• Skip to main content

    Market Segment

    Steel Dynamics Profits to Decline in Q4

    Written by Sandy Williams


    Steel Dynamics is expecting fourth quarter profitability to decline from third due to lower shipments and metal spread compression. Shipments were down in both the flat and long products categories. In addition, lower steel pricing more than offset savings realized from lower ferrous scrap costs.

    Impairment charges for the quarter are still being assessed related to the company’s 82 percent-owned and idled Mining Resources joint venture and were not factored into the fourth quarter guidance.

    Latest in Market Segment

    Nucor ups spot HR coil to $1,295/ton

    Nucor said on Monday, Nov. 9, that its consumer spot price (CSP) for hot-rolled (HR) coil will be $1,295 per short ton (st) this week, up $15/st from the prior week. The CSP for HR coil from California Steel Industries (CSI) on the West Coast will be $1,365/st, also up $15/st from last week. Nucor continues to offer lead times of three to five weeks, according to its letter to customers. You can track mill price announcements on our website. Steel Market Update (SMU) published a weekly price assessment on Tuesday, Nov. 3, showing HR coil prices averaging $1,350/st, up $45/st from the previous week. We will update our prices on the evening of Tuesday, Oct. 10.

    Leibowitz: Will the next Congress take aim at Trump’s tariffs to address affordability concerns?

    The election last Tuesday was a stunning rebuke to President Trump and many of his policies. High prices and pessimism about the economy were clearly on the minds of voters and the members of Congress they sent to Washington. Trade policy can help address those issues. Some trade experts think the new Congress could deal with tariffs on imports from Canada early on. I also expect hearings and new bills to more closely control presidential authority over tariffs. Much is unknown about what will happen come January, when new members convene. But some points are already obvious to those who see politics as a means to an end (governing) rather than as an end in itself (getting elected).

    Canadian minister urges probe of Cliffs’ handling of Stelco

    Canadian Minister of Industry Melanie Joly has urged that Canada’s Competition Bureau examine Cleveland-Cliffs’ conduct in the Canadian marketplace following its Stelco acquisition. Minister Joly sent a letter to Jeanne Pratt, Commissioner of Competition, on Friday, regarding testimony Cliffs Chairman and CEO Lourenco Goncalves made to the US Congressional Steel Caucus, and a subsequent interview to the CBC. oly said that in the Caucus testimony, “Goncalves stated that his company had acquired Stelco to ‘block’ it from selling into the US market.”

    U.S. Steel, USW deadlocked in labor contract talks despite Cliffs deal

    The United Steelworkers (USW) accused U.S. Steel of “dragging their feet” in labor contract negotiations on Friday. The USW said in a text to members that it delivered a proposed labor contract to U.S. Steel on Oct. 30 and that the company asked to meet with union negotiators the following Thursday and Friday. “When we met (Thursday), they gave us no response on wages or the majority of the outstanding items,” the USW said, adding that U.S. Steel’s lead negotiator unexpectedly left the bargaining table on Friday.