Category: Latest Updates

Lackadaisical European hot-rolled coil (HRC) demand is resulting in a very slow drawdown of the duty-free quota from the top six importing countries to the EU 28.

Turkey, Russia, India, Serbia, South Korea and Taiwan have around 2.6mn t available for the October-December quota, out of a duty-free potential of around 3.8mn t. The global HRC quota was amended as of 1 October so that no country can account for more than 30pc of quarterly imports.

Other countries still have over 1.4mn t that they could ship to the EU 28 between now and the end of December.

Out of all these third countries, Turkey has shipped the most HRC to Europe this quarter — it has 229,000t remaining out of its 635,000t duty-free allowance. Russia has 401,000t remaining out of its 635,000t quota.

Import prices to Europe have firmed significantly in recent weeks for a number of reasons, primarily anticipated production disruptions in Italy and a global uptick underpinned by rising scrap costs. But import prices are now out of step with domestic offers, certainly in the south, and buyers are holding off on their purchases and seem sanguine about availability going forward.

Argus’ weekly cfr southern Europe HRC assessment rose by €15/t last week to €440/t, a gain of €60/t since the end of October. Over the same period, the domestic Italian index has risen by €31.75/t to €419/t, while the northwest Europe index nudged up by just €14.50/t to €428.75/t ex-works — northern pricing is less import dependent and buyers have been slower to accept the increases sought by mills. Spot activity in the north has also ebbed quite dramatically, with buyers and sellers focusing on contract talks.

Italian apparent flat steel demand has fallen since the end of the last week after buyers mostly finished re-stocking, local sources told S&P Global Platts.

Key Italian buyers had returned to the market after ArcelorMittal Italia, Italy’s largest flat steel producer, ceased taking orders for first-quarter delivery after announcing its intention to walk away from a deal to buy the troubled Ilva steel plant.

Buyers had also returned to the market as prices had already bottomed out and raw material prices started to move higher, sources said.

Mills began to issue quotes again at the beginning of December, with most orders concluded at around Eur415/mt base ex-works.

Stockists now have around two to three months of inventories, sources said.

Local mills had set targets for Q1 deliveries at Eur450/mt ex-works Italy, but re-adjusted to Eur430-440/mt given the reluctance of buyers to accept large price increases. Local sources said the price increase was due to low inventories and restocking needs. Another factor was the low attractiveness of imports, with large exporters from India having ceased offers, and low small arriving from Turkey.

Representatives of ArcelorMittal are expected to meet the Italian government and unions again on Wednesday to discuss the future of the company after Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte rejected ArcelorMittal’s latest industrial plan. In the new plan ArcelorMittal said it would produce around 4.5 million mt of crude steel next year and cut 4,700 jobs.

— Annalisa Villa, Charlotte Bucchioni

The Italian trade unions have announced another strike at ArcelorMittal Italia to protest against the company’s proposal to cut 4,700 jobs at the former steelmaker Ilva, Kallanish learns from union representatives.

The Italian government had rejected the industrial plan submitted by ArcelorMittal last week. This intends to cut half of Ilva’s workforce by 2023 when the company proposes to idle blast furnace No. 2 and launch an electric arc furnace at the Taranto site (see Kallanish passim).

The strike on 10 December will involve all workers from former Ilva facilities and will include a protest in Rome.

Meanwhile the government is working on its own industrial plan that would involve a revamp of blast furnace no. 5 which has been idled for years. According to the plan, the plant in Taranto would work with two blast furnaces and one electric arc furnace to enable annual steel production of 8 million tonnes, Kallanish hears.

Im portugiesischen Setubal läuft einer der beliebtesten Kompakt-SUVs Europas vom Band: der T-Roc. Volkswagen vertraut bei der Produktion seines Verkaufsschlagers auf die Supply Chain Experten von thyssenkrupp Materials Processing Europe am nur wenige Kilometer entfernten Standort Palmetal in Palmela. Dort sorgen die Mitarbeiter in 19 Schichten an sieben Tagen der Woche dafür, dass für den T-Roc das richtige Material zur gewünschten Zeit in der entsprechenden Qualität im Werk von Volkswagen Autoeuropa eintrifft. thyssenkrupp Materials Processing Europe, ein Unternehmen von thyssenkrupp Materials Services, bietet seinem langjährigen Kunden dabei entlang der gesamten Wertschöpfungskette individuelle Services an und entwickelt sie bei Bedarf weiter, um die wachsenden Anforderungen seines Kunden mit neuen, darauf zugeschnittenen Lösungen zu erfüllen. 

„Mithilfe einer Eigenentwicklung ist es uns beispielsweise gelungen, nahezu alle Montage- und Lieferabläufe zu automatisieren und wunschgemäß für Volkswagen umzusetzen. Wir können frühzeitig erkennen, wann Material benötigt wird und neue Lieferaufträge auslösen. Volkswagen kann sich somit ganz auf seine Kernkompetenz konzentrieren, während wir für eine passgenaue Logistiklösung mit just-in-time-Lieferungen sorgen“, erklärt António Novais, Geschäftsführer von Palmetal. Die Voraussetzung dafür, dass dieser Ablauf optimal funktioniert, ist eine klar definierte Prozesskette. Diese hilft dabei, Wartezeiten auf ein Minimum zu reduzieren und Transporte für Kunden noch effizienter zu gestalten. Auch die Qualität der Lieferung ist damit stets auf höchstem Niveau, um die benötigten Mengen zu bedienen. 

Ausbau der Supply Chain Expertise 

Der portugiesische Standort wurde 1993 zur Belieferung von Volkswagen Autoeuropa gegründet und seitdem konstant vergrößert. Inzwischen umfasst er insgesamt fast 30.000 Quadratmeter in fünf Hallen. Komplexe Herausforderungen seiner Kunden zu lösen und individuelle Supply-Chain-Services zu erarbeiten, gehört zu den Kernkompetenzen von thyssenkrupp Materials Services. Der größte Werkstoffhändler der westlichen Welt setzt neben dem Materialhandel verstärkt darauf, große Teile der Wertschöpfungskette seiner Kunden zu steuern, damit diese sich voll und ganz auf ihr Kerngeschäft konzentrieren können. 

Als führendes Stahl- und Aluminium-Service-Center bedient thyssenkrupp Materials Processing Europe, ein Unternehmen von thyssenkrupp Materials Services, an dreizehn Standorten in sechs Ländern Verarbeiter aus der Automobil-, Elektro-, Bau- oder auch der Möbelindustrie. Mit seiner langjährigen Expertise in Beschaffung, Beratung und Vorfertigung liefert der Anarbeitungsspezialist dem vielfältigen Kundenkreis europaweit maßgeschneiderte Dienstleistungen und digitale Lösungen rund um Flachstahl und NEMetalle. 

Quelle und Fotos: thyssenkrupp Materials Services GmbH

Autor: von Hubert Hunscheidt

Director-General Roberto Azevêdo told a meeting of the full WTO membership on 9 December that he would launch more intensive, high-level consultations on how to resolve the longstanding impasse over the appointment of Appellate Body members. DG Azevêdo’s intervention came after WTO members were unable to reach consensus on a proposal to address concerns regarding the functioning of the Appellate Body.

Addressing the WTO’s General Council, DG Azevêdo said the consultations, to take place at Heads of Delegation level, would focus on whether members are discussing all the elements that need to be addressed in finding a solution and what basic concepts members need to agree on so as to make progress.

“A well-functioning, impartial and binding dispute settlement system is a core pillar of the WTO system,” DG Azevêdo declared. “Rules-based dispute resolution prevents trade conflicts from ending up in escalating tit-for-tat retaliation – which becomes difficult to stop once it starts – or becoming intractable political quagmires.”

“Obviously the paralysis of the Appellate Body does not mean that rules-based dispute settlement has stopped at the WTO,” DG Azevêdo continued. “Members will continue to resolve WTO disputes through consultations, panels, and other means envisaged in the WTO agreements such as arbitration or good offices of the DG … but we cannot abandon what must be our priority, namely finding a permanent solution for the Appellate Body.”

Earlier in the meeting, Ambassador David Walker of New Zealand presented to delegations a draft decision intended to resolve differences on the urgent matter of the functioning of the  Appellate Body. The draft decision was the outcome of an informal process launched last January by the General Council chair, who asked Amb. Walker to serve as facilitator of the consultations.

In the interventions that followed, many members expressed their support for the draft decision and thanked the facilitator for his efforts. They underlined their deep concern that the Appellate Body would no longer be in a position to consider new appeals after 10 December and cited the negative impact this would have on the WTO’s dispute settlement system and the multilateral trading system as a whole. There was no consensus, however, to approve the draft decision.

Both the General Council chair, Ambassador Sunanta Kangvalkulkij of Thailand, and Amb. Walker expressed their willingness to continue discussions on how to overcome the impasse.

Following Klaus Keysberg’s promotion to the executive board of parent group thyssenkrupp AG, the board of the steel and materials distribution division, thyssenkrupp Materials Services, is being partly restructured.

Keysberg will be succeeded as division chief by Martin Stillger, who has held various management positions at thyssenkrupp Materials Services since 2008. Most recently he was chief executive of German distribution unit thyssenkrupp Schulte and of the Western Europe and Technical Services operating units. He will be succeeded as ceo of thyssenkrupp Schulte and the Western Europe operating unit by Detlef Schotten, currently ceo of the Eastern Europe and Asia/Pacific operating unit.

Furthermore, Ilse Henne, thyssenkrupp Materials Services chief operating officer since the beginning of the year, will take on the new position of chief transformation officer (CTO) with immediate effect. She will be tasked with driving transformation and growth at the company. The role of coo will no longer be filled, Kallanish understands.

The Italian government has rejected the recent industrial plan submitted by ArcelorMittal Italia to continue operating the former Ilva plants in Taranto and across Italy, Kallanish learns from unions and statements from government officials.

Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said in a televised interview that the government has refused the new industrial plan as it is too close to the initial proposal to cut 5,000 jobs. He assured that authorities are in the process of negotiating with the company.

Last week ArcelorMittal presented a new potential industrial plan to Italian authorities. Trade unions immediately called for a strike at the plants. 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 electric arc furnace at the Taranto site (see Kallanish 4 December).

Crude steel production in Germany was 3.323 million tonnes in October, -7% down on October 2018 which was already considered a weak month, steel association Wirtschaftsvereinigung Stahl (WV Stahl) tells Kallanish.

In the course of the first ten months of 2019, output totalled 33.875mt, -5% lower than in the corresponding 2018 period. 

The different production routes reduced their output to similar degrees in the ten-month comparison. In October, though, the year-on-year difference was more remarkable for oxygen-route mills, at -9%, while it dropped only -2% for EAF mills. This is in line with the more severe difficulties experienced in the automotive industry, which sources strip mainly from oxygen mills. EAFs, meanwhile, mainly feed rebar to the relatively strong construction industry.

Italian steel trade association Assofermet reported a recovery in demand for long products in November and difficulties in sourcing scrap. This has pushed up scrap prices both in Italy and on the wider international arena.

However, the crisis in the automotive sector is persisting, particularly in Germany where scrap supply from this sector is becoming more challenging, the association says in its monthly market report monitored by Kallanish.

The association also noticed a pig iron price increase last month. However, Italian buyers are purchasing material that has reached ports in a late cargo and are therefore paying lower prices than the current producers’ asking prices. Assofermet says it also registered some stabilisation of ferroalloy prices during November.

Baosteel Europe has established its research & development centre in Munich, Kallanish learns from Baosteel.

At the opening ceremony, Baosteel and Centro Sviluppo Materiali (CSM), owned by Germany’s Rina Consulting, signed a cooperation agreement. CSM specialises in helping companies that wish to incorporate additive manufacturing into their metal businesses, according to public information.

Baosteel said Europe is a strategic location for its overseas business development. Some steel demand, such as for automotive parts, silicon steel, and tin-plated products, is rising in the region. Baosteel established the Europe R&D Centre to better integrate into the European market and develop corresponding products.

As the largest steel company in China and the second-largest in the world, Baosteel believes that its progress in internationalisation is “…slow.” The company previously said it hoped to accelerate international development from 2019. After Jingye reached a deal with British Steel not long ago, Baosteel published an internal article stating that the company needs to be careful to identify problems that hinder internationalisation and identify how to resolve them.