Stainless recovery to drive 2021 nickel demand: Eramet

Stainless steel production will grow significantly in 2021, says French miner Eramet in its 2020 financial report. The company’s nickel producer subsidiary in New Caledonia, Societe le Nickel (SLN), aims to increase its exports to more than 3.5 million wet metric tonnes (wmt) in 2021. SLN currently has authorisation to export 4m wmt of nickel ore per year.

Ferronickel production for the Doniambo plant is also expected to increase, while at Weda Bay mine production is expected to reach more than 6m wmt in 2021, Kallanish learns from the report.

Global stainless steel production was down by 3.8% in 2020 versus 2019. Global demand for primary nickel also declined by 3.6% last year. However, SLN mining production reported strong growth last year, increasing by 16% versus 2019. A notable increase of 45% was registered in the second half-year versus H1. This rise reflects both favourable seasonality in H2 as well as the effects of the company’s rescue plan.

Following its start at end-2019, the Weda Bay mine produced nearly 3.4m wmt of nickel ore in 2020, and is now producing at an annualised rate of 6m wmt per year. The first tapping of nickel ferroalloy took place at end-April. The plant reached nominal capacity from August, ahead of the forecast schedule.

Meanwhile, the unprecedented collapse of the aerospace sector, coupled with a steep downturn in the automotive sector strongly affected the performances of the High-Performance Alloys division from the second quarter. Turnover for the division was down 20% to €680m ($825m), with a negative Ebitda of €119m. French parent company Aubert & Duval’s turnover decreased by 16% y-o-y, with negative Ebitda of €87m.

The group’s turnover amounted to €3,553m in 2020, down by 3% year-on-year. Ebitda totalled €398m versus €630m in 2019 owing to the impact of the pandemic (see separate story).

Intra-EU border closures hamper steel workforce availability

Tightened border controls between some EU countries are preventing staff based in other countries from returning to their workplaces at German steel distributors and processors.

Germany has severely restricted border-crossing traffic coming from, among others, the Czech Republic, due to the country’s high coronavirus infection rate. According to a manager at a Bavarian distributor of coil products, the number of Czech workers across metals-working Bavarian industries amounts to some 30,000.

Only last week, his company succeeded with getting permissions for a number of its workers to come back to Germany. “It was a snapshot decision [from the authorities]. Such issues are often decided at very short notice at the political level,” he tells Kallanish. In this case, it helped that his company supplies steel to medical equipment makers, and therefore was certified as system-relevant.

Things work well on the local level, he notes. For example, hotels which otherwise are currently empty for lack of tourism, can be rented to accommodate foreign staff. However, the problems with crossing the border have Eastern European workers rethinking their employment patterns. They may now prefer to look for jobs at home because it is safer.

The same has been heard from distributors in the long products sector. A manager at a rebar bending shop on Germany’s western border says he is often concerned that Polish workers may be held back in their home country for longer than planned, or decide not to return at all. “It’s mostly Eastern Europeans working in bending shops all over the country,” he observes.

Germany’s Dillinger supplies 70,000 mt of heavy plate to Dutch offshore project

German steel plate-maker Dillinger said Feb. 19 it had supplied 70,000 mt of heavy plate to the Dutch offshore wind farm project Borssele.

Dillinger supplied thermomechanically rolled heavy plate for the monopile foundation structures, with plate thicknesses ranging from 12.7 mm to 88 mm. Some of the slabs reached weights of more than 42 mt, according to Dillinger.

Shell and Eneco said Feb. 18 that the Netherlands’ 732 MW Borssele 3, 4 offshore wind farm was fully operational. The project’s 77 turbines are expected to generate 3 TWh/year and are more than doubling Dutch offshore wind capacity. The Netherlands targets some 11 GW installed offshore capacity by 2030.

The German plate market has been struggling with low demand from the oil & gas sector due to investment backlog, exacerbated by the pandemic with wind energy getting increasingly more importance as part of the energy transition.

In November, the CEO of Dillinger’s parent company Stah Holding Saar, Karl-Ulrich Köhler, said the company wanted to further strengthen its portfolio in the automotive business, offshore wind and rail sectors.

— Laura Varriale

German steel production up 6% on year in January as mills ramp up

German crude steel production rose again in January as mills ramp up further, outpacing January 2020 levels by 6%, German steel federation WV Stahl said Feb. 19.

German crude steel production increased to 3.3 million mt in January, but although production figures are back to 2019 levels, the output would still be on a “relatively low level”, the steel federation said.

However, demand comeback since summer last year has resulted in widespread ramp up by mills with production increasing on year-on-year level since August.

Crude steel production via the blast furnace route increased 7.1% on the year to 2.35 million mt in January, while output via electric arc furnace rose 3.3% to 956,000 mt.

Pig iron production saw an increase of 7.9% year on year to 2.2 million mt. Hot-rolled steel production saw a 10% increase to 3 million mt.

The German steel market is currently suffering from material shortage with more volumes from further increases in capacity utilization expected by late Q2.

Steel prices have seen sharp rises since Q3 2020 but plateaued on a 13-year high during the Lunar New Year period at Eur730/mt EXW Ruhr for hot-rolled coil, according to the daily Platts HRC assessment for Northern Europe on Feb. 18.

According to the monthly Platts German steel sentiment survey for February, market participants expect a slight increase in production in the short term, but sources said any additional output will be used to decrease the current order backlog at mills as lead times continue to be unusually long from Western European mills, stretching into early summer.

Mills have been further hampered in deliveries in February by the cold snap with Salzgitter declaring force majeure Feb. 10 and Thyssenkrupp confirming increasing delays in shipments.

— Laura Varriale

SAEY reconnu Best Managed Company

Le distributeur d’aciers SAEY est une des 8 nouvelles entreprises privées Belges  reconnues en 2020 comme “Best Managed Company” par Deloitte Private, Econopolis et l’université KU Leuven. 

EXCELLENT ENTREPRENARIAT 

Le label Best Managed Company reconnaît les entreprises qui ont démontré qu’elles disposaient des capacités stratégiques nécessaires pour innover de manière systématique, pour mettre en œuvre des processus extrêmement performants. Grâce à leur agilité, elles sont capables de gérer les opportunités et de surmonter les risques. Elles font une priorité du développement de talent et de leadership. Elles affichent, en outre, une croissance durable avérée.

Le jury est présidé par Françoise Chombar (PDG et cofondatrice de Melexis), et est constitué de captains of industry,  ainsi que de Geert Noels (CEO et Chief Economist d’Econopolis) et professeur Koen Debacker (université KU Leuven). Les membres du jury ont sélectionné les lauréats sur base de critères rigoureux et indépendants.

LA VOLONTE DE SERVIR LE CLIENT TOUJOURS MIEUX

Ce label de qualité indique que SAEY ne cesse d’oeuvrer pour soutenir ses clients en offrant des produits innovants, des parachèvements uniques, un service fiable et qui va au-delà des attentes, ainsi que des formes de collaboration qui augmentent l’efficacité. 

C’est une reconnaissance pour l’engagement de toute l’équipe SAEY qui chaque jour donne forme à sa devise  “Solid partner, Competitive solutions” en étant à l’écoute du client pour construire ensemble un avenir durable. 

DES ATOUTS POUR LE SECTEUR DE LA TRANSFORMATION METALLIQUE

La société SAEY dispose d’un stock large et profond de produits métallurgiques, qui permet aux clients de commander en Juste à temps. Elle a développé une gamme de tôles unique sous la marque Laserform®, qui permet aux tôleries de travailler de façon plus efficace. Laserform ® est devenu lá référence pour la découpe laser et le pliage de tôles.

De plus, SAEY offre des possibilités inégalées pour le sciage et la découpe laser de tubes et profils ouverts. Ceci permet de développer avec le client des produits innovants, de soulager le client de la pré-production en lui livrant des pièces prêtes à l’assemblage.

SAEY est neutre en CO2 depuis 2017 et est ainsi précurseur dans le secteur et résolument tourné vers l’avenir.

www.saeysteel.com