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November steel import licenses dropped 6.0% from October levels to 2.3 million tonnes, driven by meaningful declines for key products such as hot-rolled sheet (-26%) …more
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Steel Market Production Increases – Italian steelmaker Ilva has received authorization from a governmental decree to resume production at the 11 mtpy Taranto facility, according to the environmental plan that was issued to the facility in late October. The plant will resume production on Friday, after a week-long idling as a sign of respect to a worker that died in a storm-related accident last Wednesday.
Steel Market Production Increases – Russian steelmaker TMK plans to commission a 900,000 tpy EAF at its Tagmet facility by mid-2013, replacing three open hearth furnaces with a combined capacity of 600,000 tpy. Later in 2013, TMK will also commission a 600,000 tpy seamless pipe mill at the Seversky facility.
Steel Market Production Increases – Chinese steelmaker Baotou Iron and Steel said that it is close to completing the upgrade of the No. 2 rolling line at its rail and beam facility, which will raise capacity to 1.5 mtpy.
Steel Market Production Increases – Chinese steelmaker Shaogang has begun trials of the company’s new 670,000 tpy round bar rolling mill in southern China, with an additional mill for small-diameter bars set for commissioning by year-end.
Sources: Steel Business Briefing, SteelOrbis
The spot reference price for 62% Fe iron ore cfr North China declined for the second straight week, falling 2.8% to $115.60 for the week ending November 30, 2012, and is at the lowest level in six weeks. However, the price is still some 29.9% higher than the recent low of $89.00 on 9/7/2012.
The spot price for iron ore averaged $141.84 in 1Q, $139.35 in 2Q, and $112.12 in 3Q; this compares to an average of $167.59 for full-year 2011.
The post-recession low was $59.10 on March 27, 2009, while the high was $190.19 on February 17, 2011.
Source: The Steel Index
Steel Market Production Increases – China Steel Corp plans to begin production at the new 1.2 mtpy Vietnamese CRC JV by year-end 2013 and it will have capacity for 300,000 tpy of hot-dipped galvanized, 200,000 tpy of NGO silicon steel, and 300,000 tpy of pickled and oiled.
Steel Market Production Increases – Thai steelmaker G Steel believes it is close to receiving financing for a “raw material supply facility” that will allow it to re-start HRC production at its 1.8 mtpy Rayong facility and 1.5 mtpy GJ subsidiary in Chonburi. The company estimates that it will restart production in February and will ramp-up to full production over four months; the plants have been idled since early August.
Steel Market Production Increases – Chinese steelmaker Baogang has plans to upgrade the efficiency of its wide hot strip mill No. 1 at the Baoshan facility in Shanghai by installing a new descaler by mid-2013, with a sizing press and roughing stand scheduled for mid-2014.
Steel Market Production Cuts – Vietnam-based Pomina Steel Corp announced that the “Pomina 3” project for a new longs rolling mill is now on hiatus. Pomina has 1.5 mtpy of billet capacity after commissioning a new plant in March, but only has 1.05 mtpy of rolling capacity. While the long-term goal remains to build a plant that would close the capacity gap, Pomina will sell the excess billet until that plan is feasible.
Sources: Steel Business Briefing
Steel Market Production Cuts – Italian steelmaker Ilva has announced the closure of the entire 11 mtpy Taranto facility and all down-stream facilities after Italian officials issued a court-order to seize all steel produced over the prior four months. Representatives of Italy’s unions, Ilva’s chairman, the prime minister, and other government officials will meet on Thursday, November 29, in an attempt to resolve the standstill.
Steel Market Production Increases – Severstal North America has restarted the blast furnace at the Dearborn, Michigan facility after finishing repairs. The BF has been offline since November 2 due to the explosion of a cold-air pipe.
Steel Market Production Cuts – The planned restart of Tokyo Steel’s 1.8 mtpy pickling line at the Tahara facility has been pushed back until March of next year. The line has been out of commission since October 15, when a fire broke out at the plant.
Steel Market Production Cuts – Brazilian steelmaker Gerdau is delaying the re-start of the 135,000 tpy Muña longs mill in Colombia from sometime in 2012 to early 2013 due to low demand.
Steel Market Production Increases – Jordanian Taybah Steel will begin production at a new 500,000 tpy rebar facility in Saudi Arabia sometime around August 2013.
Steel Market Production Increases – Chinese pipemaker Fangrui Steel has increased its capacity for welded pipe from 50,000 tpy to 200,000 tpy after the start-up of two new production lines and plans to add an additional 100,000 tpy by year-end 2013.
Steel Market Production Increases – Brazilian steelmaker Gerdau has acquired a 2-strand billet caster for the company’s Mexican (Corsa) operations and plans to begin operations in March 2013, boosting the production run-rate to 400,000 tpy.
Sources: Steel Business Briefing, American Metal Market
New Report Preview:
After posting four consecutive increases, our Advance/Decliner Index declined from an eight-month high, but remained at elevated levels. The drop was driven by our …more
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New Report Preview:
After rising 1.6% in early November, Chinese steel production estimated by the China Iron & Steel Association (CISA) for the second 10 days of November came in at …more
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The spot reference price for 62% Fe iron ore cfr North China declined for the first time since late September, falling 3.2% to $118.90 for the week ending November 23, 2012, and is at the lowest level in five weeks. However, the price is still some 33.6% higher than the recent low of $89.00 on 9/7/2012.
The spot price for iron ore averaged $141.84 in 1Q, $139.35 in 2Q, and $112.12 in 3Q; this compares to an average of $167.59 for full-year 2011.
The post-recession low was $59.10 on March 27, 2009, while the high was $190.19 on February 17, 2011.
Source: The Steel Index
Steel Market Production Increases – Chinese pipemaker TPCO America aims to begin production at the pipe and end-finishing facilities in Gregory, Texas by mid-2013, with the seamless pipe rolling mill and EAF expected to start operations in late 2014.
Steel Market Production Cuts – Russian steel company Mechel has halted the 1.1 mtpy DEMZ longs facility due to a “local scrap shortage” and could remain offline until April.
Steel Market Production Increases – Chinese steelmaker Chonggang plans to commission a 1.5 mtpy longs plant in February 2013, bringing total capacity to 8 mtpy.
Steel Market Production Increases – Egyptian steel company IIC plans to start up the upgraded 250,000 tpy Alexandria wire-rod and bar mill by the end of the year.
Steel Market Production Increases – Chinese steelmaker MCC has completed a 1.2 mtpy pre-painted galvanized coil facility in Shandong that contains a 1.2 mtpy CRC mill, two 600,000 tpy pickling lines, two hot-dipped galvanizing lines, a continuous annealing line, and two color-coating lines.
Sources: Steel Business Briefing, American Metal Market
New Report Preview:
As global steel demand continued to slide in October, average daily steel production declined 1.5% from September – a bigger drop than the normal sideways seasonal …more
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