Stelco Holdings Inc. heralded record first quarter net income, but the result nonetheless marked a nearly 50% decline from fourth quarter profit levels. The Canadian flat-rolled steelmaker chalked up lower quarter-over-quarter earnings to a drop in both shipment volumes and prices. “While in the early part of the first quarter we saw deterioration in both […]
ArcelorMittal is considering adding a second electric arc furnace (EAF) to its AM/NS Calvert joint venture in Alabama. The Luxembourg-based steelmaker said the potential second EAF, which is “being studied” now, would have capacity of 1.5 million metric tons per year (tpy). That’s according to information released along with first quarter earnings data on Thursday, […]
ArcelorMittal predicts that global steel consumption will “contract slightly” in 2022, a departure from prior forecasts of modest growth. The Luxembourg-based steelmaker now expects global consumption to contract by as much as 1% this year. It had previously forecast of global steel consumption growth of as much as 1%. “Market conditions are currently strong although […]
Ryerson reported sharply higher profits on increased prices and despite lower year-over-year (YoY) shipment volumes. The Chicago-based service center predicted a strong second quarter as well but forecast that average selling prices might be flat or up only modestly. “Our optimism around enduring secular drivers favoring recyclable industrial metals as a core enabler of sustainable […]
Klöckner & Co. SE reported first quarter profits that were double those a year ago thanks largely to higher prices. The Duisburg, Germany-based service center, which has significant operations in the US, expects the good times to roll into the second quarter as well. All told, Klöckner recorded net income of €172 million ($181.3 million) […]
Russel Metals reported solid first-quarter earnings results and record revenue. All three of the Canadian service center’s business segments generated strong operating results, driving net earnings of $98.7 million CAD ($76.9 million USD), down 2.9% sequentially but up more than 22% year-on-year (YoY). Revenue during the first quarter reached $1.34 billion ($1.04 billion), a 51.3% […]
Friedman Industries has acquired PlatePlus Inc. facilities in East Chicago, Ind., and Granite City, Ill., including real estate, buildings, equipment, inventory, and other assets. The deal between the two service center groups closed on April 30, Friedman said. It includes not only steel inventory but also customer and supplier networks from Plateplus locations in Loudon, Tenn. […]
Alro Steel announced Friday that it has completed the acquisition of certain assets of Klein Steel, a metals service center with locations in Buffalo, Rochester, and Syracuse, New York. The transaction, terms of which were not disclosed, was announced on March 29, 2022. Founded in 1971, Klein Steel offers multiple metals for next-day delivery to customers in the Northeast, […]
US Steel is in the midst of a 45-day planned outage on the No. 8 blast furnace at its Gary Works in northwest Indiana. The outage began on April 11 and is for typical repairs, a spokeswoman for the Pittsburgh-based steelmaker told SMU. She did not have an end date for the repairs. That said, […]
US Steel is no longer importing pig iron from Ukraine and Russia for its Big River Steel Works – now the official name of its Osceola, Ark., electric arc furnace (EAF) sheet mill. The Pittsburgh-based steelmaker has also mostly weaned its integrated steel mill in Košice, Slovakia, off Russian raw materials as well, they said. […]
US Steel posted the best first quarter earnings in company history and expects to set another new record in the second quarter. The Pittsburgh-based steelmaker recorded net earnings of $882 million in the first quarter of 2022, up nearly tenfold from $91 million in the first quarter of 2021 on revenue that increased nearly 43% […]
Strong demand, growing shipment levels, and robust metals pricing allowed Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. to achieve another record quarter with first quarter sales of $4.49 billion and gross profit of $1.39 billion. “Notwithstanding ongoing macroeconomic challenges, our performance was supported by positive underlying trends including continued strong demand with improving shipment levels in each […]
Ternium plans to continue to invest heavily in and to grow its North American presence – including in the US, company CEO Máximo Vedoya said. Case in point: The Latin American steelmaker is considering a new United States-Mexico-Canada (USMCA) compliant greenfield electric-arc furnace facility. “An announcement could still be seen in either 2022 or 2023 – we […]
Ternium reported net earnings of $877.5 million in the first quarter of 2022, down from $1.14 billion in the prior quarter but up 24.2% from $706.7 million in the first quarter of 2021. The Latin American flat-rolled steelmaker posted first quarter net sales of $4.30 billion, a 32% compared to the first quarter of last […]
Nucor has ordered two galvanizing lines from equipment supplier Fives SAS for its $2.7 billion electric arc furnace (EAF) sheet mill in West Virginia. One is a vertical galvanizing line, the other is a horizontal line – each will have annual capacity of 500,000 tons, France-based Fives said in a press release on Tuesday, April 26. […]
Distributors who sell galvanized steel products to the construction and HVAC sectors are still seeing strong demand despite record-high prices. But the flurry of buying that happened immediately following the outbreak of the war in Ukraine has slowed, members of the Heating, Air-Conditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International (HARDI) said in their monthly conference call on Tuesday. […]
Swedish steelmaker SSAB posted a strong start to 2022 with better-than-expected first-quarter results. The solid performance across all divisions was thanks to high steel prices, offsetting disruptions in Raahe, Finland, and Americas’ operations, the company said. SSAB Americas’ revenue was $7.465 billion Swedish krona ($767 million USD) in the first quarter of 2022, more than […]
Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. will install an electric-arc furnace (EAF) at its steel mill in Middletown, Ohio, to make electrical steels for electric vehicles (EVs) – but only if demand merits it. “Let’s see how many of my clients will be really doing what they’re saying they’re going to do in terms of electric vehicles,” company chairman, […]
US Steel is planning a 21-day maintenance outage on its No. 3 blast furnace at its Mon Valley Works in western Pennsylvania, a company spokeswoman confirmed to Steel Market Update (SMU). The outage, scheduled for mid-October, will be used to apply shotcrete – a sprayed concrete – and other standard upkeep. The furnace is located […]
Nucor Corp. is partnering with the University of Kentucky (UK) Research Foundation on a new carbon dioxide capture system at the steelmaker’s Gallatin sheet mill in Ghent, Ky. The innovative research partnership between Nucor and UK is one of 12 federally funded research projects by a Department of Energy (DOE) grant to advance point-source carbon […]
Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. expects record free cash flow this year thanks to fixed-price contracts resetting higher and a more bullish outlook on average selling prices in general. The Cleveland-based steelmaker predicts that average selling prices for the year will be $1,445 per ton ($72.25 per cwt), up $220 per ton from prior guidance of $1,225 per […]
Steel Dynamics Inc. (SDI) expects that its new electric-arc furnace sheet mill in Sinton, Texas, will reach a run rate of approximately 80% by the end of the third quarter and over 90% by year-end, company executives said during the quarterly earnings conference call on Thursday. The Fort Wayne, Ind.-based steelmaker has said that it […]
Nucor expects to complete the $650 million expansion and upgrade of its Gallatin sheet mill in Ghent, Ky., in June, company executives said. And the Charlotte, N.C.-based steelmaker’s new $1.35 billion plate mill in Brandenburg, Ky. – slated to have annual capacity of 1.2 million tons – remains on track to start up late in […]
Nucor Corp. “immediately” halted sourcing pig iron and other raw materials from Russia following the invasion of Ukraine in late February, the company’s top executive said. “The day after the invasion happened, we stopped buying materials immediately from Russia and have taken nothing from them,” Nucor president and CEO Leon Topalian said. “We pivoted very quickly […]
Nucor Corp. earnings dipped slightly in the first quarter of 2022 compared to the fourth quarter on lower profits from its sheet mills. But the Charlotte, N.C.-based steelmaker predicted that the trend would reverse in the second quarter – when it expects to post the most profitable quarter in its history. “Our key forward looking […]
Steel Dynamics Inc. (SDI) posted better-than-expected results for the first quarter of 2022. Earnings surpassed the consensus estimate by 8.1% while sales exceeded expectations by 5.5% to start the year, according to data from Zacks. The Fort Wayne, Ind.-based steelmaker’s strong results came thanks to record steel shipments and increased production. The company said it […]
Michael McQuade, Algoma Steel’s chief executive officer, will retire on June 1. Michael Garcia has been named to succeed him. McQuade will continue to serve on the company’s board of directors, where Garcia will also join concurrent with his appointment as CEO, the company said. “Mike McQuade has provided exemplary leadership through this transition period, […]
Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. chairman, president and CEO Lourenco Goncalves blasted low US tariffs on Russian pig iron given sharply higher ones on steel. The pig iron tariff – $1.11 per metric ton, or $1 per short ton – is too little to stop companies, notably electric-arc furnace (EAF) sheet mills, from importing raw material from Russia, […]
BlueScope plans to buy Coil Coatings from Cornerstone Building Brands for $500 million to expand its presence in painted products in the eastern US. The Australian steelmaker – parent company of sheet producer North Star BlueScope in Delta, Ohio – said the deal would complement its existing coated products business on the West Coast. The […]
Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. has applied for an air permit for an electric-arc furnace at its Middletown Works in southwest Ohio. The Cleveland-based steelmaker currently operates an integrated steel mill in Middletown. The air permit is for the “proposed installation of an EAF melt shop and associated operations to produce steel slab,” the company said in filings […]