Market Segment
January 5, 2025
Written by Lewis Leibowitz
As one of my university professors once said (and it’s stuck with me for half a century), “Change is the only permanency.”
On Friday, President Biden acted to block the acquisition of United States Steel by Nippon Steel Corp. of Japan, without acknowledging the changes that have already occurred in the steel industry, and which are likely to increase.
President Trump announced that Mesabi Metallics will build the largest steel plant in the US in the state of Iowa.
Stelco Holdings Inc. is indefinitely idling its finishing operations in Hamilton, Ontario. The Canadian steelmaker, a subsidiary of Cleveland-Cliffs, will concentrate steel production at its Lake Erie Works in Nanticoke, Ontario, a Cliffs spokesperson told SMU.
US steel industry groups representing most of domestic steel production are urging the Trump administration to tighten trade measures on steel imports from South Korea. They are seeking a South Korea-specific tariff-rate quota (TRQ) and an investigation into a reported import surge.
Nucor said its consumer spot price for hot-rolled coil will be $1,220 per short ton (st) for the week of Sept. 28. That's a 10/st increase from a week earlier.
A one-month extension of the terms of the current four-year contracts between the USW and the two steelmakers (which was initially set to lapse on Sept. 1) expires on Oct. 1.