Battery Metals

The European Steel Association’s (EUROFER) annual conference is happening today, covering Steel, Sustainability and Low-Carbon Innovation. The need for such innovation will shape the investment decisions of the EU steel industry for the next 20-30 years. The impact of the US Section 232 measures will also be addressed during the conference.

Geert Van Poelvoorde, President of EUROFER said, “Our calculations show that to successfully deploy all of the low-carbon innovation projects that the industry has conceived to industrial demonstrator level will require €10 billion over the next ten to fifteen years”.

Mr Van Poelvoorde was talking at a press conference ahead of European Steel Day 2018.

“With the Ninth Framework Programme discussions now getting into their stride, it is more important than ever that policy makers support our industry in advancing towards becoming low-carbon”.

Mr Van Poelvoorde highlighted EUROFER’s ongoing work on specific innovation pathways to avoid emitting carbon or to make better use of it in the creation of other products.

The President then addressed the threat of the US’ Section 232 tariffs.

“The European steel industry condemns the US import tariffs on steel. This protectionist trade action is absurd – it hits the US’ own allies hardest”, said Mr Van Poelvoorde. “We also now expect to face a large loss of market share in the US, a market that accounts for 16% of EU exports”.

The anticipated loss of export volume has been modelled by the US as being at least 37%. This is a conservative estimate – the actual effect could end up being much larger.

“There is the need to continue discussions with the US to address the root cause of this trade dispute: global steel excess capacity”, suggested Mr Van Poelvoorde. “We have to deal collectively with countries that subsidise production in order to target export markets, and there are international fora for this process. Unilateral measures are not the answer”.

“In the meantime, we call for an EU safeguard to be deployed as quickly as possible – the longer the delay, the greater the injury to the European steel industry will be”, concluded Mr Van Poelvoorde.

European steel demand is slated to grow modestly this year, after seeing similar year-on-year growth in 2017, according to Eurofer President Geert Van Poelvoorde.

Speaking during a press briefing Thursday ahead of the organization’s European Steel Day 2018 in Brussels, Van Poelvoorde said the region’s 2018 apparent steel demand is expected to reach 162 million mt, up 2.3% from 2017’s 159 million mt.

Apparent demand rose 1.3% last year compared with 2016. For 2019, Eurofer expects another 1.6% of demand growth, he said.

The growth projections come as Europe’s steel-using sectors have enjoyed solid growth of their own.

The construction sector — which accounts for about 35% of steel consumed in Europe — saw demand growth increase by 4.8% in 2017.

The automotive industry, which accounts for about 19% of Europe’s steel consumption, saw 3.7% growth last year, while mechanical engineering — which covers about 15% of regional demand — saw growth of 6% in 2017, Van Poelvoorde said.

“All the economic parameters are good,” he said, adding that overall European steel demand was up by about 2.7% through the first several months of this year.

However, after seeing imports virtually come to a halt in the second half of 2017 — the first time that has happened in six years, giving European producers, rather than their rivals elsewhere in the world, an opportunity to fully benefit — the region saw an 8% uptick in imports in the first quarter of 2018, Van Poelvoorde said.

He said the spike is directly tied to the US Section 232 steel tariffs. While only just implemented on June 1, the threat of them hung heavy over the global market for months beforehand.

“This is, of course, a very alarming signal … the first deflection from 232 tariffs,” Van Poelvoorde said, adding that was why the EU must continue “guarding the global level playing field” as it mulls safeguards to counter US tariffs of 25% on steel imports.

Eurofer has recommended to the European Commission that its response to the Section 232 actions should include a 25% import tariff, on top of by-country import quotas. Details of the EC’s plan are expected to be revealed in July.

An 8 percent surge in European steel imports this year is a direct result of Washington’s import tariffs on the metal, which have caused trade flows to be deflected to Europe’s shores, European steel industry association Eurofer said on Thursday.

The association called on the European Union to impose safeguards – in the form of both tariffs and quotas – on EU steel imports to prevent a worsening steel import surge that will further harm the sector.

It added, however, that the measure might put Europe’s steel exports at risk, as other countries might be tempted to raise their own steel import barriers, causing a domino effect that would harm free trade worldwide.

“This is an absurd situation. Nations that are pro free trade are on (the verge) of starting trade war. But we are where we are. We’ll be destroyed if don’t stop this tsunami (of steel),” said Geert van Poelvoorde, Eurofer president and an executive at ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest steelmaker.

U.S. tariffs of 25 percent on incoming steel and 10 percent on aluminum came into effect on March 23 and have been imposed on Europe, Canada and Mexico since last Friday, June 1, after their exemptions expired.

The EU has said it could impose preliminary measures to safeguard its steel and aluminum industries as early as July, mainly to prevent Asian producers flooding the European market.

Steel is the second biggest industry in the world after oil and gas.

“We should have a (safeguard) quota based on the average (steel import levels) of the last three years. Above that quota, a 25 percent tariff should apply. We can’t have symbolic action,” said van Poelvoorde.

Eurofer estimates that up to 13 million tonnes of steel could be deflected to Europe as a result of the U.S. tariffs. This would be a hefty increase in a market that imports an average 40 million tonnes of steel a year, it says.

Also, Europe exports about 5 million tonnes of steel to the United States each year, but post tariffs, around a third of those exports might remain in Europe as they would likely struggle to find new export markets outside the United States.

“Collateral damage could come if more countries close their markets to European steel. They might take the same (safeguard) measures … depending on how Europe defines its measures,” said

said van Poelvoorde.

EU members have also given broad support to a European Commission plan to set 25 percent duties on up to 2.8 billion euros ($3.3 billion) of U.S. exports in response to what it is sees as illegal U.S. trade action.

SAN ANTONIO – Oscar Hernandez said his ornamental iron business on Blanco Road, which has been family owned for three generations, has already seen a 30 to 35 percent price increase in the Mexican steel often used for gates, fencing and window guards.

Hernandez said it started at the beginning of this year, perhaps in anticipation of a trade war.

“I guess we have to go along with it. What can we do?” he said. “Prices are going up. The customer is going to pay more.”

Hernandez said some customers still want better quality and more expensive, American-made steel, but many others don’t mind paying less for foreign steel for their projects.

Hernandez said his steel distributors have told him that their prices are only good for 24 hours, so now the same goes for the price quotes he gives his customers.

“They better make up their mind today, because tomorrow it may cost more,” Hernandez said.

President Trump slapped a 25 percent tariff on steel from Canada, Mexico and the European Union, in hopes of reviving the American steel industry.

Told of reports that U.S. Steel is now hiring, Hernandez said, “The more workers you get back to work, I think it’s better for us in the long run. Maybe it’s a good thing.”

On stand C9 at Hillhead 2018, Master Magnets will be demonstrating how the combination of Magnetic Separators and Metal Detectors is the best way to protect crushers, screens and conveyors from damage caused by metal.

Master Magnets is one of the world’s leading designers and manufacturers of magnetic separators and metal detectors for the recycling, quarrying and mining industries. Their wide range of metal separation and detection equipment is manufactured at their facility in Redditch, just outside Birmingham, UK. In January 2017, Master Magnets became part of the Bunting Magnetics group of companies.
Removing the ferrous or magnetic metal is the first step taken to protect processing plant. This is commonly achieved using either a Permanent Overband Magnet or Electro Overband Magnet.

The Permanent Overband Magnet is one of the most commonly used magnetic separators and is used on mobile crushers, suspended over conveyers in quarries and mines, and is used to recover steel beverage cans and other metals in recycling plants. At Hillhead, Master Magnets will be displaying examples of both the self-clean (i.e. with a revolving belt that automatically removes the captured metal) and manual-clean Permanent Overband Magnets.

Metal Detectors are often positioned after magnetic separators to protect processing plant against damage from non-ferrous metals. This could be in the form of digger teeth, drill rods, crusher plates, bars, chains, nuts and bolts, other manganese steel parts; which are all extremely hazardous to crushers, shredders and other types of processing machinery.

Master Magnets manufacture the Metal Detection range and will have the TN77 and QTA Metal Detectors on display at Hillhead.

The electronic TN77 Metal Detector is a tunnel-type unit installed onto conveyor systems. The TN77 is one of the most commonly installed Metal Detectors in quarries and mines, enabling a continuous inspection of any non-metallic or non-conductive material and identifying tramp iron and manganese steel.

The QTA Metal Detector is capable of detecting all tramp metals, whether they are ferrous, non-ferrous or manganese steels. For easily installation on belt conveyors, the QTA search coil will dismantle at one end, eliminating the need to cut and re-vulcanise conveyor belts.

The Master Magnets team will also be talking to visitors about the ‘Mastertrax’ Mobile Eddy Current Separator. The ‘Mastertrax’ incorporates a 1500mm wide High-Intensity Concentric ECS along with a Rare Earth Drum Magnet, providing separation of ferrous and non-ferrous particles down to 5mm. Optimum operating settings will enable users to process up to 25TPH, depending on material density. The machine comes with crawler tracks, an on-board diesel generator and hydraulic power pack, allowing for easy site manoeuvrability and can be transported on a low loader trailer without permits.

Additionally information on other metal separation equipment including Eddy Current Separators, Drum Magnets and Pulley Magnets will be available on the stand.

After Donald Trump announced tariffs on steel and aluminum from the US’s closest allies last week, economists warned that they could result in thousands of US job losses. The latest numbers from The Trade Partnership, a DC-based economics research firm, suggests that the impact will be even worse than originally estimated.

Some 400,000 jobs will be lost, with 16 losses for every job created by the tariffs, the group said today. That’s more than three times the number of job losses it expected earlier.

As Quartz has explained, it’s true that steel producers in the US may see a slight rise in jobs due to tariffs. However, the (much larger) industries that depend on imported steel will suffer, like automakers, construction groups and even financial services. Just over 400,000 people in the US work in metal-producing jobs, economist Jed Kolko wrote in March, but 4.6 million work in jobs that depend on metal.

Employers in industries that use metal will have to pay more for raw materials, charge more for products, and could trim or move jobs. “Steel consuming industries face annual employment declines of 97,614 in each of the first one to three years the tariffs, quotas and retaliation are in place,” the Trade Partnership says.

The tariffs were initially expected to exempt the US’s top suppliers: the European Union, Mexico, and Canada. However, on May 31, the administration announced that they too would be subject to tariffs. All three plan to retaliate with taxes of their own on US products, which accounts in part for the expected damage done to US industries.