COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION of 16 November 1994 concerning steel merchants statistics (94/780/ECSC)

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community, and in particular Article 47 thereof,

Whereas statistics on steel merchants are essential for the Community to carry out the tasks required of it under Article 3 of the ECSC Treaty;

Whereas this is particularly true given the importance of this sector for the supply of the consumers of steel rolling mill products with regard to the fact that the branch receives, beside its own imports, nearly 30 % of the European Community steel works home market deliveries of rolling mill products in the meaning of the ECSC Treaty;

Whereas the enlargement of the steel merchants' field of activity in further processing of the steel products received, presents an additional important reason for this statistical inquiry;

Whereas the evaluation of final steel consumption and the implementation of the Commission's forecast programmes, particularly since the realization of the single market as from 1993 and in view of the European Community's enlargement as from 1995, require an in-depth knowledge of the steel merchants' activity,

HAS MADE THIS RECOMMENDATION:

Article 1

The Member States shall supply the Commission, with effect from January 1995, with monthly statistical information on receipts, deliveries, and stocks and, on a yearly basis, with statistics on further processing of ECSC iron and steel products by stockholders specified in the questionnaires annexed to this recommendation under the conditions laid out therein.

Article 2

This recommendation is addressed to the Member States.

Done at Brussels, 16 November 1994.

For the Commission

Henning CHRISTOPHERSEN

Vice-President

ANNEX

NOTE The questionnaires reproduced in the Annex are supplied by the SOEC in the original size.

EUROPEAN COMMISSION

ECSC

STATISTICAL OFFICE

D 2 Luxembourg, January 1995

Questionnaire 3-70

RECEIPTS, DELIVERIES AND STOCKS OF ECSC IRON AND STEEL PRODUCTS BY STOCKHOLDERS

EXPLANATORY NOTES

I. GENERAL

1. The questionnaire covers all steel stockholders - individual or legal entities - who buy, stock and resell currently ECSC steel products on their own behalf, either as they stand or after initial processing, such as decoiling, slitting, flame cutting, sawing, cutting, bending etc.

2. The month in question is the calendar month.

3. Stocks include all products in the possession of stockholders located on national territories, whether awaiting dispatch or otherwise, or already purchased or otherwise, but excluding products of transportation.

4. Deliveries cover all products, including those downgraded (such as non-prime products, plate and sheet cuttings or crop ends) but not intended for remelting.

5. Net tonnages should be given by taking products in the state in which they are dispatched from works.

II. DEFINITIONS

A. STEEL QUALITIES

Steel qualities are defined, as in European Standard EN 10 020, Definition and Classification of Grades of Steel, by requirements for chemical composition based on specified ladle analysis.

1. Non-alloy steel

Steel grades in which none of the following limit values is reached by any specified element as defined in clause 4.1 and Table 1 and its footnotes of EN 10 020:

- 1,65 % of manganese,

- 0,50 % of silicon,

- 0,40 % of copper or lead,

- 0,30 % of chromium or nickel,

- 0,10 % of aluminium, bismuth, cobalt, selenium, tellurium, vanadium or tungsten,

- 0,08 % of molybdenum,

- 0,06 % of niobium,

- 0,0008 % of boron,

- 0,05 % of any other alloy element except carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus or sulphur.

It follows that alloy steel is any grade with a specified chemical composition reaching any of the above limit values.

2. Stainless steel

Alloy steel grades containing by weight 10,50 % or more of chromium but not more than 1,20 % of carbon, with or without other alloying elements. (EN 10 020: 5.2.2.2.1)

3. Other alloy steel

Any steel grade defined as alloy (EN 10 020: 4.2.2) not meeting the definition of stainless steel given above.

B. STEEL PRODUCTS

Line 200

Semi-finished products

Products obtained by:

- continuous casting which may be followed by rolling or cutting,

- pressure casting,

- rolling or cutting of ingots.

The cross-sections may be square, rectangular, round, or pre-formed for the manufacture of sections (concave polygons).

Line 310

Hot-rolled wide strip

Hot-rolled flat products supplied in widths of 600 mm or more wound into coils. As rolled, wide strip has slightly convex edges, but may also be supplied with sheared edges or slit from wider strip.

Line 320

Hot-rolled narrow strip

Hot-rolled flat products supplied in widths up to 600 mm obtained by slitting hot-rolled wide strip or by rolling as such and wound into coils. Hot-rolled narrow strip may also be supplied as lengths.

Line 330

Plates and sheets cut from hot-rolled wide strip

Flat hot-rolled products, obtained by transverse cutting of hot-rolled wide strip, generally into square or rectangular shapes with a width of 600 mm or over. Include clad products according to the chemical composition of the substrate (base) layer.

According to thickness, hot-rolled plates and sheets are defined as:

- plates thickness 3 mm or over,

- sheets thickness up to 3 mm.

Line 340

Plates and sheets hot rolled in other mills

This line refers principally to plates (quarto plates) hot rolled in reversing mills, and occasionally to plates and sheets hot rolled in other mills capable of the same process route.

Include tapered plates rolled in reversing mills, and clad products according to the chemical composition of the substrate (base) layer.

Wide flats

Hot-rolled flat products of width over 150 mm up to and including 1 250 mm and thickness generally over 4 mm, always suppled in lengths, i.e. not coiled. A special requirement is that the edges are square; wide flats are hot rolled on the four sides (or in box passes).

Line 410

Cold-rolled uncoated flat products

Plates, sheets and strip, generally defined as for hot-rolled uncoated flat products, which have been substantially reduced, in thickness by cold rolling.

Electrical sheets and strip

Cold-rolled strip of width 500 mm or over, and sheets with specified, requirements for specific, total watts loss and peak magnetic flux density which may be:

- non-oriented; i.e. after final annealing the magnetic properties are similar in both the direction of rolling and in the transverse direction, which may be supplied uncoated or with an insulating coating on one or both surfaces; these steels may also be supplied in the not finally annealed condition for final annealing by the user,

- grain oriented with superior magnetic properties in the direction of rolling, and supplied with an insulating coating on both surfaces.

Line 420

Blackplate

Cold-rolled non-alloy low carbon steel less than 0,50 mm thick in strip or sheet forms normally used to manufacture tinplate or ECCS, but in certain packaging applications it may be used as such. Report also any blackplate supplied by an ECSC steelworks with lacquered (varnished) or printed surfaces.

Tinplate, other tinned sheet and ECCS

Tinplate and ECCS are products which comply with the definitions of blackplate above but have been coated electrolytically respectively with tin or a duplex film of chromium adjacent to the steel substrate with an outer layer of hydrated chromium oxide or hydroxide.

Tinned sheel is non-alloy low carbon steel in strip or sheet form of a thickness of 0.50 mm or over, coated with tin.

Report also any tinplate, tinned sheel or ECCS with lacquered (varnished) or printed surfaces.

Line 451

Hot dipped metal coated

Sheets which have been continuously metal coated by hot dipping. The principal coatings are:

(a) lead tin alloy (Terneplate);

(b) zinc (galvanized);

(c) aluminium or aluminium silicon alloys;

(d) aluminium zinc alloys.

Include any other metal coatings applied by continuous hot dipping.

Line 454

Electrolytically metal coated

Sheets continuously metal coated by an electrolytic process. The principal coatings are:

(a) lead tin alloy;

(b) zinc (electro-zinc);

(c) zinc nickel alloys.

Include any other metal coatings applied by a continuous electrolytic process.

Line 457

Organic coated

Sheets, whether or not already metal coated, subsequently coated with an organic material or a mixture of metal powder and organic material by a continuous process.

Line 510

Rod, including deformed rod

Hot-rolled long products with nominal transverse dimensions of 5 mm or over wound into coils. For non-alloy steels a distinction is made between:

- deformed rod with a crenelated or ribbed surface for reinforcement of concrete,

- smooth surfaced rod with cross-sections that may be round, square, rectangular, hexagonal, octagonal, half round or any similar shape.

Line 520

Bars for reinforcement of concrete

Deformed long products with a cross-section that is round or almost round hot rolled in lengths to produce a crenelated or ribbed surface and destined for reinforcement of concrete. Include lengths obtained by straightening and cutting deformed rod. Also include smooth surfaced bars destined for reinforcement of concrete.

Line 530

Merchant bars

This term covers the following hot-rolled long products; flats and other bars (convex sections), hollow drill bars, angles, toes, bulb flats, light and special sections. A distinction is made between:

(a) flats:

- hot-rolled bars of rectangular cross-section rolled on the four faces of thickness generally 5 mm or over and width not over 150 mm;

(b) other bars including:

- rounds, squares, hexagons and octagons bars of solid (convex) cross-sections which may be circular or regular polygons four, six or eight sides, and in Parts II and III include bars of stainless or other alloy steel destined for reinforcement of concrete, whether or not deformed, concrete, whether or not deformed,

- bars of special shapes (e.g. triangles, bevels, trapezoids, bars for groove springs half rounds, half flat half rounds, etc.),

- hollow mining drill bars;

(c) angles, tees, bulb flats, light and special sections which comprise:

- L and T sections,

- bulb flats,

- light U, I and H sections or height up to 80 mm,

- special sections (e.g. Z sections, T sections with unequal flanges, square edged L, U and T sections, caterpillar track sections, etc.).

Line 540

Heavy sections

Hot-rolled long products with cross-sections ressembling the letters I, H or U (concave polygons) with web heights of 80 mm or over.

Sections for mining frames

Hot-rolled long products with cross-sections resembling the letters H, I or the Greek letter O. The H or I sections may be distinguished from other heavy sections by a greater slope of the inside face of the tapered flanges. Generally these products have a width more than 0,7 of the nominal web height.

Sheet pilling

Hot-rolled long products (concave polygons) manufactured with external interlocks which can be fastened together to form partitions or continuous walls.

Railway materials

Report heavy and light railway and tramway rails and products for other rail systems (e.g. crane rails, bridge rails, grooved rails) together with hot-rolled railway accessories (e.g. sleepers, fish plates, base plates, etc.).

C. BUILDING INDUSTRY

This relates to plants-carrying out the following activities:

Steel and metal structures

The following activities fall in this group:

- manufacture of steel structures and parts of structures (bridges, bridge-sections, frames, frameworks, superstructures),

- manufacture of pit propping equipment,

- manufacture of standard-gauge railway track fixtures and fittings such as building cores, points, pillars, crossings and turntables etc.

Building and public works

Construction, repair and demolition of buildings, roads, public highways and waterworks such as canal buildings, railway (excluding railway track) embankments, piers, tunnels, underground track, elevated roadways, bridges, viaducts, dams, drainage work, cleaning work, aqueducts, irrigation and salvage operations, hydro-electric schemes, hydraulic plant, gas piping, pipelines, construction of support material (e.g. mine frames) and all other types of heavy construction work, marine work such as drag-lining, dredging, pile-driving, draining and construction of ports and of naval installations, wells, airports, sports grounds, golf courses, swimming pools, tennis courts, car parks, communications systems such as telephone and telegraph lines and all other work carried out by private enterprises or by the Government. This heading includes subcontractors in the construction field such as scaffolders, plumbers, plasterers and electricians and the manufacture of posts and pillars and pipes of reinforced concrete etc.

EXPLANATORY NOTES

I. GENERAL REMARKS 1. The questionnaire covers all steel stockholders - individual or legal entities - who process ECSC steel products on their own behalf.

2. The reference period is the calendar year.

3. Working is taken to mean the processing of a flat-rolled product by slitting and/or by decoiling and/or by surface prefinishing to create a new or a more highly processed finished rolled product.

4. The primary products used for processing (Part A of the questionnaire) must be in a plausible ratio in weight terms to the products resulting therefrom (Part B), allowance being made for processing waste. Input = output, the former relating only to ECSC products.

II. DEFINITIONS 1. The questionnaire relates to all qualities of steel (i.e. alloy and non-alloy steels) within the meaning of the European Standard EN 10 020.

2. Line 11

Cold-rolled wide strip (or cold-rolled sheet and plate) is a cold-rolled flat product in coils (or panels) of a width of 500 mm or more. (Cold-rolled plate in the form of coils or panels of a thickness of 3 mm or more is regarded as an ECSC product pursuant to the Council Decision of 21 February 1983).

3. Line 12

Hot-rolled wide strip (or hot-rolled sheet and plate) is a hot-rolled flat product in coils (or panels) of a width of 600 mm or more; hot-rolled strip has a width of less than 600 mm.

4. Line 21

Cold-rolled slit strip is strip which is less than 500 mm wide made by slitting cold-rolled wide strip (not regarded as an ECSC product).

5. Line 22

Hot-rolled slit strip is strip made by slitting hot-rolled wide strip (at least 600 mm wide) or hot-rolled strip (less than 600 mm wide).

6. Line 31

Cold-rolled sheet and plate in panels: sheet and plate made by decoiling cold-rolled wide strip.

7. Line 32

Hot-rolled sheet and plate in panels: sheet and plate made by decoiling hot-rolled wide strip.

8. Line 40

Strip in bars: bars made from cold- or hot-rolled wide strip or from hot-rolled strip by decoiling or by slitting and decoiling.

9. Line 50

Coated finished rolled products comprise all types of sheet and strip made from the primary product which have been given a metallic and/or non-metallic coating on the stockholder's premises.