Browse our series of interviews with metal market leaders
Gopal Seenivasagam, Plant Manager, EZZ Steel
Published March 2018
Metal Bulletin Events (MB): At the upcoming 6th World DRI & Pellet Congress you will be exploring the issue of Blast Furnace pellets being used in DRI reactors. Why do you believe that this is an important subject for discussion?
Gopal Seenivasagam: With the shortage of DR grade pellets, a number of DRI producers have had to resort to utilising Blast Furnace pellets in order to sustain their operations. We were in that situation for a period in 2016. We used it as a stopgap, but, I hear a number of DRI producers are consistently utilising Blast Furnace pellets in their blend. Primarily, due to the cost benefit of Blast Furnace pellets and the final quality of the finish product is within the product specification. The use of Blast Furnace pellet, brings with it a number of operational issue, namely, it is not pre-coated and the crushing strength is lower.
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Chris Barrington, Secretary General, IIMA (International Iron Metallics Association)
Published March 2018
Metal Bulletin Events (MB): At the upcoming 6th World DRI & Pellet Congress you will be speaking about the developments in the merchant market for HBI and DRI. What do you see as some of the main developments that have impacted DRI production in the last two years?
Chris Barrington (CB): According to Midrex data, production of DRI in 2016 was 72.8 million tonnes (mt). 2017 DRI production data reported by worldsteel in January suggest that there was a significant jump in production last year, notably in Iran and India. As well as their respective domestic merchant markets, both India and Iran are suppliers to the international merchant markets, in 2017 exporting about 0.5 mt and 0.6 mt respectively, mainly to nearby destinations. Increased HBI production can be expected from USA and Russia with the ramp up of the voestalpine Texas plant and the third line at Lebedinsky GOK, both of which are important suppliers to the merchant market.
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Marko Lahtinen, Senior Sales Manager, Outotec
Published February 2018
Metal Bulletin Events (MBE): Aside from innovative equipment, how is Outotec working on improving productivity for mining and metals industry process chains through digitalization?
Marko Lahtinen (ML): We see digitalization mainly as modern and efficient means of process control and automation. Widely speaking we have a product related to this: “Advanced Process Control” (APC), which plays more and more important role in ensuring that production plants are running with efficiency and availability.
In addition, Outotec ACT (Advanced Control Tools) is a state of the art software platform that allows efficient, open and easy to maintain implementation of advanced control and monitoring solutions for improving the energy and process efficiency and quality control of minerals and metals processing.
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Geoffrey May, Director, Focus Consulting
Published February 2018
Metal Bulletin Events (MBE): Everyone is talking about batteries and with the rise of the Electric Vehicles, more and more alternative battery chemistries are developed. The established lead-acid battery now has to compete with several other battery chemistries such as Li-ion, sodium-sulphur and flow batteries. Can you explain a little more about how the lead battery compares to other battery chemistries?
Geoffrey May (GM): Yes, lead-acid batteries offer an economic, technically excellent and sustainable solution for energy storage. Other chemistries are more expensive and cannot be recycled at end of life as easily. The lead industry has the most efficient recycling system of any commodity metal whereas the recycling of Li-ion batteries is not at all efficient and will result in a cost to the user.
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Javier Peréz Dominguez, Director of Operations, Reciclacentro
Published January 2018
AMM Events (AMME): In January 2018 you will be representing Reciclacentro, a company that specializes in recycling Mexico’s steel scrap. How has Recicla Centro reacted to market dynamics and grown into a key market player?
Javier Peréz Dominguez (JPD): Some strategies are related to internal variables, like offering tailor-made services, adding value to materials, and widening the scope of materials we are able to manage. As you may see, all of them imply to grow our capabilities as persons and as an organization...
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Adalberto Becerra, Strategic Planning Manger, Roca Acero
Published December 2017
AMM Events (AMME): What do you see as the most important changes that have occurred in Mexico’s steel scrap recycling industry in the last 5 years?
Adalberto Becerra (AB): In recent years there have been several changes in the Mexican recycling industry, however we consider that especially two are of great importance. Firstly, the backward integration that the mills have had regarding the supply of their scrap, buying directly from the generators. This has increased competition and has driven us to be more efficient in our collection, processing and shipping services...
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Brad Beauchamp, Vice President, Global Stainless Steel
Published December 2017
AMM Events (AMME): At next year’s Mexican Steel Forum in Cancun, you will be representing Global Stainless, a Canadian metal distributor. What is it about Mexico that stands out as an exciting place to do business?
Brad Beauchamp (BB): The world considers Mexico to be the Tiger of North America. We as a company see some manufacturing jobs leaving China to be made in Mexico. USA and Canadian companies run into language, freight costs, currency, and delivery issues so they are working on developing and investing in plants in Mexico where they have better control over the manufacturing process...
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Armando Vazquez, Senior Business Development Manager, International Sales, Tenova Goodfellow
Published December 2017
Metal Bulletin Events (MBE): Bullish or bearish- what is your business strategy to hedge for either outcome? What are the most important drivers considered?
Armando Vazquez (AV): Tenova is a company of forward-thinkers who take a proactive approach as solution providers. Our company is focused on developing new and innovative technologies for the mining and metal industries with the goal to improve processes through reduced transformation cost, energy savings, reduced environmental impact and enhanced safety...
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Luis Miguel Labardini, Partner, Marcos y Asociados Infraestructura y Energia S.C
Published November 2017
AMM Events (AMME): Why did Mexico make the decision to reform its energy sector?
Luis Miguel Labardini (LML): The decision to reform the energy sector is due to the fact that it has been very clear for at least thirty years that to have monopolies in the sector was becoming a burden and a barrier to an efficient energy market and to economic growth...
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Anton Löf, Independent Consultant
Published April 2017
Metal Bulletin Events (MBE): What opportunities are presented by the current iron ore price recovery?
Anton Löf (AL): What the current iron ore price recovery has shown us is that the predicted 50-60 USD long term price might not be as realistic as it was proclaimed to be.
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Dr Joseph Poveromo, President, Raw Materials & Ironmaking Global Consulting
Published April 2017
Metal Bulletin Events (MBE): What opportunities are presented by the current iron ore price recovery?
Joe Poveromo (JP): For newer projects, the price recovery provides the opportunity for repayment of debt; this is especially important for companies such as Fortescue. Other opportunities are for projects that were close to approval before the price crash.
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Ibrahim 'Abe' Ulusal, Futures Broker, Mitsui Bussan Commodities
Published April 2017
Metal Bulletin Events (MBE): What opportunities are presented by the current iron ore price recovery?
Abe Ulusal (AU): There was a great opportunity especially for iron ore producers to hedge forward production when iron ore spot was trading around $85.
The physical players have to adjust their strategy to the fast moving markets since it took over 3 months for iron ore to rise from $55 to around $95, but only three weeks to decline over 30%.
Opportunities are still there especially for low cost producers and the industry has to accept the fact that doing nothing is speculation!
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Ning Xia, Head of Iron Ore Trading, Castleton Commodities Trading (China) Co Ltd
Published April 2017
Metal Bulletin Events (MBE): What opportunities are presented by the current iron ore price recovery?
Ning Xia (NX): There are 3 supportive factors for the current price recovery:
1) Very good profit margin. During the first 2 months, more than 87% of Chinese steel mills are profitable. There are rebar producers enjoying rmb900 per ton profit.
2) Consistent demand for high Fe, low impurity iron ore. With the healthy profit, mills’ priority is maximizing their output and stable operations. This increases the demand for the high Fe and low impurity material.
3) China keeps its process of supply-side reform on steel capacity.
We do see that high Fe, low Alumium raw material becomes very popular because of its high demand and limited availability. With the high grade premium and current flat price, I do see more opportunities for long-haul premium cargoes.
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