Swiss Steel Group expects the supply situation in the raw material markets to remain volatile in the second half of the year.
“In particular on the scrap market we see a continuing trend of price increases combined with supply shortages,” says the company’s new ceo Frank Koch during a teleconference attended by Kallanish. “Among the raw materials important to Swiss Steel Group, the clear upward trend in average monthly prices for grade 2/8 German scrap continued. Overall, the average scrap price in the second quarter was 17% higher than in the first quarter of 2021.”
Another problem is steel products delivery delays due to the recent floods in Germany and other parts of Europe.
“We are trying to reduce the impact from the floods on our logistic with help of the company’s production sites in Switzerland and France,” Koch says. “However, we do not expect major disruptions due to the traditional summer holidays in Europe this month.”
“With regard to positioning for future success, in Q2 we have completed the legal merger of the two Swiss business units and are now working on optimsing and harmonising the operational and organisational structure,” he adds. “Also, we have launched an innovative sustainability project in one of our French operations to extract alloys from waste materials which will significantly reduce our usage of natural resources and at the same time improve our carbon footprint. This project emphasises our ambition to address the demand for sustainable, climate-neutral production of specialty long steel products in Europe.”
Swiss Steel also warned that the new Covid-19 infection rates are currently rising in most parts of the world and potentially could lead to a new wave of restrictions and shutdown measures.
Svetoslav Abrossimov Bulgaria
