International Steel Distribution, SSC & Trade Day 2018 in Hamburg

EUROMETAL is going to convene an International Steel Distribution, SSC & Trade Day in Hamburg.

During this conference, senior executives, expert with the various aspects of international steel distribution, SSC & trading, will present their views about challenges and chances facing international steel exports and steel imports.

We will invite to this conference all European stakeholders of steel trading, steel distribution & service centerd as well as all connected logistics and port operators.

In this way, the conference will surely be an international networking platform.

Empire Riverside Hotel in Hamburg

09.10.2018

Distribution & SSC Session

• Enhancing Contribution of Steel Stockholding & SSC to the Value Chain of Steel
• Future Challenges Ahead of SSC Business
• Challenges Facing Independent Steel Stockholders & SSC confronted with a consolidating steel supply side
• Impact of Industry 4.0 on Steel Supply Chains
• Supply chains 4.0: A Game Changer in Steel Stockholding & SSC
• Steel logistics: Coping with a Tightening Bottleneck in Steel Supply Flows

International Steel Trade Session

• Rising Steel Protectionism Triggering a Tectonic Drift in International Steel Trade Flows
• EU Steel Trade Policy and the Future of EU Market Supply
• Future Threats to Global Supply Chains
• Challenges and Chances for Steel Trade in a Shifting International Trade System

Steel Net Forum & International Steel Trade Day

Steelmakers seek to win back market share in construction

Construction consumes some 750 million mt/year of steel products globally – 51% of total usage – and the percentage is set to grow as rising populations and urbanization demand more infrastructure and homes. Steel’s use in construction will grow faster than in other fields. The automotive sector, despite inroads from aluminum and the uncertainties of broader mobility changes, should continue to represent 15% of steel usage while oil and gas may see steel usage fall from the current 8% of the total on an eventual move away from fossil fuels.

Still, not all is rosy in the construction camp, where, since the global economic crisis, steel has lost market share to concrete and in some cases timber in nations including Germany, the Netherlands and the UK as well as in Russia and the Middle East. According to worldsteel, which held its second Construction Conference in London April 17-18, this is partly due to funding cuts in promotion of steel as a sustainable and cost-effective material.

In the UK, structural steel’s market share of all construction materials in 2005-9 averaged 71%, falling to 66% in 2016, according to the British Constructional Steelwork Association. In the Netherlands, structural steel’s share in the single storey market fell from 90% in 2005-9 to 80% in 2016, while its share in multi-storey constructions fell from 89% to 80% over the same period, says Bouven met Staal, a national association.

Worldsteel’s director general Edwin Basson stresses it may be time for steelmakers and associations “to do something similar to what was done with the auto industry” – referring to a concerted worldwide initiative to publicize the role of steel in construction. In recent years, a campaign to publicize ultralight automotive steel is thought to have won some market share back for steel against aluminum.

Collaboration is key as the construction sector prepares for new buildings to become emissions-free by 2050 at an operational level in line with the 2015 Paris Agreement.

Under worldsteel’s year-old “contructsteel” initiative, actions to boost steel’s role in construction are taking place with companies including France’s Saint-Gobain, a plasterboard and glass manufacturer that may in the past have been considered a “competitor”, and major steelmakers including Tata Steel and ArcelorMittal. Also involved are steel construction development associations including Bouwen met Staal, the UK’s Steel Construction Institute, German associations and Russia’s ARSS, sponsored by steel producers Evraz, OMK, Mechel, Severstal and NLMK.

Others are seeking involvement. “The Brazilians are knocking at the door,” Basson said, noting contacts from the Brazilian Steel Institute and Latin American Steel Association Alacero, while discussions are taking place with Chinese companies, supported by Chinese Steel Association CISA.

Diana Kinch, PLATTS

Read more on steel in construction in the current edition of Platts Metals Insight

German tubes distributor questions e-commerce and processing craze

Steel distributors’ endeavours to drive digitalisation and processing services should be questioned at least for some areas of the distribution industry, says Hanns-Jörg Westendorf of German tubes company Hoberg & Driesch.

“Digitalisation is the magic word of the times, but you need to differentiate as to where you stand,” he tellsKallanish. In line with many other managers involved in the topic, he notes that e-commerce works best for standard homogenous articles where price is the main criterion.

Tubes, however, is a business of wide variety. Westendorf therefore dismisses the idea of necessarily having an online market place, but agrees that digitalisation should be used to optimise a company’s handling processes, and to provide the customers with a better overview of inventories.

In this context, he also questions the common opinion that offering added value means better business. Following customers’ ideal of one-stop shopping of processed material in small lots may not be worthwhile for the supplier, he states. Hoberg & Driesch, for example, bought a saw for hydraulic oil pipes ten years ago, which added a value that could be given in percentage figures. Other ancillary factors, such as operation costs, maintenance, packaging of the products, and a more difficult utilisation of truck capacities, were harder to grasp.

“I am very much convinced that the core distribution business is subject to other criteria of success,” Westendorf says. “You can make good money with pure distribution and a bit of size cutting, if you do it right.”

Assofermet warns EC against new safeguard measures

Assofermet Acciai, the Italian association representing users, distributors and processors of steel, has sent an official letter to the European Commission (EC) warning against possible new safeguard measures.

The letter, signed by Tommaso Sandrini, head of the association, explains that the mere announcement of the safeguard investigation has already impacted the market with uncertainty. As a result, activity in the market has reduced and so have some prices.

“There are already European legislation systems to monitor imports in the market,” states the letter seen by Kallanish. “It is therefore considered inappropriate to introduce new measures only based on the assumption of risks that are yet to be confirmed.”

Moreover, if the EU is permanently excluded from US import measures, local producers will have new opportunities to export to North America as some other historical suppliers will be excluded.

Sandrini also highlights that the European Commission did not include semi-finished products in the list of products to be examined for possible safeguard measures. This has raised scepticism among steel buyers due to the possible benefits for steelmakers in Europe.

As reported, the EC started at the end of March a new safeguard investigation concerning some 26 steel products, with a specific focus on the potential diversion of trade resulting from the new US tariffs.

Van Leeuwen Pipe and Tube Group acquires Ferrostaal Piping Supply

Zwijndrecht, the Netherlands, April 13, 2018 – The Van Leeuwen Pipe and Tube Group has acquired the business of Ferrostaal Piping Supply, a German-Dutch pipe and tube trading company that primarily supplies the chemical, petrochemical and machine building segments. The acquisition takes effect on May 1, 2018.

Ferrostaal Piping Supply, founded in 1953, specializes in the supply of pipes and piping materials, and operates in the chemical and petrochemical, the equipment and machine building, and trade segments. The company’s head office is in Essen, Germany. The company primarily focuses on markets in Germany and the Benelux. In addition, Ferrostaal Piping Supply exports its products to various parts of the world. The company’s annual turnover is more than € 50 million and it employs approximately 40 persons.

The activities of the Dutch branch of Ferrostaal Piping Supply will be carried out from existing Van Leeuwen companies. The Ferrostaal teams in Germany will operate as independent commercial teams, as part of Van Leeuwen’s network. The company will retain its own name, employees and customer base that will benefit from Van Leeuwen’s broader offering of products and services.

Van Leeuwen’s strategy is focused on further expanding and strengthening its leading market position in various industrial segments through means of acquisitions and autonomous growth. The acquisition represents an important expansion of Van Leeuwen’s commercial network. Ferrostaal Piping Supply gives Van Leeuwen greater access to the German market, in particular the chemical and petrochemical segments, in which Van Leeuwen operates throughout the world. In addition, the acquisition provides an opportunity for further expanding the services provided to the machine building segment, a segment in which Van Leeuwen has successfully operated for many years in other European countries.

Peter Rietberg, Chairman of the Management Board: “Through the addition of Ferrostaal Piping Supply to our network, we are in a position to especially serve the German market even better. This expansion of our global network offers benefits to our national and international customers, as well as our suppliers. Especially our customers in the German market in the chemical and petrochemical segments can now make optimal use of our expertise and specialisms relating to stocks, procurement, distribution and project management.“

Van Leeuwen Pipe and Tube Group

The Van Leeuwen Pipe and Tube Group is a globally operating trading company that specializes in steel pipes, and pipe and tube applications. The company operates in nearly all industrial sectors. The company was founded in 1924. The Group has approximately forty branches spread throughout Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Australia, and North America.

www.vanleeuwen.com