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

Anthony (Tony) Knutson | Principal Analyst – Met Coal Research, Wood Mackenzie

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

Panelists:

• Dr. John Quanci, Vice President of Engineering and Technology, SunCoke
• Anthony Knutson, Principal Analyst Metallurgical Coal Research,  Wood Mackenzie, USA
• Ernie GoffI, Vice President-Global Business, Development: Business Unit Director, Coke Americas Division, Fosbel Inc
• Matthew F. Kajfez, Founder & Principal, Harrison Matthews Consulting, LLC

Moderator:

• Becky E. Hites, President, Steel-Insights, LLC

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.

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

Global overview of EAF vs BF/BOF Steel Production

• NAFTA (USA, Canada, Mexico) Growth of EAF vs BF/BOF Steel Production
• EU Future Growth of DRI/EAF Steel Production to Reduce CO2 Emissions
• Prospect for CO2 Reduction with BF/BOF Route
• Metallics (DRI, pig iron) for EAF Production): role for NAFTA BF Sector
• Implications for Future Met Coke Demand

Dr. Joseph J Poveromo | Raw Materials & Ironmaking Global Consulting

With two new mills announced in the past 7 days (at United States Steel Corporation and Nucor Corporation), the USA steelmakers continue their commitment to invest in the future of the USA steel industry and to build adequate production capacity to reduce the USA's dependence on imports in high demand times.  Additional commitments have been announced at multiple steel producers to utilize green energy and environmentally sensitive production processes.  When coupled with the consolidation discipline to keep old, inefficient facilities off line and invest in the modernization of older, productive facilities to improve cost and quality competitiveness, the future of the USA steel industry is invigorating as it "grows younger".
Becky E. Hites | President, Steel-Insights, LLC

Panelists:

• Brett Levy, Director, Finance and M&A at Weathervane Resources
• Ira Kreft, National Metal Industries Executive at Bank of America

Moderator:

• Becky E. Hites, President, Steel-Insights, LLC

• Impact of China’s informal ban on Australian coal
• Evolution of trade flows: how suppliers and buyers adapted
• Did the market benefit or suffer from the new normal?
• Near term market outlook

Siew Hua Seah | Global Editor, Argus Ferrous Markets, Argus Media Ltd

• Ferrous Raw Materials Prices – new normal or frothy bubble?
• Transportation – will bottlenecks ease?
• Geopolitics – when will tensions thaw?

Ted O’Brien | Founder & CCO, Oluma Resources