Eurobench.com

voda 29 januari 2019 20:30

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GMS Market Commentary on Shipbreaking in India in Week 04 - TIME OUT!

It has been another extremely quiet and troubling week in Alang, with very few fresh sales taking place amidst the “watch-and-watch” approach currently employed by Alang Recyclers. The frustrating volatility of local steel plate prices also continued without mercy, firming and declining before the week ended, whilst the Indian Rupee continues to trade in excess of Rs. 71 against the U.S. Dollar (at the time of writing).

End Buyers now seem to be banking increasingly on some lower-priced green and offshore assets to keep their plots busy, as the prevailing sentiment and pricing suggests they will probably be unsuccessful at securing any market tonnage for the time being.

On the sale front, at least one Jack Up Rig from Middle Eastern owners was reported as the 6,714 LT AL-DOHA was committed on an “as is” Qatar basis at excess USD 285/LDT with an India resale given she was sold basis HKC recycling in mind.

Overall, it certainly is a challenging time for the largest (in terms of volume) ship recycling destination in the world today with very few units working / being delivered into Alang.

Source : Strategic Research Institute

voda 29 januari 2019 20:30

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Metinvest completes largest migration to SAP HEC cloud in Central and Eastern Europe

Metinvest Group has completed migrating its SAP system to a cloud platform, becoming the first SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud user in Ukraine. The data migration has been recognised as the largest in Central and Eastern Europe: Metinvest now has 138 systems and more than 18,000 users working in the cloud. The Group began to migrate from its own storage systems to the cloud service in 2017. SAP’s HEC technology will help to significantly reduce IT costs, increase the processing speed of large data arrays and improve the security of services. SAP’s reliable platform and applications will support Metinvest’s operations, forming the basis for future innovative projects.

The process included updating the SAP software to the latest version and migrating to the new SAP HANA database. Overall, 21 core business systems were migrated over 18 months without business interruptions (including the enterprise resource planning, transportation management, procurement, human resources, payroll, budgeting, finance and other systems).

The project was managed by a dedicated team from SAP, Metinvest as the business customer and Metinvest Digital as the centre of IT expertise.

The project team is now working to adopt a systematic approach for supporting systems hosted on the SAP HEC platform and flexible change management.

Mr Sergey Detyuk, CIO of Metinvest Group and general director of Metinvest Digital said that on the digital market, we are looking for opportunities that provide the best solutions for the challenges facing our business. We implement projects and create IT services that can effectively support Metinvest Group’s growth. Migrating data centres to the SAP cloud platform has made it possible to improve both the reliability and security of the platform itself, as well as to focus directly on the business logic of the processes. Implementing and adopting digital technology is a key element of business transformation. And on this path, the business’ openness to change and the ability to deploy new technology are equally important.

Mr MMaxim Matyash, director of SAP Ukraine said that digital transformation, flexibility and a willingness to innovate are the key benchmarks of business success today. I am convinced that migrating to SAP HEC will help Metinvest Group to grow and strengthen its industry leadership. Without a doubt, this is one of the most complex SAP cloud projects that has been implemented in Central and Eastern Europe, in terms of both its scale and objectives. It also serves as another example of successful cooperation by Metinvest, Metinvest Digital and SAP, which confirms that the synergy of leadership, innovation and highly professional teams can accomplish the most ambitious business goals.

Source : Strategic Research Institute

voda 29 januari 2019 20:31

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Pan Ocean earns long term voyage contract of iron ore from Vale

Pan Ocean Co Ltd announced that the Company has entered into a Contract of Affreigtment with Vale International SA on 24 January 2019, for the transportation of Brazilian iron ore at estimated total volumes of about 8.12 million metric tons. The duration of the COA is for 5 years from the second half of 2020.

The main objective of the Company for entering into this COA is to secure a stabilized source of revenue and profit.

Source : Strategic Research Institute

voda 29 januari 2019 20:38

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US Treasury Department lifts sanctions against Russian Companies

Sputnik reported that US Treasury Department announced in a press release that it lifts sanctions on Russian firms Rusal, En+ and Eurosibenergo, noting however that the sanctions against Russian businessman Oleg Deripaska remain in place. The press release read that "The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control lifted sanctions imposed on… En+,… Rusal, and… EuroSibEnergo… following an earlier notification submitted to Congress on December 19, 2018… All sanctions on Deripaska continue in force.”

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, right, and his wife Louise Linton, hold up a sheet of new $1 bills, the first currency notes bearing his and U.S. Treasurer Jovita Carranza's signatures, on November 15, 2017, at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Washington.

Previously, the US authorities introduced sanctions against several Russian businessmen and companies controlled by them, including Deripaska and his companies.

Source : Sputnik

voda 29 januari 2019 20:40

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LME to launch seven new contracts - Andy Home

The London Metal Exchange has unveiled details of seven new contracts that will launch on March 11. This represents something of a revolution for the grand old dame of metal trading. This has left the exchange dependent on its core base metal contracts for the bulk of its trading volumes.

Chargeable average daily volume, which is now the LME’s favoured metric, excluding as it does the UNA trades introduced to ensure compliance with MIFID II regulations, increased by 5 percent last year after three years of stagnation.

The LME will be hoping that the multiple new contracts will further boost trading activity.

The new contracts also represent a change of direction in that they are all cash-settled futures indexed against physical market price assessments.

There will be no physical delivery, which has stymied several new contracts in the past, and there will no weird and wonderful prompt date structure such as those on the core base metals portfolio.

These new contracts are similar in nature to those traded on the CME. In several cases, they will directly compete with the U.S. exchange’s metals suite.

There will be two new aluminium premium contracts, one indexed against Platts’ assessment of the Midwest US market and one against Fastmarkets MB’s assessment of the duty-unpaid European market.

The CME has enjoyed first-mover status on aluminium premium contracts, having introduced the first of four, the U.S. Midwest premium, as far back as 2013.

That was the era of super-charged aluminium premiums, widely attributed to the long load-out queues in the LME’s storage system.

The LME did launch its own premium contracts, but the complexity of designing them around physical delivery meant that they were still-born.

Now the LME is going head to head with the CME but it does have the advantage of running the aluminum contract which underpins the physical premium market.

The new contracts, the LME said that are a response to “market requests from users who wish to manage their entire aluminium price exposure on a single venue.”

Source : Reuters

Bijlage:

voda 29 januari 2019 20:42

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Vedanta plans to invest INR 55,000 crore in India in three years

First Post reported that Vedanta group chairman Mr Anil Agarwal has said that his company plans to invest INR 55,000 to INR 60,000 crore in India in the next three years of which about INR 21,000 crore will be invested in oil and gas sector. Mr Agarwal was quoted as saying in an interview to The Economic Times that "We are planning to invest INR 55,000 to INR 60,000 crore in India over three years. I am looking forward in Assam, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu. We have already made a plan to invest about USD 3 billion in oil and gas sector.”

The Vedanta group chief said that the company was also looking to expand its zinc business in India and Africa to produce two million metric tons of zinc, said the report.

In December 2018, Vedanta had said it would set up a new steel plant in Jharkhand with a capacity of 4.5 million tonne per annum at an investment of USD 3 to USD 4 billion, said a PTI report.

Mr Agarwal said that the plant would be part of the company's newly-acquired Electrosteel Steels Ltd (ESL) at Bokaro.

Chairman of the metals and mining company said that "This would be a new steel plant under ESL and in the same location at Bokaro... so it's a brownfield investment per se. The amount is likely to be to the tune of USD 3 to USD 4 billion for a capacity of 4.5 MT.”

Source : First Post

voda 30 januari 2019 12:48

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India's bankruptcy court rejects Essar Steel owners' settlement plan: TV
Promit Mukherjee
3 MIN READ

MUMBAI (Reuters) - India’s bankruptcy court said on Tuesday creditors could reject a $7.5 billion offer from the owners of debt-stricken Essar Steel to settle the company’s debts, giving a boost to global steel giant ArcelorMittal’s bid to takeover the plant.

The settlement proposal presented to the consortium of lenders by the billionaire Ruia family was not “maintainable”, and it would not be illegal for the banks to reject the offer, the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) said, according to television news channels.

An appellate court had asked the NCLT to rule on Essar Steel - one of the biggest defaulters in India’s $150 billion mountain of bad loans - by Jan. 31.

Lawyers said, however, that the actual intent of the ruling could only be understood in its entirety after a copy of the order has been seen, and that based on procedures the Ruia family could potentially appeal the decision.

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While any appeal could further draw out the protracted case, the ruling gives a shot in the arm to foreign investors, who had been getting impatient with India’s lengthy bad loan resolution process.

“We hope now for a swift resolution to this case,” ArcelorMittal said in a statement, adding the tribunal ruling was a positive development for India’s bankruptcy process.

The resolution process for Essar Steel has taken more than 500 days so far, well beyond the 270-day limit stipulated under India’s two-and-a-half year-old bankruptcy law.

The bid for Essar Steel’s assets has seen several back and forths in the tribunal courts since it was admitted into bankruptcy, with global and Indian steel majors and financial investors vying for the company.

In October, creditors of Essar Steel, which has a 10 million tonnes steel plant in western India, approved a 420 billion rupees ($5.9 billion) joint bid from ArcelorMittal and Japan’s Nippon & Sumitomo Metal Corp as the final offer for the debt-laden company.

UK lawmakers back May's bid to rework Brexit deal
However, Essar Steel made a higher offer of 543.89 billion rupees to creditors to settle their claims.

In a statement after the ruling Essar said its offer was “the most compelling proposal available to Essar Steel creditors”.

($1 = 71.1460 Indian rupees)

www.reuters.com/article/us-essar-stee...

voda 30 januari 2019 19:17

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Primetals Technologies supplies additional continuous slab caster to the new HBIS Laoting plant.

Chinese steel producer HBIS Laoting Steel Co. Ltd. has ordered a new two-strand continuous slab caster from Primetals Technologies. The casting plant has a capacity of 2 million metric tons of slabs per annum and will form part of a new production facility for high-quality steels being built in the Laoting district in the south east of the autonomous city of Tangshan. Potentially hazardous tasks will be handled by LiquiRob casting platform robots. Two slab casters have already been ordered in 2017 and will start operation in 2019. This third continuous slab caster is scheduled for commissioning in February 2020.

HBIS Laoting was founded in 2017 in order to transfer production capacities out of the core city of Tangshan,.and belongs to HBIS Group Co., Ltd. HBIS Group is one of China's largest iron and steel material manufacturers and comprehensive service suppliers.

The two-strand continuous slab caster is designed for a production capacity of 2 million metric tonnes per annum. It has a machine radius of 9.5 meters and a metallurgical length of 35.1 meters. It casts slabs with a thickness of 230 millimeters in widths ranging from 800 to 1,600 millimeters. The maximum casting speed is 1.8 meters per minute. The range of products covers ultra-low carbon and low carbon steels, deep drawn, structural peritectic alloyed steels, and pipe grades.

Primetals Technologies is responsible for the detail engineering of the casting platform and the strand-guiding system, the basic and detail engineering of the maintenance area, as well as the engineering of the automation and the software for the new continuous slab caster. The scope of supply includes the complete electrical installations and automation, as well as core components, such as mold and mold oscillator, bender and Smart Segments for the strand-guide system. Primetals Technologies will also supervise the installation and commissioning, and conduct the customer training on site. A LiquiRob system will manipulate the hydraulic cylinder of the ladle slide gate and the media connection in the ladle area. Another LiquiRob system on the ladle caster platform will manipulate the ladle shrouds, measure the temperatures, and control the firing of the ladles.

The casting plant will be equipped with a straight cassette-type Smart Mold with LevCon mold level control, Mold Expert for the automatic breakout detection system and process data monitoring, DynaWidth for changing the width of the slab during operation, a DynaFlex mold oscillator and an electromagnetic mold stirrer. I-Star rollers will be used to support the strand in the segments of the strand-guide system. The DynaPhase and Dynacs 3D process models will be used for the dynamic control of the strand temperature. They calculate and dynamically control a three-dimensional temperature profile along the whole length of the strand. This enables the working points of the strand cooling, and thus the final strand solidification, to be determined precisely as a function of the casting speed, slab format and steel grade. DynaGap Soft Reduction 3D will be used to improve the interior quality of the slabs. The roller gap is dynamically adjusted during the final solidification in line with the working points calculated by Dynacs 3D. The center and edges are cooled in the bending section and segments to allow uniform, optimal cooling over the entire width of the slabs.

Source : Strategic Research Institute

voda 30 januari 2019 19:17

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Hungary state gets 20pct stake in Ózd Steelworks

Budapest Business Journal reported that the state of Hungary has acquired a 20% stake in Ózd Steelworks (some 160 km northeast of the capital) from Germany?s Max Aicher group for a consideration of more than EUR 30 million. Innovation and Technology Minister László Palkovics announced that Ózd Steelworks? majority owner is investing EUR 60 million in the company to boost efficiency and broaden the production palette to include higher quality, more complex output. He added that the states acquisition of equity in the company ensures the security of the existing 500 workplaces at Ózd Steelworks and could create more jobs.

Mr Palkovics noted that “The steel industry is struggling with big challenges at present and needs to boost competitiveness. Much of the steel industry?s business is done with construction industry companies which have orders worth HUF 25,000 billion extending until 2023. It is important that these companies get their building materials from Hungarian factories.”

Source : Budapest Business Journal

voda 30 januari 2019 19:18

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AK Steel to shut largely idled Kentucky facility by end of 2019

AK Steel Holding Corp announced plans to close the largely idled Ashland Works facility in Ashland, Kentucky by the end of the year. More than three years ago, the West Chester Twp.-based company idled most of its Ashland Works operations, including the blast furnace, but continued to operate a single hot dip galvanizing coating line with 230 employees.

AK Steel said it plans to increase its operating efficiency and lower its costs by completing the shutdown of the blast furnace and steelmaking operations within the next several months, and by working with its customers to transition products coated at Ashland Works to other AK Steel operations in the United States with available capacity before the end of the year.

Those are measures expected to increase those operations’ utilization rates. Production volumes and customer shipments are not expected to be impacted by the closure. The company will offer employees at the Ashland Works site open jobs at its other facilities, it said.

Source : Strategic Research Institute

voda 30 januari 2019 19:19

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SSAB announced year end report 2018

SSAB’s operating profit for the fourth quarter of 2018 was SEK 1,035 million. The result rose by SEK 192 million, despite significantly higher maintenance costs compared to the fourth quarter of 2017. The improvement was mainly attributable to SSAB Americas. Operating profit was down quarter on quarter, primarily due to planned maintenance outages.

SSAB Special Steels saw continued strong demand in most segments. During the quarter we took the decision to prolong the planned maintenance outage in Oxelösund and increase preventive maintenance efforts, given the disruptions that occurred earlier in the year. This impacted shipments and costs negatively during the quarter but creates better conditions for more stable production going forward. The operating result was SEK -72 (641) million for the fourth quarter.

Demand in Europe was good, but showed a seasonal downturn towards the end of the fourth quarter. SSAB Europe’s shipments were down somewhat compared with the fourth quarter of 2017, but premium products accounted for a higher share of sales. Operating profit for the fourth quarter rose to SEK 733 (460) million.

SSAB Americas’ operating profit was SEK 553 (-15) million for the fourth quarter. This improvement was driven primarily by higher prices but was negatively impacted by the planned maintenance outage in Montpelier. Demand remained strong in most segments.

During 2018, we continued with our plan towards the strategic growth targets set for 2020. A key point in our strategy is to improve the product mix and to achieve a steadier development over business cycles. In operations, our top priority is to create a more stable production and a safer workplace. Resources are being focused on preventive measures and we are intensifiying our work on continuous improvement and lowering working capital.

The political turbulence surrounding trade barriers and somewhat weaker leading economic indicators create some uncertainty regarding future steel demand. At the same time, since we continue to see positive signals from a number of larger customer segments, we expect the outlook to be relatively good for the first quarter of 2019. Cash flow was strong during 2018 and we reduced our net debt by SEK 3 billion. The Board proposes increasing the dividend to SEK 1.50 (1.00) per share. We expect to continue to generate strong cash flow.

Source : Strategic Research Institute

voda 30 januari 2019 19:19

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Tata Steel restarts UK blast furnace and delivers first new product to customer

The First Minister of Wales, Mark Drakeford AM, visited Tata Steel’s Port Talbot site following the completion of a major project to extend the operational life of one of its two blast furnaces. The life extension project of Blast Furnace 5 cost tens of millions of pounds and is a critical part of Tata Steel’s long-term strategy to strengthen its operations in the UK, underpinning improvements throughout its UK supply chain. Engineers drained the giant furnace in the autumn in order to carry out vital engineering work, extending its life by five to seven years. Following the relighting of the furnace, the first iron has now been produced and turned into a finished steel product before being delivered to a manufacturing business in the UK.

Mark Drakeford AM was joined on site by Hans Fischer, Chief Executive of Tata Steel’s European operations, who said: “We are delighted to welcome the First Minister to Port Talbot to see the biggest single investment we have made here for more than five years. This project demonstrates our commitment to building a stronger and more sustainable steelmaking business in the UK, now and in the future.”

Once the heart of the furnace, which is normally more than 1,200oC, cooled last year skilled engineers replaced part of the heat resistant interior and vital structural parts. The waste gas and dust extraction system was also replaced. The final part of the process involved the hot blast main being opened, injecting air at 1,100?C, bringing the furnace roaring back to life.

Confirmation of this project came at the same time as the announcement in June 2018 of definitive agreements being signed by thyssenkrupp and Tata Steel to form a joint venture of their European steel businesses.

Source : Strategic Research Institute

voda 30 januari 2019 19:21

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State officials move to bar Essar Steel from Minnesota

MPR News reported that Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is moving to legally bar Essar Global from doing business in the state, after more than 10 years of missed deadlines and payments in the company's long bid to build a new taconite iron ore mine and processing plant on the Iron Range. In 2008, India-based Essar Steel broke ground outside Nashwauk, Minn., on a new taconite iron ore mine and what was supposed to be the region's first steel mill. More than a decade later, after nearly USD 2 billion in investment, the project is less than half finished. Essar declared bankruptcy three years ago, and a new company called Mesabi Metallics took over the project. Earlier this month, Essar moved to reinvest in the project by settling about $260 million in debt related to Mesabi Metallics.

But in a letter sent to Mesabi's CEO Mr Gary Heasley Monday, DNR Commissioner Sarah Strommen said the state has begun the process of legally barring Essar from doing business in Minnesota.

The letter stated Essar still owes USD 64 million to Itasca County and the state in unpaid debt, failed to pay contractors, missed construction and production deadlines, and ultimately drove the project into bankruptcy.

Gov. Tim Walz said that "This is a company that left the Iron Range in the lurch and caused a lot of pain. I want to do everything I can to keep that from happening again."

The state natural resources department is also reviewing whether Mesabi is in full compliance with its permits and mineral lease requirements, Strommen said.

In a separate letter sent to Mesabi Metallics last week, the department said after inspecting the project on Jan. 10, it determined the company had failed to meet a deadline to begin construction on a value-added iron project at the site.

As a result, the state department's lands and minerals director Jess Richards said the rents and royalties Mesabi Metallics owes the state for its mineral leases will be doubled.

Source : MPR News

voda 30 januari 2019 19:22

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Nathan Milikowsky behind firm bidding to buy Hellenic Steel

Ekathimerini reported that Jordan International Co, the strategic investor that is hoping to acquire Hellenic Steel and is connected to American-Israeli Nathan Milikowsky, is close to success with its EUR 13 million bid for the Greek company that ceased operation in 2014 and is currently in resolution. The streamlining agreement was discussed on Monday in a Thessaloniki court and legal sources have said that it stands a good chance of being ratified as there has been no great objection to it.

Milikowsky, who is a 76-year-old relative of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has been a stakeholder in and senior officer of a series of American firms in the industrial products sector, including Seadrift Coke and GrafTech International.

The deal on Hellenic Steel has been struck between Italian company ILVA SpA, which is the main stakeholder and creditor of Hellenic Steel (that is also in receivership in Italy), and Luxembourg-based Hellenic Steel Acquisition Co SARL, which belongs to Jordan International Co. The latter is an old client of Hellenic Steel and trades products similar to those of the Greek company.

Source : Ekathimerini

voda 30 januari 2019 19:22

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NCLT order on Essar Steel case

Ahmedabad bench of the National Company Law Tribunal has rejected its offer to withdraw Essar Steel from the insolvency court. NCLT said “There is no illegality in the lenders accepting the ArcelorMittal proposal. Also the Ruia’s application for withdrawal of insolvency proceedings under Section 12A of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016, can be considered only if it is filed by the applicant who initiated the insolvency, which in this case are State Bank of India and Standard Chartered Bank.”

The NCLT bench will now hear the resolution plan submitted by ArcelorMittal from January 30.

Ruias said in a statement "We continue to believe that our offer of INR 54,389 crore is the most compelling proposal available to Essar Steel creditors. It seeks to repay all classes of creditors and fulfills the IBC's overriding objective of value maximisation that has been established time and again by courts at all levels. We submitted the proposal under the recently introduced Section 12A of the IBC and the recent judgment of the Supreme Court has established that the section's provisions are applicable retrospectively.”

Welcoming the NCLT order, ArcelorMittal said that “It protects the integrity of the IBC and ensures its legitimacy as a rules based law. This is a positive development for both Essar Steel India and the country more broadly. We hope now for a swift resolution to this case.”

Source : Strategic Research Institute

voda 30 januari 2019 19:23

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Fire breaks out at VSP steel plant again

The Hindu reported that a minor mishap occurred at Visakhapatnam Steel Plant late on Sunday night, the third such incident in less than a fortnight, leading to hospitalisation of an injured employee. The worker was injured after a fire broke out at the Steel Melt Shop-1 following spillage late on Sunday night and was hospitalised immediately.

In a release, Rashtriya Ipsat Nigam Limited, the corporate entity of VSP, said in SMS-1, while draining out slag from Converter-B, spillage occurred, leading to a minor accident. The release added that “Due to radiation, minor injuries were sustained by an executive. Subsequently, Converter-B was put down for scheduled relining campaign. The other two Converters are functioning normally. Work is not hampered.”

Source : Hindu

Bijlage:

voda 30 januari 2019 19:24

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No cause yet after large fire at Charleston Steel and Metal

Berkeleyind reported that emergency crews got the call about a fire around 6:30 PM on Monday evening. The scrap metal business sits just off of Highway 52 and can be seen from the road. Crews had to shut down both westbound lanes of the highway leading into Moncks Corner out of an abundance of caution. Also trucks had to connect to hydrants from nearby, Old Highway 52.

Ms Hannah Moldenhauer, Berkeley County’s Public Information Officer said that “This was a large fire, 10 fire departments responded to this three alarm fire. Right now we don’t know the cause but as soon as we get the fire put out-- our initial concern; after that there will be an investigation to determine a cause.”

Crews were able the fire under control and there are no injuries. The westbound lanes of Highway 52 will be reopened later on Monday night.

Moldenhauer said there is no threat to residents in the area.

Source : Berkeleyind

voda 30 januari 2019 19:25

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Materials Processing Institute collaborates with European partners on ground breaking steel projects

Leading UK steel research and innovation centre, the Materials Processing Institute, has helped to secure nearly GBP 1 million (EUR 1,066,123) worth of European funding for ground-breaking steel research projects. The North East organisation has collaborated with several partners from across Europe to secure the funding through the European Research Fund for Coal and Steel (RFCS), which will support the research projects.

The RFCS supports European universities, research centres and private companies with around EUR 40 million every year for research and innovation projects in the coal and steel sectors. Projects supported by RFCS funding typically include production processes, application, utilisation and conversion of resources, safety at work, environmental protection, reducing CO2 emissions from coal use and steel production. The fund is managed by the European Commission in cooperation with the Coal and Steel Committee, which assists with the management of the fund and the Coal and Steel Advisory Groups (CAG/SAG) who act as technical advisors to the Commission.

Researchers at the Materials Processing Institute are currently working on two projects that involve enhancing production flexibility of steel grades that are prone to slag entrapment, or surface quality issues which occur during the continuous casting moulding process. A third project is looking into how to eliminate casting defects in alloyed steel grades, which is particularly relevant to the high strength and engineering steel sectors.

The Institute is collaborating with a number of European partners on these projects, including ArcelorMittal, voestalpine, Swerea MEFOS, IMERYS Metal Casting, Sidenor I&D, KIMAB, CEIT and BFI, ESF Elbe-Feralpi, Minkon, Sandvik. UK partners include Warwick University and the Open University.

An additional EUR 804,448 has been secured from RFCS for three projects, scheduled to commence in July 2019. This includes a project on Real Time Cast Support, which aims to improve process performance during casting, by integrating process data into predictive process and product quality management systems as part of continuous improvement and adoption of new technologies, in line with Industry 4.0

Mr Chris McDonald, CEO of the Materials Processing Institute, said that “We have enjoyed many longstanding partnerships with leading steel companies and research organisations around the world, and these latest and upcoming RFCS projects will enhance the steel sector through productivity gains and improvements throughout the production process. Our collective shared knowledge, unique research experience and expertise allows these partnerships to support new developments and improve processes across a range of industries. The Institute has enjoyed an incredibly high success rate in these projects, which demonstrates the added value that our researchers and team can deliver to our industrial partners, in leveraging private research programs. I am looking forward to developing existing RFCS partnerships and helping to secure funding for future, crucial projects.”

Source : Strategic Research Institute

voda 30 januari 2019 19:30

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SMEs restrained by lower utilisation of installed steel capacity – Mr Sushim Banerjee

Mr Sushim Banerjee DG of INSDAG in his personal capacity wrote in FE that the global Crude steel production at 1,809 MT in 2018, indicating 4.6% growth over last year, can be considered a reasonably good performance, particularly in the context of falling trend of market expansion in the EU, Japan, South Korea and CIS countries. On account of Anti Trust guidelines, WSA has not been providing capacity utilisation ratio, leaving it to the wisdom of OECD Steel Committee which has last published global capacity data for 2017 (estimated). Thus, assuming that capacity closure by China (net capacity replacement figures) in 2018 is balanced by fresh capacity augmentation by India, Iran, Vietnam and other countries, the OECD figure of global capacity at 2,251 MT for 2017 can be taken for 2018 as well and accordingly the current global capacity utilisation ratio comes to a healthy 80.4%.

Regionwise, while EU-28 has produced steel lower than last year, Nafta has produced 4.1% more and Asia has rolled out 5.6% more steel in 2018 with CIS countries almost equalling last year’s level. India has surpassed Japan to become the second-largest steel producer. It is important to note that belying all the projections by reputed agencies and the media, China at 928.3 MT has exhibited a 6.6% growth in crude steel production and the gap between India and China at 822 MT has become still larger. In December 2018 itself, China produced 76.1 MT of crude steel which exceeds last year’s December production by 8.2%.

It appears that China has seriously challenged the hypothesis that the country is pursuing a conscious plan of consumption led economy away from FAI growth syndrome and capacity closure of unviable and polluting units that would necessarily imply lower volume of steel production. Available data indicates that FAI growth by China in ferrous sector in 2018 at 13.8% is substantially higher compared to the level achieved in last few years. Chinese experience has truly put a spanner to the age old theory of stagnant or marginally positive growth in steel production observed in countries having restructured their economies with the above shift. Recently, IMF had projected a GDP growth in China which is progressively reducing from 6.6% in 2018 to 6.2% in the next year and similar growth in 2020. The relevant question is if a lower GDP growth would entail a lower steel production as any growth in crude steel production over and above the level achieved in 2018 by China in subsequent years and to sustain it appears nothing short of a miracle.

India has achieved a capacity utilisation rate of 77.2% in crude steel production in 2018. The current market growth of more than 7.5% in the country makes it imperative to scale up the capacity utilisation by another 6-8% which would have enhanced domestic availability by additional 10 MT. Apparently, the same would have distorted the market by not getting absorbed due to limited market size. This may not be entirely true as higher availability from the SME sector at a relatively lower price would in any case have found the market at small and remote locations. While the major players are operating at a level of 81% of capacity, the SME sector is restrained by a much lower utilisation of installed capacity (68%), primarily due to raw material shortages in iron ore and non-coking coal.

Talking of steel capacity and production, it is imperative that a convergent view on these aspects is initiated. NSP 2017 stipulates a crude steel capacity of 300 million tonne to be set up by 2010-31 and hence it is to be compared with the current capacity of 138 million tonne which gives a 6.7% annual average growth rate during 2017-18 to 2010-31 spanning for 13 years.

India has produced 102 million tonne of crude steel in 2017-18 and hence it is not fair to announce that India needs to enhance production by 3 times to reach 300 MT by 2030-31. Assuming a high 85% capacity utilisation rate (from the current 77%) by the end of next 12 years, the estimated production level in 2030-31 comes to 255 MT which is 2.5 times the current level.

The requirement of raw materials (iron ore, coking and non-coking coal, limestone, dolomite, manganese ore, refractories, ferro alloys and other inputs) would depend on actual production and same is true for the logistics.

It is also often heard that India is currently consuming 90.5 million tonne steel and how we can consume around 300 million tonne or 210 million tonne additional steel in next 13 years. It may be mentioned that 90.5 million tonne of finished steel was consumed in the country in FY18. From 300 million tonne crude steel capacities, we would get around 255 million tonne of crude steel with 85% capacity utilisation and 230 million tonne of finished steel (applying 90% yield). Assuming a minimum of 97.5 million tonne of finished steel consumption in the country in FY19 (with a moderate 7.5% growth over FY18), Indian steel market needs to grow at an annual average rate of 7.4% during the next 12 years. This is indeed achievable under the current base scenario.

Source : Financial Express

voda 30 januari 2019 19:39

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Activists plea against increasing cap on iron ore extraction in Karnataka

Deccan Herald reported that even as mining companies consistently plead before the Supreme Court seeking renewal of export of iron ore, activists say the mining operations in the state had already touched the annual cap fixed by the court. Filing a reply to the interlocutory application (IA) filed by FIMI, Samaja Parivartana Samudaya (SPS), an NGO, stated that the cap on annual extraction of ore need not be altered.

Co-petitioner in the Supreme Court Prof Vishnu Kamat told DH "The demand for iron ore had been over-estimated in recent times. Many of the steel plants, especially those in the manufacture of sponge iron, were fly-by-night operators who had benefited from the free flow of illegal ore. What we stated that the maximum permissible annual production in A and B category of mines is already touching the annual cap. This is the reason why we objected to the auction of 'C' category leases as it would increase supply of ore without any demand and fuel the demand for permission to export.”

The Supreme Court last week rejected a plea by Federation of Indian Mineral Industries (FIMI), seeking permission to export iron ore pellets. The court directed the monitoring committee to submit a report

The annual cap on extraction was fixed in 2013, when Supreme Court banned export of iron ore from the state. The court, in 2013, had directed that the grant of fresh mining leases be restricted to end users and pellets be made available for e-auction to the steel industry in Karnataka and the nearby regions. The cap on annual extraction was fixed at 25 million tonnes to Ballari district and 5 million tonnes to Chitradurga and Tumakuru districts. The cap was enhanced in 2017 from 25 million tonnes to 28 in Ballari and 5 million tonnes to 7 million tonnes for Tumakuru and Chitradurga districts.

Source : Deccan Herald

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