Category: Latest Updates

Salzgitter : successful Q1/ 2019

Salzgitter generated profit before taxes of €126 million ($141m) in the first quarter of 2019, (Q1 2018: €96m), thereby notably exceeding current market expectations, Kallanishlearns from the company.

Along with a satisfactory pre-tax profit generated by the Strip Steel business unit, all other business units strengthened this performance by delivering positive results, the group notes in an ad-hoc release. External sales came in at €2.3 billion, on a par with the Q1 2018. ”Following the strong first quarter, we affirm our earnings forecast for profit before taxes of between €25m and €175m,” Salzgitter says.

It adds that it is currently anticipating a result more at the upper end of the range. However, with reference to the unstable economic situation and the associated impaired forecasting reliability for the full year, it considers any revision of the forecast to be premature at present.

Imponderables include changes in the cost of raw materials, precious metal prices and exchange rates, along with global trade policy measures. With around 9 million tonnes/year of steel products to be sold by its units, an average €10/t change in the margin could cause a variation in the annual result of €90m, it notes.

The European Commission has published an official note in its gazette related to the potential effects of the combination of existing anti-dumping (AD) or anti-subsidy (AS) duties with safeguard tariffs, Kallanish notes.

In the note the EC explains that in case tariff-free quotas for products already hit by AD or AS duties are exhausted, the effect of the combined measures “… may lead to a greater effect than desirable”. As a result the EC proposes that if AD or AS duties are less than 25% (the rate of safeguard tariffs), they will not be collected, if the duties are higher, on the other hand, only the difference from the 25% rate will be charged.

“Whilst there is some uncertainty as to if and when the respective tariff-rate quotas would be exhausted, it is possible that imports of those steel product categories which are subject to anti-dumping or anti-subsidy measures would also become subject to the payment of a safeguard duty,” the note explains.

The EC calculates that there are 18 existing AD and AS measures in place on products also included in the new safeguard system.

All interested parties are invited to submit their comments on this proposal by 9 May 2019.

ArcelorMittal has received a binding offer for its two French wire processing facilities in Sainte-Colombe-sur-Seine and Commercy in eastern France from the German investment firm Mutares, Kallanish learns from a statement.

The two plants, part of ArcelorMittal Wire Solutions, were put up for sale last year. The first sale agreement was made with French industrial group Altifort. This was then cancelled in January this year, as Altifort failed to find sufficient funds to conclude this acquisition as well as the purchase of Ascoval steelmaking plant in France.

Now Mutares has confirmed its offer and has begun discussions with the workers at the site to present its new industrial plan.

The two French plants are focused on the fabrication of wire and steel wire ropes. Their product portfolio ranges from thin spring wire for the automotive market to heavy specialty cables for bridges and wire for the pre-stressed concrete market.

Mutares is a holding company specialised in the acquisition of companies to be relaunched. In 2017 it acquired the stainless steel welded tube specialist Aperam Stainless Services & Solutions Tubes Europe, from the Aperam group.

The European Commission has postponed for a third time the deadline for reviewing the joint venture deal between Thyssenkrupp and Tata Steel Europe — by seven working days until June 17, according to the EC’s website.

The EC did not explain the reasoning behind the decision and was not immediately available to comment when contacted.

A Tata Steel spokesperson said: “We continue our constructive discussions with the European Commission.”

“We remain confident that the merger of our European steel businesses with Tata Steel Europe will be cleared,” a Thyssenkrupp spokesperson said.

Another source close to the two companies expressed optimism that the EC would approve the merger. “As the new entity will become the region’s second-biggest steelmaker in Europe, the EC is checking all the details of the remedies,” the source said.

Thyssenkrupp and Tata presented at the beginning of April their package of solutions to the EC as part of the process of obtaining clearance for the proposed joint venture.

Neither the EC nor the two steel companies officially disclosed which assets were to be put up for sale, but according to market sources, the two companies proposed divesting their galvanizing lines for the automotive sector — the hot-dip galvanizing line of Thyssenkrupp Galmed in Spain and Tata Segal in Belgium.

According to sources, Tata’s packaging steel lines are also part of the divestment. Tata has two main steel packaging plants in Trostre, Wales and Duffel, Belgium, which combined employ over 1,000 workers making food and and beverage cans.

— Annalisa Vila

In Brief : OMK Steel, Anadolu Boru, IGM Trade and other steelmakers have dodged EU dumping tariffs, MLex has learned. EU investigators will close a probe into “hollow section” products from Turkey, Russia and Macedonia, despite calls from ArcelorMittal and Tata Steel for the measures. The products are used for transporting and drilling for oil and gas, among other industrial applications.

OMK Steel, Anadolu Boru, IGM Trade and other steelmakers have dodged EU dumping tariffs, MLex has learned. EU investigators will close a probe into “hollow section” products from Turkey, Russia and Macedonia, despite calls from ArcelorMittal and Tata Steel for the measures.

Last September, the European Commission opened the dumping investigation into welded tubes and pipes and hollow profiles of cross sections, which are used for transporting and drilling for oil and gas. They’re also used in construction, building ships and cranes, trailers, trucks, cars, machinery, metal furniture, sports equipment and windows.

The probe came at the request of subsidiaries of ArcelorMittal and Tata Steel, including ArcelorMittal Tubular Products, Alessio Tubi, Arvedi Tubi Acciaio, Marcegaglia Carbon Steel, Gazoldo, Marcegaglia Poland Praszka, and Tata Steel Nederland Tubes and Tata Steel UK.

The EU was meant to impose provisional duties this month, but instead investigators will close the case as they found no dumping, MLex understands.

Exporting producers of the hollow sections include Anadolu Boru and Erciyas Çelik Boru in Turkey; IGM Trade and FZC 11 Oktomvri in Macedonia, as well as OMK Steel’s Almetyevsk Pipe Plant and Severstal-TPZ Sheksna in Russia.

EU distributors have access to sufficient material despite safeguard quotas, but business is being challenged by the downturn in the regional automotive industry, says new EUROMETAL director general Daniel Guinabert.

Initial fears over material shortage on account of quotas have not materialised, as European steel demand has declined compared to 2018. Steel service centres (SSCs) and distributors “… import from outside of Europe when you have quite good visibility in demand and pricing trend,” Guinabert told Kallanish in an interview in Prague last week. “Currently, unfortunately, compared to the beginning of last year demand is weaker,” he continued, adding that the European automotive sector and German economic slowdowns are major factors behind this.

Steel prices have been under downward pressure since the tail end of 2018, which is not good news for distributors who keep sizable stock levels and therefore stand to make losses, Guinabert continued.

Safeguard quotas are doing little to support prices in the current environment. “I’m fully convinced that the market price level is not driven by the quota,” Guinabert commented. “Because, we have all the distribution actors that can find volumes easily from their current source of supply.” He added: “All European suppliers are looking for volumes.”

In any case, imports remain key to distributors’ ability to make a profit margin. “We must keep significant volumes of imports,” Guinabert said. “European steel suppliers cannot source 100% of their global volume within Europe because… sometimes they (mills) are out of some market segments.”

As a distributor, “…if you wish to get the price level, you must keep a constant flow with some selected suppliers external from Europe,” he continued. “If not, you cannot get the best price.” Guinabert estimated that EUROMETAL members source around 20% of volumes from outside of Europe.

In terms of the ArcelorMittal/Liberty asset reorganisation, Guinabert believes Liberty will consequently become a major player in the European SSC business. Besides acquiring ArcelorMittal’s processing capability in Dudelange, it has gained control of four SSCs in Italy from ArcelorMittal CLN Distribuzione Italia.

Although the automotive downturn has reduced EU mill production and therefore distributors’ deliveries, SSCs’ individual performance depends on their carmaker affiliation. While German and Italian carmakers’ production has been significantly impacted, for instance, French carmakers – and therefore the SSCs supplying them – are performing better, Guinabert pointed out.

As for the projected slowdown in global economic growth, the director general said distributors’ flexibility is likely to be tested. These firms often end up with too much stock during a downturn, which can damage profitability. “In our business people are optimistic by nature,” he commented. “When the steel service centre Ebitda is €20-25/tonne, you can consider it’s not a bad result… Compared to the price of the coils or the price of the beams, the path is very narrow between profitability and losses.”

“In Europe you have 250 producers including tubemakers, you have 5,000 distributors and 1 million end-users… We’re trying to do our best to defend the interests of the profession – distribution. It’s not a question of independent, of family company, the problems are the same.”

EUROMETAL will hold its Nordic regional meeting in Helsinki on 22-23 May.

Stuttgart/Berlin – Laserhub bietet digitale Plattform für die Blechbearbeitung. Rund anderthalb Jahre nach dem Start der Plattform Laserhub.de gibt die LASERHUB GmbH aus Stuttgart den erfolgreichen Abschluss einer wichtigen Finanzierungsrunde bekannt. Das Startup wendet sich mit seiner automatisierten, digitalen Beschaffungsplattform für Laser- und Biegeteile sowohl an Unternehmen aus den wichtigsten Industrien in Deutschland – wie Maschinenbau und Automobilbranche, als auch an das Handwerk.

Eine führende Position in der aktuelle Finanzierungsrunde übernimmt dabei Project A aus Berlin. Das bekannte VC-Unternehmen unterstützt mit seinem Engagement das Startup aus Stuttgart bei seinen nächsten Schritten. Dazu zählen technische Erweiterungen der Plattform sowie die Internationalisierung des Angebots. 

„In den vergangenen anderthalb Jahren hat sich unsere Plattform, unsere Angebotsspektrum und unser Team immens entwickelt. Wir haben permanent neue Kunden und Produktionspartner gewonnen. Mehr als 1.000 Kunden haben in den letzten Monaten Bauteile mit einem Gesamtgewicht von 620 Tonnen bestellt. Die Plattform, über die unsere Kunden mittlerweile Zugriff auf über 230 Laser- und Biegemaschinen haben, wurde ständig um neue Funktionen erweitert. Parallel dazu haben wir Monat für Monat neue Mitarbeiter eigestellt und unsere Firma auf ein solides Fundament gestellt“, berichtet Christoph Rößner, Co-Founder und Geschäftsführer bei der Laserhub GmbH. 

Ziel von LASERHUB ist es, die komplette Vielfalt der Blechbearbeitung über digitale Schnittstellen zugänglich zu machen und so für die Kunden und Produktionspartner Kosten zu senken und die Effizienz zu erhöhen. Für die Zukunft denkt LASERHUB über weitere Schnittstellen wie etwa die Integration in die gängigen Bestell- und ERP-Systeme nach. 

Als neuer Lead-Investor kommt bei LASERHUB nun Project A aus Berlin an Bord. Der Berliner Investor verwaltet aktuell insgesamt 260 Millionen Euro, mit denen er Technologie-Startups finanziert. „Die produzierende Industrie ist das Rückgrat der deutschen Wirtschaft und Blechbearbeitung ist ein sehr großer und fragmentierter Markt, in dem die Kommunikation immer noch über E-Mail und Fax abläuft. LASERHUB hat es geschafft, einen vertikal integrierten Marktplatz aufzubauen, der von den Kunden stark angenommen wird. Das Team vereint Industrie- mit Startup-Kompetenz und wir freuen uns, das Team finanziell und operativ zu unterstützen“, erklärt Uwe Horstmann, General Partner bei Project A. 

Die Online-Plattform von LASERHUB ermöglicht binnen weniger Sekunden eine intelligente Prüfung von individuellen Kundenaufträgen und deren Verknüpfung mit aktuell verfügbaren Fertigungsressourcen im Markt – sofortige Kalkulation und Preisstellung inklusive. Ein voll-automatisierter Prozess prüft im Handumdrehen die CAD-Zeichnungen auf Machbarkeit, kalkuliert Preise und identifiziert den passenden Produzenten.

LASERHUB ist Vertrags- und Ansprechpartner der Kunden und kümmert sich um die Bestellung, die Umsetzung, die Logistik und die Abrechnung. Das Unternehmen ist für den Gesamtprozess verantwortlich, bis der Kunde die fertigen Teile in seinen Händen hält und kann an jeder Stellschraube den Ablauf optimieren. Durch die Plattform haben Unternehmen die Möglichkeit, ihre Prozesskosten um bis zu 70 Prozent zu senken. 

Auch die Produktionspartner von LASERHUB – also die Hersteller – profitieren von der Online-Plattform: Die mit dem Portal verknüpften, erstklassigen Blechbearbeiter erhalten passende Aufträge vollautomatisch und digital, so dass diese effizient bearbeitet werden können. 

Weiterhin unterstützen die Laserhub GmbH ihre bisherigen Investoren. Dazu gehören neben Point Nine Capital weitere, bereits investierte Business Angels. „Wir sehen ein enormes Potential darin, Bestellprozesse in der Maschinenbauindustrie zu automatisieren. Zentrale Treiber sind der hohe Druck des internationalen Wettbewerbs und die steigende Nachfrage an individualisierten Produkten“, erläutert Pawel Chudzinski, Partner bei Point Nine Capital. „Vor allem die hohe Wiederbestellrate der Kunden bestätigt, dass LASERHUB auf dem besten Weg ist, eine erfolgreiche Manufacturing-as-a-Service Plattform aufzubauen, bei der wir sie weiterhin sehr gerne unterstützen.“ 

„Neben dem für das weitere Wachstum benötigte Kapital, unterstützen uns die Investoren auch besonders mit ihrer Expertise. So ist Point Nine Capital einer der erfahrensten und renommiertesten Risikokapitalgeber für Online-Marktplätze und Software as a Service-Lösungen“, erklärt Adrian Raidt, Co-Founder und Geschäftsführer bei LASERHUB.

„Wir haben bisher weit mehr Bauteile ausgeliefert als wir in unserer Planung erhofft hatten. Dies verdanken wir nicht zuletzt unserem starken und wachsenden Netz an zertifizierten Partnern in Deutschland. Mit ihrer Hilfe sind wir binnen 18 Monaten zu einem der größten Anbieter von Blechteilen in Europa geworden. So können wir für unsere Kunden auf 80 Lasermaschinen und 150 Biegemaschinen zugreifen“, berichtet Jonas Schweizer, Co-Founder und Geschäftsführer bei LASERHUB. „Ziel ist es nun, dieses Wachstum weiter zu beschleunigen. Dazu werden wir unser Angebot auf europäische Nachbarländer ausweiten sowie neue Services anbieten und die entsprechenden Partner in Boot holen. Mit der Unterstützung von Project A und Point Nine Capital sowie den weiteren Investoren sind wir dafür gut gerüstet.“ 


Über Laserhub GmbH

Die Laserhub GmbH ist ein B2B-Startup aus Stuttgart und hat mit „Laserhub.de“ eine vertikal integrierte, herstellerübergreifende Beschaffungsplattform für individuelle Blechteile entwickelt. LASERHUB verknüpft vollautomatisiert die Anliegen der Nachfrager mit den Ressourcen der Anbieter. Dadurch sinken sowohl die Prozess- als auch die Teilekosten sowie die Bestell- und Abwicklungsdauer. LASERHUB tritt dabei für alle Beteiligten als einziger Vertragspartner auf und zeichnet sich für den gesamten Prozess verantwortlich: von der automatischen Angebotserstellung bis hin zur Auftragserteilung, Umsetzung, Logistik und Abrechnung. Gegründet wurde LASERHUB im Juli 2017 von Adrian Raidt, Christoph Rößner und Jonas Schweizer. 

Über Project A

Project A ist der Operational VC, der neben Kapital ein großes Netzwerk und exklusiven Zugang zu einem breiten Spektrum an Services bietet. Der Berliner Investor verwaltet 260 Millionen Euro, mit denen er Technologie-Startups finanziert. Kern von Project A ist das Team aus 100 erfahrenen Experten, die die Portfoliounternehmen operativ in Bereichen wie Software Engineering, Marketing, Design, Kommunikation, Business Intelligence, Sales und Recruiting unterstützen. Zum Portfolio gehören Unternehmen wie Catawiki, WorldRemit, uberall, Homeday, Spryker, KRY und Wonderbly. 

Quelle und Bilder: Laserhub GmbH

EUROMETAL Regional Meeting Central Europe was convened in Prague on 24-25 April 2019.

The meeting was hosted by FERONA, which celebrates this year its 190^th anniversary.

Ferona is a main regional steel stockist and SSC operating in Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland.

The meeting was moderated by Daniel Guinabert, who took office as new EUROMETAL Director General on 1. April 2019.

Ferona speaker Dr. Jan Moravec gave an outlook on economic perspectives of CEE (Central and Eastern Europe) steel markets, outlining that the short term perspectives remain positive, but that there are augmented business risks for Central European steel markets, related to the slow down in automotive production, the weaker forecasts regarding German economy and the uncertainties surrounding the Brexit issue.

The meeting also took an outlook on neighboring CIS (Community of Independant States – former Soviet Union) steel markets. Alexander Siryk, from Metals Consulting International, outlined the scope of CIS steel supply chains where the role of steel distribution and SSC is significantly different from the distribution structures in EU steel markets, with a strong focus on stringent mill ties but with a significant lower service level, when compared to EU steel distribution markets.

Matt Watkins, CRU, addressed the meeting with an in-depth presentation on the global steel outlook. Matt related the efforts of China to reduce steel capacities, indicating that China is in fact the only global region where steel capacities are going to be downsized, whereas in Europe, North America, India and South East Asia steel capacities are going to be increased in coming years.

SSAB speaker Josu Pina Bilbao spoke about how to position and differentiate business strategies regarding prime steel products in view of achieving ultimate customer satisfaction with end users. These strategies are supported by digital tool “SmartSteel”.

Andrej Kristofcik from USS Kosice explained the efforts of his company, the biggest strip mill producer of Central Europe, to develop sustained Research & Development in order to provide to the market steel products with highest quality level. USS Kosice is not tied to downstream service centers but acts as a privileged partner to the SSC industry.

Wojciech Ochojski, ArcelorMittal Longs Poland, referred to their construction tool “Steligence”,  an holistic approach to building construction  to support architects, planners and investors in their choice for the right steel for the right project.

The afternoon session was dedicated to digitalization in steel distribution and SSC.

Georges Kirps, GK Management, opened the session with a presentation on how Digitalization will challenge traditional approaches in steel distribution business and outlined that the 21. Century will be the century of the digital revolution.

XOM Materials is a digital platform linking vendors and purchasers of steel, tubes, metals and  plastics. Tim Milde explained the present status as well as the challenges and developments encountered while developing this digital tool open to all potential partners of the industry.

A panel discussion followed these two presentations where participants of the panel and the audience exchanged a lot of interesting points of view regarding chances but also problems linked to the introduction of digital tools in a steel distribution business with still rather traditional commercial behaviors.

EUROMETAL Regional Meeting Central Europe in Prague was attended by 80 participants.

Central and Eastern European economic growth should still reach 3% in 2019 despite slowing on-year, but German growth – to which it is strongly linked – is under threat from various factors. So says Czech distributor Ferona’s corporate audit director, Jan Moravec.

The CEE growth will come despite extremely low unemployment rates and rising wages, according to Moravec, with Poland and Slovakia the top performers, each with GDP growth of 3.5%.

This is down from 5% GDP growth in 2018 in the case of Poland, while Slovakia was the only regional country that saw industrial production increase last year.

Economic growth in the Visegrad 4 (V4) countries is “… strongly related with the German economy,” Moravec said at Thursday’s Eurometal Central Europe meeting in Prague attended by Kallanish. “There are discussions whether it (Germany) is in recession or not. In the last quarter of 2018 they were in minus, this (first) quarter they are in slight plus, so according to definition it should not be a recession but the risk is here, business climate is the lowest [… since] February 2018.”

CEE economic growth is linked strongly with the automotive industry, with a combined regional output in 2017 of around 5 million vehicles, roughly the same as Germany. The region’s original equipment manufacturers are also dependent on the German automotive sector.

The current threats for the V4 countries are electromobility, “Dieselgate”, threats regarding US automotive customs duties, and Brexit. Germany was the eighth-largest steel supplier to the US in 2017, while combined EU supply to the US totalled 6 million tonnes. This is very little compared to EU steel consumption of 150mt.

“On the other hand, the situation is really different for the car industry,” Moravec observed. “If there are (US) customs tariffs for cars, at least according to the German [… chamber] of commerce… Germany would automatically fall into recession.”

Southeast Asian steel demand growth will continue to rise rapidly amid China’s slowdown, while Turkish mills will maintain their export push, to Europe and intermittently to Southeast Asia. So says CRU analyst Matthew Watkins.

Following a very profitable 2018 for the steel industry until prices collapsed in the fourth quarter, slower global economic growth is translating into lower steel prices this year. Mills’ attempts to raise prices in Q1 gained no traction. However, there is potential for an upward cycle soon. “I will stick my neck out and hazard a guess that it will be somewhere around May or June as a possibility for prices to increase as people start to buy again,” Watkins said at EUROMETAL’s Central Europe meeting in Prague.

China is making efforts to maintain economic growth but government stimulus is less steel intensive than in the past. Stimulus represents around 4% of GDP versus 30% ten years ago, and the focus now, rather than construction, is on consumption, with measures such as tax cuts, Watkins pointed out.

Although countries like Vietnam and India will continue rapid growth, “… the problem, I suppose, is that they’re also building a lot of capacity to make steel in these regions,” Watkins said at the event attended by Kallanish. This ultimately means that trade in ‘developing Asia’ will remain balanced and the region more or less self-sufficient.

Turkish steel supply, meanwhile, has filled the gap in the EU left by China’s export withdrawal and restrictions on Russia-origin imports. EU buyers have the incentive of short lead times to purchase from Turkey. There is also a “… push factor” for Turkish mills as their local demand has slumped versus the very strong years of 2016 and 2017.

There are occasional spikes of Turkish material going into Southeast Asia when the price is right. However, “… the problem into Asia is that Turkey is not a low-cost producer,” Watkins observed. “It’s a long way away, others are cheaper there. So really the opportunities into that fast-growing Asia market for Turkish steel mills are going to be intermittent, they’re going to be opportunistic sales.”

Turkish sales into the EU are, however, currently hampered by depressed prices in the bloc due mainly to the automotive sector slowdown. “European mills, in the absence of all of those strong automotive volumes, find themselves going into non-automotive segments; they find themselves competing hard with each other for all of this other business, and thus keeping the price low.”

While China is closing some 244 million tonnes/year of net capacity, all other regions are building it, including Europe where the focus is on hot-dip galvanized coil, Watkins pointed out.

As for iron ore prices, these are “… unlikely to go higher than we are now; the shock happened already (after the Vale dam collapse),” Watkins commented. However, prices are likely to remain elevated as the Vale incident set off a series of mine investigations that are likely to disrupt iron ore supply this year, he concluded.