The event will bring Brazilians who work in other countries to talk about trends in and challenges faced by the industry, which is going through regulatory and technological changes in a scenario of uncertainties

Facing pressures from different sides and impacted by ever accelerating changes, the mining and steel industries now have great opportunities of technological, market, and governance transformation. 

Brazilian professionals who work in the eye of the storm seen in the international steel industry will share with the audience of the 6th edition of ABM WEEK their views on the current challenges and trends in the industry at the plenary session on the  Mining and Steel Industry: The vision of Brazilians living abroad.
Organized by ABM (Brazilian Metallurgy, Materials and Mining Association), the gathering will take place on June 8, at 16:30, in the Pró Magno Centro de Eventos’s main auditorium, in São Paulo.

The plenary coordinators explain that the proposed format takes into account structural challenges the sector has been struggling with, which range from human resources issues – such as difficulties in attracting talents and training – to technological transition issues, including disruptive innovations in connection with Industry 4.0.

“We wanted the lectures to convey an international view of such issues. That's why we thought of inviting Brazilians who live and work in other countries and, therefore, have a more global perspective on these matters,” Débora Oliveira, director of Communication and Institutional Relations at Instituto Aço Brasil, explains.
Oliveira and Francisco Coutinho Dornelas, consultant and director of ABM Espírito Santo Regional Unit, are the event’s coordinators.

The industry’s complex scenario is dealt with through four lectures that will compose the first part of the plenary session. Paulo Vitor Costa de Carvalho, head of Steel Consulting at CRU Consulting, England, will open the conference by providing a panoramic view of the Global Steel Market: Challenges and Trends.
Costa de Carvalho will be followed by Rodrigo Corbari, Director of Customer Support for the Americas at GrafTech International, United States, who will talk about trends, opportunities, and challenges of EAF Steelmaking (electric arc furnace steel production).

The Southeast Asia steel industry’s economic and production aspects will be the theme of a lecture by Eduardo Pfiffer, General Manager for Market Intelligence with Vale, Singapore.
Finally, Karla Ohlre-Martins, professor at the Ruhr West University of Applied Sciences, Germany, will address the training of professionals for the metals and mining industries and compare the realities of Brazil and Germany.
Demanding scenario

After the presentations, a Q&A session will enable a direct exchange of ideas between the audience and speakers. In Oliveira's opinion, this part of the event will certainly discuss burning issues of the current reality related to structural moves in the economy and society that have affected the industry as a whole.
“We went through a commodity boom and the international market is still bullish. The conflict in Eastern Europe suddenly began in this context,” she points out.

Such circumstances had a profound impact on international production chains, which were already messed up as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. The effects of these rearrangements – which can be surprising – include the shortage of semiconductors, which became noticeable a few months ago and is set to affect the industry for quite some time.

“To make things even more complicated, the world was going through a phase in which the pandemic was tending to become an endemic disease. All of a sudden, China restarts a zero Covid-19 policy and resumes lockdowns,” Oliveira adds.

All these topics of the day combine with the inevitable environmental-related pressures, characterized by growing demands by regulatory entities around the world and an increasingly intensive adoption of technological solutions leading to the green steel era.

“Numerous technologies are being developed and applied by the industry for sustainability purposes. Such transformations will not be slow and gradual. They’re already underway,” points out José Henrique Noldin Júnior, CSN’s head of Technological Strategy, who will be the session’s moderator.
If, on one hand, such challenges create risks and the need for profound adaptations, on the other hand they offer unexpected opportunities, Noldin notes. “Many companies that have realized this will certainly be able to reap the gains in this process,” he says.

Amid the pandemic, war, and green transition, the industry has much to debate. “After postponing the ABM WEEK for two years, we believe the way we’ve designed the plenary session should be even more interesting than we expected,” Débora Oliveira summarizes.

The 6th edition of ABM WEEK is hosted by Gerdau and is sponsored by the following companiesAçokorte, Alkegen, Amepa GmbH, Aperam, Atomat Services, AutoForm, BM Group/Polytec, BRC, CBMM, Clariant, Danieli, Dassault Systèmes, DME Engenharia, Eirich, Enacom, Engineering, Evonik, Fosbel, GSI, Harsco, Hatch/CISDI, Ibar, Imerys, IMS Messsysteme GmbH, Isra Vision Parsytec, John Cockerill Industry, Kuttner, Metso Outotec, Nalco Water/Ecolab, Nouryon, Primetals Technologies, PSI Metals, Reframax , RHI Magnesita, Saint-Gobain, SMS Group Paul Wurth/ Vetta, Spraying Systems, Suez, SunCoke, Tecnosulfur, Ternium, Timken, TopSolid, TRB, Unimetal, Usiminas, Vale, Vamtec, Vesuvius, Villares Metals, Wallonia.be (ADI – Industrial Services, John Cockerill Hydrogen, BorderSystem, Datanet International, Synthetis e PEPITe), White Martins, e Yellow Solution. Apoio especial: CNPq. Apoio institucional: Abal, Abendi, AIST, AIST Mena, Alacero, CBCA, Ibram, Instituto Aço Brasil, CIMM, Ind4.0