U.S. Steel plans to take a nearly month-long maintenance outage in March on the B blast furnace at its Granite City Works near St. Louis, a company spokeswoman confirmed. The Pittsburgh-based steelmaker is targeting March 3-28 for the planned outage, she said. “We do not anticipate customer impact,” the spokeswoman added. Planned outages typically don’t […]
Steel Dynamics Inc. (SDI) has started up the hot end of its $1.9 billion steel mill in Sinton, Texas, according to sources familiar with the matter. The Fort Wayne, Ind.-based steelmaker has melted a limited number of heats and rolled a limited number of coils – standard practice for a new mill, they said. SDI […]
Stelco Holdings Inc. said its fourth-quarter steel shipments were negatively impacted by production challenges and unplanned outages. The Hamilton, Ontario-based steelmaker shipped roughly 625,000 net tons of steel in the fourth quarter of 2021, below prior guidance of 675,000 to 680,000 net tons. Shipments in the fourth quarter were lower than expected due to various […]
Stelco plans to enter the electric-vehicle (EV) battery recycling business with a new integrated shredding and hydrometallurgical refinery at its Lake Erie Works in Nanticoke, Ontario. The Canadian flat-rolled steelmaker said engineering studies for the new recycling operation are expected to be completed in mid-2022 with the plant anticipated to start up in 2023. The […]
BlueScope Steel has closed its $240 million deal for ferrous scrap recycler MetalX. With the transaction complete, MetalX will operate under the name BlueScope Recycling and Materials. BlueScope announced the deal in early November and closed it on Dec. 17, according to a statement released earlier this week. MetalX is the leading scrap supplier to […]
California Steel Industries (CSI) has opened its February order book for flat-rolled steel and decreased prices significantly, according to market participants. That’s a big change from 2021, when the Fontana, Calif.-based slab converter often increased prices substantially from one month to the next. “Customers are reminded that prices are subject to change at any time […]
Ternium USA Inc. plans to invest $98 million to increase coating capacity at its steel mill in Shreveport, La. The money will be used to add a second paint line to the Shreveport facility with capacity of 120,000 tons per year. Construction of the new paint line is expected to begin in the first quarter […]
U.S. Steel expects lower adjusted EBITDA in the fourth quarter compared to the third but a strong 2022 thanks to contract prices resetting higher. The Pittsburgh-based steelmaker forecast fourth-quarter adjusted EBITDA of $1.65 billion, down from adjusted EBITDA of $2.03 billion recorded in the prior quarter. The fourth-quarter dip represents a temporary slowdown in order […]
Steel Dynamics Inc. (SDI) has joined competitor Nucor in predicting another quarterly earnings record for the last quarter of 2021. The Fort Wayne, Ind.-based steelmaker predicted fourth-quarter earnings in the range of $5.46 to $5.50 per diluted share, according to guidance released on Thursday, Dec. 16. That’s up from $4.85 per diluted share in the […]
Worthington Industries Inc. reported net earnings of $110.3 million for the second quarter of its fiscal 2022 ended Nov. 30 on total sales of $1.2 billion. Revenues for the Columbus, Ohio-based steel processor jumped by 69% or $501.8 million from the same period last year, driven primarily by higher average direct selling prices in its Steel […]
Swedish steelmaker SSAB says its plate mill in Montpelier, Iowa, is not on for sale. “Regarding … the Iowa mill, SSAB currently has no plans to divest assets,” an SSAB Americas spokesperson said in an email to Steel Market Update. SSAB’s U.S. operations are comprised of two plate mills – one in Mobile, Ala., and […]
Nucor Corp. expects earnings this quarter to be the highest in the company’s history, surpassing the previous quarterly record of $7.28 per diluted share in the third quarter of 2021. The Charlotte, N.C.-based steelmaker predicted fourth-quarter earnings would be in the range of $7.65 to $7.75 per share. “Steel mill segment earnings in the fourth quarter of 2021 remain robust and […]
ArcelorMittal Mexico has made the first coil from the new hot strip at its steelmaking complex in Lazaro Cardenas, a port city in Mexico’s Michoacan province. Company spokespeople did not respond to requests for confirmation from Steel Market Update. But the moment was celebrated on social media by ArcelorMittal employees and executives. One example: “Congratulations […]
ArcelorMittal Mexico anticipates a run rate of roughly 70% by year’s end at its new hot strip mill in the Michoacan province. Executives lauded the production ramp-up of the new 2.75-million-ton hot strip mill during the company’s earnings call late last week, noting the facility’s output could be around 1.50 to 1.75 million tons in […]
California Steel Industries (CSI) has closed its January order book for flat-rolled steel – but doing so took significantly longer than in past months. “We will contact you when we open the flat rolled order book for February 2022,” the Fontana, Calif.-based slab converted said in a letter to customers on Monday, Dec. 13. The company […]
Nucor has acquired a majority stake in California Steel Industries (CSI) for approximately $400 million in a deal that will significantly expand its presence on the West Coast. The Charlotte, N.C.-based steelmaker paid that amount for Brazilian iron ore miner Vale’s 50% stake in Fontana, Calif.-based CSI. It also acquired 1% of Japanese steelmaker’s JFE […]
Arkansas lawmakers have introduced a bill that would expand tax credits in a bid to attract U.S. Steel’s planned $3 billion electric arc furnace (EAF) sheet steel mill to the state. And the bill’s lead sponsor, state Sen. Dave Wallace (R), narrowed down potential locations even further. He said tax credits were aimed at convincing the Pittsburgh-based steelmaker to invest its […]
Brazilian iron ore miner Vale is in an “advanced stage of negotiations” to sell its stake in California Steel Industries (CSI), according to an investor day presentation. The presentation did not say which company Vale was in talks with. CSI is a Fontana, Calif.-based slab converter. It is also a 50-50 joint venture between Vale […]
Nucor Corp. plans to build a new, $350 million rebar “micro mill” in the South Atlantic region of the U.S. The new mill is expected to have capacity of 430,000 tons per year, the Charlotte, N.C.-based steelmaker said. “We have recently executed two successful rebar micro mill start-ups and believe the East Coast market will be in […]
Algoma Steel Group Inc. has picked Danieli & C. Officine Meccaniche S.p.A (Danieli) as the technology provider for their new electric arc (EAF) steelmaking facility set for operation in early 2024. The Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario-based steelmaker said that Danieli’s systems were the best choice for their new mill as they transition away from basic […]
Worthington Industries Inc. completed its acquisition of Tempel Steel Company, a manufacturer of precision motor and transformer laminations for the electrical steel market. The deal, originally valued around $255 million, expands the Columbus, Ohio-based manufacturer’s steel processing segment in the growing electric vehicle (EV) market. Tempel Steel, headquartered in Chicago and founded 1945, specializes in […]
Algoma Steel Inc. has secured Canadian $220 million (U.S. $172 million) in funding from the Canada Infrastructure Bank (CIB) to help pay for its conversion to electric-arc furnace (EAF) steelmaking. The Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario-based steelmaker said the government money would pay for equipment for the project, which carries a total price tag of approximately […]
NLMK USA has resumed production at its electric arc furnace (EAF) sheet mill in Portage, Ind., after a planned maintenance outage, according to sources familiar with the matter. The outage at the mill – also known as NLMK Indiana – began earlier this month and had been expected to conclude in about a week. NLMK […]
Nucor Corp. will add a blast and prime line to its greenfield steel plate mill currently under construction in Brandenburg, Ky. The blast and prime line will have an annual capacity of approximately 120,000 tons and will provide the Nucor Plate Group with even broader capabilities and offerings for buyers of wider and thicker plate products. The Charlotte-based steelmaker […]
Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. has completed its $775 million acquisition of scrap recycler Ferrous Processing and Trading (FPT). Cliffs Chairman, President and CEO Lourenco Goncalves said the deal could change the way the scrap business has traditionally worked by creating more “closed-loop” transactions. Such deals would mean more scrap – and especially prime scrap, FPT’s specialty – goes […]
Distributors who sell galvanized steel products to the construction and HVAC sectors still feel very positive about their prospects heading into next year despite weakening prices and rising inventories. Declines in galvanized prices out of the domestic mills have been fairly minor so far and demand remains strong, reported members of the Heating, Air-Conditioning & […]
Algoma Steel posted record profits in its fiscal second quarter, and the Canadian flat-rolled steelmaker expects money to continue to pour in as high spot prices roll into 2022 contracts. The Sault Ste Marie, Ontario-based company also thinks that the traditional relationship between sheet and plate prices will be restored as infrastructure spending increases demand for […]
The board of Canadian flat-rolled steelmaker Algoma has approved the construction of two new electric arc furnaces (EAFs) with combined steelmaking capacity of 3.7 million tons per year. The new EAFs are expected to come online in 2024 and to replace the Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario-based company’s blast furnaces and basic oxygen furnaces. “We believe […]
ArcelorMital Tubular Products and the United Steelworkers (USW) Union Local #3057 have ended their five-day standoff by agreeing to a new four-year labor contract, a company spokesperson confirmed to Steel Market Update. The new deal – already ratified by the members of the local USW – ensures work can now resume at ArcelorMittal’s tube plant […]
ArcelorMittal recorded it best quarterly earnings performance since 2008 in the third quarter as sharply higher prices offset lower shipment volumes. The shipment declines came partly because of weaker demand and order cancellations from the automotive sector, the company said. The automotive industry has struggled with various supply chain issues, most notably – but not […]