Category: Latest Updates

India is on course to reach or even exceed its target crude steelmaking capacity of 300 million tonnes by 2030, provided its per capita domestic steel consumption touches 200kg. This is according to Bhaskar Chaterjee, secretary general and executive head of the Indian Steel Association, speaking to delegates at the Kallanish-supported First Saudi International Iron and Steel conference in Riyadh last week. He was referring to the target in the context of the country’s National Steel Policy (NSP) 2017.

Slated to cross 100mt in 2019, India’s steel consumption will need to double in the next decade, translating to a compound annual growth rate of about 7%, in order to justify the increase. Although it may take slightly longer than forecasted to achieve this, the country is on track to become a $5 trillion economy in the next five years.  Its low base of 70kg per capita of steel consumption implies ample growth opportunities, Chaterjee says.

Having grown by 9.1% on-year in 2018, India’s steel consumption is potentially set to increase across all major segments to 160kg per person by 2030. 300mt of installed crude steel capacity working at 85% utilisation translates into 255mt of crude steel and 230mt of finished products, with 24mt exported and 206mt consumed domestically. The NSP envisages to eliminate imports completely, according to this scenario.

India has oscillated between being a net importer and a net exporter of finished steel in the last 10-12 years. Assuming this trend continues and India remains a net exporter of around 2-3mt of steel annually, then output of 230mt of crude steel and 270mt steelmaking capacity is justifiable, he says. 

The Indian government has allocated around $18.3 billion in the next five years for infrastructure investment. This includes both vertical and horizontal construction, using more steel in bridge building, and moving to producing new types of steel for its strategic industries. With its ample iron ore supply, it opens up a vista of opportunities for quality steel producers, but “… ultimately, the market will determine what it considers adequate in terms of steelmaking capacity and the export-import numbers,” Chaterjee concludes.

ArcelorMittal has confirmed that it will halt its plate rolling mill in the north of Spain for two days this week, due to market reasons, Kallanish notes.

The stoppage will be implemented on Wednesday and Thursday, affecting around 50 workers. The company already announced its intention earlier this year to lower output at its flat products’ operations in Spain during the autumn again because of reasons linked to a quietening market.

Local media reports note that the company is currently negotiating a new collective labour agreement with Spanish trade unions. In addition to the stoppage affecting the plate line, some output reductions are also planned for the company’s wire rod lines in Spain.

German steel stockholding group Köstner has completed the expansion of its site in Diespeck, in the Franconia region of the state of Bavaria. Together with machinery and technology, the family business has invested around €3.8 million ($4.2m) in the project, Kallanish learns.

The site now has two new buildings with lengths of 84 and 78 metres respectively and a width of 25 metres each, with a volume of some 40,000 cubic metres.  The site’s rebar bending operation with four crane systems has moved into this extension. One magnetic crane for transport of rebar was brought over from the group’s Plauen location. The separation of incoming and outgoing goods has significantly improved internal logistics, the group notes. There is now enough space for the simultaneous loading of three trucks instead of only one.

Köstner is a full-range distributor with 400 employees at eleven sites, most of them in Franconia around Nuremberg. Its headquarters are in Neustadt an der Aisch. Last year, it invested at its Plauen site in a new administrative building, and in an additional crane for handling sheet.

The US Department of Commerce on Friday released an enhanced version of its Global Steel Trade Monitor in an effort to provide users with the ability to better track global markets.

The improvements rolled out Friday include the ability for users to create graphs and charts to compare changes in trade patterns between two steel trading countries or two groups of steel products at one time, a function not previously available.

As with the original monitor, this enhanced version can generate more than 20,000 detailed charts for five standard aggregate steel mill product categories: flat, long, pipe and tube, semi-finished, and stainless products across the top 20 global steel importing and exporting countries, Commerce said.

The original interactive monitor was launched in September 2018.

— Justine Coyne

Italian flat products’ output fell year-on-year in July, according to data released by local steelmakers’ association Federacciai, monitored by Kallanish. 

In July, flats output decreased year-on-year by -9.4% to 892,000 tonnes. Over the first seven months of the year output ticked up by 1.1% compared to the same period in 2018 however, reaching 6.8 million tonnes.

Italian longs output also increased in July, by 1.6% y-o-y to 1.6mt. It moved in the opposite direction over January-July, falling by -0.2% to 7.6mt.

In 2018 flats’ output fell by -2% on-year to 11.1mt. In full-year 2017 production of flats had dipped by -2.1% to 11.33mt, Federacciai confirms. Longs production in 2018, however, grew by 4.1% to 12.4mt, after it had grown by 2.3% y-o-y in 2017 to 11.9mt.

Sunningwell International Polska has signed an agreement to lease ISD Huta Czestochowa (HCz) for 12 months. The investment fund will pay a PLN 1.8 million ($453,000) leasing fee.

Sunningwell has already paid a deposit of PLN 6m and three months of rent. Its next rent payment for the following three months must be paid by 2 October. The firm also agreed it will be unable to lay off any workers or make capital expenditure on the plant without the permission of the administrator. Workers should be paid their outstanding wages by end-September.

Production must be restarted in October, failing which the administrator has the right to terminate the contract, the Czestochowa district court spokesman tells Kallanish.

HCz’s staff are due to return to work in the coming days to prepare for the production restart. The mill has to procure scrap and slab, while its equipment must be inspected. According to a note on HCz’s website, production at the meltshop will be restarted on 10 October, followed a few days later by the heavy plate mill. Sunningwell representatives plan to visit the steelworks on 23 September.

HCz initiated bankruptcy proceedings at the end of June after suspending production indefinitely in May due to a shortage in working capital needed to purchase scrap and pig iron feedstock (see Kallanish passim).

Electric arc furnace-based HCz has an 800,000 tonnes/year slab capacity and 1.2 million t/y capacity of heavy plate.

Liberty Steel has committed to investing over €200 million ($220m) in its Galati steelworks to boost competitiveness, extend product range and support sales growth.

A sign of that investment in the former ArcelorMittal mill, which Liberty acquired in July, is the new cutting line commissioned last week, Liberty says. Following its acquisition of various ArcelorMittal plants in Europe, the UK-based firm now has a rolling capacity in excess of 18 million tonnes/year (see Kallanish 18 September).

Liberty Galati has a 3m t/y crude steel production capacity, selling to the construction, marine, oil, gas and wind energy sectors. This year production is foreseen at 2.1mt versus 1.7mt in 2018. The planned investment will take production over 3m t/y. Additional funds have also been set aside to fund significant strategic investments which are under development.

“We are committed to a programme of long-term investment in Romania, from making the Galati plant a beacon of strength and prosperity in the region to specific projects across our core sectors of aluminium, copper, energy and banking,” Sanjeev Gupta, executive chairman of Liberty parent company GFG, says in a note sent to Kallanish. “We look forward to working closely with the Prime Minister’s taskforce to help us further develop the plant and the economic wellbeing of its employees, local communities and Romania.”

Liberty Steel Continental Europe chief executive Jon Bolton adds: “Galati is a strategically located operation, with an excellent and highly skilled workforce in one of the fastest-growing economies in Europe.”

Liberty said last November it would likely relaunch one of Galati’s two idle blast furnaces. It would also consider the restart of the other idle BF or installation of an electric arc furnace that would use scrap as feedstock (see Kallanish passim). It said in addition that it will study starting production of auto sheet to supply Romania-based carmakers.

Liberty Steel commits 220 M€ in Galati plant .

US Steel does not expect to restart the idled blast furnace at its Kosice (USSK) plant before year-end, as it continues to struggle with squeezed margins and a high level of steel imports into Europe.

USSK said in June it was idling blast furnace no.2 due to higher costs and lower demand, while in July it said it planned to lay off 2,500 workers by end-2021 in order to cut costs (see Kallanish passim). To date the firm has eliminated 1,800 positions.

“In Europe, market conditions have continued to deteriorate, as the dislocation between steel selling prices and raw material costs continues to result in significant margin compression,” US Steel observed this week. Considering the BF will remain idled, USSK’s 2019 shipment guidance remains at 3.6 million net tons.

In the first half of 2019 USSK’s shipments fell -9% on-year to 2.07mnt. Raw steel output fell -11% to 2.31mnt and capacity utilisation was down 12 percentage points to 93%. Ebitda slumped -92% to $19m.

Manufacturing accounted for 22.7 % of the total gross value added in Germany in 2018, 6.5 percentage points above the European Union average as reported by the nation’s Federal Statistical Office.

German industry thus occupies a leading position in Europe and worldwide. In 2018, a gross value amounting to €682 billion ($754 billion) was generated by around 7.7 million people in employment, Kallanish learns.

The importance of industry to the German economy is reflected in the fact that the federal ministry of economics and energy presented its own ‘National Industrial Strategy 2030’ at the beginning of this year. The aim is to increase the gross value added figure to 25 % in 2030.

The pickling line at Italian La Magona plant in Piombino is being restarted as the new owner Liberty House has allocated a €5 million ($5.5m) investment, a union source tells Kallanish. This follows an inauguration event with Liberty House chairman Sajeev Gupta. Liberty has been disclosing details of its progress since acquiring a series of mainland European plants from ArcelorMittal (see related article and below).

The pickling line that has been idled for a number of years will be revamped and restarted early next year. The unions say that they hope that the two coating lines that are currently idled will also be restarted.

The new management of Magona under ceo Giovanni Carpino are also authorised to source coils from other producers in addition to the 5-year agreement that Liberty has with ArcelorMittal for coil procurement.     

Liberty has purchased a number of plants controlled by ArcelorMittal, put on the market following the acquisition of Italian group Ilva. The plants include ArcelorMittal Ostrava (Czech Republic), ArcelorMittal Galati (Romania), ArcelorMittal Skopje (North Macedonia), ArcelorMittal Piombino (Italy), and ArcelorMittal Dudelange (Luxembourg). Also included are the HDG lines 4-5 of ArcelorMittal Liège and three other lines located in Tilleur (Belgium).