Category: Latest Updates

EU automotive production is expected to grow by only 0.8% on-year in 2020, followed by a 2.8% rebound in 2021, according to European steelmakers’ association Eurofer. Output in 2019 is expected to have declined -5.6%.

Prospects for the sector have improved after the worst of the slump passed in 2019, Eurofer says. Europe’s electric-vehicle (EV) market looks set to register a further increase following the first signs in 2019 of car buyers’ preference shifting from petrol and diesel cars to EVs and plug-in hybrids. Over the next three years, the number of available EVs in Europe is expected to reach 150 models.

“Nevertheless, with sales of conventional cars stabilising at best and the still rather limited penetration rate of EVs, total EU sales demand is not expected to gain significant strength,” Eurofer says in its latest quarterly report.

Car exports will continue to suffer from subdued demand in key markets such as the US, China and Turkey. “Rising domestic production in the emerging economies suggests that they will not only be in the position to fulfil domestic demand and therefore will import fewer cars produced elsewhere, but also that they may start to export themselves to the international vehicle markets,” Eurofer says in the report seen by Kallanish.

The threat of US tariffs on car and component imports, and the potential of a disorderly Brexit could stymie the EU’s automotive recovery in 2020 and 2021. Stricter emissions regulations, meanwhile, could force OEMs to remove commercially successful but non-compliant models from their vehicle fleet, Eurofer observes.

Production activity in the EU automotive industry fell -2.5% on-year in the third quarter of 2019. European market conditions stabilised but demand in key export markets fell, while some manufacturers faced serious delays in gaining WLTP certification. Q4 production is expected to have declined -5% on-year.

Despite offering a more positive outlook for flat-rolled steel demand in 2020, US Steel expects to keep its blast furnace in Europe offline through the remainder of the year, CEO David Burritt said Friday.

US Steel has been reorganizing its production and in late 2019 announced plans to indefinitely idle the hot-end operations at its Great Lakes Works in Michigan in April. The company also last year idled a blast furnace at its Gary Works in Indiana and a furnace at its European operation in Kosice, Slovakia.

The first quarter of 2020 is expected to be the trough for the year in terms of demand and pricing, CFO Christine Breves said Friday during the Pittsburgh-based flat-rolled and tubular steel producer’s fourth quarter conference call.

US Steel’s mining operations are expected to face typical seasonal headwinds in Q1 due to winter weather, and steel shipments are also expected to be lower in the company’s flat-rolled and European divisions on a sequential basis, Breves said.

US Steel’s flat-rolled steel shipments totaled 2.52 million st in Q4, down from 2.73 million st in Q4 2018, while Q4 shipments in the European division totaled 757,000 st, down from 1.07 million st in the year-ago quarter.

Looking ahead to 2020, US Steel expects its flat-rolled steel shipments to third parties to total 10 million st for the year. The company has a 48-day outage planned at the #4 blast furnace at its Gary Works in Indiana beginning in April and will build inventory ahead of this, Breves said.

Current lead times for flat-rolled products have extended to 5.6 weeks, representing an increase of two weeks compared with the same period last year and the company’s melt backlog remains healthy, pointing to stronger demand, Burritt said. He added that reported service center inventories are at the lowest level since 2014.

“We are confident in our view that the market has hit bottom,” he said. “Our flat-rolled order book is healthy and customer interaction suggest demand should be solid. We are particularly optimistic about construction activity, which has shown strong demand in typically weak seasonal periods. The automotive market remains strong as inventory levels enter the year-low and recent industry publications suggest build schedules should increase in 2020.”

US Steel recorded a net loss of $680 million in Q4 on sales of $2.82 billion. This compares with net income of $592 million on sales of $3.69 billion in the year-ago quarter. The most recent quarter included $567 million in restructuring charges, US Steel said. During Q4, US Steel completed its acquisition of 49.9% of electric-are furnace steelmaker Big River Steel.

Big River Steel expects their full-year 2020 depreciation and amortization expense and net interest costs to be approximately $150 million and approximately $95 million, respectively, US Steel reported.

Overall, US Steel reported a $642 million net loss for full-year 2019, down from net profit of $1.12 billion in 2018.

— Justine Coyne

Thyssenkrupp is still seeking partners for steel consolidation, the German company’s CEO Martina Merz said at the annual general meeting Friday, while facing criticism from shareholders on restructuring and strategy.

Merz said that alliances with competitors could be the solution for finance injections and would bring an end to the “restructuring spiral of recent years”.

“That’s why we continue to support the idea of consolidation. Alliances can offer added value. That’s why we are open to discussions,” she said.

There have been reports that Merz had met with German steelmaker Salzgitter CEO Heinz Joerg Fuhrmann to talk about consolidation. Salzgitter confirmed that they had met, but said that meeting was social.

Restructuring of the steel division would also not be possible without losses of up to 2,000 jobs according to Merz, highlighting that management was already in talks with employee representatives.

Current cash flow problems at Thyssenkrupp would be alleviated by the sale of the elevator division and more details on the restructuring strategy would be given in May.

Merz also said that alliances and consolidation would also be needed to transform the industry to being carbon neutral and that there should be cooperation with policy makers.

In the last business year 2018-19, Thyssenkrupp reported a net income loss of Eur260 million ($287 million) having had a troubled year with a fall in the steel price, the collapse of the Tata- Thyssenkrupp merger, the exit from the German DAX stock index and several management changes.

The plans were met with criticism from shareholder representatives.

Ingo Speich of Deka Investment said that Thyssenkrupp had lost credibility on the capital markets due to management changes and bad decisions.

“Profits and cash flow are burning faster than iron ore in the blast furnace,” he said.

Steel would be “a shadow of its former glory” and the result would be auto customers switching to competitors.

Board member Klaus Keysberg replied that Thyssenkrupp would be focusing on higher-margin products in the future and invest an additional Eur800 million in the steel division over the next six years.

Thyssenkrupp will also invest in direct reduced iron plants in mid-2020. The plants will operate on the basis of hydrogenous gases and produce DRI rather than molten pig iron, which will be melted in existing blast furnaces, according to the company website.

— Laura Varriale

Böllinghaus Steel pflegt seit Jahren eine starke und verlässliche Partnerschaft mit Outokumpu und wird zukünftig das neu eröffnete Service-Center im schwedischen Storfors beliefern. Das Lieferprogramm beinhaltet Flach-, Vierkant,- und Sechskant-Edelstahlprofile – warmgewalzt sowie kaltgezogen. 

Das neue Lager ermöglicht es, den Kunden in Skandinavien noch kürzere Lieferzeiten anzubieten und noch flexibler auf Kundenwünsche einzugehen. Starke Partnerschaften und langfristige Kollaborationen sollen die Kundennähe stärken und einen hochwertigen Service garantieren. 

Mit einem Gemeinschaftsstand präsentieren sich Böllinghaus Steel und Outokumpu auf der Wire 2020 in Düsseldorf. 

Über Böllinghaus Steel 

Böllinghaus Steel, mit Hauptsitz in Hilden und der Produktion in Portugal, ist spezialisiert auf Edelstahl Langprodukte. Das Unternehmen fertigt qualitativ hochwertige Edelstahlprofile in verschiedensten Güten und Formen. Das Portfolio umfasst warmgewalzte und kaltgezogene Edelstahlprofile sowie Titan und Nickellegierungen. 

Quelle und Foto: Böllinghaus Steel GmbH

Der Stahlverbrauch ist im dritten Quartal 2019 im Vergleich zum Vorjahr um 3,1% zurückgegangen, eine leichte Abschwächung im Vergleich zum Rückgang im zweiten Quartal (-6,7%). Der anhaltende negative Trend bei der Stahlnachfrage ist das Ergebnis des anhaltenden Einbruchs im verarbeitenden Gewerbe der EU aufgrund der geschwächten Exporte und der Investitionen, die im zweiten und dritten Quartal 2019 stärker ausgeprägt waren. Frühindikatoren deuten darauf hin, dass sich der Abschwung im restlichen Jahr 2019 fortsetzt, wenn auch mit einigen Anzeichen einer Stabilisierung. Eine signifikante Erholung wird nicht vor der zweiten Hälfte des Jahres 2020 prognostiziert. 

Ein Ende des derzeitigen Abschwungs des verarbeitenden Gewerbes in der EU ist noch nicht absehbar. Die wichtigsten Risikofaktoren sind eskalierende Handelskriege zwischen den USA und mehreren ihrer wichtigsten Handelspartner (hauptsächlich China, trotz des am 15. Januar 2020 unterzeichneten Handelsabkommens, das die Reibungsverluste gemildert hat) und die anhaltende Unsicherheit hinsichtlich des endgültigen Brexit-Abkommens, das bis Ende 2020 abgeschlossen werden soll. Diese Faktoren werden die Handelsbedingungen im Laufe des Jahres 2020 belasten und können sogar zu einer weiteren Verschlechterung des Geschäftsklimas führen und das Investitionswachstum ernsthaft behindern. In diesem Szenario wäre der Stahlsektor der EU weiterhin stark betroffen und müsste auch mit wachsenden Importverzerrungen sowie einer anhaltend hohen Importvolatilität infolge der Erhöhung der Schutzquoten und des Transfermechanismus der nicht genutzten vierteljährlichen Quoten fertig werden. 

Der sichtbare Stahlverbrauch der EU28 fiel im dritten Quartal 2019 im Vergleich zum Vorjahr um 3,1% und belief sich auf 37,2 Millionen Tonnen. Der Lagerhaltungszyklus war weiterhin negativ, was den negativen Trend bei der Endverwendung von Stahl weiter beeinflusste. Tatsächlich hatten die anhaltende Ungewissheit über die kurzfristigen Geschäftsbedingungen sowie die relativ hohen Lagerbestände am Ende des ersten Quartals 2019 im zweiten Quartal – entgegen dem saisonalen Muster – einen steiler als erwarteten Lagerabbau ausgelöst, der sich, wenn auch in geringerem Maße, im dritten Quartal fortsetzte. 

Der derzeitige Rückgang der Stahlnachfrage führte im dritten Quartal 2019 zu einem Rückgang der Inlandslieferungen in der EU um 4 % im Jahresvergleich, nach einem Rückgang von 3 % im ersten Quartal. Nach dem außergewöhnlichen Rückgang um 19% im Jahresvergleich im zweiten Quartal gingen die Drittlandseinfuhren im dritten Quartal nur noch geringfügig (um 1%) zurück und beliefen sich auf 8,8 Millionen Tonnen, was 23,8% der EU-Stahlnachfrage entsprach. Die monatlichen Daten zeigten weiterhin eine hohe Volatilität. 

Wie in den vorangegangenen Quartalen verbergen sich hinter der Entwicklung der Gesamteinfuhren Verzerrungen auf der Ebene der einzelnen Produkte, die im Wesentlichen die Mängel des derzeitigen Schutzmechanismus widerspiegeln und die dazu geführt haben, dass mehrere wichtige Exporteure in die EU, wie die Türkei und China, die vierteljährlichen Kontingente in aller Eile maximiert haben. 

Im dritten Quartal 2019 haben sich die Herausforderungen, denen sich der EU-Sektor stellen musste, sogar noch verschärft, was sich negativ auf die Marktbedingungen auswirkt. Nach den Rückgängen in den ersten beiden Quartalen des Jahres 2019 beschleunigte sich der negative Trend beim realen Stahlverbrauch, und die ersten Anzeichen für das letzte Quartal 2019 signalisieren eine weitere Verringerung im Vergleich zum Vorjahr, was zu einem Rückgang des realen Stahlverbrauchs um insgesamt 1,1% im gesamten Jahr 2019 führte.

Es wird erwartet, dass sich das reale Verbrauchsniveau in der zweiten Hälfte des Jahres 2020 erholt, sich aber auch auf einem historisch niedrigen Niveau stabilisiert. Der erwartete Rückgang des sichtbaren Stahlverbrauchs im Jahr 2019 um 3,3 % im Vergleich zum Vorjahr und der anhaltende Importdruck dürften die EU-Stahlproduzenten in ihrer Geschäftsentwicklung im Wesentlichen benachteiligt haben. Es wird erwartet, dass sich die Marktbedingungen ab dem dritten Quartal 2020 leicht verbessern werden, obwohl die Risiken im Zusammenhang mit Importverzerrungen und anhaltenden globalen Überkapazitäten die Stabilität des EU-Stahlmarktes wahrscheinlich weiterhin untergraben werden. Insbesondere die weltweite Stahlkapazität hat weiter zugenommen, und die Kluft zwischen Kapazität und Produktion hat sich in den letzten Monaten immer weiter vergrößert. Außerdem erwartet man für 2020 eine Wachstumsrate von 1,2% – was im Wesentlichen eher auf eine bescheidene Wiederauffüllung der Lagerbestände als auf eine Erholung der Nachfrage aus den stahlverarbeitenden Sektoren zurückzuführen ist. 

Quelle: Eurofer / Vorschaufoto: marketSTEEL

The United Kingdom has notified the other 163 WTO members of its status in the organization given its withdrawal from the European Union on 1 February. In a document sent on 1 February, the United Kingdom explains the WTO-related implications of Brexit for itself and other WTO members.

The United Kingdom has been a WTO member since 1 January 1995 and a member of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) since 1 January 1948. Until 31 January 2020, it was a member state of the European Union. The European Union and the United Kingdom have agreed a Withdrawal Agreement pursuant to Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union, which provides for a time-limited transition period during which European Union law, with limited exceptions as provided for in the Withdrawal Agreement, will apply to and in the United Kingdom.

The communication from the United Kingdom states that the transition period provides continuity in the trading relationship between the United Kingdom and the European Union, and with other WTO members, with the United Kingdom remaining part of the European Union’s customs union and single market during that time.

For further information, see the UK page on the WTO website.

En el siguiente enlace pueden acceder a la edición de Enero de nuestra revista: INFOACERO ENERO 2020

A continuación destacamos algunos de sus contenidos:

1. Opinión – D. Manuel García – Presidente A.A.H. de Galicia -Miembro Junta Directiva de  la UAHE. 
2. Evolución del Índice de Precios de Productos Siderúrgicos – UAHE.
3. Siderurgia: Producción Mundial de Acero en 2019- WorldSteel Association
4. Formación UAHE:  Cursos sobre Normativa de la Estiba en el Transporte por Carretera (Sevilla, Zaragoza, Madrid y Gijón), Curso sobre Sistemas de Gestión de Almacenes (Madrid).
5. Próximos Eventos: Programa Steel Net Forum Iberia, Lisboa 11 y 12 de Marzo, “Advanced Factories”  y “31 Bienal Máquina Herramienta”

The European Union (EU) has asked the region’s customs authorities to register imports of hot rolled stainless steel flat products from China, Indonesia and Taiwan. This is an extension to the anti-dumping investigation requested in June and begun last August (see Kallanish 13 August 2019). The action had been prompted by the original complainant in the case, Eurofer, following a further increase in imports between August and November.

The products covered are hot rolled stainless steel flat products falling under HS codes 7219 11, 7219 12, 7219 13, 7219 14, 7219 22, 7219 23, 7219 24, 7220 11 and 7220 12. There are some exclusions and these codes are given for information only, the EU says in its notice in the Official Journal of the European Union monitored by Kallanish.

The overall increase in import volumes of the said products between August and November was 10% when compared with those in the original investigation period, the EU confirms. Within this, imports from China grew by 50%, those from Taiwan rose by 14% and smaller volumes from Indonesia actually fell by -75%. The complainants also say that any 25% safeguard duty applied to these products is an insufficient deterrent as dumping margins, particularly from China at 54%, negate the effect of the safeguards.

Registration will continue for 9 months as from 24 January 2019 and allows the EU to impose tariffs retrospectively on import transactions if required.

European steel association Eurofer is lobbying to make the European Commission’s steel safeguard more restrictive in several important areas.

The safeguard will again be reviewed towards the end of February and into March.

Eurofer wants the 30pc single country cap in the fourth quarter of the quota period to be reduced to 20pc for rebar and wire rod. This move, should it be implemented, will have consequences for availability of two of the tightest products.

An importer in the Balkans has already bought the 40,700t available from Turkey under the other countries quota, planning to clear customs on 1 April ahead of anyone else. This is an obstacle for other importers, while also opening up the risk Turkey’s 30pc will be oversubscribed and duties become payable.

Eurofer is also lobbying for the 3pc annual liberalisation to be further reduced. It had argued against the 5pc initially tabled and had it reduced to 3pc. It also wants the transfer mechanism for the unused quarterly quota for hot-rolled coil to be amended.

Given the already low 3pc growth, Eurofer could argue for the initial 5pc increase of February 2019, when the measures were implemented, to be altered.

By Colin Richardson

Eurofer cut its 2020 EU apparent steel consumption outlook to an increase of 1.2% at 159 million mt from a 1.4% forecast in its fourth-quarter 2019 report, the trade association said Thursday.

“The main reason is the lower base in 2019, which is still based on an estimated Q4,” Jeroen Vermeij, Eurofer director of market analysis and economic studies, told S&P Global Platts.

“In the Q4-2019 report, we had forecast that apparent steel consumption would fall by 3.1% to 158 million mt in 2019. Hard data for the first three quarters of the year have led us to revise this down to [a decrease of 3.3%] and 157 million mt in our Q1-2020 report. So the minor downward revision is not due to a very different view on market conditions in 2020, but rather due to a slightly weaker-than-expected performance of the EU steel market in 2019,” Vermeij said in an e-mail after a webinar on the first quarter of 2020 report.

Leading indicators suggest that the downturn continued in the remainder of 2019, albeit with some signs of stabilization. No significant rebound is forecast before the second half of 2020. In 2021, apparent EU steel consumption is forecast to increase 2.3%.

Eurofer’s position on 2020 and 2021 consumption was unchanged, it said, with any growth supported mostly by restocking as well as some improvement in real demand.

In general, the current downturn in the EU manufacturing sector is unlikely to bottom out in the very short-term, Eurofer said.

The major risk factors are escalating trade wars between the US and several of its main trading partners, mostly China, even after signing of the phase one trade agreement on January 15 eased frictions, and persistent uncertainty regarding the final Brexit deal to be agreed by the end of 2020, it said. These factors are set to weigh on trade conditions in 2020, and may even lead to a further deterioration in business sentiment, it added.

According to the latest Eurofer report, the combination of muted steel market fundamentals and high and increasingly volatile monthly EU steel imports will most likely continue to undermine business conditions for EU producers.

The trade association added that any recovery in EU steel demand in early 2020 will mainly benefit importers rather than domestic suppliers due to the transfer mechanism of unused quarterly quotas, which Eurofer said required revisions.

— Annalisa Villa