One of the interesting points brought out in the most recent flat rolled steel survey is distributors inventories are rising. According to the results from last week’s survey steel inventories rose to their highest levels since January 2013 and now stand at 2.35 months. MSCI data is due out later this week and SMU is […]
ELK GROVE VILLAGE, Ill.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Material Sciences Corporation, a leading provider of material-based solutions for acoustical and coated applications, announced today that it has entered into a definitive merger agreement with Zink Acquisition Holdings Inc. (“Parent”) and Zink Acquisition Merger Sub Inc. (“Merger Sub”), which are affiliates of New Star Metals Inc. and Insight Equity Holdings […]
Commercial Metals Company (CMC) posted net earnings of $45.9 million on net sales of $1.7 billion for its first quarter of fiscal year 2014 ending on November 30, 2013. This compares with net earnings of $49.7 million on a similar net sale amount of $1.7 billion for the same period in FY 2013. Results included […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) spoke with Ryan Letz, CEO/President of Willbanks Metals a hot rolled and plate distribution and value-add services company located in Fort Worth, Texas. The Letz brothers had just announced the purchase of the assets and the book of business of First Process Steel, Inc. out of Tulsa, Oklahoma with the following […]
The U.S. service centers are believers and, according to their customers as well as the distributors themselves, they are raising spot prices on flat rolled steel. It has been Steel Market Update’s opinion for quite some time that for domestic mill price increases to continue to rise the service centers need to support the increases […]
Based on the results from our recent steel market analysis of the flat rolled steel service centers we found inventory levels increased to 2.30 months. As you can see by the graphic below, the Steel Market Update service center inventory levels tend to make very modest changes. It will be interesting to see if the […]
Horizon Steel Company, plans to build a 90,000 square foot service center facility in Bowling Green, Kentucky. The $15 million project is expected to provide 30 new full-time positions in the region. The facility will be part of a co-located operation that will span approximately 150,000 square feet in the Kentucky Transpark and will also […]
Over the past few months we have seen constraints in the supply of flat rolled steel as one of the main drivers behind the higher price trend. Supply disruptions continued at a number of mills due to maintenance at Severstal, ArcelorMittal, USS and others as well as the restart associated with USS Lake Erie Works. […]
After compiling the results from our most recent Steel Market Update survey, we found service center inventories have risen to an average of 2.21 months for mid-November, the highest figure since mid-July of this year. This is an improvement compared to the early-November survey, when inventories were measured at 2.04 months, the lowest figure since […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) asked those distributors participating in our twice monthly steel market survey to advise us how many months of flat rolled steel they have on hand. We do not pretend to possess the data base of the MSCI and we defer to their data base – especially in the case of the […]
GlobeNet Metals and Flack Steel will merge to become one company with projected steel sales of approximately 275,000 tons per year. The combined entities will continue to sell steel under the GlobeNet Metals and Flack Steel brands. Ben Bucci, CEO of GlobeNet Metals which is headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona told Steel Market Update, “We started […]
AM Castle, a metals and plastics distributor, reported a net loss of $6.9 million for the third quarter 2013, compared to net income of $3.2 million in Q3 2012. Consolidated net sales were $253 million down from $304 million in 2012. Metal sales in the third quarter were $220 million, a drop of 19.2 percent […]
Scrap supplier, Sims Metal Management, announced the appointment of Galdino Claro as Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, effective Nov. 4. Claro joins Sims from Harsco Corporation, a global provider of industrial solutions and engineered products, where he has served as Executive Vice President and CEO of Metals and Minerals since July 2010. Claro’s experience […]
Global distributor A.M. Castle & Co. expects a third quarter loss of 28 to 32 cents per share and EBITDA between $4 million and $5 million according to preliminary results announced on Oct. 8. Sales are expected to range between $250 million and $255 million for the quarter. Projections were well below analyst estimates of […]
A certain level of frustration appears to be hitting the service centers in both the spot and contract markets. In the spot market we have heard from a number of service centers that their attempts to raise spot prices are being met with a certain level of disbelief as end users evaluate how to perceive […]
The most recent survey of the flat rolled steel industry conducted by SMU began at 8 AM on Monday of this past week. Within a few hours of our start, NLMK and ArcelorMittal had both announced price increases and USS was busy telling their customers that they too would raise spot flat rolled pricing. As […]
Our survey results from this past week pointed to a weakening in the resolve of a number of service centers. There are a group of distributors who believe that prices have only one direction to go from here – lower. Fed by the belief that their inventories will depreciate from here, a number of service […]
Ohio Governor John Kasich spoke about regulation, education and economic development at the Association of Steel Distributors (ASD) meeting on September 12 at the Ritz Carlton, Cleveland. Governor Kasich said, “We believe that a regulatory environment is important. It is not like we don’t want any regulations, but we want common sense regulations.” As […]
Taylor Steel collaborated with Herr-Voss Stamco in order to produce the first slitting line specifically designed with the sole purpose of meeting the processing needs of the advanced high strength steels (AHSS) markets in North America. The new slitting line is using strand extensioning in combination with a 45 foot looping pit in order to […]
Flat rolled steel service centers have moved away from pushing spot flat rolled price increases as they were at the beginning of July and then again at the beginning of August. Those reporting that their company was keeping steel prices the same grew from 23 percent at the beginning of August to 60 percent this […]
The Association of Steel Distributors is honored to share an evening with Governor John Kasich from the State of Ohio for our September Regional Meeting. This meeting will occur next Thursday, September 12 at the Ritz-Carlton Cleveland at 5:45 PM. ASD is privileged to have Governor Kasich deliver remarks and interact with the ASD members […]
The Pritzker Organization, LLC will acquire TMS International Corp. in a $1 billion cash transaction. TMS, a global provider of raw material procurement services to the steel industry, provides mill services at 81 customer sites in 12 countries and operates 36 brokerage offices on five continents. TMS is a partner with Onex Corporation which holds […]
Manufacturing companies continue to report negligible support for higher spot prices by the distribution segment of the flat rolled industry. In our most recent survey, the vast majority of manufacturing companies reported their service center suppliers as providing stable spot prices (75 percent). Only 7 percent were reporting higher spot prices and those reporting lower […]
CENTRIA President Mark Sherwin is retiring after leading the company as its inaugural president for the past 17 years. Sherwin will step down as of April 1, 2013. Joel Mazur, currently general manager of the CENTRIA Architectural Systems business segment, will assume Sherwin’s position. Mazur joined CENTRIA in October of 2012 after 30 years in […]