The threats of Section 232 tariffs and the possible withdrawal of the United States from NAFTA have not swayed ArcelorMittal from its commitment to invest $1 billion in its Mexican operations. In a statement reported on Friday, a spokesman for the integrated steelmaker said the company has no intention of changing its plans for Mexico, […]
Ryerson, a processor and distributor of metals, posted sales of $3.4 billion for 2017, a 17.7 percent increase year over year due to an 11.9 percent increase in the average selling price and a 5.1 percent gain in volume. Net income was $17.1 million for the year. Gross margins decreased to 17.3 percent in 2017 […]
ArcelorMittal announced the appointment of Aditya Mittal as President, ArcelorMittal and CEO of ArcelorMittal Europe. The promotion is in addition to his continued responsibilities as Chief Financial Officer. Chairman and CEO Lakshmi Mittal commented, “Aditya has proved himself an effective and accomplished manager as Group CFO and CEO of our European operations, delivering results and […]
Metals service center Olympic Steel announced its most profitable year since 2011. Operating income was $24 million and net income $19 million. Net sales increased 26 percent in 2017 to $1.3 billion on higher average selling prices and shipping volume. “Demand for metals improved during 2017, driven by stronger GDP growth in the U.S. and […]
Turkish steel producer Borusan Holding is considering expanding its steel pipe plant near Houston. CEO Agah Ugur made the announcement on Friday following the proposal by President Trump to increase tariffs to 25 percent on steel imports. “The U.S. tariff decision on steel imports is important for Borusan…. We are considering expanding our production facility […]
North Star BlueScope sales for the first half of FY 2018 totaled $670 million from shipments of 1,037,500 metric tons. The 12 percent year-over-year gain in sales revenue was due to higher steel prices and volume. Underlying EBIT fell 31 percent to $113.3 million in the first half of FY 2018 as prices receded from […]
Ternium has extended its agreement to supply steel slabs to AM/NS Calvert for an additional 12 months, until December 2020. During Ternium’s fourth-quarter earnings call, CEO Daniel Novegil said Ternium Brazil will deliver the remaining 3.5 million metric tons of slab in annual increments of 1.2 million tons per year instead of 2.0 million tons […]
NLMK USA’s fourth-quarter sales and shipments dropped 3 percent from the third quarter due to expected seasonality. Sales totaled $410 million on shipments of 550,000 metric tons. Prices in the fourth quarter were flat due to uncertainty surrounding the pending Section 232 investigation. For full-year 2017, NLMK USA sales increased 21 percent from 2016 to […]
Canadian steel mill Stelco held its first earnings call since becoming a publically held company and reported stellar results for the fourth quarter. The company, formerly owned by U.S. Steel, presented a strong balance sheet, no debt and no legacy liabilities. Revenue for the quarter increased 45 percent from a year ago to $452 million. […]
The new year got off to a strong start for U.S. service centers, which reported over a 4 percent increase in carbon steel shipments and a 6 percent increase in carbon steel inventories in January, according to the Metals Service Center Institute’s January Metals Activity Report. Service center shipments of carbon plate saw a big […]
Steel shipments by Canadian service centers in January totaled 410,100 net tons, up 46.4 percent from December’s lull, but down 0.4 percent from January 2017, reports the Metals Service Center Institute (MSCI). On a daily basis, total shipments were 18,600 tons per day in January (a 22-day month), up from 14,700 tons per day in […]
Flack Global Metals has partnered with First American Resources in a joint venture that will offer prepainted products to the market later this year. The deal is a bit of a departure for FGM, which is now the minority investor in an enterprise that is installing high-end coil coating equipment. FGM has achieved $350 million […]
Liberty Steel, part of the GFG Alliance, will start recruiting workers for its recently acquired mill in Georgetown, S.C. The company hopes to restart production in the second quarter, following maintenance and upgrade of equipment and rampup of its electric arc furnace to full capacity as soon as feasible. Over the remainder of 2018, Liberty […]
Union Partners announced plans today to build a new steel processing facility on the Osceola, Ark., campus of Big River Steel. The operations will be located directly adjacent to Big River’s Flex Mill and will include both slitting and multi-blanking lines in a new build-to-suit facility expandable to 258,000 square feet. Construction will be on […]
Reliance Steel and Aluminum Co. is seeing growing demand across all its product segments and expects that trend to continue through 2018. Reliance reported a strong fourth quarter with net sales up 15.3 percent year-over-year to $2.38 billion. Third-quarter sales were somewhat lower due to expected seasonality. Fourth-quarter shipments totaled 1,451,000 tons, up 6.3 percent […]
Russel Metals Inc., the Toronto-based steel distributor, reported positive results in its fourth-quarter and year-end earnings report, driven by sales to the energy sector. Net income for the company totaled $124 million on revenues of $3.3 billion in 2017, a significant improvement from the $63 million earned on sales of $2.6 billion in 2016. The […]
Distributors of galvanized steel products to the HVAC industry are concerned that steel prices could experience a correction once President Trump finally announces his decision on Section 232. “I fear that a lot of 232 is already built into the pricing, and if the [trade action] is less than people were expecting, we could see […]
ArcelorMittal Mexico has contracted with Primetals Technologies for the construction of a new hot strip mill at Lázaro Cárdenas. Primetals will erect the hot strip mill and a hot skin pass mill, including power supply, mechanical equipment, drives and automation. The mill is designed for an annual capacity of 2.5 million metric tons of hot […]
U.S. Steel has named an interim executive to head the company’s tubular segment following the retirement of David Rintoul. Douglas R. Matthews, senior vice president – Industrial, Service Center and Mining Solutions, will assume the day-to-day responsibilities of U.S. Steel Tubular Products. Commenting on the appointment, CEO David Burritt said, “Doug is the best choice […]
U.S. Steel finished 2017 on a strong note with net sales of $3.13 billion and net earnings of $159 million in the fourth quarter. Steel shipments for the quarter totaled 3.8 million tons. Commenting on U.S. Steel’s results, President and CEO David Burritt said, “We finished the year with three solid quarters as investments in […]
ArcelorMittal’s NAFTA segment saw crude steel production decrease 5.2 percent to 5.6 million metric tons in the fourth quarter due to operational issues in Mexico, planned maintenance at Dofasco, and a slower U.S. market. Steel shipments declined 8.9 percent to 4.2 million metric tons, primarily driven by lower volumes in flat and long products. Sales […]
Brian D. Robbins, CEO of MidWest Materials, Inc. in Perry, Ohio, will be honored by the Association of Steel Distributors as its 2017 Steel Man of the Year during a special dinner celebration on Wednesday, March 7, at the ASD Spring Convention in Scottsdale, Ariz. MidWest Materials has had a long and rich history with […]
U.S. Steel announced Jan. 31 that the president of its tubular products segment, David J. Rintoul, plans to retire effective Feb. 28. Graphite electrode company GrafTech announced concurrently that Rintoul will join the company as President and CEO effective March 1. Rintoul, currently senior vice president – tubular business and president of tubular products, began […]
Planned maintenance outages at AK Steel contributed to a net loss of $107.9 million in the fourth quarter. Net sales during the quarter increased 5 percent to $1.5 billion, however, driven by incremental sales from recently acquired Precision Partners. Flat rolled shipments declined to 1,337,100 tons in the quarter from 1,385,500 tons in Q4 2016 […]
In its year-end 2017 financial report, Nucor delivered its highest annual earnings since 2008. Consolidated net sales increased 25 percent to $20.25 billion, compared with $16.21 billion for fiscal 2016. Shipments to outside customers during 2017 totaled 26,492,000 tons, an increase of 9 percent from fiscal 2016. Average sales price per ton increased 15 percent. […]
SSAB North America achieved higher market share in 2017. SSAB’s share of the North American steel slab market was estimated at 30 percent for the year. Full-year earnings and shipments increased compared to 2016. Sales for the full year were SEK 12.7 billion ($1.6 billion) and shipments 1,971,000 metric tons (2.17 million short tons). Fourth-quarter […]
ArcelorMittal USA is in the process of changing up production at its Cleveland mill. The company plans to transfer the production of cold-rolled annealed steels produced at ArcelorMittal Cleveland to its operations in East Chicago and Burns Harbor, Ind. The product transfer plan is in development with targeted completion by the end of June. While […]
The fire at AK Steel’s Middletown Works has had little effect on the steel market, at least so far, report service center executives polled by Steel Market Update. Firefighters from four departments rushed to the mill on Saturday morning to find that a ladle had malfunctioned, releasing liquid steel into the facility, igniting a large […]
Last year was a record breaker for Steel Dynamics in multiple areas. The company reported records for steel shipments, fabrication shipments, net sales, operating income and EBITDA. Annual net income totaled $813 million compared to $382 million in 2016. Net sales for the full year totaled $9.5 billion compared to $7.8 million the previous year. […]
Bill Hickey is taking a step back from his day-to-day duties at Lapham-Hickey Steel and handing over the reins to the fourth generation of family management. Hickey retains the title of company chairman as his two sons step up to more senior management positions. “The next generation is taking over operation of the business, and […]