Steel industry news insight and analysis.

This site offers visitors steel industry news from around the globe; steel pricing data (including raw material prices); steelmaking plant and equipment capex costs; and steel market knowledge (supply and demand). Our consultants provide impartial expert advisory support relating to metal sector modernisation & investment. This includes feasibility assessments and due diligence appraisals.

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Steel News

Steel Prices

Supply & Demand

Consultancy

Raw Materials & Steel Pricing

WORLD STEEL PRICES

Trends & Forecasts

Iron ore costs and finished steel prices appear to be on a downward trend. As of Q4 2022, we expect the bottom of the price cycle (the next pricing trough) to occur in mid-2023. Why not check out our 2022 / 2023 market outlook to learn more?

STEEL MARKET OUTLOOK

FREE EXAMPLES

Capex Outlays

We maintain a database of capital expenditures for iron and steel industry plant and equipment. The database content, compiled from public sources for over 1200 actual modernisations, covers the following.

Input materials: coal washing plants, lime kilns, sinter plants, coke making, iron ore beneficiation, pellet plants, DRI and HBI.
Iron and steel making: blast furnaces, BF reline costs, BOF, electric arc furnace, induction furnaces and continuous casting. We also maintain capital investment cost data for other melt shop equipment such as pig iron desulphurization, pulverised coal injection (PCI), ladle furnaces, vacuum degassing, vacuum arc remelting (VAR), vacuum oxygen decarburisation (VOD) for stainless steels.
Flat products: steel plate, HRC (hot rolled coil) including Steckel mills, CRC (cold rolled coil), HDG (hot dip galvanised sheet), tinplate, organic coated sheet, temper rolling (skin-pass mills).
Long iron and steel products: heavy sections, rail, carbon steel bar, rod, wire, strand and rope. We also have reheat furnace capex costs.
Tube: welded pipe, including high frequency ERW as well as helical or longitudinal submerged arc welded [HSAW or LSAW]; and seamless tube. We also hold pipe coating line cost information (for both epoxy and concrete coatings).
Ancillary operations: air separation units, dedusting, power generation units, slitting lines, pickling lines, batch or continuous annealing lines, waste water treatment systems, acid regeneration plants, scrap shredding machinery.
Further processing: slitting lines, blanking equipment, wire drawing, welded wire mesh fabrication, ball grinding.
Greenfield steelworks: iron ore based integrated mills, mini mills, micro mills.
Decarbonisation related technologies: such as electrolyzers, wind farms and solar power plants.
Carbon, alloy and specialty steels including stainless.

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Call us to learn more about our iron and steel capital expenditure database. Our advisors can also help with valuations of second-hand equipment.

CAPEX DATABASE

Get access to the latest carbon or stainless steel media reports, prices and global business intelligence.
Our subscriptions start from only $10 / month.

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Selected Steel Industry Maps

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We can supply global asset location and capacity spreadsheet data and / or prepare digital maps for any group of industrial facilities in most geographies. These territories include Asia, Asia-Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the United States and South America.

MORE MAP INFO

COMPANY RESTRUCTURING

Thinking about corporate restructuring? Are you maybe on the road to privatisation? We have much experience in metal sector corporate turnaround assignments and would be pleased to assist you. Call us for a no-obligation discussion.

BUSINESS RESTRUCTURING SUPPORT

Cost Models

We can prepare economic models for raw material production (including coke, sinter, DRI), iron and steelmaking (for BOF, EAF and induction furnace process), casting and rolling (including flat, long or tube products). These models can be prepared for any region of the world, or for any nominated facility. Please contact us for further information.

Example here shows 2021 liquid steel costs for electric arc furnace based steelmaking in a notional one million tonne per year coastal works in Japan, in US dollars per metric tonne.

Economic models may be supplied for single or linked steel manufacturing processes (e.g. an EAF with a billet caster plus a bar mill); and with more or less detail than shown here.

2021 EAF Economics

Models can also be used for cost curves e.g. hot rolled coil (HRC).

BOF ECONOMICS EAF COST MODEL

STEEL FEASIBILITY STUDY

Are you looking for help with an independent feasibility appraisal for a steel plant investment? Do you need a market, technical and financial evaluation as part of the viability assessment? This is our core business.

FEASIBILITY STUDIES

Historic Perspectives

Selected Steel Firm: Schmolz Bickenbach

Recent events:
2007: Reprimand from Swiss Stock Exchange (see notes). ...
2015: Sale of steel distribution companies to Jacquet Metal ...
2015: Relocation of Group headquarters from Dusseldorf to ...
2018: Purchase of French engineering steel producer ...
2019: Reaches out-of-court settlement with German Federal Cartel ...
2019: Control struggle between Liwet Holding and BigPoint Holding. ...
2020: Martin Haefner increases S+B ownership stake to ...
2020: Reports dramatic slump in Q2 shipments as a result of Covid pandemic. ...
2020: EGM in September 2020 approves S+B change of name to Swiss Steel ...
2021: Proposal approved for Euro 200m increase of share ...
2021: BigPoint Holding AG sells 10% Swiss Steel equity stake to PCS Holding ...

For earlier Schmolz Bickenbach events,
visit Schmolz Bickenbach history page.

Why not check out our 'history of steel' pages, and learn about the corporate history of the world's 30 largest steelmakers?

MORE HISTORY PAGES

METALS CONSULTING INTERNATIONAL LIMITED

Looking for more information about our firm? Learn more about our ferrous and non-ferrous expert witness support services and related activities in the metals and mining industries.

VISIT MCI WEBSITE

Iron and Steel Plant Database

Our database of plant and equipment in iron and steel production facilities covers:

Raw materials (coke, sinter, direct reduced iron or HBI, blast furnace pig iron)
Steelmaking assets (EAF and BOF crude steel)
Semi-finished products (bloom, billet, slab)
Flat products (plate, hot and cold rolled coil, coated sheet including galvanised iron or GI, PPGI, and tinplate)
Long products (heavy and light sections, bar, reinforcing bar, wire rod)
Seamless and welded tube (including helical / spiral and longitudinal welded pipe).

This information encompasses both carbon and specialty steel (including stainless, electrical steel, SBQ) and is continuously updated. We can provide facility information for these plant items in most regions of the world. The data coverage typically includes:

Site location
Works ownership
Factory installation date
Closure date, where relevant
Annual capacity in metric tons per year
Machinery and / or technology specification
Dimensional capability [such as minimum / maximum gauge or section diameter]
Details of other ancillary on-site equipment
and in many cases: the name of the foundry supplier, modernisation details, and comments on grade or product orientation.

If for example you are interested in a report on blast furnace commissioning dates, we can provide the following analysis for ~1500 different furnaces worldwide.

Blast Furnace	Capacity, kt	Start Up
Shandong Steel Group, Shandong, China	3750	2017
Kobe Steel, Hyogo, Japan	2004	2017
CSP - Cia Siderurgica do Pecem, Ceara, Brazil	3030	2016
Zarand Iranian Steel, Iran	1515	2016
Wuhan Fangchenggang, Guangxi, China	7575	2016
Hung Nghiep Formosa Ha Tinh Steel, Ha Tinh, Vietnam	3570	2016
Kardemir, Turkey	2040	2015
Baosteel Group Zhanjiang Steel, Guangdong, China	5610	2015
Tata Steel, Odisha, India	3365	2015
Krakatau Steel, West Java, Indonesia	1350	2015
V&M do Brazil, Minas Gerais, Brazil	1545	2014
Jiangsu Tieben, Jiangsu, China	8655	2014

Source: James F King. Assessment prepared in mid-2021.

MORE PLANT CAPACITY INFO

EXPERT WITNESS SUPPORT

We also provide independent expert witness support to help resolve steel sector legal disputes. Our experts offer objective and unbiased opinions on technical or commercial matters relating to iron & steel. Contact us for a no-obligation discussion on +44 (0) 775-149 0885.

STEEL EXPERT WITNESS SUPPORT

Competition and Industry Structure

Steel company profitability is typically determined by the extent of competition in a given product market. In some sectors, a producer can enjoy a near-monopoly supply position. The production of concrete reinforcing bar in the UK is one such example, with Celsa's Tremorfa mill in Cardiff being the sole UK manufacturer.

Other markets more commonly have multiple suppliers. Thus, rebar fabrication in Spain is much more competitive than in the UK and is characterised by the existence of eight competing plants (see table below). Rebar supply in other countries is still more fragmented. In Italy there are over 30 rebar production facilities; and in Turkey, we estimate that there are more than 50 rebar mills.

Owner	Plant	Location	Capacity, kt / yr
ArcelorMittal	Zumarraga [partly closed?]	Gipuzkoa	225
Celsa Group	Castellbisbal	Barcelona	325
Celsa Group	La Coruna	Galicia	780
Celsa Group	Nervacero	Vizcaya	400
Grupo Alfonso Gallardo	Jerez de los Caballeros	Badajoz	650
Megasa	La Coruna	Naron	675
Megasa	Zaragoza	Aragon	750
Riva	Siderurgica Sevillana	Seville	350

Arcelor Mittal Zumarraga facility in Gipuzkoa was partially closed in 2016; this rebar production facility may currently be mothballed. However, the ArcelorMittal Bergara bar mill in Gipuzkoa may have additional rebar capacity. Megasa full name is Metalurgica Galaica SA; the firm acquired the Zaragoza bar mill from ArcelorMittal in 2016. Note that Celsa's newly-commissioned rebar factory in Bayonne is just across the border in France.

Please contact info@steelonthenet.com for further insights into the extent of competition in any given market sector.

Independent Advice

Our main activity is feasibility study appraisal and due diligence work, for mining and metal sector clients worldwide. Why not call one of our advisors for a no-obligation discussion on +44-775-149-0885 ? Alternatively please email our consultants at info@steelonthenet.com.

We may be able to help with an independent consumption analysis; with a technical and / or financial review of your investment plans; offer insight into your strategic positioning; and perhaps assist you in obtaining external finance.

Our parent company Metals Consulting International Limited is an independent privately owned firm. MCI is based in London, in the United Kingdom.

CONSULTING ASSISTANCE

MANUFACTURING PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT

Looking to improve your plant's operating performance? We have technical experts in melting casting and rolling, who are able to diagnose manufacturing problems and offer solutions. See our industrial case studies page.

PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT

Beginners Start Here

Are you unfamiliar with the world of steel, or with the technical terminology used? Perhaps you don't have a metallurgical or technology background; or maybe you just want to brush up on your steel industry knowledge?

If so, we have some great resources that might be of interest. Click below to see some introductory videos about how steel is made. Another link below will also take you to our steel industry glossary of terms.

TRAINING VIDEOS GLOSSARY OF TERMS

Crossword and quiz