Market Segment
February 1, 2024
Written by David Schollaert
Nucor Corp. announced that its plate mill group would cut prices for as-rolled, discrete, and normalized plate with the opening of its March order book.
The Charlotte, N.C.-based steelmaker said in a letter to customers on Tuesday, Jan. 30, that tags would be lowered by $50 per short ton (st) to $1,380/st.
Sheet buyers found mills slightly more negotiable on price this week, while plate buyers thought mills were less flexible on spot price tags, according to our latest survey data. Every two weeks, SMU surveys service center and manufacturer buyers to see whether mills will negotiate on new spot sheet and plate orders. In this week’s survey, 14% of respondents said mills were willing to talk price to secure an order, up three percentage points from two weeks earlier (Figure 1). This is the highest reading since July 8, when the rate stood at 18%.
The leading bidder for bankrupt Mexican steelmaker Altos Hornos de Mexico (AHMSA) failed to provide the required earnest money guarantee to confirm its $1.4 billion bid for the steelmaker and its Minera del Norte (MINOSA) mining assets. The court will now consider selling the assets to a consortium of creditors. After the bankruptcy auction on Sept. 25, the court overseeing the proceedings granted the leading bidder, Construcciones e Ingenierías Electromecánicas SA de CV (CIESA), ten days to provide a bid bond of $56.3 million. The Oct. 13 deadline passed without any prequalified bidders, including CIESA, providing the required amount. In fact, the court said CIESA deposited only 5,000 Mexican pesos (US$271).
Stelco is proceeding with layoffs at its Hamilton, Ontario, mill despite the Canadian government’s threat of legal action. Last week, Canadian Industry Minister Mélanie Joly had given Cleveland-Cliffs Inc., the owner of Stelco, five days to respond to its call to maintain employment levels at the Canadian mill. Just days earlier, Cliffs announced it would indefinitely idle Stelco's finishing operations and lay off 500 workers. But the government says Cliffs agreed to maintain employment levels as a condition of its 2024 purchase of Stelco.
AZZ Inc. said galvanized flat-rolled steel availability remains a constraint for its Precoat Metals business, complicating customer sourcing and logistics. Customers are having difficulty securing substrate within required timeframes, and costs remain elevated, President and CEO Tom Ferguson said on an earnings conference call on Wednesday. He said AZZ is helping customers locate domestic and imported material and manage logistics. The situation has “definitely” affected the business, he added. “It’s tight. We see it every day, particularly galvanized sheet metal.”
Mark Bula is leaving the steel industry, having joined tozero as incoming co-CEO. tozero is a startup lithium-ion battery recycler based in Munich. Bula will serve as co-CEO alongside founder Ksenija Neumann. In August, Bula wrapped up his two-year tenure as CEO of Finland’s Blastr Green Steel. Before that, he served as chief commercial officer at Sweden’s H2 Green Steel and as chief revenue and chief commercial officer at Big River Steel (now part of U.S. Steel).