Steel and Stainless Steel Industries – Page 14

China steel pullback a new blow for miners – by Scott Murdoch (The Australian – January 12, 2016)

January 12, 2016

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/

One of China’s largest iron and steel-producing regions, Hebei, has announced a dramatic cut in production levels this year in a fresh blow to the Australian mining industry.

Regulators have revealed that production at Hebei, which produces a quarter of China’s iron and steel output, will be slashed this year in a bid to alleviate the nation’s worsening pollution problem. Iron production will by cut by 10 million tonnes and steel by eight million tonnes this year.

Hebei governor Zhang Qingwei said steel and cement production would be capped at 200 million tonnes as the nation attempts to reduce the overcapacity that exists in the industry across the country.

Union leader calls for action on steel ‘crisis’ – by Steve Arnold (Hamilton Spectator – December 23, 2015)

January 5, 2016

http://www.thespec.com/

Ontario’s steel industry is in crisis and a union leader wants the provincial government to help find a solution.

In a letter to Economic Development Minister Brad Duguid, United Steelworkers Ontario director Marty Warren calls for an Ontario Steel Industry Action Plan to save an industry that supports 20,000 direct and 100,000 spinoff jobs across the country. Most of those jobs, Warren writes, are in Ontario.

“As you are no doubt aware, the price of steel has dropped sharply, plunging the industry into a worldwide crisis,” he said. “If the crisis is not resolved soon, these thousands of men and women and their families are in critical danger of losing their livelihoods.”

Canada’s steel industry: High-value cornerstone of our manufacturing economy – by Ken Neumann and Marty Warren (Hamilton Spectator – December 9, 2015)

December 9, 2015

http://www.thespec.com/

Ken Neumann is the United Steelworkers National Director. Marty Warren is the United Steelworkers District Director for Ontario and Atlantic Canada.

With a perfect storm threatening Canada’s steel industry, many concerned Canadians are asking, “Will steel manufacturing still play a key role in our future economy?” Well, the answer can — and should — be: “yes.” To understand why and how, let’s look at the facts.

The livelihoods of tens of thousands of Canadian workers and pensioners are at risk and so are the communities that depend on the steel industry for jobs and economic activity. The current crisis is caused by low world steel prices, a sluggish oil and gas sector and dumping of subsidized steel from China and other jurisdictions with poor environmental, safety and working standards.

Dayton issues warning to Essar about paying companies working on Nashwauk site – by John Myers (Duluth News Tribune – November 30, 2015)

December 1, 2015

http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/

Gov. Mark Dayton on Monday pledged to play hardball with Essar Steel Minnesota, saying he’ll call the state’s $67 million loan to the company on Wednesday if Essar doesn’t pay past-due bills from local construction companies.

Essar has essentially been in default on the state money since October because it failed to live up to an agreement to create jobs at an iron and steelmaking facility in Nashwauk by that date.

The company has moved ahead with work building a taconite plant at the Nashwauk site, but has shelved plans to make iron and steel at the site.

That puts the company in violation of the 2007 agreement signed when the economic development money was awarded by the state.

Tough road ahead for LME’s new steel, aluminum contracts – by Maytaal Angel and Eric Onstad (Reuters U.S. – November 20, 2015)

November 23, 2015

http://www.reuters.com/

LONDON – New steel and aluminum contracts to be launched next week by the London Metal Exchange (LME) are expected to attract initial interest from customers, but building up strong liquidity in the current bear market may be challenging.

The launch on Monday is a key element of a strategy by the LME’s owner, Hong Kong Exchanges and Cleaning (HKEx), to boost profitability at the 138-year-old exchange.

Three new contracts in steel rebar, steel scrap and aluminum premiums will go live nearly three years after HKEx bought the LME for $2.2 billion, pledging to widen the scope of the exchange from its core business in key industrial metals.

China’s unloved steel industry is starting down painful road – by Clyde Russell (Reuters U.S. – November 18, 2015)

November 20, 2015

http://www.reuters.com/

Nov 18 – Nobody is happy with China’s steel sector, certainly not producers in the rest of the world complaining about dumping and not even the Chinese, who are battling increasing losses amid a supply glut.

But the question remains as to whether enough is being done, or is likely to be done, to resolve the situation. Record low prices, increasing calls from the rest of the world’s steelmakers for measures to halt the flow of cheap Chinese exports are adding to China’s steel woes.

And this pressure is only likely to increase in coming months, as shown by claims in Australia that not only are Chinese steel imports killing the local industry, they may end up killing locals by being of inferior quality.

Steel Is the Poster Child For Oversupplied Commodity Markets, and It’s in Shambles – by Luke Kawa (Bloomberg News – November 16, 2015)

November 17, 2015

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Output has far exceeded demand.

The collapse in oil prices following the shale revolution has stolen the limelight for investors mulling the end of the commodities supercycle.

But the real “poster child for problems in commodities markets is perhaps the global steel industry,” according to Macquarie analysts led by Colin Hamilton, the firm’s global head of commodities research.

The front-month contract for U.S. hot-rolled coil steel futures traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange is down nearly 40 percent year-over-year.

Forecasts for a boom in Chinese consumption helped spur a rise in production that left the segment with a massive glut. The successful realization of economic rebalancing in China, meanwhile, necessarily entails a material slowdown in that nation’s demand for steel.

Industry crisis testing the mettle of steel makers – by Greg Keenan (Globe and Mail – November 14, 2015)

November 16, 2015

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

As a 36-year veteran of the steel mill that dominates Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., Steve Johnson didn’t lose any sleep Monday night after Essar Steel Algoma Inc. was granted creditor protection.

“If I look at the horizon, it hasn’t changed,” Mr. Johnson says. “They’re still making steel. They’re still making iron. We can tell by which smokestack is emitting fumes what’s going on.”

It is the third time in a quarter century that Algoma has been granted protection under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act. The steel maker has interest payments of $25-million (U.S.) that it is unable to make amid a collapse in the price of steel and a court battle with an iron ore supplier.

Algoma granted creditor protection again amid plunging steel prices – by Greg Keenan and Ian McGugan (Globe and Mail – November 10, 2015)

November 10, 2015

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

Essar Steel Algoma Inc., the economic backbone of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., for more than a century, will make its third trip through creditor protection amid a collapse in steel prices and a battle with a critical supplier.

The steel maker, which was founded in 1901 to make rails for the growing railway industry, was granted protection Monday under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act, saying it does not have enough money to make $25-million in debt payments due next week or special payments on pension funds with a combined deficit topping $500-million.

“The urgency of the need for immediate cash is unquestioned,” Ontario Superior Court Justice Frank Newbould said in granting the company creditor protection.

The filing underlines the battered state of much of the steel sector in Canada and North America. Essar Algoma joins U.S. Steel Canada Inc., which was granted CCAA protection in September, 2014 – the second trip for the former Stelco Inc. through a court-supervised restructuring.

Chinese Steel Slapped by 236% Tariff Plan After U.S. Probe – by Sonja Elmquist (Bloomberg News – November 3 2015)

November 4, 2015

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Imports of some corrosive-resistant steel from China may be taxed as much as 236 percent based on the level of subsidies they receive, according to a preliminary finding by the U.S. Department of Commerce.

The department found five Chinese exporters including Angang Group Hong Kong Co. and Baoshan Iron & Steel Co. got subsidies of that amount, it said in an e-mailed statement. U.S. Customs and Border Protection will be instructed to require cash deposits based on the subsidy rates. A Baosteel spokesman said the company’s operations are based on market forces.

The preliminary finding is the first decision in three sets of trade cases that U.S. steel producers have filed this year, as a glut of output from foreign producers led by China has pushed down prices to nine-year lows and seen U.S. mills idle 31 percent of capacity. If validated, the decision may end some imports and help lift domestic prices.

“Trade cases will have an impact by limiting tons showing up in the U.S.,” Timna Tanners, an analyst at Bank of America Corp., said Tuesday before the decision was made public.

Liberal stimulus plan a chance to reinvigorate Canadian steel industry – by Bill Missen (Globe and Mail – November 3, 2015)

November 3, 2015

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

Bill Missen is former senior vice-president at Stelco Canada.

Even before it is formally installed, the newly elected Liberal government faces the pressure of high expectations – especially when it comes to infrastructure spending. It’s a platform promise with the potential to provide much-needed economic stimulus by doubling the public works budget to $125-billion over the next decade.

By implementing this spending plan, the new government has an exceptional opportunity to extend a lifeline to Canada’s struggling steel industry. But it is an opportunity that could easily be squandered.

Before the first dime of public money is spent, a strong made-in-Canada supply policy needs to be firmly in place. Without that, new jobs will not be created and existing ones will not be preserved.

Recession hits steel in Sault, mining supply in Sudbury (CBC News Sudbury – October 22, 2015)

October 23, 2015

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/sudbury/

‘Commodity prices better change pretty soon,’ Sudbury mining supply official says

While there is some debate about whether or not Canada is in a recession, people in northeastern Ontario are feeling a downturn, with hundreds of layoffs over the last few months.

Some of the largest layoffs have been in the steel industry at Sault Ste. Marie. Essar Steel Algoma has laid off 100 workers, with notice that 80 more could come soon.

The other large local steelmaker, Tenaris Tubes, already has 270 workers on layoff and at the end of the month, a temporary shutdown will some of the remaining 230 employees on temporary lay-off, but the company expects to start calling them all back to work in late November.

Russell Rancourt was laid off at Tenaris in February and was hoping to get called back. He’s looked for other work in the region and out west, but has found nothing.

Cliffs CEO: Essar jeopardizes Range facility- by Bill Hanna (Mesabi Daily News – October 17, 2015)

October 19, 2015

http://www.virginiamn.com/

‘If they go online, I will shut down a plant the same day’ Vuppuluri: ‘Very sad and pained to hear such a statement’

CLEVELAND — The Cliffs Natural Resources CEO said he will close one of the company’s operations on the Iron Range if the Essar Steel Minnesota taconite plant in Nashwauk goes into production.

“If they go online, I will shut down a plant up there the same day,” Lourenco Goncalves said in an exclusive interview with the Mesabi Daily News last Thursday. “We have fully planned for the worst case scenario.”

Essar Minnesota CEO Madhu Vuppuluri said in response on Saturday that he is “very saddened to hear that statement that could have such an impact on employees and communities of the Iron Range.”

The $1.9 billion India-based Essar project under construction is scheduled to begin producing taconite pellets in the second half of 2016, most likely the third quarter.

New bids likely after U.S. Steel Canada splits from parent company – by Greg Keenan (Globe and Mail – October 12, 2015)

October 13, 2015

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

The divorce between United States Steel Corp. and U.S. Steel Canada Inc. will likely lead to new bids for the Canadian unit, sources familiar with the restructuring say.

U.S. Steel Canada has been effectively cut loose from its parent company under a transition agreement announced last week that includes a promise that the Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel will not be a bidder if there is a second effort to sell the Canadian unit.

Potential bidders were put off during the first sales effort by a process they believed was skewed in favour of U.S. Steel, sources said. “There are people out there who want to rebid,” said one source involved in discussions about the future of U.S. Steel Canada. “Now, we have a sensible sales and restructuring process.”

The promise that U.S. Steel will not bid for the company means other purchasers don’t have to worry about a potential claim of more than $2-billion that U.S. Steel applied against the Canadian company and had been planning to use as credit in its own bid.

Essar-Cliffs tension at fevered pitch – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – October 7, 2015)

October 9, 2015

Established in 1980, Northern Ontario Business provides Canadians and international investors with relevant, current and insightful editorial content and business news information about Ontario’s vibrant and resource-rich North.

Cut off from its iron ore supply, Essar Steel Algoma has filed a request for a temporary restraining order in an Ohio court against Cliffs Natural Resources. In an Oct. 6 news release, Essar said the matter is before a federal judge in Cleveland, Ohio.

“Essar Steel Algoma fully expects Cliffs to honour the supply agreement until such time as the matter has been justly resolved,” the Sault Ste. Marie plate and sheet producer said in a statement.

Hours earlier, Cliffs announced it had halted shipments to Essar by terminating its longstanding agreement to supply Essar with taconite iron ore pellets. The decision took effect Oct. 5.

A spokesperson with Cliffs was unavailable for comment. Essar spokeswoman Brenda Stenta said a “swift ruling” is expected on the matter. “There is no immediate impact to operations.”