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, […]
Worthington Industries, Inc., has promoted Jeff Klingler to president of Steel Processing and Eric Smolenski to president of Pressure Cylinders. “Jeff and Eric are both proven leaders at Worthington; they will be excellent additions to our executive team,” said John McConnell, Chairman and CEO. “Jeff has a deep knowledge of our Steel business and has […]
AK Steel is not too worried about new steel capacity stealing market share. New carbon steel capacity coming on line is still several years away, said President and COO Kirk Reich. Much of it is not “new” but rather older restarted facilities that AK Steel competed with in the past, and some of that capacity […]
SSAB Americas was a strong contributor for SSAB’s global steel business in the first quarter of 2019. The Americas segment turned in a solid performance with an EBITDA margin of 23 percent and record profit of $129 million due to higher steel prices. Sales increased 45 percent from the first quarter of 2018 to $3.363 […]
Olympic Steel announced the promotion of Andrew J. Tobias to General Manager of Berlin Metals. Tobias has been with the company since 2013, beginning as an outside sales representative for Integrity Stainless. He was promoted to Stainless Steel Product Manager-Specialty Metals in 2015. In his new position, Tobias will be responsible for driving profitable growth […]
Management at NLMK USA is contemplating its next move after receiving the disappointing news Tuesday that the U.S. Commerce Department has denied its appeals for exclusions from the Section 232 tariffs on imported slabs. Commerce has determined that semifinished steels are available in sufficient quantities to support the domestic market, and that slab converters like […]
Reliance Steel & Aluminum posted a good first quarter with net sales of $2.96 billion, increasing 7.2 percent year-over-year and 4.1 percent from the fourth quarter. Net income jumped 122 percent from the fourth quarter to $190.1 million. Tons sold increased 5.2 percent from the fourth quarter to 1.5 million tons, but were slightly below […]
NLMK USA shipments increased 19 percent to 600,000 metric tons from the fourth quarter of 2018 to the first quarter of 2019. Higher shipments resulted in $530 million in revenue—a 4.0 percent increase despite steel prices slipping 12 percent quarter-over-quarter. NLMK USA hot rolled coil shipments totaled 330,000 metric tons and high value added products […]