Category: Latest Updates

Thyssenkrupp AG has appointed Sigmar Gabriel and Elke Eller as new shareholder representatives to the supervisory board of thyssenkrupp Steel Europe. Gabriel was also elected as the new chairman of the supervisory board, Kallanish learns.

Gabriel was chairman of the Social Democrats SPD from 2009 to 2017 and German vice chancellor from 2013 to 2018. In 2005, he was appointed environment minister, and in later years became economy minister. In his last two years in government, 2017 and 2018, he was foreign affairs minister.

Eller was human resources officer at TUI AG from 2015 to 2021, and previously held various management positions at Volkswagen Group.

In a separate move, thyssenkrupp Steel Europe AG decided on an expansion of its executive board. As from 1 May, Heike Denecke-Arnold will become chief operating officer. She will be responsible for the operating production areas and thus the entire area from iron and steel production, down to the finishing stages, as well as quality and logistics.

Christian Koehl Germany

Swedish mining equipment maker Epiroc has signed a deal to procure fossil-free steel from SSAB. The Swedish steelmaker plans to begin commercial fossil-free steel production by 2026, in conjunction with its Hybrit “green” direct reduced iron-making joint venture with LKAB and Vattenfall.

Epiroc will initially use fossil-free steel for material for a prototype underground machine produced at its facility in Örebro, Sweden, and plans to increase the use of fossil-free steel over time.

“Sustainability is integrated in everything we do, and we are committed to halving our CO2 emissions by 2030. This exciting partnership with SSAB will support us and our customers on the journey to reach our very ambitious climate goals,” Epiroc chief executive Helena Hedblom says in a note seen by Kallanish.

Earlier this month, Hybrit received €143 million ($157m) in funding from the EU as one of seven innovative projects under the Innovation Fund (see Kallanish passim).

Adam Smith Germany

Significant changes have taken place on the world steel market due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, not least the opening up of the EU market to Zaporizhstal exports, says company general director Oleksandr Mironenko in comments confirmed to Kallanish by Metinvest.

“Before the war, European markets were blocked for the plant’s products, but since they have refused to purchase steel from Russia, there is constant demand for Ukrainian steel products,” Mironenko told Ukraine 24. “Zaporizhstal has refocused the chain of raw materials delivery and shipment of products through the western border crossings. However, there are problems at border points with the accumulation of products and, therefore, alternative ways of delivery are being considered.”

The western border crossings are not designed for the large tonnages being shipped at present. “Besides our steel exports, coal and iron ore shipments are also passing through. Therefore, it takes time to set up all these chains and transhipments, because we work on a broad-gauge railway track, while throughout Europe it is narrow,” Mironenko noted.

Another issue is that coke companies in Ukraine, and in particular Metinvest, are experiencing a shortage of sulphuric acid and intend to organise its import from the EU, Mironenko continued. According to him, Ukraine’s capacity is not enough to supply all domestic sulphuric acid coke plants. In addition, coal itself is also a scarce raw material.

“At Metinvest alone, there are three coke chemicals units that need this acid,” Zaporizhstal’s general director said. “We need to bring in this raw material in order to increase the production of coke, which allows us to produce additional volumes of pig iron. That’s why we need to increase the import of coal and sulphuric acid, to increase production of coke.”

Svetoslav Abrossimov Bulgaria

The global mining and metals market will continue to grow in 2022 after a positive first quarter, says French miner Eramet in its 2021 integrated report monitored by Kallanish. The company’s facilities however may be impacted by surging global metallurgical coke prices caused by persistent tight supply.

Stainless and carbon steelmaking raw materials prices, such as for nickel and manganese, should also remain at high levels together with freight costs, with logistics delays and disruptions also continuing. “Developments in energy costs, in particular those of gas and electricity, remain uncertain for 2022. Continued price increases could have an impact on the Group’s profits,” the report states. It adds that this outlook does not consider the potential consequences of the war in Ukraine.

In 2022 Eramet aims for record production of 7.5 million tonnes of manganese ore, over 4m wet metric tonnes (wmt) of nickel ore exported and approximately 15m wmt of nickel ore produced at Weda Bay, Indonesia.

Eramet’s 2021 turnover stood at €3,668 million ($3,990m), a 31% increase versus 2020. The company achieved a €1,051m Ebitda, which represents as much as a 101% hike compared to the previous year (see Kallanish passim).

Natalia Capra France

Seven weeks after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, most Ukrainian steel plants have restarted steel production, Kallanish notes.

Ukrainian pipemaker Interpipe is the latest enterprise that has resumed production at its facilities in Dnipro, Nikopol and Novomoskovsk.

“First of all, the facilities for finishing operations will be launched to finalise semi-finished pipes, railway wheels and wheel sets,” the company says. “The bulk of the finished products will be exported to the European market.”

At the end of March, the company began to ship products manufactured even before the start of the Russian invasion by road to Europe, it says. “The capacity of logistics channels in Ukraine is limited, so the volume of cargo cannot be compared with the volumes before the war,” Interpipe adds.

ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih (AMKR) plans to launch blast furnace No.8 on 2 May, AMKR chief executive Mauro Longobardo says in the company’s corporate newspaper.

“We have already resumed the operation of blast furnace No.6, which will go down in history, as we are doing it during the war,” he notes. “In addition, by the end of April, the plant expects to bring the mining department to 100% capacity, and by 10 May will be able to export iron ore concentrate from ore processing plant No.1.”

Longobardo says the extent of operations all depends on the military situation, as well as the restructuring of raw materials and finished products logistics. “The mining department has been launched at the plant and the work of the coke production is also supported,” he adds.

Metinvest’s Zaporizhstal has already restarted blast furnaces No.3 and No.4 after an idle period (see Kallanish passim). Production at sister firms Zaporizhkoks, Zaporizhvognetriv and ZLMZ was also restored.

Pellet producer Ferrexpo continues to produce and ship product by rail to customers in Europe.

Seamless stainless pipe producer Centravis resumed single-shift production, but faces logistics problems with its shipments.

However, DMZ is still idled, as are Metinvest’s Mariupol-based Ilyich and Azovstal plants.

Svetoslav Abrossimov Bulgaria

In order to reliably meet the increased demand for digital solutions to implement the goals of Industry  4.0, Kaltenbach.Solutions GmbH has moved into new premises near Düsseldorf. Here, the hardware  components for the universally applicable digital measuring device BoosterBOX are developed, tested  and configured. The innovation and test center can produce around 5,000 measuring devices annually  for customers in the manufacturing industry.  

First and foremost, creativity and innovation are needed to solve the pressing problems of the  present. Throughout the millennia, it has been true that the discovery of new methods and tools  initiates the great developmental steps of mankind. Valentin Kaltenbach’s family of entrepreneurs  has been living this philosophy for generations for the benefit of its customers. Five years ago, the  mechanical engineering graduate founded Kaltenbach.Solutions GmbH exclusively for the  implementation of Industrie 4.0. His goal is to use the tools of digitization to sustainably increase the  performance of machines in the manufacturing industry. This goes hand in hand with the careful use  of limited resources such as operating resources, energy consumption and employees.  

In order to continue to exist on the market as a leading provider of digital solutions in the future, it  became necessary to expand the company’s capacities in the area of Research & Development. At the  beginning of the year, the Kaltenbach.Solutions test and innovation center therefore moved to larger  premises near Düsseldorf. Here, the hardware components for the universally applicable digital  measuring device BoosterBOX 4.0 are developed, tested and configured. These include IoT gateways,  communication modules, measurement and sensor modules, and automatic configuration and test  stations. The new site is designed for the production of 5,000 BoosterBOXes per year. Due to the  growing demand for electronic components, investments have already been made in recent months  to establish reliable supply chains.

This ensures that all components are available to meet the rapidly  growing demand for digital solutions for the processing industry. 

Turkey’s slab imports increased again in February, after the January rise, reflecting Turkish flat steel producers’ return to restocking after booking a large – around 200,000-tonne – quantity of Russian slab last October.

Turkish producers returned to restocking around December, when slab prices fell sharply in response to much lower-priced bids, and in expectation of the removal of the Russian ferrous export duty from 1 January. Offer prices were consequently down $100/tonne. The reduction was also supported by softening flat steel segment prices globally.

The February-arrived slab was booked at prices below $600/t fob Black Sea, around $100/t down on-month, with the lowest level registered by Kallanish at $585/t fob in early January. In addition to Russian slab, Turkey also booked at least one lot of Brazilian material, for March/April arrival, also severely down in price due to the US flats price fall in December. An earlier, October-booked lot of Brazilian material arrived in January.

Amid falling prices, a large proportion of Russian slab was also booked by China at the end of the fourth quarter of 2021. This pushed traditional buyers like Turkey and Italy to restock and eventually pushed prices up again starting in January.

From $580-585/t fob Black Sea – $610-615/t cfr Turkey – in early January, the price of slab rose again to $730-750/t cfr Turkey in early February, peaking in early to mid-March at $850-900/t cfr Turkey.

Financial sanctions on Russia and Ukraine’s production halt amid the former’s invasion of the latter resulted in very few bookings at the time. Buyers in non-sanctioning areas – Turkey and Asia – pushed for much lower prices again, and achieved them (see Kallanish passim). Various Asian-origin material has also become available in the Mediterranean, including Chinese, although Turkey is understood to still be seeking Russian slab, at lower prices.

Turkish February slab arrivals were all of Russian origin and totalled 208,077t. Russian-origin sourcing alone was up 21.7% on-month and ten times up on-year. However, overall February slab imports were down 20.9% on-month but up 92% on-year, Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK) data show. Two-month imports of 471,333t were up 68.6% on-year.

Katya Ourakova UK

The Italian plate market is reported to have lost momentum since the beginning of April after the high sales volumes registered by both producers and distributors in March. Domestic contracted prices remain at high levels, but they have lost the €2,000/tonne ($2,172/t) high point of the range for S275 grade seen at end-March, sources tell Kallanish.

Sales activity is becoming quiet, mostly due to the competitive import offers reaching Italian buyers. Both domestic and Far East-origin heavy plate prices are now softening, and European buyers are booking imported material that is significantly less expensive than domestic plate.

In the Italian market, mills are quoting S275 grade at €1,900/t ex-works, while 355 grade is €50/t more expensive. Contract prices this month for S275 are at between €1,750-1,900/t ex-works, sources suggest. Demand for premium 355 grade is robust, but this grade is in short supply. Because of the Ukraine war, the high-quality slab needed to produce 355 is less available and very expensive.

Meanwhile, some offers of S275 are quoted from the Far East at €1,300-1,380/t cif Italy for small volumes, and at €1,400-1,480/t cif for premium grade 355. Some buyers have purchased 275 plate from this origin at €1,300/t cif, but only limited tonnages. Offers for Indian-origin 275 plate are also at €1,300/t cif, but the 25% safeguard duty has to be added on top, for material that arrives after quarterly quotas expire.

As of 5 April, the remaining second-quarter EU quota availability for Indian HS code 7208 51 20 00, 7208 51 91 00, 7208 51 98 00 and 7208 52 91 00 plate was only 46,000 tonnes. The availability for Indian HS code 7208 52 10 00 and 7208 52 99 00 plate was however almost 189,000t.

Italian producers are quoting end-June and July lead times.

Natalia Capra France

Ukraine-based mining and steelmaking company Metinvest is maintaining normal operations at its re-rolling plants in the UK and EU and is present in the export market with long products, CEO Yuriy Ryzhenkov told S&P Global Commodity Insights in an interview on April 7.

Metinvest’s re-rolling production sites in the EU and the UK include a shapes and bar mill (Promet Steel) in Bulgaria, two flat-rolling mills in Italy (Trametal and Ferriera Valsider) and a plate-rolling mill (Spartan UK) in England.

Semi-finished products for those plants were normally supplied directly from Metinvest’s steelmaking base in Ukraine but due to the disruptions caused by the Russian invasion, only billet deliveries from Ukraine to Bulgaria are currently possible, while slab feedstock for the flat-rolling mills is being sourced from third parties, Ryzhenkov said.

Promet Steel remains a rolling mill based on billet supplied from Metinvest’s own billet producer Kamet Steel (formely Dneprovsky Iron & Steel Works or DMK).

Kamet Steel is located in Kamianske in the Dnipropetrovsk region, where steelmaking operations continue without disruption. Therefore, Promet Steel’s billet requirements at 40,000 mt/month, have been fully satisfied internally. The deliveries from Ukraine to Bulgaria are going by rail, inland waterways (barge) and sea (using Black Sea ports in Romania and Bulgaria).

Ryzhenkov noted that by keeping Kamet Steel working, Metinvest remains present in export markets, with billet, rebar, wire rod and other finished long products. The company can sell up to 100,000 mt of billet per month. Although the access to Ukrainian Black Sea ports is blocked by the presence of Russian military in southern Ukraine, the company is using the Black Sea port of Constanta in Romania, Baltic port of Swinoujscie in Poland, as well as railway and barges on the Danube to deliver goods to export markets.

Contrary to billet, slab shipments from Ukraine to the EU ceased following the idling of the two integrated steel production plants, Azovstal and Ilyich Steel, located in war-torn Mariupol. Ryzhenkov explained that the group’s flat steel re-rollers in the EU had sufficient stocks of slab to maintain production until mid-April. Then the mills would pause production and restart in early May to work on slabs purchased from China and Indonesia. The company is also considering Brazilian slabs.

— Wojtek Laskowski

The UK has launched a review of steel imports from Russia and Belarus to assess whether the tariff rate quotas for Russia and Belarus should be reallocated to avoid a potential shortage of steel, the Trade Remedies Authority said April 6 in a statement from the UK government.

The TRA has initiated a tariff rate quota, or TRQ, review of steel imports that are part of the UK’s safeguard trade remedy measure.

The UK government explained in a statement that, as with any safeguard measure, the UK had given all importing countries a quota to import a certain amount of steel at a basic tariff rate into the UK and once the quota was exhausted, they had to pay a higher rate.

Due to sanctions imposed on some imports from Russia and Belarus, exporters may not be able to fulfil their quotas and reallocating them to other countries “could help ensure a regular supply of steel needed for construction, engineering, the automotive industries and other uses,” it said.

The TRA’s proposed course of action would be to redistribute Russia and Belarus’ specific TRQs to other exporting countries, the government said.

“The TRA has the discretion to act quickly when there’s a change of circumstances which affects the UK economy,” TRA CEO Oliver Griffiths said.

“This review looks to address the risk of a shortage of steel into the UK as a result of sanctions on Russia and Belarus. Reallocating quotas should help keep steel prices down for construction and other domestic industries,” he added.

The TRA manages the UK’s trade remedy measures and has extended a safeguard measure countering steel imports, which the UK inherited from the European Union system.

In March, the TRA announced it would be undertaking additional analysis on the UK’s steel import safeguards regime, as part of an assessment of the impact of trade on the integrated nature of the UK steel sector.

The UK government said it had the power to review its import TRQs covered by safeguard measures if circumstances changed after the measure is set and the current review was an economic adjustment in response to a change of circumstances.

“The UK’s trade remedies system follows WTO rules and is designed to make sure UK industries are not damaged by unfair trade practices or unexpected surges in imports,” the government added.

In mid-March the European Commission adjusted its EU steel imports quota system and redistributed the quotas previously allotted to Russia and Belarus, effective April 1, to avoid regional market shortages.

— Jacqueline Holman