Market Segment
October 22, 2021
Written by Michael Cowden
Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. has restarted the No. 7 blast furnace at its Indiana Harbor steel mill in northwest Indiana following a reline.
“We just concluded the repair of Indiana Harbor No. 7. … We finished 24 hours ahead of schedule,” company Chairman, President and CEO Lourenco Gonvalves said during a conference call with analysts on Friday, Oct. 22.
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.