8/6/21  India’s Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) has recommended the imposition of countervailing duties on certain types of aluminum wires from Malaysia for five years.

Per a report in the India’s Economic Times, the DGTR concluded that imposition of definitive countervailing duty is required to offset subsidization. “The authority recommends imposition of definitive countervailing duty...for a period of five years,” it said. The finance ministry must approve the DGTR’s finding for it to be imposed. The probe was launched based on complaints from Vedanta Ltd and Bharat Aluminium Company Ltd. DGTR recommended a rate of 6.87% and 16.5%.

The DGTR also has begin an anti-dumping (AD) duty sunset review to determine whether existing measures set in 2016 should be continued for steel wire rod imported from China. Per an online report from India’s Economic Times, the investigation is supported by the Indian Steel Association on behalf of Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited, Steel Authority of India Limited and JSW Steel. The three companies “have supported the application,” the DGTR said in a notification. In it, it said that ending the duties would harm domestic wire rod producers. The period of investigation is Oct. 1, 2019 to March 31, 2021.

Per a report in the newindianexpress.com, in 2016, an AD duty equivalent to the difference between the landed value of steel products and US$499 per metric ton was to be imposed on products exported by Minmetals Yingkou Medium Plate Co., and $538 for all other producers.

8/3/21  LS Cable & System (LSC&S) President & CEO Myung Roe-Hyun announced that the South Korean company will expand its submarine cable capacity at its campus in Donghae City, Gangwon-do.

A press release said that LSC&S will build an additional submarine cable plant in Building No. 2 of the Donghae City campus, which is in the Gangwon Province. The site now has three plants. The fourth plant will feature the tallest power cable production tower in South Korea. When completed, the vertical continuous extraction system (VCV) tower will be as tall as a 63-story apartment, the tallest structure in Donghae City. Construction will start this October and is expected to be completed by the end of April 2023. The project, which will cost more than $161 million, will increase LSC&S’s submarine cable production capacity more than 1.5 times. The 172-m-tall VCV Tower is designed to improve cable insulation quality and increase productivity.

LS Cable & System built Korea’s first submarine cable plant in Donghae City in 2008, and has invested about US$296 million to date. The existing plant, which has a total floor area of 84,000 sq m, when have an additional 31,000 sq m.

 “As countries around the world are increasing investments in renewable energy to become carbon neutral, the submarine cable market is also growing,” said Myung Roe-Hyun, President & CEO of LS Cable & System. “We will contribute to the national economy by expanding domestic investments.”

8/3/21  Nexans, which notes that it has been a long-term partner in renewable energy developments, announced that it has been awarded a contract by Equinor to supply power export cable for its innovative floating solar pilot offshore Frøya in Norway.

A press release said that the pilot project, called Frøya, is scheduled to come online this December, at which time it will be the world’s first floating solar plant operating in rough offshore waters. The Frøya floating plant will measure 80 m x 80 m, with a height of less than 3 m above the sea surface, hosting an array of solar panels capable of producing up to 1 megawatt.

Nexans will supply 5 km of 22 kW export cable to connect the floating platform from shallow waters to land. The most challenging aspect for the cable construction is to handle the dynamic loadings as the connection at the platform end pitches up and down with the waves. Nexans is utilizing a three-core cable design of a type well proven in offshore wind farm and fish farming installations. The cable will be manufactured at Rognan plant in Norway.

“Our mission for Nexans is to electrify the world,” said Krister Granlie, vice president of the submarine telecom and special cables business unit of Nexans. “Our mission for Nexans is to electrify the world. That means exploring every possible opportunity to help develop new sources of green energy. So, we are delighted to be working once again with Equinor on a truly exciting project that further extends the boundaries of what might be possible in generating renewable energy offshore.”

Utility-scale floating solar power is currently one of the fastest growing renewable technologies as governments and investors around the world explore every possibility for safer, sustainable and decarbonized energy. This is expected to drive almost 10 gigawatt of new floating solar deployment by 2025.

7/27/21  HVD Partners announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the assets of Italy’s Sampsistemi Srl and Sampsistemi Extrusion Srl through a process administered by the Court of Bologna. The deal includes Samp Sistemi and Samp Extrusion in Italy, Samp China, Samp USA and Samp Brasil including Cortinovis do Brazil). The deal includes 45% of Setic and Pourtier, the remainder of which is owned by the Gauder Group.

A press release said that “HVD will invest in the revitalization of the company’s international operations and brand in the U.S., China and Brazil from its headquarters in Bentivoglio, Italy. Commented HVD Partners Managing Partner Jouni Heinonen, “Sampsistemi is a globally recognized Italian champion. We look forward to working with the management to restore the company on a path of profitable growth, serving customers from existing locations in all major expansion markets.”

Sampsistemi provides a wide range of extrusion equipment that processes from rod to the finished cable. HVD Partners, which describes itself as “a specialized transformation service provider helping banks, private lenders, corporations and private equity funds to rapidly develop and divest non-core activities,” has been active in the cable field before.

In 2018, HVD led the carve-out of Solifos AG—a Swiss manufacturer of specialty fiber optic cables for distributed sensing and mission-critical defense applications—from Brugg Cables. Changes were rapidly implemented to transform the business from a legacy of steep losses (-15% EBITDA) to a profitable stand-alone business in six months. On Dec. 11, 2020, it agreed to sell Solifos AG to NBG GmbH.

Of note, Heinonen is the ex-CEO of Nextrom and Plumettaz, and was also the chairman of Solifos, the carve out from Brugg Kabel AG.

7/12/21  Nexans has won a contract from VINCI-Energies Traction to supply traction cable for the new metro line 15 South, which is part of a mammoth French infrastructure project known as the Grand Paris Express (GPE).

A press release said that, when complete, the project—one of the world’s largest infrastructure projects, valued at approximately €35.6 billion—will double the existing Paris Metro network by adding four new lines, 68 stations and 200 km of track. It consists of a ring route around Paris (line 15) and lines connecting developing neighborhoods (lines 16, 17 and 18).

Along its 33-km length, the metropolitan Line 15 South will run from Pont-de-Sèvres to Noisy-Champs, passing through 22 districts to serve more than one million people. Most of the traction cables for the Line 15 South will be manufactured by the Nexans plant in Mehun-sur-Yèvre, France. Cable installation is scheduled to start in the third quarter of 2021, and Line 15 will open first, in 2025.

Nexans said that it is the first cable manufacturer to receive an order for this infrastructure project. The order, which will take place over more than three years, will see the traction cables installed along the rails in a long tunnel and in different technical rooms. The majority of the traction cables for metro Line 15 are from the K25 range developed by Nexans to comply with stringent fire performance railway standards. The contract will also include R2V cables. Option logistic services could be provided to ensure secured and on-time deliveries that would optimize cable installation for VINCI-Energies Traction.

The project is managed by The Société du Grand Paris. VINCI-Energies helps public authorities and business clients deploy energy, transport and communication infrastructure, industrial facilities and buildings. VINCI-Energies Traction is a consortium for the project.