Steel Mills

SSAB U.S. Running at Full Capacity
Written by Sandy Williams
September 27, 2014
All of SSAB’s U.S. facilities are running at full capacity according to SSAB CEO Martin Lindqvist. In an interview with Bloomberg, the head of the Swedish steel company said the “re-industrialization” of the U.S. and improved demand from the energy, automotive and heavy transport sectors is boosting profitability for SSAB’s US operations.
North American orders for third quarter are fully booked, said Lindqvist, and orders for the coming orders are “fairly OK.” Energy cost savings from shale fracking has helped to normalize margins that were squeezed one year ago. “I claimed at that time that we will again see margins on the historical average and that is what we roughly see today,” he said in the Bloomberg article.
Lindqvist noted that the European market has bottomed out but is not trending downward. He is forecasting flat business conditions with growth in pace with GDP.
The SSAB/Rautauruukki merger was approved by the European Commission in July but required divesture of certain assets. If steel demand remains stable, Lindqvist expects the deal to generate cost synergies of as high as $1.4 billion kronor within three years. If demand should weaken SSAB could idle some of its five blast furnaces and look at further divestures as cost savings measures. (Source: Bloomberg)

Sandy Williams
Read more from Sandy WilliamsLatest in Steel Mills

Nucor holds HR list price at $910/ton
Nucor is keeping its list price for spot hot-rolled coil unchanged after last week’s shortened holiday week.

Cliffs unveils new hydrogen-powered stainless line in Ohio
CEO Lourenco Goncalves, flanked by state leaders and union reps, touted the project as proof that US manufacturing is not only alive, but also advancing.

Cliffs idles Steelton, Riverdale, and Conshohocken operations
Cliffs has idled facilities in Riverdale, Ill., and Conshohocken and Steelton, Pa.

Radius loss narrows, volumes climb in ‘healthy’ West Coast market
Stronger steel demand in the Western US, rising scrap flows, and improved rolling mill utilization drove sequential gains for Portland, Ore.-based Radius Recycling.

AISI: Raw steel production backs off multi-year high
US raw steel output edged lower last week after hitting a multi-year high in mid-June, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI).