Us tariff + Indonesian Nickel Mine Export ban + list of key Raw Materials changes the Dark Night of European Steel and Iron Industry is just around the corner

SMM12, March 19-Trump's decision in 2018 to impose a 25 percent tariff on imported steel has made it difficult for European steelmakers to export. Although the European Commission has taken steps to limit supply from the US market to stop the glut, the move has not worked.

Lakshmi Mittal, chief executive of steelmaker ArcelorMittal, said: "the steel industry has about 500m-550 million tonnes of overcapacity, accounting for 1/4 of global steel production. This shows that the EU measures have not worked and there is an urgent need for further measures. "

With the advantage of 1% global nickel mining, Indonesia has increased steel production on a large scale in recent years and has become the second largest stainless steel exporter in the world and the largest stainless steel exporter in Europe. Indonesia's stainless steel production capacity is expected to reach 11 million tons by 2025, despite domestic demand of about 200000 tons in 2018. With Indonesia's ban on nickel exports, the European steel industry faces a huge threat. Indonesian-made steel flooded into the European market at extremely low prices. The European Union filed a lawsuit against Indonesia last month. "Indonesia is sitting on a lot of nickel and they have established a completely export-oriented stainless steel industry," said Aurelio Braconi, senior raw materials manager at Eurofer, the European steel industry association. "

In addition to nickel ore, the shortage of raw materials in the European steel industry also involves coking coal. Coking coal is mainly used to produce steel in oxygen furnaces. In Europe, coking coal is mainly imported. Although the content of coal mined is very small, it is very important for steelmaking. The European Commission therefore added it to the list of key raw materials. But in 2017, the European Commission added coking coal to the list of raw materials at the border. Now, there is widespread concern that coking coal could disappear completely from the list of raw materials next March.

(JSW), a Polish coking coal mining company, is urging the European Union not to remove coking coal from the list of raw materials. Once removed, Europe will turn to importing coking coal from abroad. "Coking coal imported from distant countries will produce large amounts of carbon dioxide emissions, and it is essential to have access to domestic, stable coking coal that meets European environmental standards."

China is now the largest producer of coking coal, accounting for more than half of global supply. Australia accounted for 15%, Russia and the United States each accounted for 7%. The European Union accounts for only 1% of the world's coking coal production. Most of the EU's imports of coking coal come from Australia, Russia and the United States.

With the trade situation and economic trends posing a threat to the supply of raw materials, it will be difficult for European manufacturing to obtain steel. The dark night of the European steel industry may come.

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