Prices
January 21, 2020
CRU: U.S. Iron Ore Producers Under Pressure
Written by Erik Hedborg
By CRU Senior Analyst Erik Hedborg, Principal Economist Lisa Morrison, Principal Analyst Josh Spoores and Senior Analyst Ryan McKinley, from CRU’s Iron Ore Market Outlook
In a recent insight series, CRU highlighted some of the challenges facing the three U.S. iron ore producers, Cleveland-Cliffs, U.S. Steel and ArcelorMittal. The location of the mines and pellet plants means that they are unlikely to ever become a significant participant on the seaborne iron ore market. Therefore, the companies are in the hands of the BF producers around the Great Lakes, as even delivering iron ore to the domestic DRI plants in the Mexican Gulf is challenging as overland transportation is costly. Most of the country’s BFs produce hot metal used to produce sheet products, particularly for the U.S. automotive sector.
