ArcelorMittal Dofasco has been fined CAN $130,000 (US $104,379) after pleading guilty to two separate safety violations. On September 6, 2012, four workers were a changing a tuyere (a pipe/nozzle that blows air into the furnace) and blow pipe assembly on the #3 Blast Furnace. One of the workers fell off a tow motor used […]
The Board of Directors at AK Steel has approved the following executive promotions and organizational changes, effective May 29, 2015. Roger K. Newport has been promoted to Executive Vice President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Newport was previously Senior Vice President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer. He will continue to be responsible for accounting, […]
US Steel has decided not to close down the Granite City mill this month. Instead, 80 workers will be laid off and one blast furnace will be kept in operation. The second furnace will be offline while a new caster is installed. The previously announced temporary closure would have affected 2,080 employees at the plant. […]
PRO-TEC Coating Company, a 50/50 joint venture between United States Steel Corporation and Kobe Steel, Ltd., of Japan, announced today that its president, Bryan Vaughn, will retire effective June 1, 2015 after 34 years of service in the steel industry. Brent Rosebrook, currently vice president of finance and administration at PRO-TEC, has been named acting […]
AM/NS Calvert will be producing Ultra High Tensile Strength Cold-rolled and Coated steel sheets with high formability by the end of 2016. Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation (NSSMC), which is a joint partner with ArcelorMittal in the Calvert operations, says the materials of up to 1.2 gigpascals (GPa) tensile strength will be used for […]
Essar Steel Algoma is asking for support from the City of Sault Ste Marie in challenging a request by the Independent Contractors and Business Association (ICBA) and the province of British Columbia for ‘regional exemption’ of anti-dumping and countervailing duties on rebar imports. “Although we are not a rebar producer, it is our view that […]
Steel Dynamics announced this morning that it will idle its Minnesota ironmaking operations in Chisholm and Hoyt Lakes, Minn., effective immediately. The operations will be idled initially for 24 months due to the “continued significant decline in pig iron pricing, which has resulted in the cost of iron nugget production being meaningfully higher than product […]
There are going to be two main themes which SMU and other steel periodicals will be writing about over the coming months (between now and our Steel Summit Conference at the beginning of September). The two themes are: anti-dumping suits on light flat rolled products and union contract negotiations between U.S. Steel and ArcelorMittal USA […]
US Steel can keep its secrets. Superior Court Justice Herman Wilton-Siegel ruled on Wednesday that the details of the agreement between US Steel and the government of Canada cannot be released by the court—only by the Ministry of Industry. And, so far, neither the Ministry nor US Steel is willing to reveal the contents of […]
Severstal says the DOC should not terminate the suspension agreement on cut-to-length steel plate from Russia. In a communication to the U.S. Secretary of Commerce, the Russian steel producer said there is no evidence that Russian steel imports of CTL are injurious to the U.S. domestic steel market. In its letter Severstal writes, “Petitioner’s request […]
The Pacific Maritime Association overwhelmingly ratified a new five year contract with the International Longshore & Warehouse Union. The vote on the contract by the ILWU is expected by the end of this week. If the contract is ratified by the ILWU it will be retroactive to July 1, 2014 and will run through June […]
Steel Market Update is a member of an association connected to the construction industry called HARDI. HARDI stands for Heating, Air-conditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International. HARDI and The Institute for Trend Research (ITR), an economic forecasting company, work together to gather economic data to provide a forecast to the HARDI members located in the United […]
Based on Steel Market Update (SMU) analysis of the recently released MSCI service center inventory and shipment data, total service center carbon steel shipments decreased by 201,800 tons in April to 3.305 million tons. Shipping days at 22, the same as March. On a tons per day basis (t/d) shipments decreased from 159,400 in March […]
AK Steel received the “Deal Maker of the Year” award from the Association for Corporate Growth for its $690 million acquisition of Severstal Dearborn LLC. The annual ACG award recognizes individuals and corporations for their pursuit of corporate growth via mergers and acquisitions along with efforts that drive continued growth and vitality of the region’s […]
Steel Market Update is a member of an association connected to the construction industry called HARDI. HARDI stands for Heating, Air-conditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International. HARDI and the Institute for Trend Research (ITR), an economic forecasting company, work together to gather economic data to provide a quarterly forecast to the HARDI members located in the […]
An electrical fire Friday at ArcelorMittal Weirton in West Virginia sent eight employees to the hospital. A transformer at the Weirton strip steel operation malfunctioned causing adjacent electrical equipment to catch fire said ArcelorMittal spokesperson Mary Beth Holford. The fire was extinguished quickly and employees working the area were evacuated as a precaution. Several employees […]
Another 285 workers were laid off at US Steel’s Gary Works. US Steel spokesperson Courtney Boone attributes “challenging market conditions that are impacting the company” for the latest layoffs. US Steel laid off 270 workers three weeks ago but recalled 52 of them last week. On Friday, 57 salaried managers were dismissed, bringing the total […]
According to the Metal Service Center Institute (MSCI), U.S. steel service centers shipped 3,465,900 tons of carbon steel (all products) at an average of 157,500 tons per day during the month of April 2015. Total carbon shipments were down 5.6 percent over the previous month and 9.0 percent lower than one year ago. The daily […]
MID-SHIP continues to report concerns over weak demand in the dry cargo market coupled with over-supply of ships. The drop in shipping to and from China has pushed freight rates to their lowest levels since the mid 1980s according to the May 12 MID-SHIP Report. The Baltic Dry Index (BDI) was at a low of […]
For the first time in many months we have seen a break in spot market steel pricing coming out of the service centers. Manufacturing companies have been reporting to Steel Market Update via our flat rolled steel market questionnaire for a number of months that service center spot prices were falling. In the survey just […]
ArcelorMittal’s NAFTA segment, and in particular the US, saw a collapse in steel prices in first quarter. High levels of imports, a strengthening dollar, and a weak energy segment created significant headwinds for the company that are expected to continue in 2015. CFO Aditya Mittal hinted in the earnings conference call that cuts may be […]
Ryerson Holding Company, a processor and distributor of metals, announced the appointment of Edward J. Lehner as President and Chief Executive Officer. Lehner will succeed Michael C. Arnold who will retire at the end of May. Lehner has served as executive vice president and chief financial officer for Ryerson since 2012. Prior to joining Ryerson, […]
ArcelorMittal reported a net loss of $728 million in first quarter 2015 compared to a loss of $955 million in fourth quarter 2014. EBITDA was $1.4 billion. Steel shipments were up 3 percent year over year to 21.6 million tonnes. Iron ore shipments rose 5 percent to 9.4 million tonnes. Total sales for the company […]
Klöckner & Co SE EBITDA was heavily impacted by the sharp price declines in the U.S. EBITDA of €10 million ($11.2 million) was reported down from €45 million ($50.7 million) in Q1 2014 Shipments for Kloeckner Metals (the Americas segment) were up 0.6 percent y/y to 682,000 tonnes (751,763 tons). US shipments were up by […]
The 2015 Association for Iron and Steel Technology Steelmaker of the Year Award was presented to Mario Longhi, president and chief executive officer of U.S. Steel Corp. at the AISTech 2015 conference in Cleveland, Ohio on May 5, 2015. The award recognizes the contributions of a prominent individual to the steel industry. Longhi was honored […]
Nucor, SSAB, and ArcelorMittal USA have petitioned the Department of Commerce to overturn a suspension trade deal that excuses Russian producers of cut-to-length (CTL) steel plate from paying import duties. The three steel mills said increasing exports of low-priced CTL steel plate to the U.S. is injuring the domestic industry. A suspension agreement signed in […]
Olympic Steel navigated through falling metal prices for a first quarter net income of $1.1 million. Income was down from $2.8 million in Q1 2014, but better than anticipated by analysts due to higher revenue of $346 million, stronger than expected gross margin (19.1 percent) and lower operating expenses. In the carbon flat products segment, […]
US Steel spoke at length on the impact that unfairly traded imports have had on results in first quarter. Although, CEO Mario Longhi could not give an estimate for when the next trade case will be filed he did respond, “What I can tell you, it’s not a question of if; it’s a question of […]
AK Steel earnings in first quarter were challenged by high levels of imported carbon steel products, said CEO James Wainscott. “The first quarter of 2015 was certainly more challenging than we anticipated. That because of the extremely high level of imported carbon steel products–unfairly traded imports, in our opinion–that hit our countries shores at the […]
US Steel reported a first quarter net loss of $75 million–$65 million of which was due to the shutdown of coke production facilities. Net sales were $3.27 billion on total steel shipments of 4.1 million tons. Commenting on results, U. S. Steel President and Chief Executive Officer Mario Longhi said, “Our results reflect extremely challenging […]