Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. plans to take a 45-day maintenance outage at the big No. 7 blast furnace at its Indiana Harbor steel works in East Chicago, Ind., a company spokeswoman said. The planned outage, for a partial reline of the furnace, is scheduled to start on Sept. 1, she said. The No. 7 furnace has capacity […]
Let’s talk about lead times. Because the results from our latest survey caught my attention. This is the first time in since January-February that you can maybe discern a potential peak in pricing – at least judging by that metric. Lead Times: Trend or Head Fake I’m going to display our lead latest lead time […]
Let’s talk about flat rolled and plate steel mill lead times. Because the results from our latest steel market survey caught my attention. This is the first time in since January-February that you can maybe discern a potential peak in pricing – at least judging by that metric. Lead Times: Trend or Head Fake I’m […]
Steel Dynamics Inc. (SDI) is making repairs after an unplanned outage at an electric-arc furnace (EAF) at its flat-rolled steel mill in Columbus, Miss., according the company’s top executive. The outage, which occurred last weekend, is expected to result in approximately 10 days of lost production, or about 25,000-30,000 tons of hot metal, SDI President […]
Steel Dynamics Inc. (SDI) is making repairs after an unplanned outage at an electric-arc furnace (EAF) at its flat-rolled steel mill in Columbus, Miss., according the company’s top executive. The outage, which occurred last weekend, is expected to result in approximately 10 days of lost production, or about 25,000-30,000 tons of hot metal, SDI President […]
California Steel Industries (CSI) has opened its flat rolled order book for September. The West Coast slab converter also has increased prices by approximately $200 per ton ($10/cwt), according to market participants. “The purpose of this letter is to inform you that CSI’s September flat rolled order book is now open,” the company said in […]
Nucor has increased base prices for steel plate by at least $120 per ton ($6/cwt) along with the opening of its August order book. The new, higher prices are effective immediately and will be collected along with published freight and extras, the Charlotte, N.C.-based steelmaker said. Nucor’s new ex-works base price for cut-to-length A36 plate […]
SSAB Americas aims to increase plate prices by another $50 per ton ($2.50 per cwt) – just days after lifting tags by $100 per ton. The latest increase is effective immediately on all non-contract orders, and it means SSAB’s prices are up $150 per ton within a span of only three days. The latest increase […]
Plate prices have seen an astronomical rise, but the big gains have not been enough to keep the spread between sheet and plate from ballooning. And that spread is already the inverse of what is the norm. Normally plate prices carry a premium to sheet prices – now the reverse is true. Sheet carries around a […]
SSAB Americas aims to increase steel plate prices by at least $100 per ton ($5/cwt) effective immediately on all new spot orders. The increase applies equally to as-rolled mill plate and coil, cut-to-length plate, normalized plate, and quenched-and-tempered plate, the company said in a letter to customers on Monday, June 21. “In addition to this […]
USS-POSCO Industries has officially changed its name to USS-UPI, LLC. The West Coast subsidiary of Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel said the change means its email domain is switching from ussposco.com to ussupi.com. “This transition period will occur over the next few months,” the company said in a letter to customers on Friday, June 18. USS-UPI also […]
Some automakers have ramped up production and shipments after securing enough microchips, but others continue to struggle with the global semiconductor shortage. Stellantis (formerly Chrysler) will idle is assembly plants in Belvidere, Ill.; Windsor, Ontario; and Toluca, Mexico, for the rest of June “due to the unprecedented global microchip shortage,” a company spokeswoman said. The […]
The traditional correlations between finished steel and scrap prices have broken down this year, and historical spreads might remain off-kilter as more electric-arc furnace (EAF) mills come online globally, CRU Senior Analyst Ryan McKinley said. Crude steel output via EAFs in North America is expected to grow by about 16 million metric tonnes, approximately 20%, […]
Evraz North America aims to resume steelmaking operations at its mill in Pueblo, Colo., the week of June 21, a company spokesman said. Rolling operations are likely to restart shortly thereafter, he said. An explosion at the Pueblo steel mill in late May disrupted production and resulted in eight people being injured, three critically. Seven […]
General Motors continues to ramp up production thanks to an increased supply of microchips, a company spokesman said. The Detroit-based automaker, the largest in the U.S, has also decided not to take typical summer downtime at some plants as it looks to make up for production lost earlier in the year because of a global chip […]
The U.S. and the EU have agreed to “resolve tensions” stemming from Section 232 by year end–but that doesn’t mean the national security tariffs will be lifted anytime soon, the head of the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) said. “I don’t see anything happening before the end of this year. This is a complicated […]
The White House has confirmed that the United States and the European Union are in discussions to resolve “existing differences” on Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum from the EU before the end of the year. “We are determined to work together to resolve tensions arising from the U.S. application of tariffs on imports […]
SMU’s Community Chat webinar with Bank of America metals and mining analyst Timna Tanners last week was our second-best attended ever. Barry Zekelman, executive chairman and CEO of Zekelman Industries, still holds the title. But Tanners gave him a run for his money. We received more questions during the webinar than we were able to […]
SMU’s steel buyers’ sentiment index has hit its highest point ever – surpassing even the euphoria ahead of the unveiling of Section 232 tariffs and quotas in the first quarter of 2018. Stratospheric price gains, the potential for Section 232 to be removed from the EU by December, and a raft of new capacity coming online in North America […]
SMU’s steel buyers’ sentiment index has hit its highest point ever – surpassing even the euphoria ahead of the unveiling of Section 232 tariffs and quotas in the first quarter of 2018. Stratospheric price gains, the potential for Section 232 to be removed from the EU by December, and a raft of new capacity coming online in North America […]
SMU caught up with Ternium CEO Máximo Vedoya about the Latin American steelmaker’s plans for its new, $1.1-billion hot strip mill in in Pesquería, just outside of Monterrey, Mexico. The new mill – also known as #4 Pesqueria – sports capacity of 4.4 million tons per year. It rolled its first coils in May and Vedoya […]
The energy tubulars market is still waiting for the boom flat-rolled steel prices – the sector’s primary input cost – to flow through to pipe selling prices, according to one industry expert. On the face of it, things look good. Oil prices are improving, the rig count is up dramatically versus a year ago, and […]
U.S. ferrous scrap prices have settled up $60 per gross ton on prime grades and up $50 per gross ton on obsoletes, according to market participants. “Regional markets were very consistent with the up $50 (per gross ton) on obsolete grades and up $60 (per gross ton) for primes,” one scrap executive said. “This resulted […]
U.S. Steel has agreed to sell its Transtar LLC railroad subsidiary to an affiliate of Fortress Transportation and Infrastructure Investors LLC (FTAI) for $640 million. The Pittsburgh-based steelmaker said it expects the deal to close in the third quarter of this year pending customary closing conditions and certain regulatory approvals. Money from the sale will […]
The U.S. Commerce Department has determined that coated flat-rolled steel made in Malaysia from Chinese or Taiwanese substrate circumvents U.S. anti-dumping and countervailing duties. As a result, coated product from Malaysia could be subject to duties of more than 200% if it is determined to be made from Chinese hot-rolled coil or cold-rolled coil, according […]
I want to thank the National Association of Steel Pipe Distributors for giving me a chance to open their summer conference in Denver last week. I spoke about – what else, these days – steel prices. During the Q&A afterward and on the sidelines of the event, it was clear people were worried about (a) […]
I want to thank the National Association of Steel Pipe Distributors for giving me a chance to open their summer conference in Denver last week. I spoke about – what else, these days – steel prices. During the Q&A afterward and on the sidelines of the event, it was clear people were worried about (a) […]
ArcelorMittal Mexico plans to start up its new hot strip mill in Lázaro Cárdenas in Mexico’s Michoacán state in the fourth quarter of this year, a company spokeswoman said. The hot strip mill cost $1 billion and is expected to have annual capacity of 2.75 million tons per year (tpy), according to an ArcelorMittal press […]
Several automakers are resuming normal production – or levels closer to normal – even as others continue to grapple with the global microchip shortage. Case in point: Toyota has restarted production at its North American assembly plants. “We’ve resumed normal operations at all plants, but we are still experiencing periodic challenges,” a company spokeswoman told […]
Steel Market Update is pleased to announce that Timna Tanners, metals and mining analyst at Bank of America, will be the featured speaker for our next Community Chat webinar on Wednesday, June 9, at 11 a.m. ET. Tanners will speak about the steel industry of the future. That future is likely to include an increased […]