Contributor: Laura Miller

Cleveland-Cliffs is pushing back the reline of the C blast furnace at its Burns Harbor steel mill in northwest Indiana.

Dennis Leebow, the founder and former president and CEO of Cleveland-based, family-owned service center Majestic Steel USA, passed away on July 12, 2023, at the age of 72. Leebow was a graduate of the Ohio State University. He worked as a salesman at his grandfather’s company, Baldwin Steel, before embarking on his own adventure and […]

Fort Wayne, Ind.-based steelmaker Steel Dynamics Inc. is taking advantage of opportunities in the Mexican steel market and plans to continue doing so moving forward. Executives discussed some of those opportunities on the company’s second-quarter earnings conference call on Thursday, July 20. The location and capabilities of SDI’s newest flat-rolled steel mill in Sinton, Texas, […]

Dennis Leebow, the founder and former president and CEO of Cleveland-based, family-owned service center Majestic Steel USA, passed away on July 12, 2023, at the age of 72.

While a weak European market is hampering SSAB’s quarterly results, the US market is providing more stability for the Swedish steelmaker. SSAB Americas’ second-quarter performance, together with those of the company’s Special Steels segment, provided a bright spot for the company despite the woes in Europe. SSAB produces steel plate at its US operations in […]

Fort Wayne, Ind.-based steelmaker Steel Dynamics Inc. is taking advantage of opportunities in the Mexican steel market and plans to continue doing so moving forward.

While a weak European market is hampering SSAB’s quarterly results, the US market is providing more stability for the Swedish steelmaker.

Movements in lead times were mixed this week, with those for hot rolled and Galvalume falling back marginally, and those for cold rolled, galvanized, and plate extending slightly. We’re still waiting for a clear pattern to emerge with lead times, as they seem to have been bouncing around since June and generally trending down since […]

Movements in lead times were mixed this week, with those for hot rolled and Galvalume falling back marginally, and those for cold rolled, galvanized, and plate extending slightly.

The hot end of Steel Dynamics Inc.’s (SDI) Sinton, Texas, sheet mill is expected to be back up and running in the next few days.

The hot end of Steel Dynamics Inc.’s (SDI) Sinton, Texas, sheet mill is expected to be back up and running in the next few days. Executives made the announcement on the company’s second quarter earnings conference call with analysts on Thursday, July 20. On July 7, SDI announced an unplanned outage at the hot mill, […]

Antidumping and countervailing duties on imports of steel wire rod from a handful of countries will remain in place for another five years.

US housing starts pulled back in June after a hitting an 11-month high in May.

Antidumping and countervailing duties on imports of steel wire rod from a handful of countries will remain in place for another five years. The US International Trade Commission (ITC) made its final decision in an expedited sunset review of the AD duties on wire rod from Belarus, Italy, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Turkey, […]

US housing starts pulled back in June after a hitting an 11-month high in May. Total privately owned housing starts were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of 1,434,000 units in June, according to the latest estimates from the US Census Bureau. Starts in May were revised slightly downward, from the previous estimate of […]

On Steel Market Update’s most recent Community Chat, we caught up with Timna Tanners, managing director of Wolfe Research, to hear her latest take on the steel market.

On Steel Market Update’s most recent Community Chat, we caught up with Timna Tanners, managing director of Wolfe Research, to hear her latest take on the steel market. Tanners chatted with SMU managing editor Michael Cowden about the myth of mill discipline within the sheet market. The market isn’t much more disciplined than a few […]

Commercial Metals Co. (CMC) has secured a permit giving it the go-ahead to begin construction of its new micro mill in West Virginia. The Irving, Texas-based longs and scrap producer said on July18 the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection granted it the permit, allowing for the commencement of construction of its “fourth technologically advanced micro […]

Commercial Metals Co. (CMC) has secured a permit giving it the go-ahead to begin construction of its new micro mill in West Virginia.

South Korean steelmaker Posco has big plans to increase its global production capacity, including the making of electrical steel in North America, according to local media reports. The Korea Times reported that Posco is planning to “build additional hyper non-oriented electrical steel factories in Korea and North America to produce 1 million tons of electrical […]

The ongoing drama with AHMSA continues, but the bankrupt Mexican steelmaker has finally put out an official statement. A spokesperson for the company has previously made statements to local media, but an official announcement has not been released by the company since April. On Wednesday, July 12, a statement was issued on the company’s Twitter […]

A South Korean pipe and tube manufacturer is planning to build a new oil country tubular goods (OCTG) mill just north of Houston. Husteel, part of South Korea’s Shinan Group, is set to build a $122-million greenfield OCTG facility in Splendora, Texas, according to industrial equipment manufacturer Fives Group. Paris-based Fives said it has already […]

US steel exports spiked in May to the highest monthly level in nearly five years. Exports reached 914,018 net tons in May (Fig. 1), according to the latest figures from the US Department of Commerce. That’s 19% higher month-on-month and 15% higher year-on-year. Recall that exports in March neared a five-year high; May’s total was […]

US light-vehicle sales posted solid growth in June, according to the latest figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and sales are expected to continue pushing upward. Light-vehicle sales reached a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of 15.7 million units in June. Showing 4% month-over-month growth, this beat previous forecasts. June’s sales pushed total second-quarter sales […]

US steel imports climbed in June to the highest monthly level over the past 12 months, based on June import license data compiled by the US Department of Commerce. Import license applications reached 2,803,597 net tons in June, according to Commerce’s license count as of July 5. This was a 20.7% spike from the month […]

Leeco Steel has acquired Texas plate processor Titan Steel. Titan Steel, based in Alvarado, Texas, specializes in plasma and oxy-fuel cutting and machining of steel plate. The acquisition will allow Leeco to produce parts that require precision machining and milling. The purchase closed on June 30. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. As of […]

Ternium and Tenaris have upped their stake in Brazilian steelmaker Usinas Siderúrgicas de Minas Gerais S.A. (Usiminas). Ternium’s Brazilian subsidiary Confab Industrial S.A., Ternium Investments, and Ternium Argentina, collectively known as the T/T group within the controlling group of Usiminas, closed on a previously announced acquisition of 68.7 million ordinary shares of Usiminas. The shares […]

Lead times were broadly stable this week, with sheet products rising modestly and plate unchanged from SMU’s market check two weeks ago. More meaningful movements in lead times should be seen in the coming weeks as buyers return to the market after the Fourth of July holiday. Should the mills’ recent sheet price hikes take […]

Port workers on Canada’s West Coast are on strike, and ports are already feeling the impact of the slowdown in the movement of goods. More than 7,400 workers represented by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada (ILWU Canada) took to the picket lines starting on July 1 after failing to reach a new labor […]

With the US aluminum industry at a critical juncture, a new report is highlighting ways the Biden administration can use the Global Arrangement for Sustainable Steel and Aluminum (GASSA) to help the struggling domestic industry. Recall CRU’s aluminum analysts have previously shared with SMU the nightmare US aluminum smelters have been facing when it comes […]