel producer AM Italia this week will re-start this week commercial steel production. It and Arvedi, the second largest Italian flat steel producer, were permitted to continue producing crude steel, but at their historically lowest levels. According to the coronavirus decree, only the mills that have blast furnaces should have continued to work as well those linked to medical, food and energy markets, although most of them decided to temporarily stop as well.

AM Italia last week re-started production, although only partially, at its rolling mill in Genoa to make tinplate with the aim to arrive at full production by April 20. According to SBB’s archive, Ilva has two tinning lines with a combined capacity of 250,000 mt/year. AM Italia when contacted by Platts declined to comment.

Acciai Speciali Terni, the largest Italian stainless steel producer, will partially restart production at its 400,000 mt a year stainless cold end this week to serve the supply chains of the biomedical, energy and transportation industries, sources close the mill told Platts. The steelmaker’s media unit did not respond to Platts’ query on the matter.

— Annalisa Villa

Germany’s Salzgitter says in an official statement that it is reducing production “… at some sites,” without being specific about which sites they are, the kind of product involved, or the volume affected. The company had already told Kallanish upon request two weeks ago that it would reduce production in response to the coronavirus crisis.

“The current economic situation is characterised by great uncertainty, incomplete information and a decline in demand that is to some extent already making itself felt. It will therefore be essential to reduce production volumes at some factory locations,” the company writes.

“We are particularly focused on the health of our employees. At the same time, we are also endeavouring to continue business operations as far as possible in order to remain a reliable partner to our customers in this phase,” ceo Heinz-Jörg Fuhrmann says in the statement. He emphasises that “… one thing is certain: There will come a time after the corona crisis.”

Meanwhile thyssenkrupp Steel has issued another bulletin to companies with which it it works regarding conduct in operation on the company’s premises. It recommends wearing face masks especially in processes where a distance of 1.5 metres cannot be guaranteed, and notes that it will ban companies from the premises who do not adhere to the rules. At its site in Duisburg North it has closed gates 1 and 5 as of Friday, and limit access at gate 2. Gates 3, 6 and 7 will remain open around the clock.

Herewith, a letter sent to the President of the EU Commission Ursula von der Leyen, regarding the Covid-19 emergency, signed today by the President of ASSOFERMET, Riccardo Benso, and the President of ASSOFERMET Acciai, Tommaso Sandrini.

US domestic longs distributors are finding relief in the form of potential infrastructure stimulus packages introduced by both Democratic and Republican parties earlier this week, Kallanish reports.

An Eastern distributor believes the domestic market is currently “…treading in the water” due to the uncertainty around the effects the coronavirus pandemic will have on supply and demand. He states that a potential infrastructure investment may “…help keep the markets afloat for however long it takes for everything to return to normal.”

Earlier this week, both US President Donald Trump and US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi discussed potential infrastructure plans to implement as a next step in response to the pandemic. President Trump floated a $2 trillion bill on Twitter, while Speaker Pelosi proposed a five-year, $760 billion infrastructure plan that built upon a proposal introduced by Democrats earlier this year. New provisions would include an additional $10 billion for public health centres to fight the spread of the pandemic, as well as new health programmes that would provide federal grants to low-income Americans.

In February, the United Steelworkers labour union urged congressional support of the original Democrat-backed infrastructure plan, dubbed the “Moving Forward Framework.”

Polish distributor Stalprofil has temporarily closed its Katowice warehouse after two workers tested positive for Covid-19. Orders have been redirected to its other site in Dabrowa Gornicza, some 40km to the northeast, Kallanish notes.

Operations at Katowice will be suspended until further notice and resumed when approved by local authorities, which the firm has informed about the cases.

In 2019 the Katowice site accounted for 23% of Stalprofil’s overall revenue. Its Dabrowa Gornicza site has a high loading capacity and similar product range, the firm says.

In the steel distribution market, contracted orders are being carried out without interruption despite the Covid-19 pandemic, Stalprofil observes. Domestic and export sales are at an average level despite difficulties with international logistics. Orders are also continuing to plan in the pipeline infrastructure market. Sourcing of feedstock has not been affected, the firm adds.

“The only difficulty is with contacting the departments that make administrative decisions regarding the construction of gas pipelines, as they have temporarily limited the number of staff and moved to remote contact with clients,” Stalprofil says.

Although business has so far not been affected, a protracted pandemic could result in reduced sales, a deterioration in income, supply shortages, worker absenteeism, the weakening of the zloty, and commodity price fluctuations. This could have a negative impact on Stalprofil’s 2020 results, the firm observes.

Stalprofil’s steel product deliveries rose by 653 tonnes on-year in the nine months through September 2019 to 173,904t, while steel structures sales fell 644t to 1,663t.

Comunicato Stampa ASSOFERMET  “Riapertura delle Attività economiche a fronte dell’emergenza Coronavirus”  in data odierna a firma del Presidente Riccardo Benso e dei Presidenti di Settore di ASSOFERMET Rottami, Metalli, Acciai e Ferramenta.  

Assofermet, the Italian association of local steel and scrap distributors, has said it believes that a further strengthening of the EU safeguard on steel imports, as requested by EUROFER, would be detrimental to the all industry in the European Union. The association expressed its view in a letter signed by Tommaso Sandrini, president of Assofermet Acciai, and Riccardo Benso, president of Assofermet, addressed to European Commission president Ursula Von Der Leyen, adding, that the European steel market is suffering not due to the misrepresented import flows into the EU market, but to the weakness of the steel-consuming businesses within the EU.

According to Assofermet, The increasing protectionism is weakening our industries: forcing them to pay more expensive steel is not the way to recover competitivity. Furthermore, the Italian steel distributors association argued that tightening the safeguard measures would only create an artificial price increase for steel in the EU market, allowing EU steel producers not to follow the path of innovation and to sit on granted profits.

The association, therefore, requested that the safeguard system remains unchanged and that antidumping systems should not be extended at their natural expiry, in order to restore a sufficient level of competition within the EU market. Assofermet also said it proposes that the commission grant a wide system of support in the form of additional credit lines granted to all EU companies operating in the upper part of the value chain, and non-repayable loans for both consumer spending and investment expenditure.

The best way to support the steel sector (both production and distribution) is boosting steel consumption in Europe, the letter concluded.

In a separate letter today, April 6, Assofermet asked the Italian government to reopen all economic activities that were suspended as per the latest decrees issued by the Italian prime minister to tackle the coronavirus emergency. Otherwise, they said, the effects on the general economic system would be catastrophic and unrecoverable, and would also jeopardize the country’s social stability.

UK-based steelmaker British Steel has announced that, due to declining demand, it has suspended production and operations at its special profiles business in Skinningrove, initially for three weeks, with immediate effect.

British Steel is also reducing operations at its Lisburn service center for a short time for similar reasons. The company said that it will be providing support for its employees.

Other sites will continue to operate, including the two blast furnaces in Scunthorpe. However, the company said that they will adjust production appropriately and not compromise on safety.

Turkey’s largest automotive steel producers have continued to announce output suspensions one after another in recent days, due to disruptions in the procurement, sales and delivery processes amid expanding the COVID-19 outbreak.

One of Turkey’s largest auto producers, TOFAS, has also decided to suspend production as of April 3 for two weeks at its plant in Bursa. Some of Turkey’s other major automotive producers, Ford Otosan, Toyota, Honda, Mercedes-Benz Turk and OYAK Renault, already announced two or three week output cuts.

“Within the framework of the measures taken to reduce the effects of coronavirus affecting the world, the disruptions in supply and delivery processes have been evaluated and as a result TOFAS decided to suspend production activities for two weeks,” the company said.

TOFAS also noted that in order to keep the effects of this decision at a minimum level, periodic maintenance activity will be carried out as much as possible during this period.

Bursa-based TOFAS is a joint venture of Turkey’s Koc Holding and Italian Fiat Chrysler with automobile production capacity of 450,000 units/year.

These suspensions by Turkey’s major automotive producers are expected to pull down automotive steel demand notably in Turkey, especially if these output cuts last longer than expected, given the expanding virus outbreak.

Many Turkish steel producers and re-rollers have already announced output cuts due to sluggish market sentiment arising from the globally expanding coronavirus outbreak.

— Cenk Can