Miele joins premium brands sourcing Salzgitter low-emissions steel

Germany’s Salzgitter said Oct. 21 it will start supplying low-emissions certified steel to German appliance maker Miele Group, starting next month, for a pilot program.

Miele is seeking to reduce its carbon emissions footprint, and from November plans to source just under 24 mt/month of low CO2 steel for use in tops of stoves and ovens with a diameter of 60 cm, the company said in a statement.

High-end appliance manufacturer Miele joins other premium German brands like Mercedes-Benz, Bosch, Siemens, Gaggenau and Neff testing low-emissions steel from Salzgitter to meet sustainability targets and appeal to certain consumers.

“Green steel products are eliciting ever keener interest from our customers operating in a wide range of sectors,” Ulrich Grethe, CEO of Salzgitter Flachstahl said in the statement. “We are pleased that our low CO2 steel products meet the company’s [Miele] high quality standards.”

The steel will come from Salzgitter Group’s Peine electric arc furnace, and will be rolled and galvanized at the Salzgitter Flachstahl works in central Germany, it said. Salzgitter is offering steel produced from ferrous scrap, with certified emissions reductions compared with higher emissions from blast furnace-based steel, ahead of future plans to use green hydrogen and direct reduction iron to replace coal and met coke and slash emissions further.

“The CO2 emissions generated by the manufacturing process are reduced by more than 66% in this material through harnessing climate compatible sources of energy and steel scrap,” it said. “In taking this step, Miele is making a first contribution to lowering emissions in the domain of purchased goods and services (Scope 3.1) and taking an important step toward implementing its ambitious sustainability goals.”

Before the end of 2021, Gutersloh-based Miele will be operating in a carbon neutral manner across all its locations in terms of Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions, while it targets by 2030 lowering its emissions from the utilization phase of Miele appliances by 15%, which accounts for a major part of its Scope 3 emissions, it added.

The steel from ferrous scrap cuts the carbon footprint of galvanized steel by 66% compared with the conventional production of steel via the blast furnace route, as verified by TUV SUD using 2018 data for comparisons, it said.

— Hector Forster

Turkish HDG exports soar on EU demand, dumping probe raises concerns

Demand from European countries, particularly from southern Europe, continued to support Turkish mills’ coated coil exports, however the EU’s dumping probe on Turkish HDG has begun to raise some concerns among European buyers in recent weeks, sources told S&P Global Platts.

The European Commission (EC) opened an investigation into hot-dip galvanized coil imports from Turkey and Russia on June 24, alleging imports of certain corrosion-resistant steels originating from these countries were being dumped, as Platts has reported.

Pre-disclosure of the investigation is expected on Dec. 24, while provisional measures, if any, will be imposed by the EC until Jan. 24, 2022, informed industry sources told Platts. Definitive measures could be announced on July 20, 2022.

EU customers have begun to ask in recent weeks if they can share any dumping duty amount with Turkish sellers, if provisional duties will be imposed in the New year, according to a Turkish source. Turkish mills have been offering for late-December, January.

Turkish mills exported 1.43 million mt of coated coil to global markets in widths of 600 mm and above in January-August, 300,000 mt higher on year, according to the latest monthly Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK) data observed by Platts.

EU countries remained Turkey’s top coated coil export destinations by far in that period, despite the dumping investigation opened in June.

Spain was Turkey’s main coated coil buyer in January-August, importing 365,800 mt, while Turkish mills’ coated coil exports to Italy reached 117,700 mt, both, 67% higher on year.

Portugal imported 124,200 mt of coated coil from Turkey in the eight-month period, more than double on year, while Belgium was Turkey’s other main coated coil buyer importing 116,400 mt, down 32% on year.

Turkish mills’ other coated coil export destinations in January-August were: Romania (82,400 mt), Greece (77,900 mt), UK (63,500 mt), US (51,600 mt), Ukraine (52,400 mt), Bulgaria (45,800 mt) and Canada (43,200 mt), the latest data showed.

— Cenk Can

European HRC in stalemate, demand improves further in South

European HRC prices remained stable Oct 21, with some slight increases in Italy after a deal was confirmed at Eur930/mt ex-works Italy. One Benelux-based source said it was likely we would see an increase in Q1 dependent on the viability of demand. Demand was still rather tepid, with more availability seen on hot-rolled coil versus cold-rolled coil and hot-dip galvanized, sources told S&P Global Platts.

Platts assessed North European HRC prices stable at Eur1025/mt ex-works Ruhr and in southern Europe, the price was assessed up Eur2/mt to Eur927/mt ex-works Italy Oct. 21.

“Everyone that is quiet is searching for demand and orders,” the same source said. “Demand is rather slow, but there is more material of every coil comparable to a month ago.”

On imports, the same source had heard of production problems in China and India due to energy costs, with the likelihood they would close some production lines for a several days.

Several mills across Europe have also been contending with returned orders initially promised to the automotive sector, leading to a glut of material in Italy.

Prices for HRC were heard between Eur1000-1025/mt ex-works Ruhr, and for CRC and HDG prices were heard between Eur1160-1200/mt ex-works Ruhr.

As productivity is set to increase in Q1, the market remains mixed about pricing direction, with some expecting stability, and some seeing the availability situation translating to lower prices.

As energy costs continue to rise, there has been a spark of bullish pricing sentiment from those who expect the cost of producing steel to increase, with uncertainty about how mills will be able to manage the cost of electric arc furnace (EAF) production for the future.

— Amanda Flint

EU skips India/Indonesia stainless duty, imposes electrode duty

The EU has decided not to impose anti-subsidy duties on imports of stainless steel cold-rolled flat products originating in India and Indonesia. This goes against the expectations of European steelmakers’ association Eurofer.

In May, the EU imposed 13.6-34.6% anti-dumping duties on imports of stainless steel cold-rolled flat products from India and Indonesia, a move which Eurofer welcomed, adding that it expects anti-subsidy measures to follow (see Kallanish passim).

Separately, the EU has imposed a provisional anti-dumping duty on imports from China of graphite electrodes used for electric furnaces falling under HS code 8545 11 00. The duty rates applicable to the net, free-at-Union-frontier price, before duty, are 17.5-66.5%, depending on company (see table).

Adam Smith Germany

China’s steel production to sustain, exports will decline

China’s steel production could remain at around 1 billion tonnes/year for the next ten years, but large volumes of steel exports will no longer be allowed, according to China Iron & Steel Association chief economist Wang Yingsheng.

At a conference held earlier this week, Wang Yingsheng said he believed the industrial foundation of the domestic steel industry will remain basically unchanged in the next ten years. The dual limitation on Chinese output that comes from energy consumption and peaking carbon, as well as the move towards carbon neutrality mean China’s steel industry no longer attaches great importance to exports, he added.

Under the requirements of industrial upgrading, China hopes to end low-end steel exports, Kallanish notes. The export peak for China’s steel industry was in 2015, when steel export volumes exceeded 110 million tonnes for the year.

Meanwhile, the economist also said that crude steel production needs to be controlled within 2.5 million tonnes/day for the remainder of this year, in order to meet the target of stabilising steel output on-year. China’s National Statistics Bureau data show crude steel output increased by 2% year-on-year to 805.88 million tonnes by end-September.

In order to match the 1.065 billion tonnes of output seen in 2020, production in October-December needs to be limited to within 259mt, which means 86.3m t/month on average. Based on September output of 73.75mt, China should not only easily reach the goal of not increasing crude steel output, but may even see a decrease in output. Winter output restrictions and power shortages are expected to continue, but pressure to meet China’s annual target is easing.

By Kallanish Team