At last week’s Association for Iron & Steel Technology (AIST) convention in Pittsburgh, US Steel President and CEO Mario Longhi challenged the steel industry to innovate or run the risk of steel being replaced by other materials. Longhi said during his keynote speech, “There is a revolution underway in advanced materials — a race to […]
We will have two articles in tonight’s newsletter regarding the U.S. steel service centers shipment and inventories data just released by the Metals Service Center Institute (MSCI). Shipments of all steel products totaled 3,246,000 tons during the month of April. This is 6.3 percent lower than April 2015 and was slightly lower than March. However, […]
The article below was published to our Premium members yesterday afternoon, but we felt it would be nice to share with our Executive members too. If you would like more information about a Premium membership or would like to upgrade, contact us at info@SteelMarketUpdate.com. Based on Steel Market Update (SMU) analysis of the recently released […]
Canadian shipments for all steel products in the month of April were 372,800 net tons, a decrease of 4.9 percent from the month before and a decrease of 12.9 percent from April 2015. Inventories at the end of the month stood at 1,270,300 tons, up 6.9 percent from last month but down 20.7 percent from […]
Brazil steelmaker Companhia Siderurgica Nacional (CSN) reports its furnace at Volta Redonda will be back in production soon. The No. 3 furnace was shut down after an accident on April 25 and all export orders were suspended. The No. 3 furnace accounted for 70 percent of the plant’s steel production capacity. According to media reports, […]
Based on Steel Market Update (SMU) analysis of the recently released MSCI service center inventory and shipment data, total service center carbon steel shipments decreased by 84,700 tons in April to 3.091 million tons. This decrease was driven by the number of shipping days, down by 2 to 21. On a t/d basis shipments increased […]
The United Steelworkers will receive the final Contract Summary of the proposed agreement with ArcelorMittal USA starting around May 23. The summary will include a ballot and voting instructions. Ratification ballots must returned by June 21 for collection and counting on June 23, 2016. Pete Trinidad, Sr., President USW Local 6787 told members in a […]
Seven bidders are known to be in the running for Tata’s UK steel business. According to media reports the last bidder to be identified was Endless, a UK turnaround specialist. The other bidders include Liberty House, Greybull, the Excaliber management buyout led by Port Talbot Chief Stuart Wilkie, and JSW Steel. Bloomberg reported that China’s […]
If things weren’t tight enough there have been a couple of accidents at steel mills, one in the United States (North Star BlueScope) and one in Brazil (CSN), which are impacting the domestic flat rolled steel order books. CSN (Brazil) Affecting Galvanized Markets About two weeks ago, CSN in Brazil had a breakout with their […]
If things weren’t tight enough there have been a couple of accidents at steel mills, one in the United States (North Star BlueScope) and one in Brazil (CSN), which are impacting the domestic flat rolled steel order books. CSN (Brazil) Affecting Galvanized Markets About two weeks ago, CSN in Brazil had a breakout with their […]
North Star BlueScope experienced an explosion and fire at their Delta, Ohio site on Saturday, May 7. A refractory failure allowed a washout of molten steel from the South EAF shell resulting in an explosion that was heard and felt in surrounding neighborhoods. Emergency responders responded quickly on Saturday to control the fire from the […]
The city of Sault Ste. Marie wants its property taxes and is asking the court to demand Essar Steel Algoma pay them. Essar Steel Algoma, failed to make its first 2016 payment of $1.8 million on March 7 and a second payment due May 5. Algoma, which entered CCAA restructuring last fall, has $14 million […]
Nucor Corp. announced today that it will expand its Vulcraft/Verco Group into Canada. The new production facility, Vulcraft Canada, Inc., will be located near Hamilton, Ontario and will serve the Central and Eastern markets. The facility will produce steel joists, joist girders, and decking. Product fabrication is expected to begin later this year. “We are […]
AM Castle reported a net loss of $44.8 million for first quarter 2016. Net sales were down 13.1 percent year over year to $163.8 million. A significant portion of sales, $27.1 million, were from the liquidation of the company’s energy related inventory from the recent closure of the Houston and Edmonton facilities. Excluding this, net […]
No one was injured in an explosion and fires related to the explosion in one of the two electric arc furnaces at the North Star BlueScope plant in Ohio on Saturday. North Star BlueScope vice president, Mike Hanson, reported to The Blade newspaper that shortly after 4 PM there was an explosion in one of […]
ArcelorMittal narrowed its losses in first quarter 2015 to $416 million from $728 million a year ago. Total steel shipments for the company were 21.5 million tonnes. “Clearly, the market conditions have improved since we reported full year results in early February. Rising steel prices in China have supported prices globally and this has been […]
Ryerson Holding Corporation reported net income of $13.5 million for the first quarter of 2016, compared to a loss of $2.5 million for the first quarter of 2015. Revenues were $702.6 million for the first quarter of 2016, down 19.1 percent from the year-ago period due to a 19.4 percent decline in the average selling […]
Motions to release details of the “secret deal” between US Steel and the Canadian government were again rejected by the judge presiding over the US Steel Canada restructuring process. Justice Herman Wilton-Siegel said on Wednesday that petitioners for the release have not sufficiently proven that they need the details of the agreement, although he admitted […]
Steel Market Update received a number of comments regarding our “Tsunami” article published in Sunday evening’s issue. A large service center shot us an email about something they were seeing in their market. We did some checking with other service centers and did not see this as a pressing issue but we might be in […]
AISI, Salt Lake City, Utah – The Board of Directors of the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) has elected John Ferriola, chairman, president and CEO of Nucor Corporation, to serve as chairman of the Institute until May 2017. “John is a dedicated and outspoken advocate for our industry, and has engaged his employees and […]
Flat Rolled Steel Service Centers Comment About Their Relationship Customers Late last week Steel Market Update started canvassing flat rolled steel distributors about their customer base in an effort to better understand the psyche of their customers. We found there are essentially three camps buying from the domestic steel service centers: 1) Contract customers tied […]
The United Steelworkers revealed highlights on Friday of its tentative contract with ArcelorMittal USA. The settlement followed eight months of negotiations while union members continued to work under the terms of the previous expired contract. The new contract does not include a pay raise but does maintain the no premium status for health care benefits […]
Baosteel Group refuted allegations of illegal trade activity charged by US Steel in a Section 337 investigation and said they were “shocked and angry” by the accusations. “As a company whose operations are completely market-oriented, Baosteel Group strictly abides by the laws and regulations of the places in which it is operating in its daily […]
In a surprise move on Friday, US Steel requested that the court shorten the CCAA protection period for US Steel Canada. US Steel Canada had petitioned the court to extend the CCAA period to July 28, 2016 but US Steel attorneys requested the Stay Period extend only to May 29. Justice Herman Wilton-Siegel, who has […]
NanoSteel announced delivery of its first advanced high strength steel to General Motors for initial testing. The new product was developed in partnership with AK Steel and is designed to provide automakers with a new standard in strength, formability and weight for steels used in the production of lightweight, fuel efficient vehicles. NanoSteel says what […]
Olympic Steel reported a narrower than expected net loss of $767,000 for first quarter 2016. Revenues were $258.3 million compared to $346 million in Q1 2015 due to lower prices and volume. First quarter shipments increased, however 16 percent from fourth quarter 2015 recapturing market share from last year’s declining marketplace. “We successfully navigated challenging […]
Updated April 28, 2016 – The United Steelworkers announced Wednesday that they have a tentative agreement contract agreement with ArcelorMittal USA. “After almost a year of difficult bargaining that continued eight months past the expiration of our previous contract, our committee’s hard work and dedication have resulted in a tentative agreement with ArcelorMittal,” said USW […]
Earlier today CSN began informing their U.S. customers importing flat rolled steel from them that there has been an accident at their #3 blast furnace in Brazil. The blast furnace, which was just coming back into operation after a 10-day scheduled maintenance outage, will now be down for an “undetermined” amount of time. SMU sources […]
AK Steel announced earnings on Tuesday and the big question in everyone’s mind was if AK Steel Ashland would be restarted. The answer is no, not at this time. CEO Roger Newport said the company does not want to get “hung up in the short term volatility” in the marketplace. AK Steel will be looking […]
Earlier today, Steel Market Update participated in a steel conference call hosted by HARDI. Every month the wholesalers who sell galvanized sheet and coil steel to the HVAC industry conduct an informational conference call to evaluate what is happening in the North American market. Over the past few months we have seen the wholesalers much […]