The USW issued an update Friday regarding ArcelorMittal/USW negotiations. At this time the USW negotiating committee intends to remain at the bargaining table rather than seeking strike authorization from the membership. The update reads as follows: Our committee continued to meet both internally and with ArcelorMittal management this week in Pittsburgh. Although we are far […]
Essar Steel Algoma announced that first quarter FY 2016, ending June 30, 2015, closed with a positive EBITDA of CDN $12.4 million. Capacity utilization was at 90 percent and steel shipments of 632,000 tons were 19 percent higher year over year. Higher production and shipments, however, were unable to counter low pricing caused by dumped […]
As the deadline for contract expiration draws near (Sept 1), SMU thought a historical perspective on US Steel and USW negotiations might be in order. In the history of US Steel there have been only two labor work stoppages. The first was a historic 116 day strike by 500,000 steelworkers in 1959. The second occurred […]
Bluescope Steel, which owns a 50 percent share of joint venture North Star Bluescope Steel, reported strong results for North Star in FY 2015. Hot rolled product sales were AUD $762.6 million on higher volumes and favorable AUD:USD exchange rate for fiscal year 2015 (based on 50 percent share). The company kept a consistent 100 […]
Throughout the first four months 2015, service centers were dumping steel into their manufacturing customers (and each other) as mill and international prices fell. Domestic mill spot prices bottomed at the end of April as the domestic mills announced their first of two $20 per ton price increases. Service centers responded to those price announcements […]
USW workers came out in force in rallies at ArcelorMittal and US Steel locations across the country last week. About 3,000 steelworkers marched to the gates of US Steel’s Gary Works in Indiana carrying signs saying “Fair Contract now” and “Mario Got his $15,000,000. Where’s Ours?” Hobart Mayor Brian Snedecor joined other mayors in the […]
Big River Steel announced a series of leadership appointments today following the unexpected death earlier this week of CEO John Correnti. Dan Murray, a member of the board, was appointed as chairman of the board of directors. Jim Bell, construction manager at Big River Steel, was elected to the board of directors. Dave Stickler, […]
Union workers from US Steel and ArcelorMittal staged rallies and marches at locations across the country this week. Contract negotiations are stalled over concessions the companies want on health and retirement benefits. Carrying signs and rallying to slogans like “United we bargain, divided we beg” and “No contract no peace,” thousands of USW members took […]
US Steel Corp. lost its bid to keep objections to its debt claims out of the CCAA proceedings for US Steel Canada. US Steel claims it is owed $2.2 billion by USSC, an amount that the United Steelworkers, the province, and former Stelco president Bob Milbourne question. Justice Herman Wilton-Siegel in his decision wrote that […]
Lee Steel has sold all of the assets of its Wyoming, MI operations (Grand Rapids facility) and its working capital assets at the Romulus, MI facility to Union Partners I LLC, an affiliated group of service centers. The Romulus facility will be consolidated into the Wyoming facility and there will be no interruption in service […]
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 116,500 tons in July to 3.287 million tons. Shipping days at 22, were the same as June. On a tons per day basis (t/d) shipments decreased from 154,700 in […]
A huge hole has been made in the heart the US steel industry. Big River Steel CEO John Correnti died this morning while on an out-of-town business trip. John Correnti, 68, was no stranger to the development of steel mills. His plan to build the mini-mill in Osceola, Ark. was backed by almost 50 years […]
Big River Steel CEO John Correnti died this morning. He was found dead while on an out-of-town business trip. John Correnti was the driving force behind Big River Steel, the new flat rolled mini-mill under construction in Arkansas. Prior to Big River Steel he oversaw the construction of the SeverCorr steel mill in Columbus, Mississippi […]
Steel Market Update publisher, John Packard, participated in the monthly galvanized steel conference call held by HARDI for their wholesalers and other HARDI member companies. The wholesalers supply galvanized steel sheet and coil to the mechanical contractors who are involved in the residential and commercial HVAC markets. The group discussed a number of key market […]
US Steel announced Monday that it intends to permanently close its blast furnace and associated steelmaking operations at Fairfield Works in Alabama. Most of the flat-rolled finishing operations at Fairfield will also be shut down. About 1,100 employees will lose their jobs due to the closure. “We have made some difficult decisions over the last […]
The Metal Service Center Institute (MSCI) reported July steel service center shipments and inventory data for the month of July. Expectations had been running high that shipments would decent for the month and that inventories, which had been dropping over the past six months, would continue that trend. Unfortunately, 2015 is turning out to be […]
SMU requested a comment from the president of Steelscape regarding the challenges the mill will face if their parent companies’ supply of hot rolled coil is potentially cut off. We received the following note regarding their sources of supply which are named in the hot rolled antidumping and countervailing duty petition filed last week: “I […]
I was speaking with the owner of a manufacturing company late last week. He told me his company had a number of union plants and he has negotiated a number of union contracts over the past few years. “People don’t strike anymore,” he said, “unless someone puts a line in the sand and forces the […]
Essar Steel is in the running for purchase US Steel Canada according to an anonymous source close to the bidding process. According to the Hamilton Spectator, the source said Essar Steel Holdings is interested in purchasing both Hamilton Works and Lake Erie Works, the only bidder interested in the entire USSC operation. Other bidders are […]
The Steel Market Development Institute (SMDI), a business unit of the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI), today announced Rick Blume, vice president, commercial, Nucor Corporation, will succeed Dan Mull, executive vice president, sales and marketing, ArcelorMittal USA, as chairman of SMDI’s Board of Directors. “We look forward to working under Rick’s leadership to further […]
US Steel Canada pensioners have won a court decision that will likely place them at the head of the queue of creditors for the CCAA protected entity. Lawyers for retired Hamilton steelworkers intervened in a case of Grant Forest Products that entered CCAA protection to avoid bankruptcy. After its assets were sold and divided among […]
Contract negotiations are continuing between US Steel and the United Steel Workers. The USW negotiation team was less than thrilled with the proposal received from management last week. A USW update to members stated, “The USW negotiating team explained that the union would be flexible and willing to solve problems, but that the USW was […]
Olympic Steel net sales fell to $316.3 million in second quarter and dropped 9.8 percent to $661.1 million for the first half of 2015. Declines in both periods were attributed to lower shipments and lower average selling prices due in part to the impact of subsidized imports on the market. The company reported a net […]
ArcelorMittal reported second quarter EBITDA of $1.4 billion and net income of $179 million. Results for the company were impacted by improved steel and mining volumes that were offset by lower price. Steel shipments totaled 22.1 million tons, up 3.4 percent year over year. Quarter sales fell 18 percent to $16.9 billion compared to $20.7 […]
US Steel is expecting higher steel prices and shipments in the second half of 2015 helped by the recent trade case on cold rolled steel and an upcoming trade case on hot rolled steel. The company reported a net loss of $261 million for second quarter which included a write down of $136 million on […]
U.S. Steel and four other domestic steel mills filed antidumping suits on cold rolled steel against 8 countries. The following information was released to the steel community this morning (Tuesday, July 28th). In an email last night, USS incorrectly named SSAB as one of the petitioners in the CR suit. SSAB did respond to our […]
As expected, five U.S. steel mills banded together and filed an antidumping petition against cold rolled steel from: China, Russia, India, South Korea, Netherlands, Japan, United Kingdom and Brazil. Reaction from steel buyers about the scope of the cold rolled suit ranged from relatively muted to surprised. Those who had a muted response expected that […]
AK Steel blamed low prices due to high levels of unfairly traded imports for its net loss of $64 million for the second quarter of 2015. Net sales for the quarter totaled $1.69, down from $1.75 billion sequentially and $1.53 billion in Q2 2014. Average selling price of $931 per ton was down 7 percent […]
Last night (Monday, July 27th) US Steel began advising some of their customers that a cold rolled trade suit had been filed against 8 foreign countries. We have learned from other mills mentioned in the text of the USS email below, that the case is actually being filed today. Here is the full text of […]
Essar Steel Algoma announced a return to profitability with income from operations of CDN $76.3 million at the closing of its fiscal year 2015 on March 31, 2015. “Fiscal 2015 marked a turnaround for Essar Steel Algoma. Through the recently announced Modernization and Expansion Program, we expect to offer a much broader range of advanced […]