Category: Latest Updates

UK International Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan has confirmed the government will extend steel safeguard quotas for a further two years to end-June 2024 on five categories of steel products.

This follows the publishing last week of the Trade Remedies Authority (TRA)’s findings on steel safeguards (see Kallanish passim).

“Today’s decision on safeguards provides our steelmakers with the stability required to plan, invest and work with the Government on the major challenges we now face – not least the decarbonisation of the industry,” UK Steel director general Gareth Stace said on Wednesday.

In June 2021 the TRA recommended to extend safeguard measures on ten products for a further three years, with nine slated to be revoked. The government then used emergency legislation to extend measures for one year on five of the categories that were proposed to be revoked. These were categories 6, 7, 12, 16 and 17 – tin mill products; quarto plate; merchant bar and light sections; wire rod; and angles, shapes and sections.

In a separate review of developing countries’ safeguard exemptions, TRA has recommended that five countries will no longer have exceptions from the measure but will be subject to it and have access to the residual quota. These countries are: India (category 1, 5, 13, and 17), Tunisia (category 2), Vietnam (category 5), Turkey (category 16), and Ukraine (category 16).

Adam Smith Poland

The Turkish Ministry of Commerce is expected to make an announcement next week on the imposition of an anti-dumping duty on hot rolled coil imports from the EU and South Korea, Kallanish learns from market participants.

The investigation, initiated in January 2021 following a complaint filed by the Turkish Steel Producers’ Association, has been completed. The ministry found that European and South Korean producers made sales at less than normal value during the review period. The period investigated was one year through 30 September 2020.

“What we are looking for is a proper answer to the EU after all that they have done towards Turkey for the last four years,” Turkish Steel Exporters’ Association (CIB) vice chairman and Colakoglu chief executive Ugur Dalbeler tells Kallanish. “We all knew that EU mills are selling their products with huge dumping margins; now, the authorities also found the same, and, therefore, they have to act immediately to stop this unfair action.”

The ministry established weighted-average dumping margins for ArcelorMittal at 39.83%, for Tata Steel at 30.64%, and for Liberty Steel and thyssenkrupp at 23.30%, with all other European exporters being found to have had a dumping margin of 49.84%. South Korean exporters’ weighted-average dumping margins were found to have been 14.62% for Posco, 14.08% for Hyundai Steel and 18.59% for others.

“Our demand is for AD duties for EU and South Korean producers to be set at the same level of dumping margins calculated by the authority,” Dalbeler adds.

The European Commission implemented definitive anti-dumping duties on imports of Turkish HRC in July 2021. Slightly reduced from the provisional measures implemented in January 2021, they were imposed at 4.7-7.3%, depending on the supplier, as compared to provisional measures at 4.8-7.6%. Although relatively low, the implementation of duties has affected the flow of Turkish material into EU, as it competes with other, often lower-priced suppliers from Asia.

Turkish hot-rolled flat product exports in April amounted to 163,631 tonnes, down 17.2% on-month and 18.8% on-year, with year-to-date shipments inching up 0.6% on-year to 639,406t. The majority went to the Middle East and North Africa.

Katya Ourakova UK

Rebar prices in Germany have dropped quickly and heavily after mills had succeeded for weeks in keeping them far above average European levels into June. The sudden fall has triggered some panic selling among German distributors, Kallanish is told by observers.

The drop has brought the local base price to €900/tonne ($943) and less, from nominally €1,100 offered far into May. According to an observer, some distributors are already launching volumes onto the market at loss-making prices, before their inventories “get really toxic” amid falling mill prices, and bring even stronger losses. “We have heard of competitors that are booking orders on the basis of existing contracts with mills, in which they concede losses of between €300 and €400,” he says.

According to a Dutch observer, prices thus far in Germany have still been the most stable, and have dropped more steeply in the Netherlands, and yet more strongly in Belgium

Regarding the view across borders, players have little to say about imports from overseas. Deliveries from Italy could be an option in Austria and southern Germany. An Austrian observer saw prices for straight rebar delivered to Austria a week ago at €950, then only €50 above the domestic Italian value. Given that Italian domestic prices are seen falling further, deliveries to northern customers could increase.

“I think prices will fall by another €50 before the floor is reached,” he says. This has already happened in Italy in the course of one week, and remains to be seen in Germany.

Christian Koehl Germany

EUROMETAL President Fernando Espada participated this Tuesday 28. June at the MMSteelClub UK & Europe Steel and Raw Materials Conference in Barcelona.

This conference integrated in the Barcelona International Ferrous Week discussed decarbonization of the steel industry, AI for steelmaking, green steel technologies, DRI making, UK and Europe Steel and Raw Materials markets, imports, exports figures, anti-dumping and safeguards and many more.

Fernando Espada participated in the session Protectionism and Antidumping Duties accompanied by Godfrey Watt, president of the International Steel Trade Association (ISTA).

Benteler has opened a new drawing line for welded tube applications at its pipe mill in Paderborn, Germany, the company announced at the Tube+Wire fair in Düsseldorf last week.

It has invested a double-digit million euro sum in the plan, Kallanish learns. With the commissioning, up to 50 jobs will be created at the new production facility for precision steel tubes. The group’s Steel/Tube division is thus strengthening the Schloss Neuhaus and Paderborn manufacturing cluster. Also, it claims it is expanding its market position in individual tube solutions for highly specialised applications in the automotive industry.

The new production line has an annual capacity of 12,000 tonnes. A completely new infrastructure was created in the production hall for the drawing bench, which includes an integrated testing facility. More than 1,150t of concrete, around 31t of reinforcing steel and more than 1.7km of cable for supply lines have been installed in the past two years.

The tubes from the new line have a homogeneous microstructure and tight tolerances also ensure high stability in subsequent processing in the automotive sector, Benteler says.

Christian Koehl Germany

Ukrainian flat steel producer Zaporizhstal, partially owned by Metinvest, is considering cutting production due to significant logistical problems, the company confirms to Kallanish.

“Problems with logistics have not been resolved and we have significant problems with the shipment of our products to customers in the EU,” the plant’s general director, Alexander Mironenko, said in an interview with Ukraine’s Segodnya newspaper. “All our routes before the war passed through ports, but they are inaccessible so far, and now we have a significant overstocking at the border crossings in western Ukraine. All this forces us to consider the option of reducing production, because our products simply cannot be shipped across the border.”

According to him, the company’s managers are doing everything in their power to maintain the volume of exports and the flow of foreign currency into the country. In particular, they are providing additional equipment for reloading products at the border with the EU. Together with the Cabinet of Ministers, they are also looking for ways to solve problems with logistics.

Earlier, Zaporizhstal said it plans to increase capacity utilisation to 75% in August with the launch of the third blast furnace (see Kallanish passim). The mill is currently operating at about 50% capacity with two blast furnaces in operation.

Zaporizhstal decreased crude steel production in January-May to 852,700 tonnes, down by 48.6% on-year. Pig iron output also decreased by 46.4% to 987,600t, while rolled steel production fell 46.4% to 753,800t.

In May alone, the plant reduced steel production by 59.7% on-year to 131,700t and pig iron output fell 52.6% to 157,500t. Rolled steel production was less by 56.8% to 121,200t.

At the end of March, the mill partially resumed output after previously putting all units into hot conservation mode due to the intensification of fighting following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Svetoslav Abrossimov Bulgaria

The UK Trade Remedies Authority (TRA) has initiated a transition review of anti-dumping duties on certain hot rolled flat products from Russia, Ukraine, Brazil and Iran. The original definitive duties were imposed under the EU in October 2017.

The body has however simultaneously started a probe into whether these measures should be suspended on Ukrainian product. “Following a request from the government of Ukraine we will investigate whether a suspension of measures on certain Ukrainian steel products is justified because of changed market conditions after the Russian invasion,” TRA chief executive Oliver Griffiths says in a note seen by Kallanish.

The HS codes affected are 72 08 10 00 00, 72 08 40 00 00, 72 11 19 00 00, 72 08 25 00 00, 72 08 52 10 00, 72 25 19 10 90, 72 08 26 00 00, 72 08 52 99 00, 72 25 30 90 00, 72 08 27 00 00, 72 08 53 10 00, 72 25 40 60 90, 72 08 36 00 00, 72 08 53 90 00, 72 25 40 90 00, 72 08 37 00 00, 72 08 54 00 00, 72 26 19 10 90, 72 08 38 00 00, 72 11 13 00 00, 72 26 91 91 00, 72 08 39 00 00, 72 11 14 00 00 and 72 26 91 99 00.

This excludes products of stainless steel, of tool steel and high-speed steel, as well as products not in coils, without patterns in relief, of a thickness exceeding 10mm and of a width of 600mm or more, and products not in coils, without patterns in relief, of a thickness of 4.75mm or more but not exceeding 10mm and of a width of 2.5m or more.

The period of investigation is 1 April 2021 – 31 March 2022. In order to assess injury, TRA will examine the period from 1 April 2018 – 31 March 2022.

TRA has also launched a transition review into countervailing duties on certain stainless steel bar and rod from India, the definitive duties for which were imposed under the EU in June 2017.

The HS codes affected are 72 22 20 21, 72 22 20 29, 72 22 20 31, 72 22 20 39, 72 22 20 81 and 72 22 20 89. The period of investigation is 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022. In order to assess injury, TRA will examine the period from 1 April 2018 to 31 March 2022.

Adam Smith Poland

As coil prices keep sinking and energy supply bottlenecks get more severe, mills will be inclined to cut back on output, northwest European market observers believe.

A shortage of orders “has already caused three European mills to reduce their production volumes or postpone the planned [re]start-up of production lines,” a Dutch manager cautions. Kallanish contacted some of those mills for verification but received no response.

In Central and Eastern Europe, US Steel Kosice did however respond, rejecting market reports that it was idling one blast furnace amid weak demand. “We proceed with the standard production,” its spokesman observes.

There is little prospect of increased demand within the EU in the short term, but rather the expectation of a still further decline in demand. In combination with ever-increasing production costs, it is not unlikely that more steelmakers will cut back on production, the manager believes.

Adding to this, Russian gas exports to Germany have been severely curtailed and may even be stopped altogether. The question is if German mills and manufacturers will still have enough energy at their disposal to be able to run their production normally. Federal economy minister Robert Habeck has already rung the alarm for emergency plans for such a scenario.

Thirdly, the manager underlines the risk of rising inflation which will mean a break on investment, which in turn means less need for steel. “This could cause a return of production overcapacity in the EU,” he says.

The seasonal effect of summer production breaks is imminent, another Dutch source points out. Given the circumstances, they are coming at the right time, and they could well be extended this year.

Christian Koehl Germany

At the invitation of the Belgian federation of steel distributors Belmetal, EUROMETAL participated this Tuesday in the event “Journée Belmetal” which took place in a unique decor such as the Blauwhuis’ castle in Izegem.

With the theme “innovation and digital transformation for metal distributors”, we were welcomed with presentations by Edi4Steel, Kaltenbach.Solutions, INAD, Vanilla Steel and Vivium.

The event also had the special participation of the multi-medaled Belgian judoka Gella Vandecaveye and the Belgium’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Justice and the North Sea, Vincent Van Quickenborne.

The US will raise tariffs to 35% on certain steel and aluminum products imported from Russia in a move that will affect 570 different groups of products across various sectors, according to a White House proclamation June 27.

“I have determined that increasing the column 2 rates of duty to 35% ad valorem on certain other products of the Russian Federation, the importation of which has not already been prohibited, is warranted and consistent with the foreign policy interests of the United States,” President Joe Biden said in the proclamation.

The White House did not release information on which specific products would be subject to the higher tariffs. In a separate statement, however, US Trade Representative Katherine Tai said the list of products the announcement covered would include “steel and aluminum; minerals, ores, and metals; chemicals; arms and ammunition; wood and paper products; aircraft & parts; and automotive parts.”

The raising of “column 2” rates is tied to the US’ previous action of suspending normal trade relations with Russia in April to escalate pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin for the country’s invasion of Ukraine.

The US Harmonized Tariff Schedule, which the US International Trade Commission compiled, outlines separate duty rates for favored trade partners (column 1 duties) and non-favored trade partners (column 2 duties).

The April removal of normal trade relations allowed the US to apply column 2 duty rates on imports from Russia until January 2024.

For metals, column 2 duty rates reach up to 20% for finished steel, 18.5% for most unwrought aluminum, 11% for high purity aluminum, and 10.5% for some categories of value-add aluminum products. Duties on these products and others could now potentially reach 35% pending the release of the official list of product categories impacted by today’s proclamation.

Representatives from the US Commerce Department and ITC were not immediately available for comment when S&P Global Commodity Insights contacted them June 27.

The higher duties also apply to imports from Belarus in retaliation for its aid to Russia. The US may restore normal trade status with either country pending permission from Congress.

— Nick Lazzaro