Market Segment
October 6, 2021
Written by Michael Cowden
Usinas Siderúrgicas de Minas Gerais S.A. (USIMINAS) will take a lengthy, unplanned outage – 90-150 days – at the No. 2 blast furnace at its Ipatinga Plant in Brazil’s Minas Gerais state.
The Brazilian steelmaker said it would minimize the impact on customers in part by buying slabs on the open market to make up for lower steel output from the facility.
The current plate market squeeze has been driven by improved demand and heightened import barriers, including 50% Section 232 tariffs. But the timing of fall outages—even if they were planned—is exacerbating the supply crunch.
Metalformers’ optimism softened in the Precision Metalforming Association (PMA) September Business Conditions Report.
SMU’s latest Flat-Rolled Steel Buyers Survey shows that in a tight US market marked by long lead times, low inventories, and rising prices, foreign products continue to gain the interest of domestic buyers.
Domestic raw steel output fell to a six-month low last week after hitting a multi-year high one week earlier, according to the latest American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) figures.
The proposed Hyundai-POSCO steel mill in Louisiana has been approved for up to $1.3 billion in bond financing, according to state records and local media reports.