Category: Latest Updates

The Port of Antwerp in Belgium is aiming to further reduce CO2 emissions through possible carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) infrastructure, Europe’s second-largest seaport said Tuesday.

Eight leading companies in the port area — Air Liquide, BASF, Borealis, Ineos, ExxonMobil, Fluxys, Port of Antwerp and Total — have signed a collaboration agreement to move toward the possible development of CCUS.

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) and the use of CO2 as a raw material for various industrial applications (carbon capture and utilization, or CCU) are seen as important avenues in the transition to a lower emissions port.

The consortium will carry out a joint study into the economic and technical feasibility of such facilities, with the analysis expected to take around a year to complete.

While Port of Antwerp did not give costs for the project, it said “financial support from Flanders, the Belgian federal government and the EU is essential for further successful implementation of the project. One important part of this is preparation of subsidy applications.”

If the proposals turn out to be technically and economically feasible, development of such facilities could lead to reductions in CO2 emissions in the run-up to 2030.

The feasibility study will also investigate possibilities for CO2 storage. Belgium does not have suitable geological formations for storing CO2 underground, and so international collaboration would be needed.

— Annalisa Villa

ArcelorMittal has completed its acquisition of Essar Steel (ESIL). It has simultaneously established a joint venture with Nippon Steel – called ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India Limited (AM/NS India) – to own and operate ESIL.

ArcelorMittal president and chief financial officer Aditya Mittal has been appointed AM/NS India chairman, with Essar Steel managing director Dilip Oommen appointed chief executive.

“India has long been identified as an attractive market for our company and we have been looking at suitable opportunities to build a meaningful production presence in the country for over a decade,” ArcelorMittal chairman and ceo Lakshmi Mittal says in a note seen by Kallanish. “Both India and Essar’s appeal are enduring. Essar has sizeable, profitable, well-located operations and the long-term growth potential for the Indian economy and therefore Indian steel demand are well known.”

“The transaction also demonstrates how India benefits from the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, a genuinely progressive reform whose positive impact will be felt widely across the Indian economy,” he adds.

Nippon Steel president Eiji Hashimoto says: “Nippon Steel and ArcelorMittal will bring out AM/NS India’s potential by providing it with their respective business experience and world-leading advanced technologies… We will strive to establish a prominent presence in India, conforming with its policy to increase domestically-produced steel products.”

Essar currently produces 7.5m t/y of crude steel in western India and also has 14m t/y of iron ore pelletising capacity in eastern India.

AM/NS India plans to increase finished steel sales to 8.5m t/y over the medium term by completing ongoing capital expenditure projects and implementing best practice to deliver efficiency gains, ArcelorMittal observes. Additional assets will thereafter be commissioned. In the longer term the aim is to increase finished steel sales to 12m-15m t/y through the addition of new iron and steelmaking assets.

The European association for steel distributors and service centres (SSC), EUROMETAL, confirms to Kallanish that activity at SSC and distributors deteriorated again in October.

According to the latest data release, during the first ten months of 2019 shipments from EU flat steel service centres dropped -3.6% year-on-year. The fall accelerated by 0.2% compared with that registered during the January-September period.

Shipments from multi-products distributors, meanwhile, were down -4.8% y-o-y during the first ten months of the year, compared with a deceleration of -4.1% y-o-y registered during the first nine months.

Stocks at steel service centres were calculated to be of 70 days-worth of sales at the end of October. This was 2 days less than in September 2019 but still high compared with the 65 days registered in October 2018. Multiproduct distributors also reduced their stocks compared with September 2019 and continued to have significantly lower stocks than in the same month of last year.

Global apparent steel consumption will grow only 1% on-year in 2020. However, capacity utilisation and margins will improve in the second half of the year as long as old, polluting plants close in China and more balanced supply is achieved in Europe. So says Fitch Ratings, adding it forecasts a negative outlook for the steel sector.

Fitch has identified four factors to watch. One is trade tensions and protectionism across the globe and their impact on economic growth, particularly industrial production, light vehicle sales and construction. Also important are the evolution of economic and environmental policies in China, as well as its net steel export position; and the European climate change agenda. Finally, significant is the investment discipline of US companies to maintain adequate capacity utilisation.

“Over the past two years companies have talked at length of their investment plans to increase capacity and/or debottleneck existing assets,” Oliver Schuh, Lead Analyst Metals & Mining at Fitch Ratings, says in a report sent to Kallanish. “With weaker economic conditions in 2019, the supply push from those investments has negatively affected capacity utilisation and margins, particularly in Europe.”

“While we expect a moderate recovery in 2020, risks are more skewed towards the downside, linked to geopolitical tensions and political uncertainty in some countries as well as progressive reforms in China coinciding with a managed slowdown of growth ambitions,” he adds.

Fitch expects Chinese steel exports to rise to 70 million-80m tonnes in 2020 from 60m-70m in 2019. This is as domestic steel demand in 2020 weakens and operational capacity reduces as steelmakers consider their options to manage their assets in line with new environmental standards. However, this export growth will be limited by the rise in international protectionism.

Tata Steel says its transformation programme in Europe plans to improve the company’s run-rate Ebitda to £750 million ($899m) by March 2021 – equal to about 10% Ebitda margin.

About three-quarters of the performance uplift will come from productivity improvements, reduced bureaucracy and increased sales of higher-value steels, the steelmaker informed the European Works Council. Employment cost savings will make up the remainder.

Tata Steel in Europe chief executive Henrik Adam says: Steel has a bright future in Europe – enabling everything from low-carbon transportation and energy production to energy-efficient homes and fully-recyclable food packaging – and we want to be part of that future as an industry leader… Our future relies upon our ability to fund investments needed to raise the bar in innovation and carbon-efficient steelmaking.”

Last month Tata said it plans to cut 3,000 jobs, of which 1,600 will be in the Netherlands and 1,000 in the UK (see Kallanish passim). The company started on 27 November the employee consultation process with the European Works Council.

ArcelorMittal Europe has announced a CO2 roadmap to reduce emissions -30% by 2030. This is in line with the steelmaker’s plan announced in May to be carbon neutral in Europe by 2050.

The roadmap, for ArcelorMittal Europe – Flat Products, is based on three distinct pathways that have the potential to deliver a significant reduction in carbon emissions.

These include “clean power steelmaking”, i.e. using clean power as the energy source for hydrogen-based steelmaking, and longer term for direct electrolysis steelmaking. “Circular carbon steelmaking,” meanwhile, is using circular carbon energy sources, such as waste biomass, to displace fossil fuels in steelmaking, thereby enabling low-emissions steelmaking. “Fossil fuel carbon capture and storage” is maintaining the current method of steel production but then capturing and storing the carbon, or re-using it rather than emitting into the atmosphere.

Among the initiatives under way to contribute to the goal are the €65 million ($73m) investment to use hydrogen for the direct reduction of iron ore at the Hamburg site. Also being carried out is the construction of a carbon capture and storage pilot project, 3D, which will begin at ArcelorMittal Dunkirk in 2020.

ArcelorMittal Europe – Flat Products chief executive Geert Van Poelvoorde says the roadmap is “…not a one-size-fits-all model, as different parts of our business are at varying starting points. For some sites, certain technologies will work while others will be suited to another route. We’ve spent the last few years testing a range of technologies and now is the time to scale up and put them into action, with the support of the EU and member states, to ensure we are able to fully decarbonise.”

Last week ArcelorMittal voiced its support for the European Commission’s European Green Deal package (see Kallanish passim).

Benteler says it plans to close its Bottrop welded tube plant in 2022. The firm has provided details of its plan announced in November for a restructuring and associated job cuts at its Steel/Tube division.

Bottrop capacities will be gradually reduced from 2020. Most production will be successively transferred to Schloss Neuhaus and Paderborn. This will lead to a reduction of up to 255 jobs at Bottrop, but 100 new jobs – mainly in production – are to be created at Schloss Neuhaus and Paderborn. In the field of seamless tubes, Benteler says it will focus more strongly on core markets, and will adapt capacities at the Dinslaken plant. 

All the measures will lead to an overall reduction in employment of up to 600 jobs in the next three years, in a socially responsible manner, Benteler tells Kallanish. Sites affected will be Bottrop (up to 255 jobs), Dinslaken (up to 90 jobs) and Lingen (up to 10 jobs), and in the administration and indirect areas in Paderborn/Schloss Neuhaus (up to 195 jobs).

Benteler reiterates that the decisions were instigated by a strongly changed market environment. Prices in the global steel tube market are declining, and the outlook for the oil & gas, automotive and industrial markets is still deteriorating, it says.

Following a meeting with unions, Italian Minister Stefano Patuanelli has revealed the first details of the government’s industrial plan for former steelmaker Ilva, now ArcelorMittal Italia.

A union representative tells Kallanish the plan is worth €1 billion ($1.1 billion) and will involve the ramp up of production from the 6 million tonnes/year suggested by ArcelorMittal to 8m t/y. This would imply no job cuts. Production will be implemented with two blast furnaces and a new electric arc furnace. Temporary lay-offs are envisaged during the works to add a new EAF.

Patuanelli says the government is still working on the details of the plan. Including the environmental relaunch of the Taranto site and the ramp-up of production, the industrial plan should be implemented within 4 to 5 years.

The Italian government previously rejected the industrial plan submitted by ArcelorMittal Italia. The steelmaker said it would cut almost 4,700 jobs during the next three years. The first cuts would be in 2020 while the remainder would be in 2023 when the company proposes to idle blast furnace No. 2 and launch an EAF at the Taranto site (see Kallanish passim).

BENTELER Steel/Tube hat heute seine im November angekündigten Pläne konkretisiert. Ziel ist die Zukunftssicherung der Stahlrohr-Sparte in einem herausfordernden Marktumfeld. Das der Belegschaft in Deutschland vorgestellte Maßnahmenpaket umfasst neben notwendigen Kapazitätsanpassungen auch die Optimierung des Produktportfolios und der Vertriebsstruktur. Darüber hinaus wird das Unternehmen die werksübergreifende Zusammenarbeit weiter stärken. Kosten sollen gesenkt und die Effizienz der deutschen Werke weiter verbessert werden. 

Ein wesentlicher Bestandteil der geplanten Maßnahmen ist die Anpassung der Produktionskapazitäten an den veränderten Marktbedarf: 

BENTELER Steel/Tube plant, die Kapazitäten im Schweißrohr-Bereich zu konsolidieren. Die Kapazitäten im Bottroper Werk sollen ab 2020 schrittweise abgebaut und das Werk 2022 geschlossen werden. Bis dahin soll der größte Teil der Produktion sukzessive nach Schloß Neuhaus und Paderborn überführt werden. Das führt zu einem Stellenabbau in Bottrop von bis zu 255 Stellen. Durch das Verlagern der Kapazitäten sollen an den Standorten in Schloß Neuhaus und Paderborn bis zu 100 neue Stellen – überwiegend in der Produktion – aufgebaut werden. 

Im Nahtlosbereich wird sich BENTELER Steel/Tube noch stärker auf Kernmärkte fokussieren. Im Zuge dessen plant BENTELER Steel/Tube die Produktionskapazitäten im Werk in Dinslaken anzupassen. Auch in den indirekten Bereichen der Werke und in der Verwaltung plant BENTELER Steel/Tube Anpassungen vorzunehmen. 

Die Maßnahmen führen insgesamt zu einem Rückgang der Beschäftigung um bis zu 600 Stellen in den nächsten drei Jahren, überwiegend in Bottrop (bis zu 255 Stellen) sowie in Dinslaken (bis zu 90 Stellen) und in Lingen (bis zu 10 Stellen) und darüber hinaus in der Verwaltung und den indirekten Bereichen in Paderborn/Schloß Neuhaus (bis zu 195 Stellen). Den Übergang plant BENTELER Steel/Tube zusammen mit den Arbeitnehmervertretern sozialverträglich umzusetzen. 

Sozialverträgliche Maßnahmen sollen den Stellenabbau begleiten 

Tobias Braun, CFO BENTELER Steel/Tube, erklärt: „Unser Ziel ist es, mit wirksamen Maßnahmen die Stahlrohr-Sparte zukunftsfähig aufzustellen und damit den Großteil der Arbeitsplätze in Deutschland zu sichern. Die geplanten Veränderungen, die in den nächsten drei Jahren notwendig sind, möchten wir sozialverträglich umsetzen – beispielsweise durch freiwillige Abfindungsprogramme, Altersteilzeit, flexible Arbeitszeiten und eine natürliche Fluktuation. Mit den Arbeitnehmervertretern führen wir derzeit dazu Gespräche.“ 

Christian Wiethüchter, CSO und COO BENTELER Steel/Tube, ergänzt: „Die Entscheidung, die Zahl unserer Beschäftigten in der Stahlrohr-Sparte zu reduzieren, ist uns nicht leichtgefallen. Aufgrund der anhaltend schwierigen Marktbedingungen ist dieser Schritt jedoch leider unumgänglich. Uns ist es daher wichtig, zu betonen: Bei all den notwendigen Schritten steht ein respektvoller Umgang mit unseren Mitarbeiterinnen und Mitarbeitern immer im Mittelpunkt.“ 

Stahlrohr-Markt bleibt rückläufig 

Ausgangspunkt für die Verhandlungen mit den Arbeitnehmervertretern ist ein stark verändertes Marktumfeld: Die Preisentwicklung im weltweiten Stahlrohr-Markt ist rückläufig. Die konjunkturellen Aussichten in den Märkten Öl & Gas, Automotive und Industrie bleiben eingetrübt. Exportmärkte wie China und die USA, die BENTELER Steel/Tube in der Vergangenheit erfolgreich aus Deutschland belieferte, sind nur noch eingeschränkt zu bedienen.

Quelle und Foto: BENTELER International Aktiengesellschaft

XOM Materials, the independent industry platform launched by Klöckner & Co, has brought its 50th distributor on board. This marks a fivefold increase in the number of distributors – from 10 to 50 companies – within a single year, the company highlights.

33 of the 50 distributors who have been signed in Europe and the United States are already selling on the platform. In total, they stand for a revenue of more than €20 billion ($22 billion) annually, Kallanish hears.

“Xom Materials will revolutionise the distribution of steel and metals not only in Europe, but also in the USA. This shows that Germany and Europe still have great potential in the B2B sector,” says Gisbert Rühl, chief executive of Klöckner & Co.

The platform has further extended its range to include around 20,000 different products and also offers plastic products to its 600 registered customers. In addition, Xom Materials’ platform will be complemented by e-shops and e-procurement solutions in the future. The company notes that it is also expanding its international footprint, with ten distributors now in Spain alone.