The Association of Steel Distributors appears to be positioned for a turnaround that will give new life to the 75-year-old service center organization. ASD has found renewed purpose and direction under the auspices of the Fabricators and Manufacturers Association, International, Elgin, Ill. ASD’s steel distributor members—mostly small to midsized family firms—have been gathering to swap […]
Union Partners, a Chicago-based, full-service metals and logistic company, announced on Wednesday the acquisition of Maksteel, a service center, toll processor and logistics provider located in Mississauga, Ontario. Founded in 1970, Maksteel claims to be the first service center in Canada to process advanced high strength steels (AHSS) and martensitic steels as part of its […]
Ryerson Holding Corp. announced the acquisition of Fanello Industries, a privately owned metal service company located in Lavonia, Ga. Fanello Industries provides blanking, stamping, laser cutting, bending, and machining metal solutions to a diverse group of industries in the southeastern U.S. The company employs 150 and has annual revenue of approximately $20 million. “Fanello Industries […]
Steel supply and pricing were the main topics discussed during the March 20 Heating, Air-conditioning, and Refrigeration Distributors International (HARDI) conference call. The Section 232 tariff on steel will go into effect on Friday, March 23, but HARDI members are already seeing an impact in the market. Steel prices are up $6/cwt since the last […]
With steel imports mostly on hold awaiting the final word on Trump’s tariffs, supplies of prime steel are tightening, putting distributors of secondary material in the catbird seat, at least for a while. But the supply of secondary is tightening, as well, say service center executives, who aren’t sure how long the window of opportunity […]
Flack Global Metals has partnered with First American Resources in a joint venture that will offer prepainted products to the market later this year. The deal is a bit of a departure for FGM, which is now the minority investor in an enterprise that is installing high-end coil coating equipment. FGM has achieved $350 million […]
Union Partners announced plans today to build a new steel processing facility on the Osceola, Ark., campus of Big River Steel. The operations will be located directly adjacent to Big River’s Flex Mill and will include both slitting and multi-blanking lines in a new build-to-suit facility expandable to 258,000 square feet. Construction will be on […]
Russel Metals Inc., the Toronto-based steel distributor, reported positive results in its fourth-quarter and year-end earnings report, driven by sales to the energy sector. Net income for the company totaled $124 million on revenues of $3.3 billion in 2017, a significant improvement from the $63 million earned on sales of $2.6 billion in 2016. The […]
Brian D. Robbins, CEO of MidWest Materials, Inc. in Perry, Ohio, will be honored by the Association of Steel Distributors as its 2017 Steel Man of the Year during a special dinner celebration on Wednesday, March 7, at the ASD Spring Convention in Scottsdale, Ariz. MidWest Materials has had a long and rich history with […]
Bill Hickey is taking a step back from his day-to-day duties at Lapham-Hickey Steel and handing over the reins to the fourth generation of family management. Hickey retains the title of company chairman as his two sons step up to more senior management positions. “The next generation is taking over operation of the business, and […]
United Steel Supply, Austin, Texas, has acquired Paramount Coils, Inc., and Alpine Building Materials, LLC. The acquisition of the two companies gives United Steel Supply coast-to-coast coverage and distribution in the United States. The two brands will assume the United Steel Supply name. Paramount Coils has locations in both Springdale, Ark., and Kingsbury, Ind., while […]
Ratner Steel’s new Osceola, Ark., service center may be located near Big River Steel, but Big River is only one of the mills Ratner plans to use as a source for steel, said Steve Gottlieb, Ratner president and COO. “People think we will only do business with Big River, but our intention is to buy […]
It’s not that unusual anymore to find a service center that has taken its value-added offerings as far as first-stage parts manufacturing. Less common is a toll processor that offers fabrication. Mississippi Steel Processing (MSP) is located on the campus of Steel Dynamics’ mill in Columbus, Miss. For the past two years, it has shared the […]
Ryerson Holding Corp. posted net income of $1.7 million in the third quarter, up from $600,000 in the second quarter, but down from $8.2 million in third-quarter 2016, as commodity challenges pressured margins. “The third quarter of 2017 can best be described by margin compression, driven primarily by nickel and chrome deflation in the second […]
Ryerson Holding Corp., a value-added processor and distributor of industrial metals, sees improved demand and sequential growth for the third quarter in the construction equipment, food processing and agricultural industries and year-over-year growth in nearly all of its end markets. In its third-quarter guidance, Ryerson noted U.S. service center volumes have increased by more than […]
Schnitzer Steel Industries is expecting good results for its fourth quarter FY 2017, ending Aug. 31. Earnings per share are expected in the range of $0.60-$0.63, up from $0.59 in Q4 2016. Autos and Metals Recycling ferrous net selling prices are expected to jump 25 percent year-over-year and ferrous sales volumes 7.0 percent. Although operating […]
Service center shipments in August failed to perform as well as the average since 2009, according to data from the Metals Service Center Institute. Daily shipments in August were 1.8 percent higher than in July. On average since 2009, August has increased by 3.0 percent, therefore the latest numbers were less than the historical average […]
Service center shipments took the normal dip in July, but the decline was slightly more than the historical average. Months on hand at the end of July were up sharply, partly because of a decline in shipping days, according to Steel Market Update’s latest analysis of Metals Service Center Institute data. Daily shipments in July […]
Sherwin Williams, a major supplier of paint and coatings to coil coaters and other industries, announced a price hike on Monday, citing the need to recoup the escalating costs of raw materials. The company notified its customers to expect a 5 percent increase on all shipments of PVDF and FEVE topcoats, a 7 percent increase […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) has been expanding our analysis of flat rolled steel service center inventories in an effort to provide a second opinion on this key subject for both buyers and sellers. We continue to review inventory levels through the use of our flat rolled steel market trends questionnaire that we distribute twice per […]
Ryerson Holding Corp. turned in a strong performance in Q2 despite conflicting business and industry conditions, said President and CEO Eddie Lehner. Margins took a hit as steel import levels rose and nickel and carbon hot rolled prices moved lower. “Ryerson saw some mix-shift impact to margins,” said Lehner, “as sheet and stainless related demand […]
Last week, the MSCI reported carbon flat rolled inventories as being 1.9 months of supply as of the end of June 2017. Steel Market Update (SMU) conducted a detailed analysis of steel service center inventories last week via our survey and our results had flat rolled inventories as averaging 2.3 months. The data provided in […]
The Metals Service Center Institute (MSCI) will release its service center inventories and shipment data next week. As we prepare to review their data, we thought our readers would be interested in what we collected about flat rolled steel inventories at distributors during our flat rolled steel market trends analysis last week. Flat rolled steel […]
Ryerson Holding Corp., a processor and distributor of industrial metals, said end-market shipments to most sectors improved in the second quarter, particularly in commercial ground transportation and HVAC industries. Shipments also increased to the oil and gas sector, while a quarterly year-over-year decline was seen in industrial machinery and equipment, consumer durables, and food processing […]
The Association of Steel Distributors is now a technical affiliate of the Fabricators & Manufacturers Association, International, Elgin, Ill. ASD functioned as an independent, nonprofit service center trade group for 75 years, but changing market conditions and flagging membership forced the association to ally with a larger organization to ensure its continued survival. “This is […]
Mill Steel Co., Grand Rapids, Mich., one of the nation’s largest distributors of flat-rolled carbon steel, expanded its operations and geographic presence with the opening of a new facility in Houston. The new Texas location is now operational with slitting and cut-to-length capabilities in the 100,000-square-foot facility. This premier building houses three production lines with […]
Flat rolled steel distributors are reporting to Steel Market Update (SMU) that their inventories are balanced to slightly over-stocked and there is minimal need to build carbon sheet inventories from here. At the end of March the MSCI reported flat rolled steel inventories at 1.82 month’s supply. Last week the MSCI reported end of April […]
AM Castle, a distributor of specialty metal and supply chain solutions, reported net sales in Q1 2017 of $136 million, a decrease of $28 million or 17 percent compared to Q1 2016 net sales of $164 million, which included the $27 million sale of inventory of the Houston and Edmonton locations. Tons sold per day […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) has been struggling to make sense of the most recent carbon flat rolled inventory numbers for service centers. What we learned from the MSCI did not match the conversations we were having with service center steel buyers across the country. SMU has been working on ways to provide a separate and […]
Ryerson Holding Corporation, a distributor and value-added processor of industrial metals, reported net income of $14.8 million in first quarter 2017 on revenue of $814.5 million. Increased shipment volume combined with higher selling prices led to strong results for the quarter. Total tons shipped were 497,000 compared to 440,000 tons in first quarter and 478,000 […]