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UK steel service centre USP buys Dudley decoiler

  • Spanish Market: Metals
  • 16/08/24

UK-based steel service centre USP completed its eagerly awaited purchase of decoiler United Steels in Dudley on 9 August.

The acquisition will increase USP's hot-rolled purchasing capacity to around 250,000 t/yr, USP chief executive Glyn Costigan told Argus. "This strategic purchase is just the next step in our ambitious plans. United Steels' brilliant range of processing capabilities for decoiling and slitting will further support planned growth and of course increase the stability of our group structure," Costigan said.

The combined company will be one of the largest independent service centres in the UK. United Steels managing director Mark Unitt will receive a stake in the business, and will continue in his role as managing director.

United Steels processes coils from 1,000-2,100mm wide and 0.4-25mm thick. Its profit before tax was £83,714 ($108,000) in 2023, down from over £983,000 a year earlier, according to its Companies House filings.

USP was founded in 2016 by Costigan and has grown exponentially since then. It buys as much as 15,000 t/month of hot-rolled coil.


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16/04/25

Japan’s Honda to produce more cars in US, less locally

Japan’s Honda to produce more cars in US, less locally

Tokyo, 16 April (Argus) — Japanese car producer Honda will produce a car model at its US facility instead of its domestic facility from as early as June, the company told Argus today, possibly to avoid the US' tariffs on foreign car deliveries. Honda will stop manufacturing the Civic Hybrid 5-door model at the country's eastern Yorii plant during June-July and switch the production to its US plant in the state of Indianna, the representative of the firm told Argus . Honda produced 3,000 units of the model during February and March, he added. This comes as part of the company's mid-to long term "optimisation strategy", according to the firm, reiterating that theproduction switch is not a countermeasure against the US' across-the-board 25pc tariff on automobile imports that took effect on 3 April. But this may not be entirely convincing since Honda just started producing the model in February, leaving room for speculation that the transfer is part of a wider strategy to reduce delivery costs to the US market. Honda did not disclose whether the Indiana plant will procure auto parts from its suppliers in Canada or Mexico . Japanese auto industry is still bracing for further developments in the US tariff policy on automobile and auto parts, although US president Donald Trump on 14 April suggested possibly pausing the tariff. Tokyo and Washington will hold a ministerial talk this week to negotiate trade issues, including the levy on auto delivery, along with the 24pc "reciprocal" tariffs the Trump administration separately imposed on Japanese imports. Japanese government is hoping to negotiate for a better tariff deal during the 90-day pause on the reciprocal tariff imposition by the US government, and the automobile industry is seen as a key sector to settle the deal. The US president has long expressed his dissatisfaction against the auto trade imbalance between two countries. Japan exported around 1.3mn units of passenger vehicles to the US in 2024, while Japan purchased around 23,000 units of US passenger vehicles in 2023. By Yusuke Maekawa Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

Australia's Fortescue announces electric drills deal


16/04/25
16/04/25

Australia's Fortescue announces electric drills deal

Sydney, 16 April (Argus) — Australian iron ore and energy company Fortescue has announced a A$350mn ($222mn) deal with Swedish firm Epiroc to buy over 50 electric drill rigs aimed at reducing emissions at its iron ore operations in Western Australia (WA). Fortescue expects the drills to reduce annual diesel consumption by around 35mn litres once it fully replaces diesel-powered equipment by 2030. The new fleet will cut more than 90,000t of CO2 emissions annually, Fortescue Metals chief executive officer Dino Otranto said on 16 April. The fleet includes autonomous electric platform and contour drills, and the first equipment arrived at Fortescue's Solomon mine in early April. The deal is part of the company's plan to replace its diesel-powered equipment by 2030. It signed a $2.8bn deal with Swiss-German manufacturer Liebherr in 2024 for a battery-powered truck fleet for its mining operations. Fortescue plans to replace around 800 pieces of heavy mining equipment with zero emissions equivalents and deploy 2-3GW of renewable energy and battery storage across the Pilbara region by the end of this decade, Otranto said. Fortescue is currently building a 190MW solar farm at its Cloudbreak mine, which will reduce annual diesel consumption by a further 125mn l. Safeguard mechanism results The company reported covered scope 1 emissions of 1.96mn t of CO2e across seven facilities in the first compliance year of Australia's reformed safeguard mechanism , which was just over 100,000t of CO2e above a combined baseline of 1.85mn t of CO2e. Facilities earn Safeguard Mechanism Credits (SMCs) under the scheme if their emissions are below baseline or must surrender Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) or SMCs if emissions are above the threshold. Fortescue earned 49,749 SMCs for its Solomon Power Station and surrendered the units across four other facilities that exceeded their baselines. It also surrendered 57,753 ACCUs, while two of its facilities — the Christmas Creek Mine and Eliwana Mine — will have to manage a combined excess of 49,382t of CO2e in future under applications for multi-year monitoring periods (MYMP), which allow eligible facilities to report under the safeguard scheme for periods of up to five years ( see table ). Fortescue expected to exceed emissions baselines by around 120,000t of CO2e in the 2023-24 year, it said in 2024. ACCU generic, generic (No AD) and human-induced regeneration (HIR) spot prices have remained below A$35 ($22) over the past two months, having declined steadily from mid-November because of lower buying interest from safeguard companies and strong SMC issuances. By Juan Weik and Susannah Cornford Fortescue's 2023-24 safeguard mechanism results t CO2e Facility Covered emissions Baseline ACCUs surrendered SMCs surrendered SMCs issued MYMP net position Solomon Mine 452,137 390,033 42,926 19,178 Solomon Power Station 316,859 366,608 49,749 Christmas Creek Mine 372,251 351,986 20,265 Cloudbreak Mine 295,132 267,459 8,411 19,262 Rail 254,871 241,706 4,002 9,163 Eliwana Mine 164,894 135,777 29,117 Iron Bridge Mine 104,560 100,000 2,414 2,146 Total 1,960,704 1,853,569 57,753 49,749 49,749 49,382 Source: Clean Energy Regulator Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

South Korea's March car output rises, exports dip


15/04/25
15/04/25

South Korea's March car output rises, exports dip

Singapore, 15 April (Argus) — South Korea's automotive output and domestic sales rose in March but exports dipped. The country has agreed to offer a wide range of support measures to offset the impact of the US' sweeping tariffs on its auto industry. The country's auto output in March edged up by 1.5pc on the year to almost 371,000 units, according to South Korea's trade and industry ministry (Motie). Domestic sales rose by 2.4pc on the year to around 149,500 units. Exports in March fell by 2.4pc on the year to almost 241,000 units, with auto export revenue at $6.24bn. The country earlier this month unveiled planned emergency measures to support its automobile industry , in response to the potentially lower export volumes given the US tariffs. The country will cut the special consumption tax on new car purchases, and push its public sector, public institutions and local governments to buy "business vehicles" within the first half of 2025. Domestic eco-friendly vehicle sales rose by 14pc on the year to almost 70,000 units while exports rose by 5.8pc to almost 69,000 units. Eco-friendly vehicles in South Korea refer to hybrids, battery electric vehicles, plug-in hybrids and hydrogen-fuelled vehicles. Hybrid domestic sales rose by 23pc on the year to about 49,500 units, while domestic BEV sales dipped by 7.5pc to around 18,700 units after rising sharply on the year in February . Hybrid exports were also up by almost 25pc to almost 42,000 units, while BEV exports fell sharply by 25pc on the year to about 20,800 units. By Joseph Ho South Korea's car exports in 2025 (units) South Korea's domestic car sales in 2025 (units) Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

Western Australia’s iron ore exports rise in March


15/04/25
15/04/25

Western Australia’s iron ore exports rise in March

Sydney, 15 April (Argus) — Iron ore producers shipped 64.3mn t of ore out of Australia's Port Hedland and Dampier Port, up by 0.8pc on the year, after months of weather challenges. Exports from Dampier fell by 0.7pc on the year, but this was offset by a 1.2pc increase in shipments from the larger Port Hedland ( see table ). Shipments from Port Hedland to Vietnam rose by more than seven-fold on the year to 2.6mn t from 343,059t, offsetting declines in exports to China and Japan. The increase comes after Vietnamese buyers reduced purchases of Port Hedland iron ore by 73pc on the year in February . Iron ore producers shipped 41.2mn t of ore from Port Hedland to China in March, down by 4pc on the year. Chinese steelmakers cut production in March because of weak demand and maintenance work . Chinese steel mills may continue to cut production in April. Indian firms imported 381,000t of Port Hedland iron ore in March, up by 98pc on the year. JWS Steel and Tata Steel, the country's two largest steelmakers, increased their crude steel output by 6pc on the year over the April 2024-March 2025 fiscal year . Port Hedland and Dampier closed multiple times in late-January and February as cyclones plagued the region . One of Rio Tinto's railcar dumpers at Dampier was restarted in early March after it sustained flood damage during Cyclone Sean in January. Argus ' iron ore fines 62pc (ICX) cfr Qingdao price fell from $107/t on 28 February to $101/t on 3 March. The price partially recovered over the month, reaching $104/t on 2 April, before falling to just $100/t on 14 April. By Avinash Govind Pilbara's iron ore exports mn t Mar-25 Feb-25 Mar-24 m-o-m ± % y-o-y ± % Port Hedland China 41.2 31.6 42.9 30.4 -4.0 Japan 1.3 1.4 1.8 -7.1 -27.8 Vietnam 2.6 0.3 0.3 871.0 670.0 India 0.4 0.0 0.2 NA 98.4 South Korea 3.9 2.9 3.4 34.5 14.7 Total* 50.7 37.1 50.1 36.7 1.2 Dampier Total 13.6 8.2 13.7 65.9 -0.7 Total includes other countries not listed Source: Pilbara Ports Authority Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

Funding cuts could delay US river lock work: Correction


14/04/25
14/04/25

Funding cuts could delay US river lock work: Correction

Corrects lock locations in paragraph 5. Houston, 14 April (Argus) — The US Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) will have to choose between various lock reconstruction and waterway projects for its annual construction plan after its funding was cut earlier this year. Last year Congress allowed the Corps to use $800mn from unspent infrastructure funds for other waterways projects. But when Congress passed a continuing resolutions for this year's budget they effectively removed that $800mn from what was a $2.6bn annual budget for lock reconstruction and waterways projects. This means a construction plan that must be sent to Congress by 14 May can only include $1.8bn in spending. No specific projects were allocated funding by Congress, allowing the Corps the final say on what projects it pursues under the new budget. River industry trade group Waterways Council said its top priority is for the Corps to provide a combined $205mn for work at the Montgomery lock in Pennsylvania on the Ohio River and Chickamauga lock in Tennessee on the Tennessee River since they are the nearest to completion and could become more expensive if further delayed. There are seven active navigation construction projects expected to take precedent, including the following: the Chickamauga and Kentucky Locks on the Tennessee River; Locks 2-4 on the Monongahela River; the Three Rivers project on the Arkansas River; the LaGrange Lock on the Illinois River; Lock 25 on the Mississippi River; and the Montgomery Lock on the Ohio River. There are three other locks in Texas, Pennsylvania and Illinois that are in the active design phase (see map) . By Meghan Yoyotte Corps active construction projects 2025 Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

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