EUROMETAL – European Steel Distribution to enhance health and safety skills

In steel distribution dominated by cost cutting and scarce resources, allocation of resources to improve Health & Safety is too often still considered as non-essential expenses by some steel distribution companies

On the other side in case of a fatality, the civil responsibility of the management is evident.

Insurance claims related to accidents or fatalities often prove to become very expensive, outnumbering by far the cost of a comprehensive and efficient action plan to prevent accidents

Too often, smaller companies are reluctant to comply with Health & Safety essentials.

A specific concern for EUROMETAL and national federations are behavioural safety and Near Miss Reporting in steel distribution. EUROMETAL and national steel federations will use best efforts to enhance behavioural safety inside European steel distribution.

Main actions will include a permanent update on Health & Safety issues on the websites of EUROMETAL and of national federations, seminars regarding Health & Safety, also specifically designed for SME’s, presentations at EUROMETAL’s major events regarding latest developments in Health and Safety issues.

Commenting Health and Safety issues in steel distribution and SSC, Peter Corfield, Director General of UK Association NASS, outlined:

“…safety within the Steel supply chain has evolved within the last decade paving way for not only a considered approach to Safety but now also contemplation of Health and general wellbeing of the workforce. Near Miss reporting and Behavioural Safety is evidence of maturing safety models within the industry with aspirations for continuous improvement, looking at both the impact of cognitive interaction and the likely consequences for disregarding early warning signs.

New challenges face Metals Industries going forward with economic climates dictating long working hours, pressure on production times and elevated levels of stress amongst the workforce.
With increasing burden on employees to meet deadlines, the probability to “cut corners” during safety procedures has increased. Accident statistics benchmarked by Metals Forum Members in the UK have highlighted concern for protecting employees from hazardous machinery and dangerous equipment which have attributed to a rise in injuries since 2009, in turn increasing claims against the Employer.

In light of recent changes to UK legislation regarding sentencing which has now extended liability for Business owners and Senior Managers as well as increased penalties for breaches of Health and Safety, there is now even more onus on Management to protect their employees from foreseeable harm. This, in line with expected changes to be brought about by ISO 45001 in October 2016 whereby management must demonstrate a clear commitment to driving improvements in Health and Safety performance will further increase onus on leadership of Health and Safety throughout the organization.

In order for business leaders to demonstrate this commitment, plans must be in place to integrate not only with the internal workforce but with external bodies including the supply chain, key stakeholders, safety enforcement bodies and peer groups”.

Contact: Georges Kirps, Director General
Email: kirps@eurometal.net

Central Europe only EU area with output growth

Central Europe was the only EU region with a positive growth rate for steel output in 2015. Steel production in the region showed a 4% increase on 2014, compared with 2% decline in western Europe, a 3% decline in southern Europe and 6% decline in the Black Sea and Balkan countries, trade group EUROMETAL said ahead of its regional meeting on central Europe scheduled for April 19 in Prague.

Central Europe also showed positive performance in steel consumption. Apparent consumption increased in all countries in the region with Poland’s steel consumption for last year estimated at 12.6 million, 2% up on 2014 and 24% up on 2009, Platts learnt.

Owing to its positive fundamentals central EU markets have been strongly penetrated by western European distributors, which have been challenging local independent players such as Ferona, Konsorcjum Stali, Bowim and Raven, according EUROMETAL’s research.

The downstream steel sector in Europe continues to integrate as central European steel markets are gradually becoming part of multilateral industrial and commercial networks, EUROMETAL noted.

Also, despite Klöckner and Tata Steel Distribution pulling out of central Europe, many players based in the western part of the EU, including Salzgitter Handel, ThyssenKrupp Materials, BE Group, ArcelorMittal Distribution and Jacquet Metals have retained their foothold in the central European markets.

Wojtek Laskowski, PLATTS

Concourez pour les Trophées Eiffel 2016

Après le succès des premiers Trophées Eiffel d’architecture acier organisés en 2015, ConstruirAcier lance la deuxième édition de ce concours qui s’impose déjà comme le grand rendez-vous de l’architecture métallique. Les trophées Eiffel d’architecture acier visent à distinguer des œuvres architecturales variées et significatives, réalisées tout ou partie grâce au matériau acier. Concepteurs, architectes, ingénieurs et entreprises de construction métallique… vous avez jusqu’au 29 avril 2016 pour déposer votre dossier de candidature sur le site des Trophées Eiffel

Qui peut participer ?

·         Projet implanté sur le territoire français

·         Réalisation livrée entre le 1er janvier 2014 et le 31 décembre 2015 et n’ayant pas été déjà candidat à l’édition 2015

·         Ouvrage construit tout ou partie avec de l’acier dans toutes ses formes d’utilisation : structure, enveloppe ou second-œuvre.

Comment participer ?

·         6 catégories : FRANCHIR / HABITER / TRAVAILLER / APPRENDRE / DIVERTIR / VOYAGER

·         Dépôt du dossier à l’initiative d’un des acteurs du projet : architecte, BE, entreprise, maître d’ouvrage…

·         Fiche d’inscription à télécharger sur ici

Quand participer ?

·         29 avril 2015 minuit : date limite de dépôt des dossiers

·         septembre 2016 : examen des projets par le jury

·         début octobre 2016 : remise des prix à Paris lors de la soirée Steel.in

Le jury est composé d’architectes, ingénieurs, journalistes spécialisés en architecture et industriels de la filière Acier, reconnus pour la qualité de leurs travaux dans le monde de l’architecture, de la construction acier et de la métallerie.

Les œuvres sont jugées sur leurs qualités architecturales et constructives alliées à la mise en valeur du matériau acier.

Pour découvrir les projets lauréats 2015 et vous inscrire pour l’édition 2016, rendez-vous sur le site dédié des Trophées Eiffel

Spring has sprung in the steel markets: analysis

Raw material and finished steel prices continued to firm last week, with improving sentiment in the iron ore market feeding confidence into steel markets and vice versa. The trap of low demand preventing prices increasing for a sustained period of time appears to have been shut for now as rhetoric over production cuts finally appears to be realized.

The benchmark Platts IODEX assessment had iron ore ticking up closer to the $50/dry metric ton mark last week although the pace of increase had slowed. Steel mill margins benefitted as the spread between the iron ore price and the domestic Chinese HRC level rose by $5/mt week-on-week, while the Platts China long steel spread suggests rebar producers’ margins were $181/mt as of February 29. This was up markedly from the low point of $147/mt as of December 7.

The strengthening domestic Chinese market has allowed steel producers to focus their attention on selling locally rather than exporting. This decline in supply meant the Platts East Asian CFR HRC assessment rose $10.50/mt week-on-week to $298-303/mt.

Last year much of the world’s pricing for hot rolled coil fell in line with an FOB China price plus freight. This increase in export prices has helped mills in other regions to push prices as was seen in the $12.50/mt increase in the FOB Black Sea market and even a €5/mt rise in the domestic north European Platts assessment.

Europe has been increasingly exposed to imports, with China, Russia, Iran, Brazil, South Korea and more recently India increasing their presence in the trade statistics. The firming of the Chinese offers following the Lunar New Year holiday reinforced the confidence of domestic steelmakers to push for higher levels. Similarly, in the US the trade measures brought in to limit the competition from external sources continued to support mills as the ex-works Indiana cold rolled coil assessment gained $10/short ton.

On the other hand, the outlook looks much weaker in the Brazilian market where the macroeconomic picture is weighing on demand for steel. The construction sector is particularly weak and prices of products such as rebar are falling amid the competition for orders. On the flats side, the financial difficulties at Usiminas saw it withdraw offers to Europe following the carnival period, instantly removing one of the previously most competitive players for cold rolled coil and EZ. This built upon the trade actions in the US which cut off one of the most significant markets for the Brazilian producers.

The international scrap market has bounced even higher than iron ore as a glut of buying in India spooked the Turkish mills into accepting higher prices for cargoes. This sentiment carried on as the return of spring and construction activity boosted domestic demand at a time when exporting is increasingly difficult.

This market analysis report was taken from the March 2 edition of Platts World Steel Review.

Peter Brennan, PLATTS

TK buys Hungarian service center to target automotive sector

Germany’s ThyssenKrupp Materials Services has acquired Hungarian steel service center IAI Holding A/S from Danish service center group Ib Andresen Industri, ThyssenKrupp (TK) said in a press release Tuesday.

The deal, concluded on February 29, is aimed at strengthening TK’s activities in Eastern Europe.

The service center will now work closely with the German steelmaker on future steel supplies.

“We are confident that the Hungarian automotive supply sector offers major growth potential and that our good distribution network will enable us to expand our activities,” said Marcus Wöhl, ceo of TK Materials Processing Europe.

The newly-bought plant, renamed ThyssenKrupp Materials Processing Hungary, is located in the city of Györ close to the border with Slovakia and Austria and in the proximity of numerous automotive plants in central Europe including Audi, Suzuki, Opel, Fiat, Skoda and the planned Jaguar Land Rover plant in Slovakia.

The service center, employing 50 people, specialises in steel coil, cut-to-length and slitting services. In addition to steel it processes aluminium and stainless steel for automotive use.

The plant has two coil slitting lines. It cuts material 0.3-5mm thick and maximum 1,850mm wide with a maximum coil weight of 32 metric tons. Its cut-to-length line can process coils of 0.5-5mm.

The production capacity is 300,000 mt/year and the plant’s warehouse can store up to 2,100 coils.

Wojtek Laskowski, PLATTS