Economy
Key Pricing Driver for the Month: Supply
Written by John Packard
September 4, 2013
The key factor holding prices firm was the continuation of supply issues at the domestic steel mills.
During the month we had ArcelorMittal Indiana Harbor lose their #3 blast furnace for a week. The furnace is back online as of the end of the month.
We also had U.S. Steel performing maintenance on a furnace at Great Lakes and the lockout of their Lake Erie Works in Canada continued throughout the month of August.
AK Steel had furnace issues in July and spent the month of August catching up on orders affected by the July outage.
ThyssenKrupp Steel USA (Calvert, AL) sister plant in Brazil lost a furnace in May which came back online in late July. Due to production and transportation issues TKS USA was not able to rebuild their slab inventories as they had hoped to during the month of August.
John Packard
Read more from John PackardLatest in Economy
Architecture firms struggle through April
For the third month in a row, architecture firms reported a reduction in billings through April, according to the latest Architecture Billings Index release.
House committee blocks GOP budget proposal
The budget proposal has big implications for steel and manufacturing.
Manufacturing in New York state contracts again in May
Manufacturing activity in New York state declined for the third consecutive month, according to the May Empire State Manufacturing Survey from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Responding firms continue to forecast weaker business conditions in the coming months.
Chicago Business Barometer falls back in April, remains in contraction
The Chicago Business Barometer declined in April, reversing March’s gains, according to Market News International (MNI) and the Institute for Supply Management (ISM).
Fewer manufacturers optimistic about the economy
PMA’s April report shows that only 16% of surveyed manufacturers anticipate an increase in economic activity in the next three months (down from 23% in March)