20 February 2019

Latest Steel Market News

NSSMC ramps up crude steel production

(Asia Pacific): Japan’s Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation is ramping up of crude steel production at its Wakayama Works with recently started new blast furnace No.2. The new blast furnace is to add 500k tonnes/year capacity of crude steel to the plant.

 

US steel mills output down week-on-week

(North America): Steel mills in the US produced 1.886 million tonnes of steel in the last week ended on 16 February, decreased from 1.879 million tonnes week-on-week, according to American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI). The capacity utilisation rate reached 80.7% in the week, compared to 75.7% during the same week in 2018.

Environment agencies take legal action against US Steel

(North America): Environmentalists are suing the United States Steel Corporation (US Steel) for causing air pollution in the surroundings of Clairton facility. The Clean Air Council and PennEnvironment are claiming that US Steel violates the Clean Air Act by polluting air through its plant.

Honda to close its sole production plant in Europe

(Europe): Japanese auto producer Honda Motor Co. announced to close its UK plant in 2021. The decision came out aimed at weak demand in the region. It is also halting its production at its Turkish plant.

Chinese manganese export to Indonesia likely to decrease

(Asia Pacific): Chinese exports of manganese to Indonesia is likely to fall in the coming years owing to increase in the manganese production capacity in Indonesia. PT. Indonesia Tsingshan Stainless Steel (ITSS) has started its second manganese production line in February this year. So far, ITSS has two production facilities of manganese while another one is in the pipeline.

India to privatise three SAIL plants

(Asia Pacific): The Indian government has decided to sell three units of Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) including the Salem Steel plant which produced high-grade stainless steel. The plant has been making constant losses which compelled the government to make this decision.