Weekly raw steel production in the US for the week ended 30 November was 1.64 million...
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The US Department of Commerce has issued preliminary results of an antidumping duty administrative review on...
US President-elect Donald Trump did not walk back his proposed 25% tariff on Canadian goods, despite...
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Erdemir, part of OYAK Mining Metallurgy and Turkey's largest integrated flat steel producer, plans to close...
Stegra and Uniper have signed a long-term agreement for the supply of 6 TWh of electricity...
A new carmaking plant may soon appear in Russia for the production of Chinese-brand cars, says...
Seaborne iron ore prices saw an uptick on Monday, driven by positive market sentiment.
The Kallanish...
GreenIron, the start-up venture that was firstly announced in spring this year, has entered into an...
Kallanish Green Steel Strategies held in Brussels on 27 November debated the key obstacles holding back the decarbonisation of Europe’s steel industry, including renewable energy and hydrogen bottlenecks, legislative restrictions, financing availability and raw materials supply limitations.
High European electricity costs make steelmakers uncompetitive on global markets
Henrik Adam, vice president of European corporate affairs, Tata Steel Ltd and president of Eurofer, said that Europe was not a level playing ground on energy costs, while Stanislav Zinchenko, chief executive of consultancy GMK Center, expects steelmaking to relocate within the bloc to where low-cost energy is, noting that EU members were now also competing among themselves.
“We can assume production in the EU will move away from high power cost countries to low-cost ones,” Zinchenko said.
“We have all the ingredients with speed and the right mindset to make Europe great again,” Adam noted.
Lack of regulatory frameworks, demand-side policies hinders investment and uptake
“When we build a strategy, it cannot be a global strategy. We know what to do in India for the Indian market, we know what to do in America for the American market, we don’t know what to do in Europe because the clarity is not there,” observed Stephane Tondo, head of climate change at ArcelorMittal.
Åsa Ekdahl, head of environment and climate change at the World Steel Association, told delegates: “There are quite a lot of policy developments on the supply side but very little on the demand side," adding that not enough was being done.
Meanwhile, while some bemoaned a lack of regulation, many were critical of the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism in its current form.
“It’s the right tool; it needs development over many years to come … There is a lot of work still to be done," said Christoph Zinsser, head of project finance at Stegra.
Several participants also called for the scope of products to be expanded further to avoid carbon leakage, which Adam said was forcing customers to leave Europe, with finished car products then being imported into the bloc.
“We want to decarbonise but do not want to de-industrialise,” Adam asserted.
Missing ‘green steel’ definition making buyers reluctant to commit to premiums
Ekdahl pointed to the lack of a global standard for green steel as being a barrier, while Josu Piña Bilbao, director of business development at SSAB Europe, noted the lack of regulation clarity on a green steel definition.
For some steelmakers, future offtake contracts were being agreed with a premium, but for others it was not their priority, with companies reluctant to agree a premium without a set definition several years ahead of delivery.
The automotive industry was said to be a key driver of demand for green steel, while the white goods and construction sectors lagged behind for now.
Challenges, roadblocks hamper available decarbonisation options – many concentrated in certain regions
The supply of high-quality scrap and potential trade barriers could hamper the growing adoption of EAFs, panellists noted.
“There’s not enough clean scrap around,” noted Metalshub co-founder and managing director Sebastian Kreft.
Daniel Pietikainen, trade and environment officer at the Bureau of International Recycling, said trade barriers could discourage investment in scrap processing and see scrap suppliers exiting the supply chain.
Europe is currently the epicentre for announced decarbonisation projects, but the US and the Middle East are catching up. However, the EU will not be a cost competitive location for hydrogen reduction.
Most panellists agreed that hydrogen will not be shipped, regardless of logistics costs. Instead, hydrogen hubs would become iron hubs, with green iron being a cost competitive material which can be shipped to steelmakers without resources available locally.
On carbon capture and storage, a panellist from Transition-Asia noted that the costs and risks outweighed the benefits.
On hydrogen availability, amid project delays and high costs, Anna Pekala, market director green energy transition at Ramboll, said the EU’s plans to annually import 10 million tonnes of hydrogen and produce the same amount domestically by 2030 were “unfortunately very unlikely.”
“The realistic capacity will be at only 25-30% of that. Not more than 50-65 GW of installed capacity of electrolysers,” she added.
On metallics, the supply of different grades of iron ore would likely become a challenge for miners and steelmakers.
“The mining companies are desperately looking for solutions for lower to mid-grade iron ore. In the future, they will end up in an oversupply, while the higher-grade iron ores are already looking at an undersupply,” said Alexander Fleischanderl, Primetals chief technology officer & head of green steel.
Prospects for US scrap have weakened as the start of December trading approaches, notes Kallanish....
Italian crude steel output increased in October for the first time following several months of decline,...
Libyan Iron and Steel Company (Lisco) and Italy's Danieli have signed a partnership agreement to build a...
Scrap prices in the Benelux remained unchanged on Monday as exporters in the region face difficulties...
Producers and traders of long products in Saudi Arabia are seeing rising demand for rebar in...
Ukrainian industrial company and pipemaker Interpipe has begun supplying pipe for energy infrastructure facilities in Ukraine,...
Latin America saw steel exports to the US increase month-on-month in October. Volumes were also higher...
Wire supplier Belgo Arames, a joint venture between ArcelorMittal Brazil and Bekaert, say it has invested...
Brazilian mining giant Vale has entered a partnership with Chinese automaker BYD to explore the electrification...
Egyptian integrated steel complex Suez Steel Company intends to launch Africa’s first rail and heavy and...
Japan's Godo Steel has announced plans to upgrade the rolling mills at its Himeji manufacturing facility,...
Severstal’s flagship Cherepovets Metallurgical Plant (CherMK) has closed the 2024 river navigation season with reduced steel...
PT Fumira has selected Danieli aftermarket service to carry out a comprehensive upgrade of the pickling...
French stainless coil producer Aperam is implementing a significant decline in its December alloy surcharges for...
The heating furnace of the 1,450mm hot rolling line at Malaysia's Eastern Steel, built by China's...
South Africa reported increased steelmaking raw materials output in August versus the previous month, except for...
Vietnamese hot rolled coil producer Hoa Phat Dung Quat has lowered its monthly domestic prices, reflecting...
The Turkish steel industry aims to increase its capacity utilisation rate to 70% as of next...
India’s government is mulling a temporary safeguard duty ahead of the upcoming India-Association of Southeast Asian...
Chinese rebar and hot rolled coil futures reversed the downward trend seen in Friday night trading...
The central government of India has recently clarified that it will not intervene in determining the...
After a two-month rise, Turkey’s economic confidence index decreased slightly in November. It fell by 0.9%...
Tosyalı's takeover of Baştug Metallurgy has been finalised following the preliminary agreement made in July.
With...
United Arab Emirates-based induction furnace steelmaker Arabian Gulf Steel Industries (AGSI) is to launch its new...
Tangshan billet prices ticked higher on Monday as market inventories declined, albeit slower, and steel futures prices moved higher, Kallanish notes.
Spot Tangshan billet was assessed at CNY 3,180/tonne ($437/t) on Monday afternoon, up CNY 30/t week-on-week, while the most traded January 2025 rebar contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange rose by CNY 36/t.
Market inventories of Tangshan billet declined 32,600t w-o-w to 791,700t on Monday, a reduction in pace versus the previous week's drop of over 70,000t. Increased local supply and worsening re-rolling margins accounted for the slower pace of decrease.
Softening long steel products sales saw two Tangshan local mills increasing supply of billet w-o-w, while hot metal production remained at a high level.
Meanwhile, the fourth round of coke price reduction has been postponed.
Orderbooks for flat products at mills did not improve compared to the earlier week, according to market sources.
Some re-rollers continued production suspensions at the start of the week due to high finished products inventories.
Forwards billet, for January to March delivery, were offered at CNY 10-15/t higher than spot, which was unattractive for traders, while market participants remained cautious amid recent volatility.
One trader says he prefers to hold on to spot billet and wait to hedge when steel futures are lower, rather than holding a long-term position.
Australian iron ore producer Fenix Resources has increased its strategic investment in exploration firm Athena Resources, Kallanish...
Malaysian steel products manufacturer Leader Steel has reported a net loss in its third quarter results,...
Malaysian steel maker Melewar Industrial Group has reported a net loss for its first quarter, ended...
European carmaker Stellantis announced on Sunday evening its board of directors accepted the resignation of chief executive officer Carlos Tavares with immediate effect, Kallanish reports.
“Stellantis’ success since its creation has been rooted in a perfect alignment between the reference shareholders, the board and the ceo. However, in recent weeks different views have emerged which have resulted in the board and the ceo coming to today’s decision,” explains Stellantis’ senior independent director, Henri de Castries.
A new permanent ceo will be appointed in the first half of 2025, as a search process is “well underway,” the carmaker says in a statement. Until then, the company will be led by an interim executive committee chaired by John Elkann, current chairman.
“Together we will ensure the continued deployment of the company’s strategy in the long-term interests of Stellantis and all of its stakeholders,” the chairman says. He has also thanked Tavares for his “years of dedicated service” and the role he played in the creation of the company, a merger of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and Peugeot S.A.
The news follows the announcement of a Stellantis plant closure in the UK and a month-long production stoppage at a plant in Italy. The group is also facing major headwinds in the US, including a lawsuit due to collapsing profits.
The number of active oil and gas rigs in the US decreased by one week-on-week, bringing...
US Steel chief executive Dave Burritt is again highlighting the benefits of a merger with Nippon Steel...
The US Department of Commerce has rescinded a countervailing duty administrative review of imported steel rebar...
Strategic Minerals has announced a contract extension for access to the Cobre magnetite stockpile in New...
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has sent a letter to President Joe Biden requesting that the...
Canada's GDP ticked higher in September, supported by gains in construction output, Kallanish learns from data...
Germany’s ferrous scrap exports decreased in January-September, according to new data from the German federal statistics office.
Exports totalled 5.4 million tonnes, down 10% on-year, and were worth €2.9 billion ($3.06 billion), Kallanish notes.
In the full-year 2023, exports totalled 7.61mt, down 3% on-year. This was the lowest export volume since the economic and financial crisis of 2009.
Shipments to Switzerland and Belgium fell the most, while deliveries to India increased.
Scrap imports last year fell by 20.7% to 3.48mt.
In terms of quantity, scrap exports to India in January-September fell the most during the reporting period. Deliveries to Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey also fell significantly.
German steel recyclers federation BDSV said in September it is pessimistic about the coming year, according to its annual industry survey (see Kallanish passim).
Due to the lack of investment momentum in the German economy and the stuttering transformation of the industry, scrap demand will not exceed supply, it noted.
BDSV and its non-ferrous counterpart VDM has previously emphasised the importance of relations with India with respect to raw materials trade. A strong partnership could develop joint environmental and labour standards, and lower trade barriers, the associations said during a meeting in New Delhi.
German scrap prices have decreased in November due to low domestic demand and limited exports (see Kallanish passim). Most sources expect trade activity to be weak next month, with possible additional declines.
Nationwide average German prices for old thick scrap sort 3 are at €305/t, while new scrap sort 2/8 was at €308/t and E40 shredded scrap at €310/t.
Seaborne iron ore prices saw a rebound last Friday, bolstered by expectations of further policy stimulus, which...
Turkish scrap prices failed to strengthen on the latest deals concluded from the Baltic and the...
Feralpi Stahl, the German rebar mill of Italy’s Feralpi group, has signed another long-term oxygen supply...
The Russian government has increased the tariff quota for the export of scrap and waste ferrous...
Italian scrap prices could change direction and decline in December amid steelmaker shutdowns, following consistent rises...
The Vietnamese hot rolled coil market was quiet last week with thin buying interest, Kallanish notes....
Turkish steel producers expect the increase in its steel exports to slow and fall below 20%...
Austria’s steelmakers increased crude steel production in October compared with the previous month, according to worldsteel...
Regional conditions and raw material availability will inform the decarbonisation technology choices of steelmakers, panellists said...
China's scrap steel market saw little change in prices last week, as growing concerns about a...
Turkish scrap imports fell in October after two months on increases, data from the Turkish Statistical...
The Russian government is to abolish the export duty on coking coal from 1 December, according...
Altos Hornos de México (Ahmsa) has announced that the Mexican Bankruptcy Court has officially approved Víctor...
Pakistan’s imported scrap market remained subdued amid ongoing political unrest and weak domestic steel demand due...
Blastr Green Steel has signed a memorandum of understanding with steel trader Interfer Edelstahl Group, for...
China's construction steel market experienced a slowdown in trading activity last week, as spot market transactions...
Italian heavy plate prices are on the rise, driven by a resurgence in domestic demand and...
Europe is lacking regulatory frameworks and demand-side policies to support decarbonisation and uptake of green metals,...
Argentinian primary iron output increased month-on-month in October but was weaker year-on-year, Kallanish learns from steel...
Brazilian pig iron export prices have remained steady, averaging around $440/tonne fob throughout most of November....
India remained a net importer of finished steel in April-October with imports up by 42.1% year-on-year...
The billet import market continues to be weak in Southeast Asia, Kallanish notes. Offer prices slipped...
Taiwan’s Ministry of Finance has announced that the anti-dumping duty rate against galvanized (zinc-coated) steel from...
Chinese domestic coking coal slipped further last week, although mills and some coke producers started winter...
Major Taiwanese stainless steel manufacturers Yieh United Steel Corporation (Yusco) and Tang Eng Iron Works have decided...
Italian wire rod prices consolidated in November and producers are now seeking a €20/tonne ($21.1/t) increase...
Indian demand for imported scrap has stalled, with sellers not willing to lower prices and buyers...
Chinese lithium hydroxide exports declined 23.7% year-on-year in October, with the average exporting price collapsing 70%, Kallanish reports.
The Asian giant shipped 7,831 tonnes of the battery raw material, a volume that is also 38% lower than in September. The value of these exports reached $99 million, which is 77% less than in the same period last year.
The average price dropped 70% y-o-y to $12,604/tonne, according to customs data.
South Korea, Japan, Germany, India and Taiwan, China were the top five importers of lithium hydroxide from China. Battery manufacturing powerhouses South Korea and Japan took the bulk of shipments at 5,771 t and 1,696 t, respectively.
The data shows South Korean battery makers accounted for nearly 74% of all lithium hydroxide exports from China, while Japan had a market share of 21.6%.
Meanwhile, Chinese companies imported 492 tonnes of lithium hydroxide, representing an 86% on-year increase.
The imports amounted to $7.9 million, an on-year increase of 40.4% and an on-month drop of 54.33%. Yet, the average price of imports reached $16,102/t, which is 24.6% lower than in October 2023. It’s also over 35% cheaper than in September.
Australia, the US and South Korea were the top three product sources, accounting for 44%, 35.6% and 20.3% respectively. Their average import prices are $8,726/t, $29,776/t and $8,100/t.
Chinese hot rolled coil futures fluctuated upwards last week, but slowly rising spot prices occasionally faced...
Seaborne coking coal prices remained range bound during the week ended 29 November due to muted...
Shanxi Huaxinyuan Steel has ordered one dual high-speed wire rod production mill from Danieli. The rolling...
Australian coal miner Bowen Coking Coal has made changes to its board as it progresses to...
Malaysian steel maker Lion Industries has reported higher losses in the third quarter amid lower revenue,...
Malaysian steelmaker Malaysia Steel Works (Masteel) has reported higher net profit in the third quarter, mainly...
Amid concerns that the EU’s energy transition goals are heading towards a reset, Germany provided good news for the hydrogen industry, with a new milestone in its hydrogen network.
State-owned bank KfW signed off a €24 billion ($25.3 billion) loan to finance an “amortisation account” that the government will provide for the implementation of the core network. Berlin said last month the 9,040 kilometres of pipeline will be financed privately by network operators.
However, due to high investment costs and a cap in network fees, to ensure affordability to users from the outset, initial revenues will be low. KfW says it will provide the necessary compensation payments for the amortisation account, and as soon as the network operators’ revenue exceeds costs, the additional revenue will be returned to the amortisation account.
“The construction of the hydrogen core network is a pioneering and crucial project for the ramp-up of hydrogen that is as green as possible,” comments KfW chief executive Stefan Wintels. “A successful transition to hydrogen is particularly critical for energy-intensive industries.”
He explains that the amortisation account will play a key role, making a “significant” contribution to a “viable” financing concept for the hydrogen infrastructure, which should come online by 2032. The mammoth project consists of the repurposing of existing natural gas and the construction of new hydrogen lines.
It will connect potential hydrogen production sites to key industrial centres to enable industrial use. This part, however, is another challenge that companies and governments must address if climate targets are to be met.
Invica Industries’ ecoke has gained sustainable resources verification scheme (SURE) certification, which is accepted by the...
The increase in applications for ECAS certification from Iranian rebar and billet producers and how these...
The high costs, risks and operating inefficiencies associated with carbon capture and storage (CCS) mean steelmakers...
Northern European wire rod prices have remained flat again this week due to low demand and...
EU steelmaking is likely to shift to locations in the bloc where renewable energy is the...
Turkish pipe producers have decreased their export quotes further this week due to insufficient demand and...
Marcegaglia's Stainless division in the UK is set to enhance the productivity of its Sheffield mini-mill...
NLMK’s standalone revenue in January-September increased by 6.7% on-year to RUB 517.8 billion ($5.7 billion), according...
Seaborne iron ore prices remained largely stable on Thursday, despite a slowdown in the steel market,...
Multiple Italian re-rollers and pipemakers are set to execute extended production halts throughout December. Two companies...
The EU Waste Shipment Regulation has been made with good intentions but will have a negative...
South Africa's biggest metalworkers’ union, Numsa, and ArcelorMittal South Africa (AMSA) have reached an agreement to end...
Carmakers in Russia increased production in October compared with the previous month despite Western sanctions and...
Turkish long steel quotes have continued their decline this week amid bearish market sentiment and falling...
China's wire rod export market remained sluggish this week as falling export offers failed to boost...
Germany’s stockholding distributors sold a combined 7.356 million tonnes of steel products in the first nine...