Nucor Corp. said its Towers & Structures unit will build a new transmission tower production plant in Decatur, Ala. The Charlotte, N.C.-based steelmaker said the plant will be adjacent to the Nucor Steel Decatur sheet steel mill. It is expected to create 200 jobs. In December, the company announced plans to build two tower production plants […]
NLMK USA has announced new, higher base prices for steel sheet. The steelmaker said the higher prices were effectively immediately on all new spot orders and justified by “strong demand and extending lead times,” in a letter to customers on Wednesday, Feb. 22. NLMK USA said that its new minimum base price for hot-rolled coil was […]
Total US mill shipments of steel products declined in December, easing for the second straight month after fluctuating up and down for much of the year. December was the lowest mill shipment total for 2022, falling to the lowest total since February 2021. Shipments totaled 7.27 million tons in December, a 1% decrease from November’s 7.34 […]
North American auto assemblies rose 16.1% in January, recovering for the first time in three months. Last month’s assembly output was among one of the highest in nearly two years and 13.8% higher year on year (YoY), according to LMC Automotive data. On the supply side, inventory levels are expected to gradually improve this year as […]
US light-vehicle (LV) sales slowed to an unadjusted sales figure of 1.03 million units in January, the US Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) reported. Despite the month-on-month (MoM) decline, January’s total was still 4.2% higher year-on-year (YoY), and the sixth consecutive month to see YoY increases in sales. LV sales were up 17.73% MoM in December on […]
Thirteen US senators from both major political parties wrote to top trade officials last week requesting that Section 232 tariffs be reinstated on some Mexican steel products, notably steel conduit. “In recent months, it has become clear that Mexican steel imports ‘now exceed historic volumes of trade’ and are ‘surg[ing] meaningfully” into our market,” the […]
ArcelorMittal has followed three major domestic mills in increasing sheet prices by at least $100 per ton ($5 per cwt). Luxembourg-based ArcelorMittal, one of the world’s largest steelmakers, also said it was targeting a minimum base price of $1,000 per ton for hot-rolled coil (HRC) effective immediately. That echoes new HRC base prices announced earlier […]
Cleveland-Cliffs has called back workers to its idled Northshore Mining operations in Minnesota, a company spokeswoman confirmed. She declined to say how many workers were being called back or why. “We will provide more details when we decide when and at what capacity this operation will be brought back online,” the spokeswoman said in an […]
US Steel has joined competitors Nucor and Cleveland-Cliffs in raising base prices for steel sheet by at least $100 per ton ($5 per cwt). The Pittsburgh-based steelmaker said the price hike was effective immediately for all new spot orders in a letter to top sales staff dated Tuesday, Feb. 21. The company said the increases […]
Cleveland-Cliffs didn’t take long to join Nucor in increasing spot prices for steel sheet by at least another $100 per ton ($5 per cwt). The Cleveland-based steelmaker, like Nucor, is also targeting a base price of $1,000 per ton for hot-rolled coil (HRC). Cliffs said the increase was effective immediately and applied equally to all […]
The spread between hot-rolled coil (HRC) and prime scrap prices has widened in February, according to Steel Market Update data. Prices for both products increased in February month over month. Our hot-rolled coil price average rose $15 per ton week over week to $825 per ton per net ton ($41.25 per cwt) as of Feb. 14. […]
The US and Canadian rig counts decreased slightly last week, but they remain sharply up compared to a year ago, according to data from oilfield services company Baker Hughes. The total US rig count was 760 last week, down one from the week prior. The number of active oil rigs in the US slipped to 607 […]
Business activity remained negative in New York state in February, according to the Empire State Manufacturing Survey. The New York Fed’s Empire State headline general business conditions index—a gauge of manufacturing activity in the state— increased 27 points from January but was still negative at -5.8. Twenty-six percent of respondents reported that conditions had improved over the month, while 32% said conditions had […]
The Steel Buyers Sentiment indices moved in opposite directions this week, with Current Buyers Sentiment edging down and Future Buyers Sentiment inching up, according to SMU’s most recent survey data. SMU’s Steel Buyers Sentiment Indices measure how steel buyers feel about their company’s ability to be successful in the current market, as well as three […]
Algoma Steel has installed the first structural steel columns this week at its electric-arc furnace (EAF) steelmaking facility in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. The Canadian steelmaker said that on-site assembly of the structure is targeted for completion within the year. The company partnered with Hamilton, Ontario-based Walters Group Inc. in fabricating and erecting the main EAF […]
Inflation indeed! Hot-rolled (HR) spot indexes have risen about $40 per short ton (ST) since the beginning of February. HR futures settlements for the period between Feb. 1 and Feb. 16 also reflect rising prices. The average weighted price for Q2’23 is up over $108/ST to $902/ST; Q3’23 up $65/ST to $853/ST; and Q4’23 up […]
Steel mill lead times, following recent pricing moves, have pushed upwards, according to SMU’s latest market survey. SMU’s hot-rolled lead time is approximately 5.4 weeks, up from 4.9 weeks at our last check of the market two weeks ago. The result is notable because lead times have been just below five weeks since the beginning of […]
Cleveland-Cliffs has ruled out spending money to build new electric-arc furnaces (EAFs), the company’s top executive said. The Cleveland-based steelmaker will instead focus on decarbonizing its blast furnaces (BFs) and basic-oxygen furnaces (BOFs), which are better suited than EAFs to supply the automotive industry, company chairman, president, and CEO Lourenco Goncalves said. “Cleveland-Cliffs does not […]
Both prime and obsolete scrap prices rose in February even as the market continued to assess the impact of devastating earthquakes that struck Turkey earlier in the month. Turkey is the world’s largest scrap importer, which is why the scrap industry is keen to know the impact of the earthquake and it aftershocks on Feb. 6-7. One scrap executive […]
Ternium plans to spend $2.2 billion to build an electric-arc furnace (EAF) and direct-reduced iron (DRI) module in North America. The Latin American steelmaker said the EAF would have capacity of 2.86 million short tons (2.6 million metric tons) per year and that the DRI unit would have capacity of 2.31 million short tons (2.1 […]
Cleveland-Cliffs swung to a loss in the fourth quarter of 2022 but predicted better times ahead in 2023. Cliffs chairman, president, and CEO Lourenco Goncalves said that optimism comes because the economy in general is on a much better footing in 2023 than had been feared in late 2022, when hot-rolled coil prices fell into […]
Algoma Steel said lower production volumes and steel selling prices, as well as the jump in the price of key inputs, hit its fiscal Q3 earnings as the company swung to a loss. The Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario-based steelmaker posted a net loss of Canadian $69.8 million ($52.3 million USD) in its 3Q ended Dec. […]
ArcelorMittal and NLMK USA have followed three major domestic steelmakers in increasing sheet prices by at least $50 per ton ($2.50 per cwt). Luxembourg-based ArcelorMittal said it was targeting a minimum base price of $900 per ton effective immediately, echoing moves first announced by Nucor and Cleveland-Cliffs. “The increase is applicable to all new spot […]
Raw steel production by US mills continued its rally, increasing for a fifth straight week, according to data released by the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) on Tuesday, Feb. 13. The increase pushed capacity utilization up to 74.4%, driven by increases in tons in the South and Northeast regions. This is up from the […]
US Steel Corp. got in on the action and increased spot prices for carbon steel sheet by at least $50 per ton ($2.50 per cwt). The move is effective immediately, the company said in a letter to customers dated Monday, Feb.13, and joining Nucor and Cleveland-Cliffs in their efforts to boost sheet tags. The latest price […]
Cleveland-Cliffs has joined Nucor in increasing spot prices for steel sheet by at least another $50 per ton ($2.50 per cwt). The Cleveland-based steelmaker, like Nucor, is also targeting a base price of $900 per ton for hot-rolled cold. Cliffs said the increase was effective immediately and applied equally to all new orders of hot-rolled, […]
ArcelorMittal expects that its $2.2-billion acquisition of Brazilian steelmaker Companhia Siderúrgica do Pecém (CSP) will close in late February. “The transaction closes end of this month,” chief financial officer Genuino Christino said during an earnings call with analysts last week. The Luxembourg-based steelmaker had said that the deal had received final antitrust clearance in commentary […]
ArcelorMittal executives think that the global steel market should rebound in 2023 as the destocking period that characterized 2022 ends. “I believe the worst conditions of these cycles have passed,” Lakshmi Mittal, executive chairman of the Luxembourg-based steelmaker, said in a conference call with analysts last week. Mittal made the prediction after the company – […]
We are in moving into an interesting period here for spot markets for hot rolled coil. Steel mills are driving hard for a further rally in the face of what appears to us to be weaker year over year demand and an overall challenging macro-economic backdrop, with interest rates likely to create headwinds this year […]
Depending on when you read this, you might know who won the Super Bowl, but we know who won this week—Joe Biden. President Biden gave an effective State of the Union on Tuesday. The speech had everything his (and Bernie Sanders’) supporters could hope for: more Buy American, more equality, more populism, even more support […]