Earlier today (January 14, 2014) SSAB announced to its customers an increase for all new orders for non-contract As Rolled Carbon and High Strength Low Alloy, Normalized Plate, Alloy Plate including Quenched and Tempered, Cut to Length and Plate > 72” wide and Hot Rolled Coil > 72” wide, by a minimum of $30 per […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) participates in a monthly steel conference call with the wholesalers associated with HARDI. The HARDI wholesalers supply the residential and commercial mechanical contractors associated with the HVAC (heating, ventilation and air-conditioning) industry. The wholesalers on this monthly conference call supply or manufacture products out of galvanized sheet and coil and try […]
One of the interesting points brought out in the most recent flat rolled steel survey is distributors inventories are rising. According to the results from last week’s survey steel inventories rose to their highest levels since January 2013 and now stand at 2.35 months. MSCI data is due out later this week and SMU is […]
Evraz NA said it may need to lay off more than 400 steel workers at the Evraz Regina mill in Saskatchewan due to transportation problems at the Canadian Pacific and Canadian National railways. Warning notices were sent last week to approximately 420 of its 510 employees in the company’s tubular steel division. Evraz says pipe […]
ELK GROVE VILLAGE, Ill.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Material Sciences Corporation, a leading provider of material-based solutions for acoustical and coated applications, announced today that it has entered into a definitive merger agreement with Zink Acquisition Holdings Inc. (“Parent”) and Zink Acquisition Merger Sub Inc. (“Merger Sub”), which are affiliates of New Star Metals Inc. and Insight Equity Holdings […]
Cargill will build its eighth U.S. steel processing center in response to increased demand for carbon steel sheet & coil products used in the manufacturing and shale oil and gas industry in Northern Colorado. The hot-rolled steel processing facility, located 60 miles north of Denver in Windsor, will begin construction in early 2014 and provide […]
Nucor reported a pump failure in an electric arc furnace (EAF) at their Decatur, Alabama facility on Tuesday, January 7. According to sources, a water cooled panel on the furnace erupted causing a small blast during the beginning of a scheduled maintenance period. No one was injured and the incident will not delay scheduled maintenance. No supply or production […]
Commercial Metals Company (CMC) posted net earnings of $45.9 million on net sales of $1.7 billion for its first quarter of fiscal year 2014 ending on November 30, 2013. This compares with net earnings of $49.7 million on a similar net sale amount of $1.7 billion for the same period in FY 2013. Results included […]
USS-POSCO (UPI) in Pittsburg, California, filed a layoff warning with the California Economic Development Department (CED) that created concern that 690 employees would be laid off effective January 14, 2014. USS-POSCO says media reports of a layoff were in error. A spokesperson for USS-POSCO said the company has “no imminent plans to lay off any employees […]
In the first half of 2013 the profit on one ton of steel sold in China was only 0.43 Yuan. At that rate, it took the sale of two tons to earn just enough money to buy an ice cream bar or Popsicle. A far cry from peak profits of 1000 Yuan per ton. The […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) spoke with Ryan Letz, CEO/President of Willbanks Metals a hot rolled and plate distribution and value-add services company located in Fort Worth, Texas. The Letz brothers had just announced the purchase of the assets and the book of business of First Process Steel, Inc. out of Tulsa, Oklahoma with the following […]
A Christmas Eve start-up of the Nucor direct reduced iron (DRI) facility in St. Louis Parish, Louisiana, came off without a hitch. Within 24 hours the output quality matched best-in-class levels of Nucor’s Trinidad plant, said the company. “We are very pleased to announce this important step in executing our raw materials strategy,” said John […]
Chinese steel companies are facing “lofty production, high costs, low prices and poor profitability,” according to Zhang Changfu, deputy chairman of the China Iron and Steel Association as reported by the National Business Daily. Chinese steel production in November rose to 60.9 million tonnes, up 4.2 percent year-over-year according to the World Steel Association. Steel […]
With the announcements by NLMK USA, Nucor and ArcelorMittal USA on Monday, it is quite clear that the flat rolled steel mills are marching to the same drummer when it comes to carbon sheet pricing. All of the announcements made on Monday reflected the same base price levels: Hot Rolled = $35.00/cwt ($700 per ton) […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) communicated with Todd Leebow, President of Majestic Steel about their just announced purchase of Flat Rolled Steel, Inc. We asked him how the Flat Rolled Steel, Inc. will be handled, what it added to their company and what plans did Majestic have as they move into the Southwestern section of the […]
Worthington Industries reported a strong second quarter (ending November 30, 2013) for fiscal year 2014. Sales were $769.9 million, up 24 percent from the previous quarter due to an overall increase in volume. The steel segment was especially robust with sales of $491.1 million—up 43 percent year-over-year. As we reported in our last issue, net […]
Majestic Steel, a flat rolled steel service center located in the Cleveland, Ohio area, announced on Wednesday their acquisition of Flat Rolled Steel, Inc. which has locations/offices in Tulsa, OK; Grand Prairie, Texas (Dallas) and Houston, Texas. In a letter to their new customers, Majestic Steel provided no details of the purchase. Todd Leebow, President […]
Steel Dynamics issued its fourth quarter 2013 guidance on Tuesday reporting earnings in the range of $0.21 to $0.25 per diluted share, below analyst estimates ranging from $0.26 to $0.31. SDI announced a quarterly cash dividend of $0.11 per share. Earnings are expected to be comparable to those of third quarter. Higher steel pricing is […]
Worthington Industries, Inc. reported net earnings of $23.0 million and net sales of $769.9 million for the second quarter of fiscal year 2014, ending November 30, 2013. Net sales increased 24 percent from the previous year and 9 percent from the previous quarter and were attributed to higher overall volumes related to new acquisitions. Net […]
AK Steel announced its fourth quarter earnings guidance and expects to realize net income of $0.01 to $0.06 per diluted share. Steel shipments are expected to increase by 13 percent to 1,400,000 tons in the fourth quarter compared to 1,242,400 tons in the third quarter. The company says demand has increased, especially in carbon sales […]
According to data just released by the Metal Service Center Institute (MSCI) total steel inventories dropped slightly during the month of November while steel shipments were off 11,500 tons per day compared to the daily rate reported for the month of October. When compared to last November shipments improved by 6,200 tons per day and […]
We want to take a moment to remind our Executive Members (as well as our trial members) that we have a section under the Resources tab for steel mills. Once there you can navigate to the Furnace Status sub-menu tab and then over to the Blast Furnace tab where you can access the most up-to-date […]
Planned outages and the collapse of the storage dome at Nucor Steel Louisiana negatively impacted earnings said Nucor in its fourth quarter guidance. Earnings per diluted share are expected to be in the range of $0.30-$0.40, down from third quarter 2013 earnings of $0.46 per diluted share and fourth quarter 2012 earnings of $0.43 per […]
Essar Steel Algoma has been granted funding relief for the Company’s defined benefit pension plan by the Ontario government. The new regulation allows Essar Algoma make fixed payments over the next three years and extends the amortization period through 2024. The regulation is effective as of December 1, 2013. Essar Steel Algoma’s pension contribution requirements […]
An explosion and fire at the US Steel Great Lakes Works in Ecorse, Mich., has killed a worker and halted steel production. The Ecorse fire department was called to the scene of the fire at 2:50 am on Sunday morning. US Steel spokesman Courtney Boone said that the explosion occurred at the plant’s steel shop […]
The Department of Commerce said on Dec. 9 that Severstal is in compliance with the terms of a suspension agreement on certain cut-to-length (CTL) carbon steel plate from the Russian Federation. The original agreement was signed by the DOC on Dec. 20, 2002 suspending the antidumping investigation on certain CTL carbon steel plate from Russian […]
Alton Steel announced the election of James Hrusovsky as CEO effective immediately. Hrusovsky, former Essar Steel Algoma CEO and a 31-year veteran of the steel industry, will succeed Charlie Linnemeyer. Prior to his career at Essar Steel, Hrusovsky was CEO for Severstal Columbus where he led a significant expansion for the company. Linnemeyer, who started […]
ArcelorMittal announced it will change its organizational structure to one of regional management in order to simplify how the company is run. The reorganization will allow each business to follow its own strategy and focus for product specialization. The Group Management Board will be as follows: – Lou Schorsch , CEO of Flat Carbon Americas […]
Worthington Industries plans to close their Essex facility in Baltimore County, located near the former Sparrows Point steel site, by the end of its fiscal year, May 31, 2014. The closing will result in the layoff of 54 employees. The company filed the following SEC report: On December 10, 2013, the Steel Processing Segment (“Worthington […]
Michael Wagner has been appointed Chief Sales and Marketing Officer at Essar Steel Algoma, pending regulatory approval. Wagner most recently served as Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer at SeverCorr where he was a founding member in 2005. He began his career at Bethlehem Steel and moved on to progressively advanced roles at Nucor […]