US: Essroc, part of Italcementi, has acquired the Holcim (US) slag cement grinding plant in Camden, New Jersey, according to MarketLine. As part of the transaction, Essroc will also obtain Holcim's cement terminal in Everett, Massachusetts, US. Upon completion of the transaction, Holcim's staff in Camden and Everett will join Essroc. The transaction is expected to be completed later in 2015. The acquisition will allow Essroc to strengthen its position in the sustainable building products market.

South Africa: Evraz Highveld Steel and Vanadium has issued a proposed restructuring notice in terms of Section 189 that could see it potentially cutting half of its workforce, according to Engineering News.

The group, which initiated voluntary business rescue proceedings in April 2015, will now enter a 60-day Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration-facilitated consultation process with employees and trade unions.

Responding to the announcement, trade union Solidarity, which claims to represent around 400 of Evraz Highveld's 2242 employees, said that it would participate in the consultation process to mitigate the impact on its members. The union said it had already sent a letter to South Africa's largest commercial banks requesting them to 'show consideration' for the financial difficulties currently being experienced by Evraz employees. It further called for, an urgent industry-wide intervention in the metals industry to avoid the retrenchment of 'thousands of workers.'

"In the coming weeks, the trade union will hold probing discussions with various players in the metals industry to explore solutions for the crises currently experienced in the industry. Among other things, we will propose that the local manufacturing sector and construction industry make use only of domestic steel to support the local steel industry. In addition, we will also propose that the steel industry should be exempted from winter electricity tariffs while the industry is recovering," said Solidarity deputy general secretary Johan Kruger.

Evraz confirmed that it had received a number of offers to invest in the company, with prospective bidders required to provide the necessary guarantees by 27 July 2015 to proceed to the next stage of the bidding process. The vertically integrated steel and vanadium slag producer cited its inability to meet its short-term obligations as a result of historical operating difficulties and sustained financial losses within a capital-constrained operating environment as the catalysts for it entering business rescue proceedings earlier in 2015.

South Africa: Evraz Highveld Steel and Vanadium has temporarily ceased steel production at its steelworks, citing working capital constraints and reduced domestic demand mainly owing to a 'significant' increase in steel imports from China.

Evraz said in a statement that it was currently communicating with its employees and it intends to resume production once adequate funding has been secured and steel trading conditions have improved to ensure the company's sustained future financial viability.

The decision to halt production at the company's iron-making division was brought about by delayed debtors payments, inadequate cash to procure the required raw materials to continue with manufacturing operations, difficulties experienced with access to funding and a continued inability to pay major creditors on time. The company added that the feeding of raw materials into the iron-making kilns had been halted to enable the furnaces to be safely drained and switched out, ready for a future start-up.

"The steel plant will be stopped and made safe once all the hot metal has been processed. The two mills will continue operating until all the available stocks have been rolled into saleable products, whereafter these operations will also be safely stopped. The plant and equipment will, for the moment, be placed on care and maintenance and prepared for future start up," said Evraz in a statement.

South Africa's largest steel producer ArcelorMittal South Africa (AMSA) had also recently spoken out about the difficult conditions facing local steel producers. AMSA CEO Paul O'Flaherty recently confirmed that the industry was seeking greater protection from steel imports through the implementation of a 10% ad valorem duty on such imports. Further, the sector had also called for regulations stipulating that locally-produced steel be used in public infrastructure projects.

South Africa: Steel maker Evraz Highveld Steel and Vanadium has reported a 21% drop in steel production for the second quarter of 2015, which ended on 30 June 2015, due to weak domestic demand and a surge of cheap Chinese imports, according to Business Day.

Evraz, which is currently in business rescue, said that hot steel production declined to 119,027t in the second quarter of 2015 from 150,510t in the first quarter of 2015. Hot steel output was 38% lower year-on-year. Vanadium slag output fell by 18% in the second quarter to 1.47Mt, mainly due to lower demand and excess supply.

"The domestic market remains under pressure as a result of poor demand further exacerbated by a surge of low price imports from China," said Evraz. During the first quarter of 2015, which ended on 31 March 2015, 488,000t of steel was imported, amounting to almost half of what was imported during all of 2014.