Global Slag News

Belgium: The European Commission (EC) has blocked the creation of a joint venture between Tata Steel and ThyssenKrupp. It said that the merger would have reduced competition and increased prices for different types of steel. It added that the parties did not offer adequate remedies to address these concerns.

“Steel is a crucial input for many things we use in our everyday life, such as canned food and cars. Millions of people in Europe work in these sectors and companies depend on competitive steel prices to sell on a global level. Without remedies addressing our serious competition concerns, the merger between Tata Steel and ThyssenKrupp would have resulted in higher prices. So we prohibited the merger to avoid serious harm to European industrial customers and consumers,” said Commissioner Margrethe Vestager.

The proposed joint venture would have combined the flat carbon steel and electrical steel activities of ThyssenKrupp and Tata Steel in the European Economic Area (EEA). ThyssenKrupp is the second largest producer of flat carbon steel in the EEA while Tata Steel is the third largest. Both companies are significant producers of metallic coated and laminated steel for packaging applications and of galvanised flat carbon steel for the automotive industry.

US: Harsco Corporation has rebranded its Metals and Minerals (M&M) division as ‘Harsco Environmental.’ The company says that the new name and visual identity more closely align with its increased focus on providing environmental services and product offerings to help customers drive business performance and growth. The name change and new branding take effect immediately.

Harsco Environmental will continue to be led by Harsco Chairman & CEO Nick Grasberger in tandem with the division’s Chief Operating Officer Russ Mitchell. Harsco Environmental operates more than 130 sites in 32 countries and has 7700 employees. It is Harsco’s largest division, representing approximately 65% of revenue in 2018.

“We are strategically transforming Harsco as a global market leader and provider of environmental solutions to the industries we serve,” said Nick Grasberger. “This rebranding to Harsco Environmental reinforces our over-arching strategic focus and better reflects what the division is today, and where it is headed in the future. Our suite of environmental solutions, recent acquisitions and future investments will drive revenue growth for Harsco in future years.”

Luxembourg: ArcelorMittal plans to reduce its European steel production levels due to weak market demand and high import levels. It will reduce primary steelmaking production at its facilities in Dunkirk, France and Eisenhüttenstadt, Germany. Reduce primary steelmaking production at its facility in Bremen, Germany in the fourth quarter of 2019, where a planned blast furnace stoppage for repair works will be extended. It will extend the stoppage planned in the fourth quarter of 2019 to repair a blast furnace at its plant in Asturias, Spain.

“This is again a hard decision for us to have taken but given the level of weakness in the market, we feel it is the prudent course of action. This will be a temporary measure that will be reversed when market conditions improve. In the meantime, our employees remain our utmost priority and we are doing everything we can to ensure that the right social measures are in place to support them and their families during this difficult time,” said Geert van Poelvoorde, the chief executive officer (CEO) of ArcelorMittal Europe – Flat Products.

In early May 2019 ArcelorMittal announced its intention to temporarily idle production at its steelmaking facilities in Kraków, Poland and reduce production in Asturias, Spain. The announcement also impacted the planned increase of shipments at ArcelorMittal Italia to a 6Mt/yr run-rate. The planned increase will be slowed down following a decision to optimise cost and quality over volume in the current market environment.

UK: Ready-mix concrete (RMX) supplier Capital Concrete has dedicated two 60t silos at its London plants to supply Cemfree, a low carbon concrete made using ground blast furnace slag (GGBS) made by DB Group. It is the only RMX supplier in London supplying the product in this way.

“We’ve seen customer interest pick up recently, interest which is clearly linked to the growing importance of environmental considerations in construction build designs. Capital Concrete is now a leading supplier of Cemfree in the London area and we’re able to supply high volumes of this product anywhere in the London market,” said Luke Smith, the managing director of Capital Concrete.

US: Vallejo Marine Terminal (VMT) has decided not to appeal against the Vallejo City Council’s decision in 2017 to deny it planning permission to build a marine terminal. VMT and Orcem Americas were planning to build a marine terminal and a slag cement grinding plant, according to the Vallejo Times Herald newspaper in Vallejo, California. Orcem Americas have not commented on the situation but the lack of an import terminal may make building a cement plant unviable, although the site does have rail and road links.