Mittal suffers loss after furnace fails

Conditions in struggling South African steel industry worsen over the past quarter

Friday, November04, 2011

ArcelorMittal SA reported a R460m headline loss for the third quarter ended September, following the failure of the blast furnace system at its Newcastle works in KwaZulu-Natal, and a sharp rise in input costs.

This compares with headline earnings of R473m for the previous quarter, and R68m for the same period last year.

The group also said yesterday that operating conditions in the steel industry had deteriorated sharply over the past quarter, with the weaker trend in SA’s economy having a big effect on major steel consumers. Strike s in the sector in July hit deliveries, with customers forced to delay orders.

"It has been a difficult and challenging quarter," CEO Nonkululeko Nyembezi-Heita said yesterday. "The Newcastle incident resulted in a substantial loss of production with a concomitant effect on our quarterly results."

She said to ease the effect on customers, 240000 tons of steel was secured in SA and globally, from ArcelorMittal Group mills, and dispatched from mid-October. This still left the market short, with a knock-on effect in the mainstay building and construction sector.

Most of ArcelorMittal SA’s key drivers exhibited stable to negative trends, with raw material prices rising further, and electricity costs soaring 25%. But the firm said strong growth was experienced in Kenya and Zambia, with increased activity in the construction and mining sectors.

"Management (said) at the half-year results that the third quarter would be tough, but the Newcastle furnace issues resulted in a much poorer result," Rubin Renecke, equity analyst at Kagiso Asset Management, said yesterday. "Globally, steel demand remains sluggish ... (but) the weaker rand against the dollar should be positive for local steel pricing going forward."

Year on year, revenue in the quarter rose 5% to R7,6bn, following an 11% increase in average net realised prices, but was considerably down from R8,8bn in the preceding June quarter. Overall steel sales were flat at 1,1-million tons, with long steel products falling by 10%, while flat steel products rose 4%.

Revenue from ArcelorMittal SA’s coke and chemicals division declined 38%, following a 40% decline in commercial coke sales and an 11% drop in average net realised prices. Sales were also hampered by weaker seasonal demand from the ferro-alloy industry due to high winter electricity tariffs, and the poor state of the stainless steel industry.

Liquid steel production fell 17% to 1,2-million tons in the quarter, mainly as a result of the structural failure at Newcastle.

(sourced BusinessDay)

ArcelorMittal slashes workforce at Brazil mill

Thursday, 08 September 2011

Brazilian newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo reported Wednesday that ArcelorMittal has dismissed 45 workers from its longs mill ArcelorMittal Acos Longos in Juiz de Fora in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, essentially cutting 5 percent of the workforce.

Reduced demand for domestically-produced steel in Brazil driven by high foreign steel imports has been cited as the main reason for the cutback.

The workforce reduction in Brazil follows the temporary shut down the blast furnace at its plant in Eisenhüttenstadt, Germany, due to recently slow demand.

Tags: longs , Germany , Brazil , Europe , South America , ArcelorMittal , production , steelmaking , European Union

ArcelorMittal to shut down BF No1 at Eisenhuttenstadt

Tuesday, 06 Sep 2011

Reuters reported that ArcelorMittal will shut down a blast furnace at its plant in Eisenhüttenstadt in Germany in the next few weeks due to weaker steel demand.

It said that "Due to the current seasonal slowdown and some regional demand fluctuations in Europe, ArcelorMittal is optimizing production flows and aligning production capacities to seasonal demand. Consequently, the small BF No1 at ArcelorMittal Eisenhüttenstadt will be temporarily shut down until the demand situation supports a re start."

European steel makers produced high volumes of steel in the first half this year as a restocking cycle boosted demand, but as restocking came to an end the excess supply made steel prices fall. In order to support prices steel producers are now cutting their output.

Mr Jim Lennon head of commodities research at Macquarie said that "All leading indicators have definitely been suggesting slower growth in Europe and demand had to be cut in order to stabilize prices. We have seen pockets of weakness in Europe and steel makers have to respond by pulling supply out of the market to support prices."

According to data from the World Steel Association, steel production in Europe was at 14.579 million tonnes in July, down from 15.700 million in June.

Chinese and global steel production fell slightly from the previous month but remained near record levels in July, in what is usually a seasonally slower quarter and despite concerns that oversupply and the economic slowdown may weigh on prices.

(sourced from Reuters)

PSM repairs its blast furnace

Thursday, 18 Aug 2011

The News reported that 100%productions has been made possible after the repair of blast furnace of Pakistan Steel Mill.

According to the Iron Mechanic Department, the most important department of Pakistan Steel, 63 casters worked day and night to fix the problem.

A ceremony was organised in this regard, in which the Acting CEO Pakistan Steel Mr Wasif Mehmood was the chief guest.

In appreciation of hard work and intense labour, cash prizes of more than 200,000 rupees were distributed among the casters.

While lauding the efforts of the employees, the chief guest said casters have proved that with hard work and sheer determination, even the toughest of jobs can be done. He said by repairing the blast furnace, 100% production has been made possible.

(sourced The News)

ArcelorMittal SAfrica says Newcastle furnace fails

Wed Aug 10, 2011

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - ArcelorMittal South Africa, a unit of the world's top steelmaker, said on Wednesday that a furnace at its Newcastle plant had failed and would be out of service for the next two months.

The company said a failure in the gas cleaning plant on Friday led to the dust catcher partially collapsing. There were no injuries.

"The blast furnace will be out of service for two months and we will be exploring alternatives to cover the shortfall in the market," spokesman Themba Hlengani said.

The re-commissioning of the furnace would take an additional two weeks before the plant can return to full production, he said.

The mills will continue producing using available stock until the third week of this month, he said.

The furnace failure is likely to impact an already subdued outlook for the company.

Higher input costs and a strong rand led to a 63 percent drop in the company's first-half profit and the steelmaker forecast a difficult third-quarter, partially due to a recent strike over wages and a planned maintenance shutdown at one of its plants.

Shares in the company are down 23.13 percent so far this year, compared with a 12 percent drop in Johannesburg's Top-40 index of blue-chip companies.

Gladiator Resources installs a blast furnace

Thursday 04 Aug, 2011 |By Larepublica

Gladiator Resources Limited is an Australian mining company that specializes in the exploitation of gold and nickel and allied with US Orosur Mining Inc for Zapucay Project.

Zapucay Project in south central department of Rivera aims to produce pig iron for the foreign market, at a cost 50% less than that of Brazil. Estimates of mine are producing 400,000 tonnes of pig iron annually, generating between AUD 120 and AUD 160 million in exports and about 300 jobs.

Zapucay Project consists of a mine (iron ore mining and processing in a concentration of iron), a pig iron plant and several modules of charcoal production. As for the plant will be composed of a coal plant, a sinter, blast furnace and a small power plant.

In the mine is crushed, milled and separated with magnetic ore separator. Moves to the sinter plant, the process of agglomeration of fine iron to produce a suitable material for the blast furnace, sinter. Finally, we reach the blast furnace produces pig iron foundry. Parallel is made based on small diameter logs extracted from the thinning of plantations nearby, charcoal, at a cost of 20% of traditional methods for coal.

ArcelorMittal Temirtau in $150 mln furnace upgrade

Wed Aug 3, 2011

* CEO of Kazakh operations sees "new" furnace after upgrade
* ArcelorMittal Temirtau sees 6 mln tonnes output post-2015

ALMATY, Aug 3 (Reuters) - ArcelorMittal , the world's No. 1 steelmaker, said on Wednesday it would invest about $150 million to upgrade a blast furnace at its plant in Temirtau in Kazakhstan as it seeks to boost output.

"The upgrade of blast furnace No. 3 is being conducted within the framework of a modernisation and production expansion programme to achieve output of around 6 million tonnes a year by 2015," the company said in a statement.

It said it plans to complete the upgrade in the second quarter of 2013.

"Taking into account the depth of its modernisation and the level of technological solutions, this will be a completely new blast furnace," the statement quoted ArcelorMittal Temirtau CEO Frank Pannier as saying.

The furnace's capacity will be boosted by 70 percent to 6,300 tonnes of cast iron a day, while its consumption of water will fall by 35 percent, of electricity by 8 percent and coking coal by 2 percent per tonne of cast iron.

ArcelorMittal has repeatedly said that it plans to boost output at its Kazakh plant to 6 million tonnes of crude steel by 2015 from approximately 3.8 million tonnes this year.

JFE: Production lines halted at a plant due to power outage

TOKYO, March 14 (Reuters) - JFE Steel Corp , the world's No.5 steelmaker, said on Monday shipments from its 10 million tonnes per year Higashi Nihon plant near Tokyo have virtually halted due to a power outage.

"Production lines have stopped as we need to cooperate with the government's power cut plans," a company spokesman said.

JFE resumed operations on Sunday of two blast furnaces at its Higashi Nihon plant, one of its two mainstay plants, that were idled after Friday's quake and tsunami.

JFE has total production capacity of about 32 million tonnes, and operates a bigger plant in western Japan with a capacity of more than 20 million tonnes a year.

(Reporting by Yuko Inoue, sourced:Reuters)

Nippon Steel says resumes shipments at all but one steel plants

Sun Mar 13, 2011 7:54am GMT

TOKYO, March 13 (Reuters) - Nippon Steel said on Sunday that it has resumed shipments from all its steel plants except its Kaimishi facility in northern Japan.

It also said that it has started operations at two of three blast furnaces near Tokyo after an earthquake that hit the country on Friday. (Reporting by Yuko Inoue; Editing by Joseph Radford)

Xuzhou first blast furnace above 1000 cum into operation in May

Tuesday, 08 Mar 2011 | mysteel

It is reported that the blast furnace of 1280 cum and steel and rolling steel production line of Xuzhou South East Steel Co Ltd was for final installation and commissioning on 2nd March.

The blast furnace is planned to put into operation on May 1st adding new capacity of 1.5 million tonnes special steel with annual capacity of 3 million tonnes.

The blast furnace project started on March 28th 2010 with total investment of CNY 3 billion. It is said that in the following two or three years, South East Steel will build another two blast furnaces of 1280 cum and smelting and rolling steel production line, adding new capacity of 3 million tonnes achieving total capacity of 6 million tonnes.

NMDC sings pact for sinter plant

Saturday, 05 Mar 2011 By BL

National Mineral Development Corporation has concluded an agreement with a consortium comprising SVAI of Austria and Nagarjuna Construction Company for turnkey execution of a sinter plant complex, marking the first contract among the nine packages for the 3 million tonne steel plant it is setting up at Nagarnar.

The sinter plant will be catering to 80% of the ferrous feed to the blast furnace.

The schedule of the project is 33 months from the effective date of contract.

Mr Rana Som CMD of NMDC said this would be the fastest commissioned steel plant either in Greenfield or Brownfield in the country.

Dongnan Steel Industry 1280 cubic meters BF to start production in May

Saturday, 05 Mar 2011, By steelorbis

It is reported that Xuzhou, Jiangsu based Chinese steelmaker Dongnan Steel Industry Co new 1,280 cubic meters blast furnace and associated steelmaking and rolling facilities are currently in the final phase of installation and debugging.

The new blast furnace the first blast furnace with a capacity of over 1,000 cubic meters to be built in Xuzhou city is expected to start production on May 1 this year. It will increase Dongnan Steel Industry's annual output capacity by 1.5 million tonnes to 3 million tonnes.

Construction of the new blast furnace and associated facilities commenced on March 28 last year while the total investment involved is CNY 3 billion.

Dongnan Steel Industry is now preparing to apply for official permission to construct a second 1,280 cubic meters blast furnace, in line with its plans to build two more 1,280 cubic meters blast furnaces in the coming two to three years. These new blast furnaces would increase the company annual steel output capacity to 6 million tonnes.

Zhangdian Steel realizes sales revenue of CNY 5 billion in 2010

Thursday, 03 Mar 2011, | My steel

It is reported that Zhangdian Iron & Steel Works is located at an open coastal city of Zibo achieving further development of creativeness in management and technology and establishing a set of production equipment mainly including blast furnace with 420 cubic meters, sintering machine with 24 square meters converter with 60 tonnes, mill train etc in old mill areas with an annual production capacity of 1 million tonnes.

While for the sake of further development, Zhangdian Iron & Steel Works decided to relocate its production site.

During the relocation, Zhangdian Iron & Steel Works brought in the advanced production line along with clean production technology and cyclic economy. It successively eliminated small blast furnace with 128 cubic meters, backward steelmaking equipments and small mill train. In March 22 2010, it shut down the last blast furnace with 420 cubic meters and successfully completed the mission of eliminating backward capacity.

According to the data published by Zhangdian Iron & Steel Works, it invested CNY 2 billion in improving one blast furnace with 1350 cubic meters, steelmaking converter with capacity of 1.2 million tonnes, bar production line with capacity of 1 million tonnes and so on.

In 2011, Zhangdian Iron & Steel Works plans to produce pig iron of 1.2 million tonnes, crude steel of 1.8 million tonnes and finished steel of 1.1 million tonnes achieving sales revenue of CNY 10 billion. In 2010, it realized sales revenue of CNY 5.2 billion up by 49%YoY.

Tags : raw material, small mill train, steel output

Severstal announces USD 2 billion investment program for 2011

Tuesday, 22 Feb 2011

OAO Severstal one of the world leading integrated steel and mining companies announces a target USD 2 billion capital investment program for the current financial year. Severstal will continue to improve operating efficiency, modernize its operational facilities and ensure that the Company maintains industry leading standards of health and safety.

In 2011 the total amount of investment at Severstal Russian Steel will be approximately USD 940 million around a 73% increase on 2010 and will include the following key projects: the continued construction of a mini-mill in Balakovo in the Saratov Region, the renovation of the No 7 coke oven battery, the modernization of the No 5 blast furnace and the construction of a second polymer coating line in Cherepovets and the large-scale IT projects.

In 2011 the total amount of investment at Severstal Resources will be approximately USD 650 million around a 53% increase on 2010 and will include a project to modernize production equipment across the division’s iron ore mills and coalmines, the completion of a thermoelectric power station burning coalmine methane in Vorkuta, an exploration of the Putu iron ore deposit in Liberia, the continued development of the division’s gold mining assets and a coalmine at PBS Coals.

In 2011 the total amount of investment at Severstal North America will be approximately USD 465 million around a 69% increase over 2010, and will include the construction and commissioning and start-up of the 2nd Electric Arc Furnace, Continuous Caster, Tunnel Furnace, Pickle line and the 2nd Hot Dip Galvanizing line at Severstal Columbus, new Cold Rolling Complex and Hot Dip Galvanizing line at Severstal Dearborn.

Overall, the level of CAPEX represents an approximately 48% increase over the level for 2010.

Mr Alexei Kulichenko CFO of Severstal commented that “In 2011 Severstal will continue to make investments across its businesses in order to enhance our position as a market leader in the production of high added value products, improve our operational efficiency and reduce costs. In Russia and CIS, steel use is estimated to increase by approximately 8% in 2011.”

Metinvest tasks Ilyich to significantly increase output

Tuesday, 15 Feb 2011

It is reported that the Ukrainian flat steel producer Ilyich Iron and Steel Works of Mariupol which merged with Ukraine largest mining and steel group Metinvest in July 2010 is planning to significantly increase its output within the priorities set out by Metinvest and accordingly is considering a radical modernization of its production facilities.

Mr Vladimir Boyko GD of Ilyich said "The enterprise has been tasked to significantly increase production to up to 16 million tonnes per year of sinter and up to 8 million tonnes of steel. To achieve the given targets, Ilyich will carry out the reconstruction of its main workshops to the most up to date levels. In the next four to five years, the open-hearth shop will be completely closed."

Mr Boyko noted that, following the visit of the company specialists to China, from late February this year Ilyich will resume work on the construction of its pulverized coal injection facility for blast furnaces which is being supplied by China National Mineral Co Ltd in line with the contract concluded on May 18 2006.

He said that "I think that within the next three months a clear program will be adopted for the development of Metinvest Holding, including the program for its re equipment. This is a serious matter, requiring enormous costs. Billions of dollars will be required to build Ilyich into a new plant." (sourced:steelorbis)

Tags:Metinvest, Ilyich Iron and Steel, increase output, Ukrainian flat steel producers, Ukraine mining company, Ukrainian steelmakers, China National Mineral Co, blast furnace

Alchevsk plans to boost steel output by 18pct MoM in Feb

Monday, 14 Feb 2011

It is reported that Alchevsk Steel is planning to increase February crude steel output by 14% to 18% to reach 320,000 tonnes to 330,000 tonnes.

The corresponding increase in rolled products’ output is to underlie 230,000 slab exports in February.

To meet the growing production targets for pig iron, in January the company has re launched Blast furnace No 3 which had been idle due to raw materials shortages.

According to Millennium Capital analyst “The news is POSITIVE for Alchevsk Steelworks, as it implements successfully its plans to increase output. As we expected, this speedy production recovery allows ALMK to capitalize on surging global prices for steel. Importantly, the company has successfully increased iron ore purchases from Metinvest, in order to secure the production hike.”

(sourced:Millennium Capital)