How do you recover from a catastrophic blast furnace explosion? That was the challenge for Operations Technology Manager Blake Crisman at ArcelorMittal Burns Harbor following the incident at Blast Furnace D in July. What at first glance looked like a three-month project to restart the furnace was whittled down to just three weeks through a […]
Two recent steel mill issues have taken steel capacity out of the market, further tightening supply. Sources report that a COVID-19 outbreak at ArcelorMittal Burns Harbor has disrupted production affecting “at least” 50,000 tons. Customers report they have been told some January orders will be delayed until February and new orders for February may not […]
The thought of a possible steel shortage gained new ground this past week as news of spreading coronavirus infections at ArcelorMittal Burns Harbor, the breakout at the No. 2 caster at Dofasco, the slow return of production at Stelco due to a hack of their computer systems, and the continued strike at the NLMK USA […]
The Perfect Storm: Long lead times, late deliveries, low service center inventories, strong demand, higher prices, lack of foreign steel imports, mill outages both planned and unplanned, maximum capacity utilization rates at a number of mills, NLMK USA strike, higher ferrous scrap prices that are expected to go much higher in the coming months, restrictions […]
Flat rolled steel buyers are feeling a little skittish. Based on the results of last week’s flat rolled and plate steel market trends analysis conducted by Steel Market Update, the threat of higher prices, late mill deliveries and fear of a possible steel shortage situation are making steel buyers nervous (see article above with survey […]
On Wednesday, Steel Market Update reached out to Cleveland-Cliffs Chairman, President & CEO Lourenco Goncalves to get his thoughts on the market as the U.S. is about to change leadership and Cliffs is about to complete their acquisition of ArcelorMittal USA operations (except for Calvert and Dofasco in Canada). SMU: Have you congratulated President-elect Biden? […]
Global steelmaker ArcelorMittal narrowed its net loss to $300 million in the third quarter, an improvement on the loss of $600 million in Q2, as sales increased 20.9 percent to $13.3 billion due to higher steel shipments and a better sales mix. Worldwide shipments for the quarter totaled 17.5 million metric tons, a 17.5 percent […]
Growing up I was a bit of a history nerd and my original intention was to be a political science major when I entered Hamline University where I went to college. Over time I morphed into a bit of a political nerd, so elections are exciting times for me. They may not be for many […]
By CRU Principal Analyst Josh Spoores, from CRU’s Steel Sheet Products Monitor The global sheet market has seen a few key trends emerge across a variety of regions. First, demand has continued to rise from the pandemic-related lows recorded earlier this year. While sheet demand continues to be driven by sequential increases in automotive demand, […]
Steel Market Update is excited to announce that after a successful Virtual Steel 101: Introduction to Steel Making & Market Fundamentals Workshop in October, we’ll be offering our next one Dec. 8-9. The Steel 101 Workshop is taught by instructors with a combined experience of well over 100 years. The instructors have a wide array of […]
Steel Market Update is excited to announce that after a successful Virtual Steel 101: Introduction to Steel Making & Market Fundamentals Workshop in October, we’ll be offering our next one Dec. 8-9. The Steel 101 Workshop is taught by instructors with a combined experience of well over 100 years. The instructors have a wide array of […]
For those of us who live in the United States, today should be one where we recognize we have expressed our opinions about politics and politicians with our vote. We recognize the strength of our democracy is rooted in the belief that we are all Americans no matter our political ilk. To believe otherwise only […]
Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Election Day – Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020. If you have a mail-in ballot, it is now too late to put in the mail. You will need to personally drop the ballot off at a collection box. If you can vote early, I would highly recommend it (I voted last week in […]
The return of automotive manufacturing after closures due to the pandemic boosted demand for Cleveland-Cliffs’ products and resulted in revenue of $1.6 billion and net income of $2 million for the third quarter of 2020. “We were significantly affected in Q2 by the unprecedented shutdowns that took place throughout the entire auto sector for an […]
Nine days to go… I don’t know about you but my cell phone is being lit up with political calls/texts from both parties – including states I don’t live in. November 4th can’t get here fast enough… Steel Dynamics reported that their mills (all products) operated at 85 percent and their sheet mills achieved a […]
SMU contributor Tim Stevenson is a partner at Metal Edge Partners, a firm engaged in Risk Management and Strategic Advisory. In this role, he and his firm design and execute risk management strategies for clients along with providing process and analytical support. In Tim’s previous role, he was a Director at Cargill Risk Management, and […]
SSAB Americas has announced another price increase on steel plate, informing customers Friday, Oct. 16, that it has increased transaction prices by a minimum of $50 per ton effective on all new non-contract orders. SSAB said the increase applies to As-Rolled Mill Plate, Cut-To-Length Plate >72”, Hot Rolled Coils >72”, Normalized Plate and Quenched & […]
ArcelorMittal USA has notified customers of a $50 per ton increase in the minimum base price for its plate products, following a similar announcement by SSAB Americas last week. This is the second $50 plate price increase for ArcelorMittal USA since Sept. 29, when SSAB and Nucor also announced increases. Plate prices had struggled to […]
Have you ever attended a wedding and thought to yourself as you looked at the lovely young bride and her much older groom: “How is this going to work?” The marriage of U.S. Steel and Big River Steel is raising some of the same doubts. U.S. Steel announced today that is has exercised its option […]
By CRU Analyst Estelle Tran, from CRU’s Global Steel Trade Service The spike in sheet purchasing activity pushed prices up $200 /s.ton over the last two months and mill lead times for HR coil over six weeks. Steel Market Update, which is owned by CRU, also reported CR and HDG coil lead times in the […]
Ford has selected ArcelorMittal and its Fortiform 980 GI steel as its sole source of third-generation advanced high-strength steel for use in the 2021 Ford Bronco. The steel is produced at AM/NS Calvert and is designed for automotive application due to its strength and formability. “Ford called us to see if we could develop this […]
Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp. is considering selling its shares of I/N Tek and I/N Kote, rolling and galvanizing plants held in a 50-50 joint venture with ArcelorMittal, to Cleveland-Cliffs. Cliffs acquired ArcelorMittal’s shares of the two plants in New Carlisle, Ind., in a deal for the company’s U.S. assets last month. Nippon Steel […]
The 2020 pandemic has caused more disruption to the global energy sector than any other event in recent history, says the International Energy Agency in its newest World Energy Outlook. “Whether this upheaval ultimately helps or hinders efforts to accelerate clean energy transitions and reach international energy and climate goals will depend on how governments […]
The Cleveland-Cliffs/ArcelorMittal merger may throw a curve at the Steelmageddon theory, said Bank of America steel analyst Timna Tanners during Wednesday’s Steel Market Update Community Chat Webinar. The Cliffs/AM combination includes two mills that are more than 100 years old and another that is 50 years old. A move by Cliffs to permanently close some older blast […]
Steel Market Update is pleased to announce that we will re-start our SMU Community Chat Webinar series on Wednesday, Oct. 7, at 11 a.m. ET. Our speaker will be Timna Tanners, Metals and Mining Analyst at Bank of America and the owner of the “Steelmageddon” terminology. Joining Timna will be John Packard, President & CEO […]
By CRU Principal Analyst Josh Spoores, from CRU’s Steel Sheet Products Market Outlook In less than a year Cleveland-Cliffs has transformed themselves from a Great Lakes-based iron ore miner to the largest fully integrated flat rolled steel producer in the USA. Cliffs has done this by acquiring AK Steel earlier this year and now they […]
On Thursday, Steel Market Update produced an article on lead times with the headline, “Steel Mill Lead Times: Mixed Messages.” The lead times being discussed in the article come from our proprietary survey, which is produced every other week. The lead times are based on the average from the manufacturing companies and steel service centers […]
On Thursday, Steel Market Update produced an article on lead times with the headline, “Steel Mill Lead Times: Mixed Messages.” The lead times being discussed in the article come from our proprietary survey, which is produced every other week. The lead times are based on the average from the manufacturing companies and steel service centers […]
Steel Market Update is pleased to announce that we will re-start our SMU Community Chat Webinar series on Wednesday, Oct. 7, at 11 a.m. ET. Our speaker will be Timna Tanners, Metals and Mining Analyst at Bank of America and the owner of the “Steelmageddon” terminology. Joining Timna will be John Packard, President & CEO […]
Steel Market Update is pleased to announce that we will re-start our SMU Community Chat Webinar series on Wednesday, Oct. 7, at 11 a.m. ET. Our speaker will be Timna Tanners, Metals and Mining Analyst at Bank of America and the owner of the “Steelmageddon” terminology. Joining Timna will be John Packard, President & CEO […]