Italian companies combine in cold rolled strip JV

ITLA, a company controlled by Italian CLN group, and Giuseppe e F.lli Bonaiti has announced the merger of some of its units to create a new entity named Itla Bonaiti. This will specialise in cold rolled high-carbon and alloyed strip products and is due to bgein operations in June 2017, Kallanish learns from a release.

The new entity will include the ITLA plants located in Oggiono, together with the plants from the Bonaiti group located in Mogliano Veneto and Palazzago, in northern Italy. ITLA will have a majority control in the new joint-venture.

The steel wiremaking plant controlled by Bonaiti in Calolziocorte will not be part of the operation and will continue to be controlled solely by their current owners.

“The birth of this joint venture represents a further step ahead in the consolidation process in the Italian sector of high carbon steel re-rolling and contributes to the making of a leading company in the Italian market of cold rolled high-carbon and alloyed steel strips,” ITLA says in the statement.

“Itla Bonaiti will benefit from all the synergy advantages offered by the merger: from the integration of the product portfolios, to the optimisation of production capacity, to a greater penetration of European markets, not to mention the improvement in its economic results,” the statement adds.

US distributor opens Hungary facility

United Performance Metals (UPM) has opened a new 1,000-square-metre specialty metals distribution, sales and processing facility in Budapest, Kallanish learns from the US-headquartered stainless steel distributor.

The facility is UPM’s third outside the US after Belfast and Singapore. “This is a great opportunity to bring our full line of products and processing services to our customers throughout Europe,” says Dick Santoro, UPM’s Director of International Business. The Hungarian facility will help UPM better serve the EU market, the distributor says.

Besides a wide range of stainless steel, UPM stocks cobalt, nickel, titanium and aluminium.

US service center supply falls to 31-month low

The volume of steel supply on hand at US service centers plummeted to 2.2 months in January from 2.8 months in December, according to Metals Service Center Institute data released Wednesday. Canadian steel supply at service centers followed a similar pattern.

The last time the inventory-to-shipment ratio, or supply on hand, reached 2.2 months was in May 2014.

At the end of January, service centers stocked 7.3 million st of steel, which was 8.3% lower year on year, and at the current shipping rate, represented 2.2 months of supply. In January 2016, service centers carried 8 million st of steel, representing 2.6 months of supply.

Service centers shipped 3.34 million st of steel in January, which was 9.4% higher than in January 2016.

Flat-rolled steel supply on hand dropped to 2 months in January from 2.7 months in December. Service centers carried 4.63 million st of flats at the end of January, which was 11.8% lower than January 2016.

Flat-rolled steel shipments from US service centers reached 2.27 million st in January, 9.7% higher year on year and the highest level seen since August.

Plate inventories totaled 737,400 st at the end of January, flat year on year and representing 2.5 months of supply. Plate shipments jumped 9.3% year on year to 291,800 st.

Structural steel inventories in January rose 6% year on year to 513,300 st, which represented 2.6 months of supply.

Service centers shipped 195,700 st of structural steel in January, up 11.6% year on year.

Bar inventories at the end of January totaled 483,900 st, down 2.4% year on year. Stocks of bar products represented 2.1 months of supply. Service centers shipped 226,300 st of bar products in January, up 10.7% year on year.

Pipe and tube stocks in January were down 18% year on year at 471,500 st. This represented 2.4 months of supply. Service centers shipped 194,800 st of pipe and tube in January, up 2.2% year on year.

Stainless steel stocks at US service centers rose 11.2% year on year to 465,300 st and represented 2.9 months of supply. Stainless steel shipments increased 9.9% year on year to 158,500 st in January.

Canadian service center inventories decreased 5.8% year on year to 1.18 million st in January. Based on shipment levels, January stocks equaled 2.9 months of supply. Canadian service centers shipped 411,800 st of steel in January, up 5.7% year on year. The Canadian figures include all steel products except structural, MSCI said.

Canadian service centers carried 742,400 st or 3.3 months of flat-rolled steel supply at the end of January. This was down 4.7% year on year. Canadian service centers shipped 224,400 st of flat-roll in January, up 1% year on year.

Estelle Tran, PLATTS

ISTA elects new chairwoman

The International Steel Trading Association (ISTA) elected Simone Jordan as chairwoman at its AGM earlier this month.

Jordan, a trader at Ronly Ltd., takes over from Jeff Kabel who served as chairman for three years. Tony Singer was re-elected as president while Brian Paterson of Duferco UK and Alan Fowle of Fowle & Co. will serve as deputy chairman and treasurer.

In recent years ISTA has taken a prominent role in promoting free trade and opposing anti-dumping investigations in the European Union. The association has also expanded its operation, opening a branch in Singapore in last June under the leadership of Stemcor’s Asian managing director Gerry Craggs.

Peter Brennan, PLATTS

Stalprofil, Izostal win $35.5m Gaz-System pipe contract

Stalprofil has won an order as part of a consortium with Izostal to supply internally-coated DN 1,000 pipe to Gaz-System for construction of two pipelines in Poland.

The PLN 144 million ($35.5m) contract will ensure supply of pipe for sections of the Lwowek-Odolanow and Zdzieszowice-Kedzierzyn pipelines, which have a combined length of 66km. Delivery of the pipe will be carried out over twelve months starting 1 July 2017.

The Lwowek-Odolanow pipeline will be 168km long when completed by end-2018. It will improve Poland’s energy security and will form an important part of the North-South gas corridor.

Last December Stalprofil and Izostal won an order to supply pipe to Gaz-System for construction of a 60km section of the Zdzieszowice-Wroclaw DN 1,000 pipeline (see Kallanish 29 December).

Last September Stalrprofil said that, despite huge plans by Gaz-System to invest into new pipelines, these projects have not yet broken ground, resulting in a difficult 2016 for firms specialising in pipeline construction (see Kallanish 17 September). These projects are, however, expected to accelerate in 2017.