Lakshmi Mittal, whose $46 billion
takeover in 2006 created ArcelorMittal as the world’s largest
steelmaker, is getting pushed around.
The U.K.’s richest person can’t stop his iron-ore suppliers from raising prices and can’t pass on higher costs to customers like Volkswagen AG (VOW), after the Luxembourg-based company’s market share fell to its lowest since 2009. The stock slid to a record in May this year, and its bond yields are close to record highs.
Even after years of consolidation, today’s five biggest steelmakers including ArcelorMittal and South Korea’s Posco control no more than 19 percent of the $960 billion global market, too little to defend their prices. In contrast, BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP), Vale SA (VALE) and Rio Tinto Group mine about 63 percent of the world’s iron ore exported as the main ingredient in steelmaking, while the five biggest automakers that buy ArcelorMittal’s steel make about 51 percent of the world’s cars.
“They really are between two behemoth industries,” said Tim Cahill, an analyst at J&E Davy Holdings Ltd. in Dublin. “They are just one cog in a chain between large suppliers and customers and they are just the middle man with no pricing power.”
ArcelorMittal reported an operating margin of 5.2 percent last year, compared with 49 percent at Vale, the world’s biggest iron-ore exporter.
Spokesmen for ArcelorMittal, Rio and BHP declined to comment when contacted by Bloomberg News. Vale’s press office in Rio de Janeiro declined to comment.
The global pinch is sharpest in Europe. The Bloomberg Europe 500 Steel Index has dropped 80 percent in four years, the worst performance of the 37 industry groups tracked by Bloomberg.
Mittal has seen his market share eroded by the financial crisis, slipping from 9.5 percent in 2006, when he created a steelmaker with $88.6 billion in annual sales, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Germany’s largest steelmaker ThyssenKrupp AG (TKA) said May 15 that earnings were being curbed by “intense competition” in the steel industry.
Global steel capacity use is about 80 percent, according to Macquarie Group Ltd., a level too low to give steelmakers pricing power.
“We are still suffering from the party hangover from the 2005 to 2008 years,” said Christian Georges, a London-based analyst at Olivetree Securities Ltd. “It was a once-in-a- lifetime situation where the steel suppliers had the upper hand on desperate buyers.”
The CFO Aditya Mittal, Lakshmi Mittal’s son, said on a conference call last month that the industry has “room to do better” on supply discipline, while ThyssenKrupp said industry price discipline was “weak.”
ArcelorMittal (MT) “gives one the impression that there is a relatively high degree of consolidation,” Georges said. “The truth is that one big guy can’t change the logic of the industry. What does change it is when you have an oligopoly of three or four guys.”
Global steel sales totaled about $960 billion in 2010, according to a report by Research and Markets, a Dublin-based research company.
Rio Tinto (RIO), Vale and BHP posted record operating profit last year, driven by profit from their iron-ore units. The steel producers have struggled to adapt to changes in raw-material pricing introduced two years ago as mining companies ended a decades-old system of annual contract talks in favor of quarterly accords or spot pricing.
“There’s no doubt that having three guys controlling the world’s low-cost iron ore means that they have the upper hand,” said Georges. “They can accelerate or slow down their supplies and they will dictate the price level.”
To be sure, ArcelorMittal has focused on buying and building its own iron-ore and coal mines to reduce dependence on the biggest producers. The company plans to produce 100 million metric tons by 2015, up from 54 million tons last year, as it taps mining assets in countries including Canada, Brazil and Liberia.
“Steel production is essentially a conversion business now, and the days when raw materials made up only 30 percent to 35 percent of costs, compared to 75 percent to 80 percent now, are long gone,” Macquarie Group said in a May 14 report. Given weak demand and overcapacity “the coming months and even years are set to see relatively tepid price action and thin steelmaker margins.”
European steelmakers have lost about three-quarters of their value from the industry’s pre-crisis peak in 2008. That compares with a 35 percent decline by the automakers from a 2007 high, and a 48 percent fall for mining companies from a 2008 peak, based on the Bloomberg World Auto Manufacturers and Bloomberg World Mining indexes.
“Unfortunately they are just the price taker in this, with customers who are very consolidated and suppliers who are probably the biggest oligopoly in the world,” said Cahill. “It’s hard to know what is going to change.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Thomas Biesheuvel in London at tbiesheuvel@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: John Viljoen at jviljoen@bloomberg.net
The U.K.’s richest person can’t stop his iron-ore suppliers from raising prices and can’t pass on higher costs to customers like Volkswagen AG (VOW), after the Luxembourg-based company’s market share fell to its lowest since 2009. The stock slid to a record in May this year, and its bond yields are close to record highs.
Even after years of consolidation, today’s five biggest steelmakers including ArcelorMittal and South Korea’s Posco control no more than 19 percent of the $960 billion global market, too little to defend their prices. In contrast, BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP), Vale SA (VALE) and Rio Tinto Group mine about 63 percent of the world’s iron ore exported as the main ingredient in steelmaking, while the five biggest automakers that buy ArcelorMittal’s steel make about 51 percent of the world’s cars.
“They really are between two behemoth industries,” said Tim Cahill, an analyst at J&E Davy Holdings Ltd. in Dublin. “They are just one cog in a chain between large suppliers and customers and they are just the middle man with no pricing power.”
ArcelorMittal reported an operating margin of 5.2 percent last year, compared with 49 percent at Vale, the world’s biggest iron-ore exporter.
Spokesmen for ArcelorMittal, Rio and BHP declined to comment when contacted by Bloomberg News. Vale’s press office in Rio de Janeiro declined to comment.
The global pinch is sharpest in Europe. The Bloomberg Europe 500 Steel Index has dropped 80 percent in four years, the worst performance of the 37 industry groups tracked by Bloomberg.
Sluggish Profit Growth
ArcelorMittal is fighting to increase its market share from 6.2 percent last year as the industry faces a 1.8 percent earnings-growth forecast in the next 12 months. That compares with an average 6.7 percent among Europe’s largest 500 companies tracked by Bloomberg.Mittal has seen his market share eroded by the financial crisis, slipping from 9.5 percent in 2006, when he created a steelmaker with $88.6 billion in annual sales, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Germany’s largest steelmaker ThyssenKrupp AG (TKA) said May 15 that earnings were being curbed by “intense competition” in the steel industry.
Global steel capacity use is about 80 percent, according to Macquarie Group Ltd., a level too low to give steelmakers pricing power.
‘Party Hangover’
World steel demand growth is forecast to slow to 3.6 percent this year from 5.6 percent last year and in Europe there may be a 1.2 percent contraction as the sovereign debt crisis saps purchases. Europe “remains a live concern” ArcelorMittal’s Chief Financial Officer, Aditya Mittal, said last month.“We are still suffering from the party hangover from the 2005 to 2008 years,” said Christian Georges, a London-based analyst at Olivetree Securities Ltd. “It was a once-in-a- lifetime situation where the steel suppliers had the upper hand on desperate buyers.”
The CFO Aditya Mittal, Lakshmi Mittal’s son, said on a conference call last month that the industry has “room to do better” on supply discipline, while ThyssenKrupp said industry price discipline was “weak.”
ArcelorMittal (MT) “gives one the impression that there is a relatively high degree of consolidation,” Georges said. “The truth is that one big guy can’t change the logic of the industry. What does change it is when you have an oligopoly of three or four guys.”
Mittal Versus Chinese
Under Mittal, the 61-year-old chairman and chief executive who began his industrial career in his parents steel company, the company trimmed output about 20 percent from the 116 million tons produced in 2007, while Chinese mills have more than doubled volumes since 2004 to 684 million metric tons last year.Global steel sales totaled about $960 billion in 2010, according to a report by Research and Markets, a Dublin-based research company.
Rio Tinto (RIO), Vale and BHP posted record operating profit last year, driven by profit from their iron-ore units. The steel producers have struggled to adapt to changes in raw-material pricing introduced two years ago as mining companies ended a decades-old system of annual contract talks in favor of quarterly accords or spot pricing.
‘Upper Hand’
That means steelmakers have lost the ability to negotiate the price of their biggest cost base, eroding margins as too much steelmaking capacity and competition for sales makes it difficult to pass on cost rises to their customers.“There’s no doubt that having three guys controlling the world’s low-cost iron ore means that they have the upper hand,” said Georges. “They can accelerate or slow down their supplies and they will dictate the price level.”
To be sure, ArcelorMittal has focused on buying and building its own iron-ore and coal mines to reduce dependence on the biggest producers. The company plans to produce 100 million metric tons by 2015, up from 54 million tons last year, as it taps mining assets in countries including Canada, Brazil and Liberia.
“Steel production is essentially a conversion business now, and the days when raw materials made up only 30 percent to 35 percent of costs, compared to 75 percent to 80 percent now, are long gone,” Macquarie Group said in a May 14 report. Given weak demand and overcapacity “the coming months and even years are set to see relatively tepid price action and thin steelmaker margins.”
Price Decline
ArcelorMittal’s average steel selling price at it’s Flat Carbon Europe unit, the company’s biggest business by sales, was $861 a ton in the first quarter, down from $928 a year earlier. The unit reported earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization of $17 a ton in the first three months of 2012, down from $64 a year earlier.European steelmakers have lost about three-quarters of their value from the industry’s pre-crisis peak in 2008. That compares with a 35 percent decline by the automakers from a 2007 high, and a 48 percent fall for mining companies from a 2008 peak, based on the Bloomberg World Auto Manufacturers and Bloomberg World Mining indexes.
“Unfortunately they are just the price taker in this, with customers who are very consolidated and suppliers who are probably the biggest oligopoly in the world,” said Cahill. “It’s hard to know what is going to change.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Thomas Biesheuvel in London at tbiesheuvel@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: John Viljoen at jviljoen@bloomberg.net
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