Corrosion resistant steel imported from China to the European Union has been assigned antidumping duties by the European Commission. The commission announced Thursday that the duties will range from 17.2 to 27.9 percent, similar to the provisional rates set in August of 17.2 to 28.5 percent. Eurofer, the EU steelmakers association, petitioned the commission in […]
New York State’s “Buy American” procurement law will take effect April 1 and Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne is fighting back. Wynne said that if a last minute exception is not granted to Ontario, the province will take “proportional” retaliatory action. The New York law will require state agencies to use steel and iron made in […]
Editor’s note: Richard Chriss, president of the American Institute for International Steel, which represents foreign steelmakers, offered this rebuttal to a recent letter to the editor in the New York Times by Scott Paul, president of the Alliance for American Manufacturing: There is no single word for the economic fallacy of assuming that those who […]
The United Steelworkers challenged the president to reduce the trade deficit after Commerce released its deficit report today. The Department of Commerce reported that for 2017, the goods and services deficit increased $61.2 billion, or 12.1 percent, from 2016. Exports increased $121.2 billion or 5.5 percent and imports increased $182.5 billion or 6.7 percent. Specifically […]
U.S. Steel has named an interim executive to head the company’s tubular segment following the retirement of David Rintoul. Douglas R. Matthews, senior vice president – Industrial, Service Center and Mining Solutions, will assume the day-to-day responsibilities of U.S. Steel Tubular Products. Commenting on the appointment, CEO David Burritt said, “Doug is the best choice […]
U.S. steelmakers sent a letter to President Trump on Feb. 1 urging the administration to take action against steel imports under Section 232. The letter from the American Iron and Steel Institute stressed that immediate action is needed to prevent imports from recapturing nearly a third of the U.S. market as they did last June. […]
Those who were hoping the State of the Union address would offer some indication of how President Trump will act on Section 232 were left disappointed. His speech was long on patriotism and short on specifics when it came to trade policy. The steel industry is left to speculate on whether the administration will further […]
U.S. Steel finished 2017 on a strong note with net sales of $3.13 billion and net earnings of $159 million in the fourth quarter. Steel shipments for the quarter totaled 3.8 million tons. Commenting on U.S. Steel’s results, President and CEO David Burritt said, “We finished the year with three solid quarters as investments in […]
ArcelorMittal’s NAFTA segment saw crude steel production decrease 5.2 percent to 5.6 million metric tons in the fourth quarter due to operational issues in Mexico, planned maintenance at Dofasco, and a slower U.S. market. Steel shipments declined 8.9 percent to 4.2 million metric tons, primarily driven by lower volumes in flat and long products. Sales […]
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 […]
U.S. Steel announced Jan. 31 that the president of its tubular products segment, David J. Rintoul, plans to retire effective Feb. 28. Graphite electrode company GrafTech announced concurrently that Rintoul will join the company as President and CEO effective March 1. Rintoul, currently senior vice president – tubular business and president of tubular products, began […]
Planned maintenance outages at AK Steel contributed to a net loss of $107.9 million in the fourth quarter. Net sales during the quarter increased 5 percent to $1.5 billion, however, driven by incremental sales from recently acquired Precision Partners. Flat rolled shipments declined to 1,337,100 tons in the quarter from 1,385,500 tons in Q4 2016 […]
“We don’t just sell to each other–this is a kind of unique relationship in the world…we make things together,” said Canada International Trade Minister François-Philippe Champagne in a recent speech. Center for Automotive Research analyst Bernard Swiecki referred to the quote as a summary of what NAFTA means to the North American automotive industry. “We […]
In its year-end 2017 financial report, Nucor delivered its highest annual earnings since 2008. Consolidated net sales increased 25 percent to $20.25 billion, compared with $16.21 billion for fiscal 2016. Shipments to outside customers during 2017 totaled 26,492,000 tons, an increase of 9 percent from fiscal 2016. Average sales price per ton increased 15 percent. […]
The sixth round of NAFTA talks closed on Monday with the U.S. Trade Representative rejecting proposals by Canada and lamenting the slow pace of the renegotiations. “We finally began to discuss the core issues, so this round was a step forward,” Robert Lighthizer said. “But we are progressing very slowly. We owe it to our […]
The U.S. International Trade Commission ruled on Friday that imports of Canadian Bombardier civil aircraft do not injure the U.S. industry. The surprise unanimous vote was a disappointment to Boeing which called for stiff tariffs against their competitor for alleged unfair trade practices. In December 2017, the Commerce Department claimed the planes were sold at […]
SSAB North America achieved higher market share in 2017. SSAB’s share of the North American steel slab market was estimated at 30 percent for the year. Full-year earnings and shipments increased compared to 2016. Sales for the full year were SEK 12.7 billion ($1.6 billion) and shipments 1,971,000 metric tons (2.17 million short tons). Fourth-quarter […]
ArcelorMittal USA is in the process of changing up production at its Cleveland mill. The company plans to transfer the production of cold-rolled annealed steels produced at ArcelorMittal Cleveland to its operations in East Chicago and Burns Harbor, Ind. The product transfer plan is in development with targeted completion by the end of June. While […]
The trucking industry’s leading trade group is calling on policymakers to back a new 20-cent tax on all transportation fuels, including diesel, gasoline and natural gas, to fund repairs to the nation’s deteriorating roads and bridges. The American Trucking Associations (ATA) is seeking support for its Build America Fund, which would be funded by a […]
NAFTA negotiations officially resumed on Sunday, Jan. 21, in Montreal and will continue through Monday, Jan. 29. Three days will be devoted to automotive rules of origin, one of the most contentious items on the agenda. While arguments continue about automotive content in NAFTA discussions, Canada is ensuring its place in automotive global trade by […]
The fire at AK Steel’s Middletown Works has had little effect on the steel market, at least so far, report service center executives polled by Steel Market Update. Firefighters from four departments rushed to the mill on Saturday morning to find that a ladle had malfunctioned, releasing liquid steel into the facility, igniting a large […]
Last year was a record breaker for Steel Dynamics in multiple areas. The company reported records for steel shipments, fabrication shipments, net sales, operating income and EBITDA. Annual net income totaled $813 million compared to $382 million in 2016. Net sales for the full year totaled $9.5 billion compared to $7.8 million the previous year. […]
President Trump’s decision today to impose tariffs on imports of solar panels and large washing machines in a bid to help U.S. manufacturers has heated speculation the administration may take a similar tack on the pending Section 232 rulings on steel and aluminum imports. President Trump has approved recommendations by the U.S. International trade Commission […]
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 […]
The year is beginning with numerous weather-related disruptions to shipping. Ice in the Great Lakes region has made loading of iron ore difficult, freezing port equipment and the ore itself. Sources report carriers on the Great Lakes will be expediting ore shipments to the steel mills that were shorted, once the Soo Locks reopen in […]
U.S. service centers shipped 38.779 million tons of steel products in 2017, an increase of 3.8 percent compared with full-year 2016, according to the Metals Service Center Institute’s December Metals Activity Report. Shipments of carbon flat roll and plate saw single-digit increases over the prior year, while shipments of pipe and tube products saw a […]
Steel shipments by Canadian service centers in December totaled 280,100 net tons, down 29.8 percent from the previous month, and down 3.4 percent from December 2016, reports the Metals Service Center Institute (MSCI). On a daily basis, total shipments were 14,700 tons per day in December (a 20-day month), down from 19,000 tons per day […]
The American Line Pipe Producers Association filed an antidumping and countervailing duty petition with the Department of Commerce and U.S. International Trade Commission on Wednesday. The group alleges that the dumping of large diameter welded pipe from Canada, Greece, India, China, Korea and Turkey is causing injury to domestic producers. The group also charges that […]
President Trump continued to complicate NAFTA negotiations with a tweet Thursday morning calling NAFTA “a bad joke.” In two tweets defending his stance on building a wall between the U.S. and Mexico, Trump referred to Mexico’s “ridiculous $71 billion trade surplus with the U.S.” Last week, Trump told the Wall Street Journal that he was […]
NLMK USA’s 2017 sales hit an all-time high of 2.25 million metric tons (2.48 million net tons), a surge of 21 percent, supported by demand from pipe manufacturers, construction companies and machine builders. Pricing for steel products in the U.S. grew by 15-19 percent compared to 2016. Growth was also positively impacted by the re-start […]