By John Helmer, Moscow Tethered high above Victor Pinchuk’s newest steel smelter at the Interpipe plant, visible for miles around the eastern Ukrainian city of Dnepropetrovsk, is a large balloon. It’s meant to symbolize what the Interpipe website is calling the smelter’s state-of-the-art technology — “the construction plant has no harmful effect on the atmosphere [...]

by John Helmer - Thursday, May 23rd, 2013
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By John Helmer, Moscow There has been no movement in Evraz’s proposed sale of its South African unit, Highveld Steel & Vanadium, to Nemascore, a special purpose vehicle created in February by a black empowerment enterprise linked to South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma (right). The deal for $320 million was announced by Evraz in March. [...]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, May 22nd, 2013
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By John Helmer, Moscow Igor Zyuzin (right) is almost entirely dependent on the Russian government for the solvency of his Mechel steelmaking and coalmining group. With between $9 billion and $10 billion in debt, Zyuzin, who owns 65.49% of Mechel’s shares and controls the company as chairman of its board, is now the steel and [...]

by John Helmer - Saturday, April 20th, 2013
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By John Helmer, Moscow Announcing its sale of the South African asset, Highveld Steel & Vanadium, to Nemascore, a company created just weeks before, Evraz issued the following announcement: “EVRAZ announces intention to sell its South African steel mill. EVRAZ plc…announces the signing of a non-binding term sheet in respect of the proposed sale of [...]

by John Helmer - Thursday, April 18th, 2013
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By John Helmer, Moscow Nemascore, the South African buyer of Evraz Highveld, the loss-making steel and vanadium producer, is run by a part-time lawyer, a part-time entrepreneur, and the part-time executive of Fire Check, a Durban-based company specializing for the past twenty years in installing home and office fire alarms around that east coast city. [...]

by John Helmer - Friday, April 12th, 2013
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By John Helmer, Moscow If 85% of something was worth $320 million on March 27, then full value would be about $377 million. And if that something is identified as Highveld Steel & Vanadium Ltd. — a major South African producer of flat steel products and vanadium with which to harden steel — then how [...]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, April 2nd, 2013
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By John Helmer, Moscow Severstal, the Russian steelmaker owned by Alexei Mordashov (image, far left, far right) reported today that in the final quarter of 2012 the company suffered a loss of $150 million after revenues fell to $3.12 billion, down 13.2% from the third quarter; earnings (Ebitda) contracted 36.4% to $347 million; and operating [...]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, March 6th, 2013
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By John Helmer, Moscow The International Trade Administration (ITA) of the US Department of Commerce has revealed that the new reference prices it set early this month for imports to the US of Russian-made rolled steel products will rise by 47% over the prevailing regime. However, the US evidence suggests the impact on Russian exporters [...]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, November 27th, 2012
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By John Helmer, Moscow If you are a steelmill owner working at safe distance when the bombs, rockets and body-packs explode in your market, the more destruction the better for demand, sales, and profit margins, especially at this point in the current cycle of the steel trade. Magnitogorsk Metallurgical Combine (MMK), the Russian steelmaker owned [...]

by John Helmer - Friday, November 16th, 2012
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By John Helmer, Moscow Novolipetsk Metallurgical Combine (NLMK), owned by Vladimir Lisin, has done something that no Russian steelmaker is on record as doing in the current downturn for steel production, sales, and profits; nor in the downturns which have preceded – 1991-93, 1998-99 and 2008-09. It is negotiating with steelworkers and their unions before [...]

by John Helmer - Saturday, November 10th, 2012
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