(AWMI – Mt. Royal, New Jersey, May 25, 2017) – The Association of Women in the Metal Industries (AWMI) is pleased to announce Sonya Malvick as 2016 Member of the Year! Ms. Malvick has been a member of AWMI for 22 years. In that time, she has held the position of Wisconsin Chapter Membership Chair, […]
The Chinese, Russians, Turks, Vietnamese, Koreans and to a lesser extent the Taiwanese ears were burning Wednesday after the “bad-mouthing” they got at the Section 232 hearing on steel. Of the 37 scheduled speakers 9 domestic companies/organizations along with four foreign entities (Russia, China, Ukraine and Eurofer) spoke on behalf of allowing foreign steel without […]
As CEOs and association representatives presented their arguments for why the administration’s Section 232 action on steel imports should go forth, AIIS international Trade Counsel Gary Horlick talked about the unintended consequences of such actions. AIIS represents 108 members that include traders, freight forwarders, stevedores, shippers, importers, exporters, railroads, port authorities, unions and other logistics […]
CHARLOTTE, N.C., May 25, 2017 /PRNewswire/ — Nucor Corporation (NYSE: NUE) announced today that it is investing an estimated $176 million to build a hot band galvanizing and pickling line at its sheet mill in Ghent, Kentucky. The new galvanizing line will expand Nucor Steel Gallatin’s product capabilities and have an annual capacity of 500,000 […]
The Section 232 Investigation of steel imports on national security hearing was held on Tuesday. The testimonies included four representatives of foreign governments: China, Russia, the European Union, and Ukraine. Not surprising, none were in support of new import restrictions by a Section 232 action. China was represented by Yu Gu, First Secretary of the […]
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 […]
The U.S. Department of Commerce advised Steel Market Update, as a member of the media, who would be speaking at tomorrow’s (Wednesday, May 24, 2017) Section 232 hearing on steel. The hearing is part of the Commerce Department’s investigation about the need for steel for national security. Here is what we received from the US […]
When we saw that shipments had dropped by over 500,000 tons in April our first thought was “Yikes!” but as we looked deeper we saw that shipping days in March were 23 days (their highest in the cycle) and in April fell to 19 days. Daily shipments in April increased by 6.6 percent from March. […]
A contract worker was killed in a work-related accident at US Steel Great Lakes Works in Ecorse, Mich., early Monday morning. The man, a 32-year-old subcontractor for Mid-American Group Inc., fell about 20 feet to his death in an accident reportedly related to a crane collapse. The Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Association said it […]
Later this week the U.S. Department of Commerce will hold public hearings for interested parties to voice their opinions regarding the Section 232 (national security) inquiry into the steel industry. Many believe the conclusion of this investigation was predetermined at the time of the original announcement. In the Fact Sheet produced by the U.S. Department […]
Essar Steel Algoma is asking for debtor-in-possession financing to be extended a fourth time until Aug. 30, 2017. In the 31st report of the Monitor, Brian Denega asked that the extension be approved and that a Restructuring Committee be established to take some of the burden of negotiations and restructuring off key executives who can […]
WEST CHESTER, OH–(Marketwired – May 17, 2017) – AK Steel (NYSE: AKS) announced today that it has accepted an award of up to $1.8 million from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) under the Advanced Manufacturing Office’s Next Generation Electric Machines (NGEM) program to develop the next generation of advanced, non-oriented electrical steels (NOES) for […]
A number of our readers have requested details regarding the CORE (corrosion resistant which is galvanized, Galvalume, etc.), cold rolled and hot rolled trade suit status and when the one-year anniversary for each product are potential reviews are due. Steel Market Update (SMU) went to trade attorney Lewis Leibowitz for answers and he provided the […]
The Metal Service Center Institute (MSCI) released their April 2017 shipment and inventories data for the United States and Canada. The following is a recap of the U.S. data. Total steel shipments (all products) were reported to be 3,110,500 tons which was 4.2 percent lower than year ago levels (19 days vs. 21 day month […]
HVAC wholesalers reported despite “good” demand they are seeing ultra-competitive conditions on the sales of galvanized steel they are attempting to sell into the HVAC (heating, ventilation, air-conditioning) markets. Steel Market Update participates in a monthly steel conference call hosted by HARDI (Heating, Air-conditioning, and Refrigeration Distributors International) for their member companies. The HARDI conference […]
Total Canadian steel shipments for all products in April were 362,400 net tons, down 14.0 percent from March and down 2.8 percent from April 2017. On a daily rate, total shipments were 19,100 tons per day in April (19 day month), up from 18,300 tons per day in March (23 day month), and up compared […]
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 […]
How Much Power Does Section 232 Give the President to Restrict Steel Imports? Commentary by Lewis LeibowitzThe Law Office of Lewis E. LeibowitzWashington, D.C. We have had many questions about the power of the President under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. The statute gives the President considerable power to take action […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) has an active presence on social media. We find LinkedIn in particular an area where we can get our LinkedIn readers involved in a subject prompting questions and responses. In the preamble prior to the posting of an article produced by Steel Market Update entitled “Is Trump Administration the Next Black […]
The following article was provided and first published by ArcelorMittal USA news: After experimenting with aluminum in its luxury models, Audi’s next A8 will switch back to steel. Scheduled for release in 2018, the body structure of the new A8 will be made up of more than 40 percent steel, following the trend of automakers […]
ArcelorMittal NAFTA turned in solid results for first quarter 2017. The segment, composed of Indiana Harbor, AM/NS Calvert and ArcelorMittal Dofasco, had sales of $4.46 billion, up from $3.7 billion in Q4 2016 and $3.82 billion in Q1 2016. Operating income increased to $396 million from $164 million the previous quarter and $339 million the […]
US Steel announced on Wednesday that Mario Longhi has stepped down as CEO of US Steel Corp. As of May 8, 2017, president and chief operating officer David Burritt will take the reins as chief executive officer. Longhi will remain on the board of directors and as an employee of US Steel, providing transitional support, […]
The retirement of Mario Longhi from US Steel follows the company’s devastating first quarter loss of $180 million. Despite efforts to rein in costs at US Steel through the much touted Carnegie Way, US Steel managed only one profitable year, 2014, under Longhi’s tenure. The Q1 2017 results caused a 27 percent crash of US […]
Robert Lighthizer was confirmed as the new US Trade Representative by an 82-14 vote in the Senate on Thursday. Lighthizer faced some opposition from Republican Senators John McCain (Ariz.) and Ben Sasse (Neb.) who said they would vote against the Trump nominee because of his views concerning NAFTA and his alliance with the Administration’s protectionist […]
Nucor Corporation announced today the promotion of Leon Topalian to Executive Vice President, effective May 14, 2017. Topalian is currently Vice President and General Manager of Nucor-Yamato Steel Company. John Ferriola, Nucor’s Chairman, CEO and President, commented, “Leon has served Nucor in many key roles, and now he will be a strong addition to our […]
China’s Ministry of Commerce called the initiation by the U.S. of antidumping investigations on imports of cold-drawn steel mechanical tubing from China and five other countries “excessive,” in comments made on Thursday. Wang Hejun, head of the trade remedy and investigation bureau, said he was concerned over rising protectionism from the United States. “Under excessive […]
Flatbed trucks are generally first choice to move steel products from mills to distribution centers to manufacturing clients. What determines what freights will be for this workhorse of the steel industry? Freight costs are influenced by fuel costs, weather, seasonal demand, historical costs, and load-to-truck ratios. Flatbed rates are particularly vulnerable to weather conditions in […]
Stelco, the former US Steel Canada, is getting nearer to emerging from CCAA protection. A “sanction hearing” is scheduled for June 9 during which the court will decide whether Bedrock Industries will be the new owner. Bedrock has the support of most of the stakeholders but is still facing resistance from the local unions who […]
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 […]
The U.S. International Trade Commission made a final determination that the U.S. steel industry has been materially injured by imports of carbon and alloy steel cut-to-length plate from Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. Antidumping (AD) orders will be issued on imports of these products from the eight countries as well as […]