This session will feature presentations from leading industry experts share insights on the metallurgical coal, coke and steel industry market trends and global market outlook and the impact of COVID19

• Covid impact on US output and exports
• China ban on Australian coal splits the market
• The hydrogen challenge on steelmaking
• Near-term expectations

Jim Truman | Director - Global Metallurgical Coal Markets, Wood Mackenzie, USA

Mr. Schwartz will present EVA's analysis and forecast of production of US metallurgical coal and demand. The presentation will include: - Historical data on met coal supply by producer, coal product (LV, MV, HVA, HVB, PCI) and mine complex - Historical data on met coal demand by sector, including domestic coke ovens and blast furnaces and exports by port and destination - Impact of world coal market prices on US exports and mine production - Decline in US met coal demand and production in response to COVID-19 and response of US coal supply to the economic recovery - Forecast of US met coal demand in the domestic market (coke ovens in the US and Canada) and exports by port and coal basin - Domestic met coal contract sales and prices for 2021 and the outlook for 2022 - Forecast of US met coal production including existing mine complexes and growth from new mine projects - Estimates of US met coal production costs and the cost curve for the export market, adjusted for quality and freight - Issues that affect the outlook for US met coal, including the growth of EAF steel production, decarbonization initiatives, met coal supply from other countries, and currency exchange rates

Seth Schwartz | President, Energy Ventures Analysis

Panelists:

• Dr. John Quanci, VP of Engineering and Technology, SunCoke
• Jim Truman, Director, Global Metallurgical Coal Markets, Wood Mackenzie, USA

COVID19 Impact on entire supply chain. Emphasis on Pandemic Related - How was the recovery and how its projected going forward ? Domestic as well as International.

 

Additional Presenter:
Ranjan Kumar Singh, Chief Coke Ovens, Tata Steel Limited, Jamshedpur, India

COVID-19 has given many challenges to the world not only in the healthcare sector but also impacted large scale industries. Due to ceased market majority of the industries are facing difficulties in sales and thereby forced to reduce production. Also, due to strict governmental norms many industries needed to lockdown amidst rising COVID infections. Integrated steel plant which includes plants such as coke plant, blast furnaces, sinter etc. are difficult to regulate in terms of productivity. Challenge to the operation departments comes when the production needs are variable or intermediate start & stop during such situations. However, these kinds of situations also present itself with opportunities to perform difficult trials. This article outlines two perspectives; I) Productivity management during lower demand II) Extreme trials for future proofing and reducing cost. To minimise the risks, these trials were conducted in old stamp charged batteries at Tata Steel Jamshedpur, India. I) Productivity Management: Two methodologies are proposed to mitigate the risk of coke oven battery damage during production throttling: a. Hot-Boxup: Coke mass is allowed to stay inside the ovens for prolonged durations b. Hot- Idling: Reducing the cross-battery temperature with empty ovens Plant trials were conducted with both the options for 8 days and 18days respectively. Hot box up proved to the most efficient with 53.82% fuel savings and 290 tons of CO2 avoidance. Whereas hot idling showed great promise for longer throttling periods with 45.7% fuel savings and 608 tons of CO2 avoidance. II) Extreme Blend Trials: Coal blend trials were conducted which would have been impossible during the normal production regime. Normal coking time vs prolonged coking time were also studied for these trials. Emphasis was given to use captive coal in the view to mitigate the import risk and to reduce overall cost of the blend. Some blends showed marginal to no improvements whereas others proved to be highly cost effective.
Ajinkya Meshram | Principal Researcher, Research & Development, Tata Steel Limited, Jamshedpur, India

Speaker to be confirmed

How disruptions have impacted current and future capacity, challenges and solutions ahead

Speaker to be confirmed

During the 1990s the metallurgical coke industry and most other industries in the United States began facing an increasingly weighty regulatory burden as government began playing a larger and larger role in the everyday affairs of "Corporate America."  During this period, environmental statutes and rules/regulations began comprising an increasingly large share of this burden, as a strong public interest in protecting the environment resulted in intensified efforts at the Federal, state, and local levels to reduce pollution. In the early 1990s, U.S. coke producers played a key role in negotiations on Capitol Hill and, subsequently, with EPA, environmentalists and other stakeholders that led to the widely heralded Coke Oven National Emission Standard for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAPs) promulgated by EPA in 1993 under the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 (CAAA).  This presentation will focus on the principal Federal environmental rules and rulemakings that U.S. coke producers are facing in 2021 and beyond and the proactive steps the industry is taking to address them.
 
David C. Ailor, P.E. | President, American Coke and Coal Chemicals Institute

The movement towards decarbonization will have a profound impact on steelmaking and steelmaking materials from this point onwards.  Ms. Lupori will cover what decarbonization means not only for today’s industry but for decades to come including the outlook for the integrated steelmaking route and the demand for metallurgical coal and coke in a “greener” future.
Lynn Lupori | Head of Consulting – North America, CRU

• US coking coal spot price premiums, price dislocations with Australian coking coal analyzed. US met coal grades and changes to supplies captured in spot price indices.
• How hydrogen and lower-emissions steelmaking trends in Europe may influence met coke and coking coal demand, trade

Hector Forster | Senior Editor, Steel Raw Materials and Metals Analysis, S&P Global Platts