A strike at NLMK Pennsylvania turned ugly last week when a news reporter was thrown into the street by picketers while trying to take photos. While likely a one-off incident, the confrontation highlights the tension among workers trying to negotiate a contract during a time of economic uncertainty. “We understand emotions can run high on […]
California Steel Industries has appointed Shinji Tanaka as President and Chief Executive Officer. He will replace Marcelo Botelho Rodrigues who completed his four-year term on Aug. 1, 2020. Tanaka joined CSI in January 2020 as the Executive Vice President of Engineering and Continuous Improvement following a 21-year career at JFE Steel in Japan. At JFE […]
A threatened strike at NLMK Pennsylvania became reality on Saturday when United Steelworkers at the company’s Farrell, Pa., plant walked off the job over what they claim are unfair labor practices. Local 1016-3 gave NLMK management a 48-hour strike notice on Friday, Aug. 20. Months of labor negotiations between management and the union deteriorated over a proposed healthcare […]
China’s July crude steel output jumped 1.9 percent from June and 9.1 percent from a year ago to 93.36 million metric tons, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. Steel demand rallied after declining during the pandemic-induced shutdowns and is now benefiting from Chinese stimulus measures that include infrastructure building and housing construction. Average daily […]
Algoma Steel has been awarded a $4 million grant to upgrade its equipment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The funding was provided by Canada’s Low Carbon Economy Fund and will be used to improve both the tar-removal and light-oil-recovery areas of its coke-making plant in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. This process will not only help […]
North Star BlueScope, the Ohio subsidiary of Australian steelmaker BlueScope Steel Ltd., operated at over 90 percent capacity during the second half of FY 2020 despite auto demand plunging to zero during the last quarter of its fiscal year. The “ability to pivot to other end markets” kept shipment levels almost steady with the first […]
Canadian steel producer Stelco reported stronger sales in the second quarter despite market headwinds, posting revenue of $411 million. Net income was nil compared to a net profit of $1 million in Q2 2019 and a net loss of $24 million in Q1 2020. Adjusted net income was $10 million, up from $6 million a […]
ArcelorMittal announce plans to build an electric arc furnace steelmaking facility at AM/NS Calvert. When completed the facility will have the capability of producing 1.5 million metric tons of steel slabs for Calvert’s hot strip mill as well as producing a wide variety of steel grades for end-users. “An electric arc furnace at Calvert makes […]
Commercial Metals Company, a long products producer, is adding a third micro mill that will make merchant bar quality products through a continuous production process that will utilize renewable energy. “We are excited by the tremendous promise of CMC’s third micro mill. This is a smart growth initiative that feeds the large underlying West Coast […]
JSW Steel plans to accelerate its plans to overhaul its U.S. facilities in Ohio and Texas. Both plants have been idled due to weak demand and pricing resulting from COVID-19 impacts. The plant in Mingo Junction, Ohio, will receive an upgrade to its 1.5-million-ton capacity electric arc furnace and is expected to restart production in […]
Olympic Steel’s Andrew Wolfort has been promoted to the role of Vice President-Specialty Metals. Joining Olympic Steel in 2007, Wolfort most recently led three of the Olympic specialty steel locations as Regional Vice-President. In his new role he will continue to lead the teams at Schaumburg, Ill., and Gary, Ind., facilities and the Berlin Metals […]
A new Danieli spooler line is in operation at the Nucor Steel Sedalia minimill in Missouri. The spool will deliver twist-free compact and regularly shaped coils at up to 30 m/s. The high-efficiency and low-cost line is for the production of rebars and rounds in coils weighing up to five tons. The spooler line consists of […]
Olympic Steel posted a net loss of $6.5 million for the second quarter of 2020. Sales totaled $248 million, down from $429 million in Q2 2019 due to lower average selling prices and a significant decline in shipments as a result of pandemic-related shutdowns, including the automotive industry. “As the pandemic began to affect the […]
“The second quarter has been one of the most challenging quarters I can remember,” said Ternium CEO Máximo Vedoya. Steel demand fell in the second quarter with steel companies in many regions shutting down blast furnaces. Ternium operations in Brazil and Argentina were able to keep operating, albeit at reduced volumes, and increased shipments to […]
Steel Dynamics, Inc. has completed its acquisition of Zimmer, a Mexican scrap recycler, as part of its raw material procurement strategy to support the new flat rolled mill it is building in Sinton, Texas. SDI plans to begin operations at the new EAF mill in mid-2021. Zimmer is headquartered in Monterrey, Mexico, and operates a ferrous and […]
By CRU Senior Consultant Ibrahim Yucel, from CRU’s Steel Monitor Efforts to reshore critical supply chains and secure access to strategic materials have become a top political issue for many countries, and trade barriers are a common tool used by governments to help protect local producers of strategic materials. However, trade policy enforcements sometimes lead […]
“Second-quarter results are a reminder of why we have to change,” said U.S. Steel President and CEO David Burritt, during his quarterly conference. The second quarter marked the trough of a challenging year, he said, as U.S. Steel remains focused on its “best of both” strategy, which includes the acquisition of EAF mill Big River […]
ArcelorMittal is laying off 877 union and salaried workers at Indiana Harbor in addition to the 454 at ArcelorMittal Cleveland. The layoffs took effect on Saturday and will continue for the next two weeks until completed. In an amended letter to the Indiana Department of Workforce Development, ArcelorMittal said, “Due to additional and unforeseen deterioration […]
Cleveland-Cliffs is getting back to normal after idling 15 facilities in three months due to the impacts of COVID-19. As of today, all facilities, including the AK Steel Dearborn furnace, are back to operation with the exception of North Shore and Tilden, which will resume next week. Idling costs of around $50 million will be […]
Metals processor and distributor Ryerson Holding Corp. recorded revenue of $772 million for the second quarter of 2020, a plunge of 35.9 percent from a year ago and 23.6 percent sequentially. Shipments fell 25.8 percent to 462,000 tons. Average selling price declined 13.6 percent to $1,671 per ton. The company reduced warehousing, delivery, general and […]
Learning to do more with less during the COVID crisis is bringing structural changes to ArcelorMittal, said Aditya Mittal, president and CFO of the world’s largest integrated steel and mining company, during today’s second-quarter report to analysts and investors. Without offering specifics about which assets will be affected in pursuit of cost savings, Mittal said […]
Liberty Steel says it will continue to operate its Georgetown facility under “care and maintenance” due to the ongoing challenging market conditions. The company idled Georgetown in April with expectations of reopening in three months. Approximately 130 employees and contractors were laid off. “A skeleton staff will continue to manage the care and maintenance program. […]
World crude steel production declined by 7 percent in June, compared with the same month last year, to a total of approximately 148.3 million metric tons, reported the World Steel Association in Brussels. For the first six months of 2020, global steel production totaled 873.1 million tons, down 6.0 percent year over year as steel […]
Reducing harmful greenhouse gas emissions from the steelmaking process, which remains a very CO2- and energy-intensive activity, calls for a combination of approaches that may vary from nation to nation. “There is no single solution to drastically reducing CO2 emissions from our industry, and we believe that individual countries are best placed to assess and […]
By CRU Analyst Iris Speelmanns, from CRU’s Steelmaking Raw Materials Monitor The following is excerpted from CRU’s weekly report on steel supply disruptions and restarts. Several weeks after national lockdowns were eased, activity in steel-consuming sectors continues to resume and mills are restarting or ramping up production in some regions. Outside China, the spread of […]
A mass layoff of 454 workers at ArcelorMittal Cleveland is slated to begin on Aug. 1. A WARN notice was sent to the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services on July 27 informing the state of the impending layoffs, which will include hourly represented as well as certain salaried employees. Said ArcelorMittal in their […]
SSAB Americas’ third-quarter results were impacted by lower prices and volumes, which were somewhat offset by cost savings and lower raw material prices. SSAB Americas posted an operating loss of SEK 10 million ($1.13 million) versus a profit of SEK 106 million ($12 million) in the first quarter. Sales totaled $3.2 billion SEK ($361 million) […]
NLMK USA saw shipments plummet 39 percent quarter-over-quarter to 330,000 metric tons as steel demand dropped in Q2 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Revenue fell 37 percent to $238 million. EBITDA was $3 million compared to -$22 million in Q1 and was attributed to “widening of the slabs to rolled product price spread” as well […]
India-based steelmaker JSW Steel posted its first loss in six years in Q1 of FY 2021 after what it called “formidable challenges” related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The quarter was marked by “disrupted supply chains, unparalleled drop in demand and activity levels in the domestic markets, uncertainty in seamless inbound and outbound logistics movement, and liquidity […]
Investigations are under way into the cause of an accident at ArcelorMittal’s Indiana Harbor mill in East Chicago, Ind., that claimed the life of a 71-year-old worker who was struck by a coil tractor on Tuesday. ArcelorMittal offered condolences to the family of George Salinas of Gary, Ind. “We are deeply troubled by today’s incident […]