• Skip to main content

    Product

    HARDI/ITR Quarterly Construction Forecast (Part 2)

    Written by Diana Packard


    Steel Market Update is a member of an association connected to the construction industry called HARDI. HARDI stands for Heating, Air-conditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International. HARDI and The Institute for Trend Research (ITR), an economic forecasting company, work together to gather economic data to provide a forecast to the HARDI members located in the United States and Canada. The information shared in our newsletter is only part of a much larger package seen by participating HARDI member companies.

    In our last issue we noted that ITR has revised its economic outlook for 2014—raising its prediction for the downside of the business cycle to a much softer 1.2 percent decline from an original forecast of a 3.3 percent decline. Having covered the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and Southeastern Region, this issue will present the forecasts for the Great Lakes, Central, Southwestern and Western regions.

    Latest in Product

    AZZ says tight steel availability weighs on Precoat Metals

    AZZ Inc. said galvanized flat-rolled steel availability remains a constraint for its Precoat Metals business, complicating customer sourcing and logistics. Customers are having difficulty securing substrate within required timeframes, and costs remain elevated, President and CEO Tom Ferguson said on an earnings conference call on Wednesday. He said AZZ is helping customers locate domestic and imported material and manage logistics. The situation has “definitely” affected the business, he added. “It’s tight. We see it every day, particularly galvanized sheet metal.”

    AZZ raises fiscal 2027 guidance after record second-quarter sales

    AZZ Inc. raised its fiscal 2027 guidance after reporting record second-quarter sales and adjusted earnings, supported by higher volumes and pricing in both its Metal Coatings and Precoat Metals segments. AZZ reported fiscal second-quarter sales of $486.9 million for the three months ended Aug. 31, up 16.7% from the prior-year quarter. Net income fell 34.6% year over year (y/y) to $58.45 million. “During the quarter, we benefited from organic sales growth, the continued ramp-up of our new Washington, Missouri facility within our Precoat Metals segment, and the completion of a strategic Metal Coatings acquisition in the Pacific Northwest,” noted President and CEO Tom Ferguson.

    Electra aims to produce “clean” iron to help cut CO2 in steelmaking

    Electra, which seeks to make high-purity iron from a process more familiar to base metals, presented at the fall meeting of the International Iron Metallics Association (IIMA) in Chicago last week. The Boulder, Colo.-based company intends to serve iron-consuming markets in both the US and abroad. Steve Beckwith, head of technology commercialization at Electra, said the "clean" iron the company makes could eliminate the need for coal and coke in iron production.

    Hertha Metals breaks ground on Texas iron plant, eyes 500,000-ton steel mill

    Hertha Metals has broken ground on its first commercial plant, a $100 million project that the startup says will demonstrate its process at scale and lay the groundwork for a 500,000-metric-ton-per-year steel mill. The company celebrated the groundbreaking of the Hertha Chalyx project on Friday, Oct. 9, in Conroe, Texas. The plant is designed to produce ~10,000 metric tons of steel-grade and magnet-grade high-purity iron each year. It will run on domestic iron ore, primarily from Minnesota’s Iron Range, and natural gas from Texas.