This article is part of a series of articles written by John Packard originally under the heading “Steel Buyers Basics.” Recent articles have focused on the steel sales process, but sales and purchasing are connected. The fact that my experience is associated with the flat rolled steel markets and products does not detract from the […]
There are questions about potential manipulations of zinc and zinc trading which may have artificially inflated the metal’s price since 2010. Zinc, which is the metal used to coat galvanized steel as well as Galvalume, Galfan and ZAM, is believed to have been manipulated by The London Metal Exchange, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Glencore Xstrata […]
Iron ore spot prices in China have been falling and may continue to decline to the lows last seen in September 2012 when prices for 62% Fe fines reached into the $80’s (currently trading at $97.5/dmt). Steel Market Update has been reviewing the relationship between iron ore and ferrous scrap prices using shredded scrap as […]
The key highlight of first quarter was the Calvert acquisition, said ArcelorMittal CEO Lakshmi Mittal in the company’s first quarter earnings call. ArcelorMittal’s 50 percent ownership of AM/NS Calvert gives AM the capacity needed to supply AHSS solutions for the auto industry in the US and Mexico. ArcelorMittal has been focusing on light weight steels […]
On Tuesday of this week, Steel Market Update publisher, John Packard met with Saikat Dey, CEO of Severstal North America (NA), and discussed a wide range of topics including foreign steel, supply and demand issues, steel prices, the F-150 move to aluminum and much more. In the article below we will focus on Mr. Dey’s […]
The $156 million judgment against Nucor, Reliance Steel & Aluminum, American Alloy Steel and JSW Steel (USA) will be delayed two weeks while the defendants file a motion for a new trial in the anti-trust lawsuit brought by MM Steel LLC. Last week US District Judge Kenneth Hoyt ruled that a $52 million jury verdict […]
Damages in an anti-trust lawsuit against Nucor Corp, Reliance Steel & Aluminum, American Alloy Steel, JSW Steel and one individual defendant have been tripled to a final judgment of $156 million. US District Judge Kenneth Hoyt granted MM Steel LP’s motion to treble the $52 million jury verdict, rejecting motions by the defendants to delay […]
The following article is a continuation of our Steel Buyers Basics series written by Mario Briccetti. Mario is Principal of Briccetti & Associates, a Supply Chain consulting firm, and can be reached at Mario@mbriccetti.com In my series of articles, I have stressed that buyers should have the best information possible in order to effectively negotiate pricing […]
April is now behind us and it proved to be one interesting month. In looking at the key data we follow on a monthly basis for our readers, SMU Price Momentum Indicator ended the month where it began pointing to higher prices over the near term. SMU Steel Buyers Sentiment Index ended the month at […]
“We weathered not only the economic storm with five years of losses but also the first quarter’s extreme weather,” was one of the opening remarks by Executive Vice President & CFO David Burritt in the US Steel Conference Call on Thursday. Weather played a huge part in operations at US Steel in the first quarter. […]
Reliance Steel & Aluminum, the largest metals service center in the United States, announced earnings earlier today. The company reported net income of $87.2 on sales totaling $2.09 billion. Sales included the recent acquisitions of Metals USA and Haskins Steel. The company reported an 8.4 percent improvement in same store sales over the same quarter […]
For our plate customers, SSAB announced a $40 per ton plate price increase effective immediately. We will see if it sticks in the marketplace. We have a couple of minor bugs and tweaks we are working out of our systems and then we will release our Managing Price Risk II: Strategies & Execution workshop for […]
AK Steel reported a net loss of $86.1 million in the first quarter of 2014, compared to a net income of $35.2 million in the previous quarter. Net sales for Q1 were $1.38 billion on steel shipments of 1,262,100 tons, compared to Q1 2013 net sales of $1.37 billion on shipments of 1,289,800 tons, and […]
We learned today that ArcelorMittal will be taking down their #7 blast furnace at Indiana Harbor for two months: June & July 2014 (scheduled maintenance). The #7 furnace is capable of producing up to 11,500 tons of molten pig iron per day when ready at full capacity. Our assumption is US Steel Gary Works should […]
SMU recently published an article about the excitement in the aluminum industry regarding automotive applications. We asked for comments from the steel industry on the competition by aluminum for a share of the automotive manufacturing industry. We received the following comments from Ron Krupitzer, vice president, automotive market for the Steel Market Development Institute (SMDI): […]
Alcoa CEO Klaus Kleinfeld is expecting great things for aluminum—“The opportunity in auto is tremendous,” he said in Alcoa’s first quarter conference call. Kleinfeld said he expects aluminum automotive sheet demand to top 1 million metric tons by 2025. “We believe that the aluminum content in cars is going to quadruple very, very soon, basically […]
A Houston, Texas jury returned a verdict for $52 million in damages against Nucor Corp., Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co., its unit Chapel Steel Corp., American Alloy Steel Inc., and JSW Steel Inc. in an antitrust lawsuit brought by former plate steel distributor MM Steel, LP. SSAB was also named in the lawsuit but settled […]
Even as other companies were issuing lower guidance due to weather and its impact on negatively impacting their earnings during the first three months 2014, Worthington Industries reported their fiscal year 2014 3rd Quarter results which ended on February 28, 2014 as being the best in the company’s history. The company reported earnings of $40.6 […]
New Star Metals has acquired Material Sciences Corporation (MSC) a provider of acoustical products used in brakes, body panels, and engine components. MSC also specializes in electro-galvanizing and coil coating of flat-rolled steel and aluminum and provides products and services to the automotive, construction, appliance, and lighting industries. “We are excited to complete the purchase […]
Editor’s note: Leading paint suppliers have announced price increases effective in January, which will impact the market for prepainted steel and aluminum (see related article). The following SMU Steel Buyers Basics article authored by Mario Briccetti and reprinted from March 2014 explains how the cost of the paint calculates into the cost of prepainted products. […]
Each month the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) puts out its series of producer price indexes for thousands of goods and materials. The latest release on Friday reported February results. These statistics are a useful way to evaluate any changes in the competitive position of steel against competing materials. See below for the official description […]
Tomorrow is St. Patrick’s Day – it is also the beginning of the Steel Market Update flat rolled steel market analysis for mid-March. Invitations should be out around 8 AM ET. If you receive one please take a few minutes to click on the link contained in the email and respond to our questionnaire. John […]
Zinc and aluminum prices are something to keep an eye on when you’re involved with coated products such as galvanized or Galvalume steels. At current zinc price levels, the amount of zinc needed to coat 0.060″ thick G90 coil costs approximately $1.98 per cwt (based on zinc calculation shared with SMU from a domestic coating […]
The table below provides a quick look at the status of important commodity inputs used in the steel making or coating process (zinc and aluminum are used to make galvanized and Galvalume, etc.):
Buyers and sellers have mixed emotions and opinions regarding the current steel market. Most companies which Steel Market Update has spoken or traded emails with over the past few weeks are telling us their order books are “OK” and in line with what they saw last year at this time. Most companies believe their demand […]
I have to admit I am very impressed with the quality of the speakers and the program that has been put on by the FMA Toll Processors Conference. One of the reasons why I am attending this particular conference was due to the agenda which included a couple of programs about Advanced High Strength Steels […]
A stronger performance is expected in all end-markets for 2014 said Reliance Steel & Aluminum in the company’s recent conference call. The following are some comments by Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board David Hannah and Gregg Mollins, President and Chief Operating Officer on the steel market and industry. Regarding pricing Gregg Mollins […]
Reliance Steel & Aluminum Company reports fourth quarter 2013 sales for all products were $2.31 billion, up 22.1 percent from $1.89 billion in the fourth quarter of 2012 and down 5.6 percent from $2.44 billion in the third quarter of 2013. Net income for the quarter was $61.8 million, compared to $95.1 million in third […]
Galvanized steel buyers need to be aware that zinc prices have been rising since the beginning of February. The metal is close to its one year high but still has a ways to go before reaching the level at which the domestic mills last raised coating extras on galvanized steels. Zinc has been trading around […]
Steel analyst Charles Bradford of Bradford Research spoke at the Port of Tampa Steel Conference this past week. He presented a relatively upbeat analysis of the domestic steel industry. He began by referring to a recent McKinsey and Company report which basically said, “The steel industry has had it, it’s over. The industry doesn’t make […]