Gestamp turns to 100% renewable energy in Spain

Gestamp says all its production facilities, and research and development centres in Spain will operate with 100% renewable energy from January 2022, Kallanish notes.

To meet the target, the Spanish-headquartered supplier of components to the global automotive sector has signed a long-term agreement with energy company Naturgy.

According to the ten-year deal, Naturgy will supply Gestamp with 203 gigawatt hours per year from solar and wind sources. The company expects to reduce gas emissions by 50,000 tonnes of CO2/year, a 13% reduction of its total carbon footprint resulting from electricity usage.

“This agreement is a very important milestone for Gestamp as part of an ambitious strategy in sustainability to move forward to a low-carbon economy,” comments Gestamp executive director Francisco Riberas. “The strategy involves a more efficient use of raw materials and supplies and represents another step forward in the company’s long-standing commitment to achieving the highest sustainability standards throughout the entire production chain.”

The company has 21 production lines and two R+D centres in Spain. The electricity consumed in all these facilities represents 18% of Gestamp’s global consumption.

Todor Kirkov Bulgaria

Tata Steel shrinks European executive committee

Tata Steel says its chief commercial officer for Europe and other members of the executive committee are leaving their posts. New executives are not being hired, Kallanish notes.

Chief commercial officer Karl Haider is set to leave at the end of March to pursue a career outside of the company. At the same time, Ernst Hoogenes, chief technical officer, is retiring from his post.

At the end of April, Tom Farquhar, executive director human resources, will also be leaving the company.

As a result, the company’s European executive committee will be smaller, with ceo Henrik Adam and cfo Sandip Biswas taking over the responsibilities of the departing executives for the time being.

Emanuele Norsa Italy

E-commerce platform Metalshub facilitates cross-border financing

Metalshub, the German-based trading platform for ferroalloys, has completed a pilot-run of its in-house trade finance solution between a Belgian and a Czech entity.

This means it will soon be possible to securitise and transfer trade receivables of transactions that were concluded on the Metalshub platform, Kallanish understands. In the form of electronic promissory notes, eNotes, the securitised trade receivables can be sold for a negotiable discount rate to investors that proceed to hold the notes until maturity, Metalshub says.

“Promissory notes are an internationally recognised financial instrument that enables companies and individuals to secure financing on the legal basis of an unconditional promise to pay,” explains Frank Jackel, managing director at Metalshub.

Digitalisation and the use of blockchain technology are promising solutions to help close a critical gap in trade financing worldwide, claims Metalshub. The firm has teamed up with Swiss-based fintech company FQX for the solution.

Founded in 2016, Metalshub now has more than 1,000 companies using the platform, including more than 200 foundries and steel mills that have digitised their purchasing processes this way. In 2020, more than $300 million in purchasing volume was concluded through the platform.

Christian Koehl Germany

EU starts registration of India, Indonesia stainless CRC

EU authorities have made it a requirement to register stainless steel cold rolled coil imports from India and Indonesia. The measure is part of the ongoing investigation into potential anti-dumping duties on the product, Kallanish notes.

In an official note, the authorities explain that imports of investigated products continue to increase even after the investigation was opened officially in early October 2020.

“On the basis of these statistical data, the [European] Commission found that the average monthly volume of imports of stainless steel cold-rolled flat products from the countries concerned in the period from October 2020 to January 2021, i.e. after initiation of the anti-dumping case, was 17% higher than the average monthly imports during the investigation period and 6% higher than the same period of the preceding year,” the statement explains.

As anticipated, the ongoing AD investigation is examining the period of imports from July 2019 to June 2020. The EU already has AD duties in place for stainless CRC from China and Taiwan.

According to Eurofer data, India supplied into the EU less than 100,000 tonnes of stainless CRC in 2020, the lowest level since 2016. Indonesia, on the other hand, almost trebled its exports to the EU since 2018, reaching a record level of almost 110,000t last year.

Emanuele Norsa Italy

Tsingshan upends nickel markets and stainless costs

The forecast of increased supply of nickel matte from Tsingshan caused nickel prices to fall sharply on Thursday. The new process being used however could tighten nickel pig iron (NPI) supply, Kallanish notes.

Three-month nickel on the London Metal Exchange dropped as much as 8.5% to $15,945/tonne on Thursday, reaching its biggest intraday loss since December 2016. The most-traded June nickel contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange ended 6% lower at CNY 130,510/t ($20,180.61/t), posting its biggest intraday loss since May 2020.

Chinese private nickel and stainless steel producer Tsingshan Group signed a high-matte nickel supply agreement with Huayou Cobalt and Zhongwei on 1 March and announced the deal on 3 March. According to the agreement, Tsingshan will supply 60,000 tonnes of high-matte nickel to Huayou Cobalt within one year from October 2021 and provide 40,000t of the same product to Zhongwei.

Tsingshan was the first company to produce NPI from nickel laterite ores. Now it is taking NPI and further processing it to high-matte nickel products with a 75% nickel content. It says it will adjust production of NPI and nickel matte according to market developments.

NPI and battery grade nickel markets have hitherto functioned separately. If this new process becomes the norm, growing EV battery demand could mean NPI supply being diverted away from stainless steelmaking.

Huayou also participated with Tsingshan in the investment of a nickel smelter in Indonesia. Huayou said it would also produce some high matte from nickel pig iron.

The announcement has meanwhile alleviated market concerns about the shortage of battery-grade nickel supply. ”Tsingshan’s mass production of nickel matte triggered a supply-side adjustment. The supply bottleneck for nickel sulphate has been broken. There’s limited room for nickel prices to increase,” Huatai Futures says in a note. 

In order to meet demand for nickel for power batteries, Tsingshan began trial production of high-matte nickel in Indonesia in July 2020, and saw formal production begin at the end of last year. With more facilities commissioned in Indonesia, Tsingshan aims to produce 600,000t of contained nickel equivalent in 2021, 850,000t in 2022 and 1.1 million tonnes in 2023.

By Kallanish Team