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 […]
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 […]
The U.S. service centers are believers and, according to their customers as well as the distributors themselves, they are raising spot prices on flat rolled steel. It has been Steel Market Update’s opinion for quite some time that for domestic mill price increases to continue to rise the service centers need to support the increases […]
Based on the results from our recent steel market analysis of the flat rolled steel service centers we found inventory levels increased to 2.30 months. As you can see by the graphic below, the Steel Market Update service center inventory levels tend to make very modest changes. It will be interesting to see if the […]
Brazilian mining company, Vale SA, plans to sell its share of CSA owned by ThyssenKrupp according to a report published by the Wall Street Journal. Jose Carlos Martins, head of Vale’s Ferrous division and Strategy told WSJ that Vale typically invests in Brazilian steel plants to increase domestic steel production and then sells its share […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) conducted the first of our two monthly surveys for the month of December. We invited approximately 600 companies to participate in this week’s market analysis. Of the companies responding 47 percent were manufacturers, 42 per cent were service centers/wholesalers and the balance consisted of steel mills, trading companies, toll processors and […]
Horizon Steel Company, plans to build a 90,000 square foot service center facility in Bowling Green, Kentucky. The $15 million project is expected to provide 30 new full-time positions in the region. The facility will be part of a co-located operation that will span approximately 150,000 square feet in the Kentucky Transpark and will also […]
DELTA, Ohio – Dec. 5, 2013 – Fulton County Processing (FCP), a northwest Ohio-based, state-of-the-art steel coil processing company, has announced it will be installing a new hydrochloric push/pull pickling line set to be operational in late 2014. The $20 million project will require an 82,000 square foot expansion to the plant, which will house […]
There have been a number of rumors flying about the marketplace since the announcement of the ThyssenKrupp Steel USA facility in Calvert, Alabama. We thought it prudent to address a couple of the issues where we have some insights. TK USA 2014 Contracts Steel Market Update has been advised by ThyssenKrupp Steel USA customers that […]
ThyssenKrupp AG exceeded its target of positive EBIT for the 2012-2013 fiscal year, ending September 30, by 100 million euros. EBIT for the fiscal year was 599 million euros ($815 million) said management at the annual press conference. Operating losses and impairment charges for Steel Americas (re-included in the fiscal year as a continuing operation), […]
ArcelorMittal conducted a conference call with steel analysts regarding the purchase of ThyssenKrupp Steel USA steel mill. The company outlined the reasons for the purchase and addressed a number of issues of importance to the steel community. In his opening remarks, ArcelorMittal CEO, Lakshmi Mittal spelled out their reasons for making the purchase: “So firstly, […]
Over the past few months we have seen constraints in the supply of flat rolled steel as one of the main drivers behind the higher price trend. Supply disruptions continued at a number of mills due to maintenance at Severstal, ArcelorMittal, USS and others as well as the restart associated with USS Lake Erie Works. […]
ArcelorMittal (AM) and their 50/50 joint venture partner Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation (NSSMC) reached an agreement with ThyssenKrupp AG to acquire the ThyssenKrupp Steel USA steel mill located in Calvert, Alabama. The purchase was valued at $1.55 billion for the 4.3 million tons of flat rolling capacity along with 1 million tons of […]
US Steel announced the election by the board of directors of David S. Sutherland to the position of independent, non-executive chairman effective Jan. 1, 2014. Sutherland will replace executive chairman John Surma who will retire on Dec. 31. US Steel split the roles of CEO and chairman when Mario Longhi succeeded Surma as CEO in […]
ArcelorMittal (AM) and their 50/50 joint venture partner Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation (NSSMC) reached an agreement with ThyssenKrupp AG to acquire the ThyssenKrupp Steel USA steel mill located in Calvert, Alabama. The purchase was valued at $1.55 billion for the 4.3 million tons of flat rolling capacity along with 1 million tons of […]
Steel Market Update spoke with steel analyst Charles Bradford of Bradford Research about the purchase of the ThyssenKrupp Steel USA assets by the ArcelorMittal/Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metals Corporation joint venture. We wanted to understand the economics of the purchase as well as what will happen next prior to the closing of the deal. “ArcelorMittal […]
The anticipation over the fate of ThyssenKrupp Steel Americas is finally over with the sale of the Calvert, Alabama mill to joint venture partners ArcelorMittal and Nippon Steel and Sumitomo Metal Corporation. The $1.55 billion sale gives ArcelorMittal a firm foothold in the Southeast and in the NAFTA auto market. Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal […]
A fire at Republic Steel in Lorain, Ohio injured five people and destroyed three floors within the plant before being contained on Saturday. The victims suffered smoke inhalation, first degree burns and broken bones. The fire started just before 2:30 pm on Nov. 30 when a spark or heat ignited the oxygen supply of the […]
After compiling the results from our most recent Steel Market Update survey, we found service center inventories have risen to an average of 2.21 months for mid-November, the highest figure since mid-July of this year. This is an improvement compared to the early-November survey, when inventories were measured at 2.04 months, the lowest figure since […]
ThyssenKrupp AG put out a press release late this afternoon postponing their annual financial statements which were originally scheduled for this Thursday, November 21st. The reason being provided is the company is involved in “..exclusive negotiations on the potential sale of the US steel plant in Calvert/Alabama (ThyssenKrupp Steel USA). The talks also include a […]
The Metal Service Center Institute (MSCI) released their service center shipment and inventory data for the month of October 2013. Total steel shipments (all products) were reported to be 3,791,600 tons. October, which had 23 shipping days compared to September with 20 days, had a daily shipping rate of 164,900 tons down from September’s 169,000 […]
Canadian service centers saw their daily shipping rate (all products) fall from 23,800 tons per day in September to 22,100 tons per day in October. The distributors shipped a total of 486,800 tons of steel during October according to the MSCI. This represents a 1.2 percent improvement over October 2012. The number of shipping days […]
According to the World Steel Association, global steel production rose 1.4 percent in October to 134,262,000 tonnes compared to September and reached a capacity utilization rate of 78.0 percent. The annualized three month moving average production was 1.591 billion tonnes through October (Figure 1). Capacity is now 2.076 billion tonnes. Global production this year has deviated from the […]
Worthington Industries is poised to take advantage of the natural gas boom through production of pressure cylinders and gas processing units. About a third of Worthington’s profits are derived from their pressure cylinder segment. Worthington has five Ohio facilities and, with proximity to the Marcellus and Utica shale plays, has begun the manufacture of cryogenic […]
Last week Bhushan Steel, an Indian steel mill known for its exports of coated steel products to the United States, suffered a devastating explosion and fire which has killed at least one person and injured five others. The blast occurred when Bhushan was attempting to commission a blast furnace. Reports out of India suggest that […]
Cleveland, 14th November – The President of the United States today visited ArcelorMittal’s Cleveland facilities, where he met employees at the hot dip galvanising line and gave a speech on the economy. The President was welcomed to the plant by Lakshmi Mittal, Chairman and CEO. Speaking before the President, Mr Mittal said: “It’s a […]
Severstal NA reported sales volume increased 2.6 percent quarter-over-quarter to 1.2 million tonnes in the third quarter due to improved sales of CRC and galvanized products. Revenue was reported at $993 million, up 4.2 percent from $953 million in the second quarter. Higher sales volume and pricing along with lower costs at Severstal Columbus resulted […]