A small fire at Clairton Coke Works on Monday caused no environmental damage in the Mon Valley area, confirmed U.S. Steel and the Allegheny County Health Department. U.S. Steel said that the fire was the result of an electric arc flash on a breaker panel that provides power to Control Room #1 equipment. The fire […]
U.S. Steel Corp. announced today that it will idle two blast furnaces in the United States and one in Europe to align with current market conditions. The B2 furnace at Great Lakes Works was idled last week for planned maintenance. U.S. Steel plans to keep the furnace idled following repairs, as well as temporarily idling […]
Two of the biggest steel companies in the U.S. are expecting earnings to decline in the second quarter. Nucor and Steel Dynamics both cite lower shipments and inventory destocking as contributing factors. In guidance released on Monday, Nucor forecast earnings in the range of $1.20 to $1.25 per diluted share compared to $1.63 per share […]
U.S. Steel Clairton Coke Works suffered its second fire in six months when a small blaze broke out in electrical equipment early Monday morning, disrupting environmental controls. U.S. Steel released the following statement: “Early this morning, Monday, June 17, a small electrical fire was detected on an electrical breaker panel impacting power to the by-products […]
The CEO of ArcelorMittal says Europe has a “steel glut” because of U.S. tariffs and the EU needs to do more to limit imports. ArcelorMittal Chairman and CEO Lakshmi Mittal told a German newspaper yesterday that safeguards initiated by the EU are not successfully protecting the European steel industry. “The EU has announced safeguard measures, […]
Mexican steel producer, Altos Hornos de Mexico, S.A.B. de C.V. (AHMSA) has reached an agreement with South Korea’s Paco Engineering to build Mexico’s first coated galvanized steel sheet plant. The new $20 million plant in Monclova will be able to process 90,000 tons of cold rolled sheet per year. “The painted sheet plant is one […]
Suppliers of steel products to the HVAC industry find themselves stuck in a good news/bad news market. Demand remains good as the construction season ramps up, but pricing on galvanized steel continues to weaken. “Demand in the Southeast is still very good, even though there has been a painful devaluation of our inventory,” said one […]
Liberty Steel has announced the acquisition of Johnstown Wire Technologies, a producer of value-added carbon and alloy wire, in Johnstown, Pa. The acquisition will give Liberty the capacity to manufacture a range of high-value carbon and alloy wire products for multiple end markets including the infrastructure, automotive, utility and consumer sectors. The Johnstown operations will […]
Big River Steel has big plans and now has access to the big dollars needed to fund them. The steelmaker reported Friday that it has closed and funded $487 million of 30-year bonds and $290 million of equity financing. The company will use the bond and equity proceeds to expand its scrap metal recycling and […]
NLMK Group has backed off from plans to invest in its U.S. division due to the steel duties that were imposed in 2018. The Department of Commerce has denied the Group’s request for exemption from the 25 percent Section 232 tariffs so that it can supply its facilities with steel slab. “Earlier we planned to […]
AK Steel reports that members of the United Auto Workers (UAW), Local 4104, have ratified a new three-year labor agreement covering about 110 hourly production and maintenance employees at the company’s Zanesville (Ohio) Works. AK Steel said that UAW officials notified the company that the new contract was ratified in voting held on May 30. […]
The chairman of Mexican steel producer Altos Hornos de Mexico SAB was arrested on Tuesday in an anti-corruption probe, resulting in the freezing of AHMSA accounts and a possible disruption to steel production in Mexico. The investigation involves the sale by AHMSA of an idled fertilizer plant in 2014, allegedly worth $50 million, to oil […]
ArcelorMittal announced it will make another cut to European production levels due to weak demand and high import levels in the region. Primary steelmaking will be reduced at facilities in Dunkirk, France, and Eisenhüttenstadt, Germany. Production at the facility in Bremen, Germany, will be reduced during the fourth quarter as well as extending planned furnace […]
A $700 million expansion at North Star BlueScope may be in jeopardy, according to some financial analysts who point to new challenges for the mill now that the Section 232 tariffs have been removed from Canada and Mexico. Softening hot rolled coil prices and higher cost inputs are expected to pressure U.S. steel spreads. The […]
Altos Hornos de Mexico (AHMSA) plans to increased steel production by 30 percent now that U.S. tariffs have been eliminated. The year-long Section 232 measures caused a 25 percent drop in AHMSA’s steel production and $300 million in lost revenue, said AHMSA President Alonso Ancira Elizondo. As orders from the U.S. fell due to the […]
Like everyone else in the steel industry, members of the Heating, Air-conditioning and Refrigeration Distributors International (HARDI) are wondering what will happen to supply and prices now that the Trump administration has lifted the Section 232 tariffs on steel imports from Canada and Mexico and cut in half the tariffs on steel imports from Turkey. […]
Nucor Steel South Carolina will celebrate its 50th anniversary next month with plans to add vacuum degassing to its engineered bar capabilities at the Darlington mill. “This strategic investment complements our existing bar mills that primarily produce engineered bar products in Norfolk, Neb., Memphis, Tenn., and Wallingford, Conn. It will position us to better serve […]
ArcelorMittal USA has agreed to a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice to pay $5 million in fines for emissions violations in Northwest Indiana and Cleveland, Ohio. “We have been working collaboratively with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Indiana Department of Environmental Management and Ohio EPA to […]
U.S. Steel Corp. has been hit with another penalty by the Allegheny County Health Department due to emissions violations at its Clairton Coke Works. A fine of $337,670 was levied against the company for excessive visible emissions from its coke batteries during the first quarter of 2019, along with a penalty of $5,750 for a […]
ArcelorMittal faced a number of challenges that impacted earnings in the first quarter resulting in net income plunging 66 percent to $414 million from $1.19 billion reported in both the fourth quarter of 2018 and first quarter of 2019. Earnings reflected a $150 million impairment charge related to the sale of assets to acquire ArcelorMittal […]
Primetals Technologies will supply an Arvedi Endless Strip Production line for the U.S. Steel Edgar Thomson Plant in Pennsylvania. The ESP line is the first to be constructed in the United States and has a rated annual capacity of 2.76 million tons of high quality, ultra-thin strip. The ESP line will be able to produce […]
AISTech 2019, presented by the Association for Iron & Steel Technology, boasted more than 8,000 attendees this year. The four-day conference May 6-9 in Pittsburgh included more than 550 technical presentations and nearly 550 domestic and international exhibiting companies. The exhibit floor was a dizzying display of the latest innovations from software and robotics to cranes […]
AISTech 2019, presented by the Association for Iron & Steel Technology, boasted more than 8,000 attendees this year. The four-day conference May 6-9 in Pittsburgh included more than 550 technical presentations and nearly 550 domestic and international exhibiting companies. The exhibit floor was a dizzying display of the latest innovations from software and robotics to cranes […]
U.S. Steel CEO David Burritt urged attendees at AISTech 2019, under way this week in Pittsburgh, to seek innovation for the future while preserving and improving on what worked well in the past. “We must dream big, push hard, while always doing good things,” he said. “All of us recognize that steel is the material […]
ArcelorMittal’s $19.25 million project to repair its No. 2 coke battery at Burns Harbor is on track to meet its 2022 completion date, reports the company. The coke battery’s last rebuild was in 1994. Work on the five-year project began last year. The company continues to produce coke at the facility, which has two six-meter […]
U.S. Steel’s first-quarter earnings call was dominated by the news of the steelmaker’s planned $1.2 billion investment at Mon Valley Works to build an endless casting and rolling facility at its Edgar Thomson Plant and a cogeneration facility at its Clairton Plant. CEO David Burritt called the project “transformative” for U.S. Steel, putting the company […]
U.S. Steel’s plan to invest more than $1 billion in a new casting and rolling facility at its Edgar Thompson Plant in Braddock, Pa., and a new cogeneration facility at its plant in Clairton, Pa., has the support of the United Steelworkers (USW), even though the new, more efficient technology will reduce the manhours needed […]
U.S. Steel announced plans to give Mon Valley Works a $1.2 billion upgrade. Expansion plans include a new sustainable endless casting and rolling facility at its Edgar Thomson Plant in Braddock, Pa., and a cogeneration facility at its Clairton Plant in Clairton, Pa. The endless casting and rolling technology combines thin slab casting and hot […]
Note: this article was corrected on 5/3/2019; scrap will be down by $20-$30 per ton-in May, not falling to $230 per ton as previously stated. Ryerson Holding Corp. is expecting a better second half for the steel industry despite some weakening economic data and inventory issues. “Last year was a very unusual time for our […]
Olympic Steel reported a 19 percent increase in its first-quarter sales, netting $446 million, thanks in part to its January acquisition of manufacturer McCullough Industries. Net income for the quarter totaled $2.1 million, down from 7.6 million in the same quarter of 2018. Returns from Olympic’s manufacturing segment are considerably higher than service center margins, […]