WCA September 2018

From the Americas Mid Continent’s parent company, Deacero, is based in Mexico, where its steel is produced. Despite its relationship with Mid Continent, Deacero has had to pay the 25 per cent levy on materials shipped to the USA facility. Elsewhere in steel . . .  Steel Dynamics Inc (SDI) is planning to add a third galvanising line at its sheet mill in Columbus, Mississippi, at an expected cost of $140 million, the Fort Wayne, Indiana, steelmaker said on 26 th June. As reported by Michael Fitzgerald of Platts, the new galvanising line will have an annual capacity of 400,000 tons. It will produce gauges in the range 0.013-0.0160" and widths between 36 and 72". Operations are expected to begin in mid-2020, the steelmaker said. SDI also said it plans to invest between $90 million and $100 million over the next two years to upgrade process lines and hot-strip mill capability. The addition of the third galvanising line will help SDI to further reduce its exposure to the cyclical hot-roll market, according to Mark Millet, president and CEO of the company. Upon completion of the new galvanising line, SDI will have nine such lines throughout the eastern USA, for a total annual coating capacity of 3.8 million tons. That coating capacity will hit 4.2 million tons upon completion of SDI’s acquisition of the Heartland unit from Brazilian steelmaker Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional (CSN) for around $250 million. Heartland, in Terre Haute, Indiana, has 386,000 tons a year in capacity. Telecom Extraordinary concessions on the part of Chinese equipment maker ZTE demonstrate its eagerness to regain access to the US market In early summer a US Department of Commerce official told Reuters that ZTE Corp was to promptly deposit $400 million in an escrow account in a USA bank, enabling the company to resume sourcing its components from American suppliers. (“China’s ZTE Expected to Take Last Step to Lift Ban: US Official,” 22 nd June) ZTE, the maker of smartphones and networking gear, agreed to the escrow deposit under the terms of a settlement reached on 7 th June with the Commerce Department under which it would regain access to USA goods. The company also agreed to pay a $1 billion penalty. The Commerce Department had accused the company of breaking a prior agreement calling for the disciplining of executives involved in illegal shipments of US products

to Iran and North Korea, in violation of US sanctions against those countries. ZTE, China’s second-largest telecommunications equipment maker, ceased major operations after US imposition of the ban in April. White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said the decision to lift the seven-year ban was made by President Donald Trump as a gesture of good will toward President Xi Jinping of China. In a rare instance of independence from Mr Trump, the US Senate – controlled by his own Republican party – voted to overturn the settlement. But the legislation is still several steps from becoming law, and the White House has said it will push its allies in Congress to prevent its advance. ZTE had been an important customer of US suppliers. In May, a senior ZTE official told Reuters that the Chinese company paid Qualcomm and some 200 other US companies more than $2.3 billion in 2017, including over $100 million each to Intel, Broadcom and Texas Instruments. Under the new Commerce Department settlement, ZTE agreed to numerous conditions beyond monetary penalties, including changing its board and leadership within 30 days. Elsewhere in telecom . . .  At the beginning of hurricane season in the USA, the business news provider CNBC reported (25 th June) that AT&T and Verizon are both working on drones that can help restore phone service in the wake of a telecom infrastructure breakdown. According to the Federal Communications Commission, 90 per cent of the cell sites in Puerto Rico were down after Hurricane Maria hit the region last year. The FCC authorised AT&T to use its Cell On Wings (COW) drone to restore cellular service to the some areas, which it did. According to drone programme director Art Pregler, AT&T’s COW drone service will again be available in the case of a natural disaster this year. Verizon’s drones are still in the testing phase. But the company has been testing a 200-pound gas-powered drone in Cape May County, New Jersey. The device acts as a flying cell site and provides a 4G long-term evolution (LTE) signal over a one-mile range.

Automotive

Makers of self-driving cars try to get out in front of a crisis brewing in American labour There is general consensus that driverless vehicles could eliminate millions of jobs. Hoping to dispel accusations

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Wire & Cable ASIA – September/October 2018

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