Steel Market Update received the following letter to the editor from a flat rolled steel service center. With contract negotiations heating up we thought the letter may spark a dialogue between the steel mills and their customers: John, we are a Mid-West Steel Service Center and attended your Steel Market Update Atlanta conference. We gained […]
Developed by research and development teams in France and the USA, the Fortiform™ range will initially be produced and developed at two ArcelorMittal sites in Belgium: Gent and Kessales (Liège). The new Fortiform™ range of advanced high strength steels (AHSS) for cold stamping could lead to further weight savings of up to 20% in vehicle […]
Jindal SAW Ltd, through its subsidiary Jindal Tubular USA LLC, will acquire all of pipe and tube producer PSL North America LLC in a bankruptcy purchase agreement. The purchase price was undisclosed but assets of PSL North America and PSL USA (which owns a majority stake in PSL North America) were listed at $50 million […]
There were no surprises raised during the most recent HARDI steel conference call conducted earlier this morning (Tuesday, August 26th). There were no surprises because on the previous call, held in July, the galvanized steel group members discussed the potential for new coating extras as zinc prices rose above $1.00 per pound. As anticipated back […]
A number of steel mills have joined Nucor and US Steel by adjusting their coating extras on galvanized steel. Wheeling Nisshin advised their customers on Monday of this week that they were going to the new U.S. Steel galvanized extras. Severstal also made adjustments to their mills extras but they did not come out with […]
Australian company BlueScope Steel announced FY 2014 underlying EBIT of AUD 104.6 million (USD 97.2 million) for its 50 percent ownership of U.S. based North Star BlueScope Steel. The increased profit, up 57 percent from FY 2013 AUD 66.7 million, was due primarily to stronger spread from higher hot rolled coil prices that were partially […]
According to data just released by the Metal Service Center Institute (MSCI) total steel shipments were 168,300 tons per day during the month of July 2014. This represents a 6.9 percent improvement over the July 2013 shipment rate. The total number of tons shipped during the month of July by U.S. steel distributors was 3,702,100 […]
Canadian shipments for all steel products in the month of July were 482,400 net tons, an increase of 0.3 percent from the month before and an increase of 5.0 percent from July 2013. Inventories at the end of the month stood at 1,467,800 tons, up 5.5 percent from last month and up 0.4 percent from […]
ThyssenKrupp AG still hopes to sell its Brazilian steel plant CSA, but this time it will focus on the local Brazilian market said Chief Executive Heinrich Hiesinger at a meeting with journalists on Monday. No negotiations are currently in progress but are expected in the mid to long term. CSA showed unexpected adjusted EBIT of […]
Total service center carbon steel shipments in July increased by 11,600 tons to 3.539 million tons. Shipping days also increased, from 21 to 22. On a tons per day basis, (t/d) shipments decreased from 168,000 tons in June to 160,900 in July but the latest data has the best shipments of any July since 2008. […]
One of the west coast steel mills, California Steel Industries (CSI), has advised their customers that, “Due to changing market conditions, effective immediately, California Steel Industries is increasing transaction prices by a minimum of the following: Hot Rolled = $25.00/tonP&O = $25.00/tonCold Rolled = $25.00/tonGalvanized = $25.00/ton” The letter was dated August 13, 2014. […]
Ohio-based service center Heidtman Steel announced production for its new slitting facility in East Chicago, Ind. is expected to begin in early September. Installation of equipment is nearly complete and trial runs will begin later this month. Full production is anticipated by October. The 120,000 sq. ft. facility houses an Alcos brand Advance High Strength […]
The service centers who sell secondary or excess prime flat rolled steels are reporting a very tight market as less material is being made available out of the steel mills and holes are developing in steel service center inventories. Secondary steel buying prices out of the domestic mills have been moving up but have not […]
Due to the higher LME zinc spot prices which have surged from about $.88 per pound in late March 2014 to just below $1.10 per pound in mid to late July, Nucor became the first steel mill to adjust their zinc coating extras for galvanized steel. With little fanfare, Nucor published new extras on the […]
Nucor Corp. is continuing its legal battle to prevent the construction of neighboring competitor Big River Steel. The company has filed another environmental complaint on August 7 in the US District Court in Jonesboro, Arkansas, claiming emissions from the planned mill would harm the air quality in Mississippi County. Previous legal attempts by Nucor to […]
Truck freight volume rose 7.5 percent in the last week of July according to DAT Trends. Load to truck ratios increased across all three truck categories while the average spot market rates remained stable. Flat bed truck demand increased by 6 percent while capacity declined 7.1 percent. The load to truck ratio for the week […]
NLMK USA second quarter sales increased 18 percent quarter over quarter to 540,000 tonnes (595,238 net tons). Revenue increased 13 percent q/q to $499 million. NLMK Indiana ran at 81 percent capacity in the second quarter. Profitability declined due to narrower spreads between prices for slabs and rolled steel products. NLMK Group sales totaled 3.83 […]
Kloeckner Metals Corp. shipments fell by 3.8 percent year-on-year in the first half of 2014, due to the extended winter, consolidation of sites and the reduction of low-margin business. EBITDA improved by 27 percent from €41 million to €52 million ($55 million to $69.7 million), helped by operational improvements and higher-margins. The company expects US […]
ArcelorMittal iron ore mining operations in Liberia are in an expansion phase but the recent outbreak of Ebola in West Africa has the company taking extra precautions to safeguard employees. The following statement was issued by the company on August 8. Luxembourg, 8 August 2014 – ArcelorMittal is currently mining and shipping 5 million tonnes […]
Olympic Steel & Aluminum posted the highest net sales in its history. Second quarter sales increased 16.7 percent year-over-year to $386.0 million, due to increased market share and higher sales volume. Net income jumped 38 percent to $3.5 million from $2.5 million in Q2 2013. Flat product volume was up 17 percent in Q2 to […]
One of our Steel Summit Conference speakers, Chuck Bradford, produced an interesting report on Chinese pig iron and crude steel production, imports and exports. Mr. Bradford shared the information with Steel Market Update along with a few comments: “Please keep in mind that the data I show in this report is more exact than the […]
The ArcelorMittal Indiana Harbor #7 blast furnace, which underwent a $70 million planned maintenance in the second quarter, is in the ramp up phase. “It’s hard to overstate the importance of this #7 furnace to us,” said Louis Schorsch during ArcelorMittal conference call, “This has been I could say, limping along the last year and […]
ArcelorMittal Dofasco is conducting a two phase upgrade of its galvanizing lines. Phase 1 includes a new heavy gauge galvanize line (#6 Galvinize Line) that will have AHSS capability and a capacity of 660ktpy. Phase 2 includes the conversion of the #4 galvanize line to a dual pot line. The #4 line is expected to […]
AM/NS Calvert production continues to increase with the hot mill running at 83 percent utilization in June. Initial slab shipments from ArcelorMittal Tubarao and ArcelorMittal Mexico were received in second quarter and are currently in trials. ArcelorMittal is still determining what the final split will be on shipments from the two mills to the US—Tubaro […]
ArcelorMittal posted a profit of $52 million in the second quarter, following a string of quarterly losses that included a $205 million loss in Q1 2014 and a $780 million loss in Q2 2013. Steel shipments increased by 2.5 percent y/y to 21.5 million tonnes (23.7 million net tons). Net debt decreased to $17.4 billion […]
Keith Grass, Nucor’s Executive Vice President of Raw Materials and Chief Executive Officer of The David J. Joseph Company will retire effective September 12, 2014. Mr. Grass began his career with DJJ in 1978, serving as President of DJJ from 2000 until December 2012 and CEO of DJJ since 2000. He was appointed Executive Vice […]
AK Steel has shut down the blast furnace at Ashland Works for the second time this year. A “hearth chill” incident occurred last week (described as excess water in the furnace) according to AK Steel officials during the company’s earnings conference call Wednesday, and further maintenance was anticipated. In an email to SMU, Mike Wallner, […]
Severstal North America reported strong growth in sales volume in the second quarter, up 6 percent quarter over quarter. Revenue of $1.06 billion was 4.9 percent higher than the previous quarter driven by higher sales volume. EBITDA was up a record 33.3 percent in second quarter to $100 million reflecting operational improvement at Severstal Dearborn […]
US Steel did surprisingly well in the second quarter, coming back from a weather impacted first quarter to narrow losses and show operating profit. US Steel reported a net loss of $18 million in the second quarter, performing better than expected. Income from operations came to $132 million. Net sales were $4.40 billion as compared […]
OAO Severstal posted a net loss of $661 million for second quarter that includes a non-cash loss estimate of $1.066 billion on the disposal of Severstal Dearborn, Severstal Columbus, and PBS Coal and a foreign exchange gain of $199 million. Excluding these items, Severstal would have posted a net profit of $206 million. Second quarter […]