NLMK USA will re-start production on their #2 galvanizing line at Sharon Coatings in late January. “We should start coating steel late January. The demand for our products is solid, especially for the coated products and restarting line 2 will allow us to better service the light gage requirements of both service center and OEM […]
The dry-bulk market continued its advance through November, reaching a reading of 1000 for the Baltic Dry Index on November 11 and jumping to 1231 on November 17. As a reference point the BDI was at 849 at the beginning of the month (Nov. 3). The BDI tracks dry-bulk rates based on vessel size and […]
Earlier this week the Metals Service Center Institute (MSCI) released end of October shipment and inventories data for the U.S. steel service centers. Total steel shipments (all products) were 3,073,400 net tons which was 8.6 percent lower than October 2015 levels. The distributors shipped 146,400 tons per day which was an improvement over the 145,000 […]
The U.S. International Trade Commission delivered a surprising decision in the US Steel Section 337 case against China. In its complaint, US Steel alleged that China was violating antitrust laws in a “conspiracy to fix prices and control output and export volumes, the threat or effect of which is to restrain or monopolize trade and […]
October service center daily shipments improved 1.0 percent from September which is better than it seems because since 2009 on average, October has declined by 2.3 percent. Carbon steel shipments increased by 29,700 tons, the number of shipping days was unchanged at 21 and tons/day shipments increased by 1,400 tons. Intake and shipments In October […]
Canadian shipments for all steel products in the month of October were 356,600 net tons, a decrease of 3.8 percent from the month before and a decrease of 6.1 percent from October 2015. Inventories at the end of the month stood at 1,080,600 tons, down 3.2 percent from last month and down 11.2 percent from […]
On Tuesday of this week Steel Market Update (SMU) and one of our Steel 101: Introduction to Steel Making & Market Fundamentals workshops toured the Big River Steel facility in Osceola, Arkansas. We conducted the classroom portion of our program in Memphis and then drove to the mill for our tour and then we moved […]
The following analysis of the steel markets in China is from Beijing Metal Import & Export Co.,Ltd and is being reproduced by Steel Market Update with permission: Today is Monday, Please allow us to update China steel market (Nov 07 – Nov 13, 2016) as usual as following: In past week, market and non-market factors […]
The World Trade Organization said 85 trade-restrictive measures were implemented by G20 economies from mid-May to October 2016, approximately 17 measures per month. The number is a slight decline from 21 per month reported in the previous reporting period but continues to be high compared to the roll-back of existing trade-restrictive measures. During the reporting […]
We received a question from the financial community about “significant transformation” and the U.S. Department of Commerce initiation of an investigation into circumvention by China where hot rolled or cold rolled substrate is sent to Vietnam where it is then converted to cold rolled (from HRC) or coated steels. Their question was about the following […]
Brazil has filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO) against the United States over countervailing measures on imports of Brazilian cold- and hot-rolled steel flat products and requests dispute consultations with the U.S. In the November 11 filing, Brazil alleges the U.S. has been inconsistent with a number of procedural and substantive provisions […]
Once per month HARDI* wholesalers conduct a galvanized steel conference call so they can better understand what is happening in the broader markets as they deal with steel pricing, demand and inventory issues. The HARDI monthly call was held on Wednesday, November 9, just one day after the presidential election. Not surprisingly, the future of […]
On Monday the U.S. Department of Commerce initiated an investigation against China for trying to circumvent antidumping and countervailing duty orders. The DOC was responding to petitions filed by the domestic steel industry on cold rolled. The DOC also initiated an investigation on CORE (corrosion resistant) which SMU will cover in a separate article. There […]
On Monday the U.S. Department of Commerce, responding to petitions from ArcelorMittal, Nucor, US Steel, AK Steel, Steel Dynamics and California Steel, initiated an inquiry of circumvention of the antidumping (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) orders against China. The probe will be for hot rolled and cold rolled substrate supplied by China to Vietnam for […]
The Department of Commerce announced on Monday its affirmative preliminary determinations in the antidumping investigations of imports of certain carbon and alloy steel cut-to-length plate (CTL plate) from Austria, Belgium, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. CTL plate is a flat-rolled carbon and alloy steel product that is 4.75 mm or more in […]
ArcelorMittal posted net income of $680 million for third quarter 2016. Steel shipments totaled 20.3 million tonnes, down from 22.1 million tonnes in second quarter and 21.1 million tonnes in Q3 2015. Crude steel production in the NAFTA segment decreased 1.8 percent sequentially to 5.6 million tonnes in third quarter. The NAFTA segment includes the […]
As we begin November and head into the winter season, SMU took a quick look at shipping conditions in the various transportation modes. Seaborne Stabilizing global steel prices and an increase in Chinese coal imports have helped seaborne freight rates rebound from their lows of early 2016. Vessel overcapacity continues to make any improvement in […]
(ArcelorMittal press release, 8 November 2016) – ArcelorMittal is expanding its global portfolio of automotive steels by introducing a new generation of advanced high strength steels (AHSS). These innovative steels include the launch of new press hardenable steels (PHS) Ductibor® 1000 and Usibor® 2000 – both of which are already available for OEM qualification testing […]
Inventories, and whether they are too tight right now, have been a topic of discussion lately. Eddie Lehner, CEO of Ryerson Holdings commented on this during the Ryerson earnings call last week. In his prepared remarks Lehner said, “Notwithstanding, the decline of CRU carbon sheet prices from a peak late in the second quarter of […]
Ryerson Holding Co., a processor and distributor of metals in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and China, reported net income of $8.2 million for third quarter. Sales for the quarter totaled $735.1 million, essentially unchanged from second quarter. Shipments fell 5.0 percent sequentially and 2.4 percent year-over-year to 480,000 tons. The lower volume was partially offset […]
Olympic Steel CEO Michael Siegal believes the election is affecting demand and said service center inventories are particularly low as a result. Olympic Steel executives on the earnings call noted that shipments were better in October than in September but fourth quarter is expected to be slow. Said Siegal, “As you know the fourth quarter […]
US Steel has been at the forefront of initiating trade cases and working to strengthen enforcement laws. During the US Steel earnings call, CEO Mario Longhi made the following comments on trade. “We are pleased with the progress we have made so far on the trade front, but much more work needs to be done […]
US Steel reported third quarter net earnings of $51 million compared to a Q2 loss of $46 million and Q3 2015 net loss of $173 million. Net sales in third quarter increased to $2.7 billion, with $114 million in sales coming from the flat-rolled segment and $81 million from US Steel Europe. Sales benefited from […]
US Steel Corp announced today that it has agreed to terms proposed with Bedrock Industries Group for the sale and transition of ownership of US Steel Canada. The transaction is subject to customary court approvals. US Steel Canada has been in Companies Creditor Arrangement Act (CCAA) proceedings since Sept. 16, 2014. Under terms of the […]
The following “letter to the editor” was prompted by comments made by Lourenco Goncalves CEO of Cliffs Natural Resources during his earnings conference call with analysts and reported on by Steel Market Update (and others). The comments below were made by an executive at a domestic steel service center in response to Mr. Goncalves: I’m […]
After already publishing the article below on our website for our members, we received a note from our primary Chinese price source advising us that prices rose in China today by approximately $61 per metric ton. We were told, “Price on 2.5mm [.0985″] is USD450/mt fob st. lsd. A lot of buyers did not cover […]
The NLMK Group reports combines results for its Foreign Rolled Products Segment which includes NLMK USA and six strip and plate production sites in Europe, including NLMK Dansteel in Denmark. NLMK USA is comprised of NLMK Pennsylvania, NLMK Indiana and Sharon Coating. The segment saw Q3 sales decline to 541,000 tonnes, down 18 percent from […]
AISI, Washington, D.C. (Oct. 27, 2016) – The American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) today submitted comments to the Trade Policy Staff Committee (TPSC) on USTR’s 2017 National Trade Estimate Report (NTE) on Foreign Trade Barriers. This submission marks the fifth year in a row that AISI has documented the foreign trade barriers that distort […]
The Brazilian Steel Association has requested that the World Trade Organization initiate a “bilateral consultation” with the United States regarding the countervailing duties applied against imports of Brazilian hot and cold-rolled steel. The Association claims that the U.S. Department of Commerce did not take into consideration in their determination of “actionable subsidies” the explanations by […]
SSAB Americas, recorded a third quarter operating loss of SEK 73 million ($8.1 million) compared to a profit of SEK 162 million ($18 million) in Q2 2016. The loss was due mainly to the maintenance outage at Montpelier in the third quarter, higher variable costs, lower volumes and lower capacity utilization which was somewhat offset […]