Steel Mills

North Star Bluescope Steel Delivers Strong Results for FY 2015
Written by Sandy Williams
August 24, 2015
Bluescope Steel, which owns a 50 percent share of joint venture North Star Bluescope Steel, reported strong results for North Star in FY 2015.
Hot rolled product sales were AUD $762.6 million on higher volumes and favorable AUD:USD exchange rate for fiscal year 2015 (based on 50 percent share). The company kept a consistent 100 percent utilization throughout the year. Hot rolled product shipments for its share of the joint venture, totaled 508,000 tonnes in 2H 2015, compared to 501,000 tonnes in 1H, for a total of 1,009,000 tonnes for full FY 2015. Production increased 2 percent to 1,030,600 tonnes for the year. EBIT for the for the 50 percent share was AUD 107.3 million (US $77.3 million).
Extrapolating the figures times two to account for the joint venture share, North Star Bluescope total shipments are assumed to be 2.18 million tonnes (2.4 million tons) for FY 2015 and 1.16 million tonnes (1.28 million tons) for 2H 2015. EBIT would correspondingly total approximately AUD $214.6 for the entire year (US $154.7 million).
“In our North Star joint venture, we operate arguably the highest performing steel plant in the U.S.,” said BlueScope Chairman, Graham Kraehe in the earnings report.
North Star is expected to continue at its full production rate in the first half of FY 2016 with similar margin spreads to the second half of 2015.

Sandy Williams
Read more from Sandy WilliamsLatest in Steel Mills

AHMSA opens doors to potential buyers as $1.3B asset auction nears
AHMSA is opening its doors to potential buyers to tour its steel plant and mining operations in northern Mexico in preparation for the next stage of its bankruptcy process: the auction of its assets.

USW seeks clarity on USS plans for Granite City Works
The United Steelworkers union has asked U.S. Steel to elaborate on its Granite City Works plans following reports that the steelmaker is ending processing at the facility.

Nucor maintains plate prices, opens October order book
Nucor aims to keep plate prices flat for a seventh straight month with the opening of its October order book.

ArcelorMittal Mexico to import from sister mills as it works to resume DRI production
ArcelorMittal has partially restarted operations at its direct reduction plant in Lazaro Cardenas, Michoacan. An explosion on Aug. 18 rocked the massive steelworks on Mexico’s Pacific coast, impacting production of direct-reduced iron (DRI).

Fall maintenance outages are coming in hot
Labor Day has passed, the sun is starting to set a little earlier each day, and cooler weather has begun to find its way down to many of us across North America. And you know what that means for the steel industry… Fall maintenance outages!