Short comments this evening as I am attending the Metals Industry Dinner (Boy Scout Dinner) in Chicago. The sentiment within the room was mostly optimistic, although there were a number of conversations about April not being a great month or not meeting expectations. This would help explain some of the weakness seen in the MSCI […]
This week Steel Market Update adjusted our Price Momentum Indicator to Higher from Neutral. Based on our checks of the steel buying community, prices are beginning to firm and the $20 per ton price increase announced by a number of the steel mills appears to be sticking. SMU is of the opinion as long as […]
The domestic flat rolled steel mill lead times have begun to move out, according to the results from our flat rolled steel analysis questionnaire conducted this past week. We are seeing movement on all four products: hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized and Galvalume. Lead times had bottomed in January and February and we started to […]
ArcelorMittal’s NAFTA segment, and in particular the US, saw a collapse in steel prices in first quarter. High levels of imports, a strengthening dollar, and a weak energy segment created significant headwinds for the company that are expected to continue in 2015. CFO Aditya Mittal hinted in the earnings conference call that cuts may be […]
ArcelorMittal reported a net loss of $728 million in first quarter 2015 compared to a loss of $955 million in fourth quarter 2014. EBITDA was $1.4 billion. Steel shipments were up 3 percent year over year to 21.6 million tonnes. Iron ore shipments rose 5 percent to 9.4 million tonnes. Total sales for the company […]
The 2015 Association for Iron and Steel Technology Steelmaker of the Year Award was presented to Mario Longhi, president and chief executive officer of U.S. Steel Corp. at the AISTech 2015 conference in Cleveland, Ohio on May 5, 2015. The award recognizes the contributions of a prominent individual to the steel industry. Longhi was honored […]
Nucor, SSAB, and ArcelorMittal USA have petitioned the Department of Commerce to overturn a suspension trade deal that excuses Russian producers of cut-to-length (CTL) steel plate from paying import duties. The three steel mills said increasing exports of low-priced CTL steel plate to the U.S. is injuring the domestic industry. A suspension agreement signed in […]
Despite significant decreases in iron ore, steel, and metallurgical coal pricing, Cliffs Natural Resources, Inc. was able to achieve revenue of $446 million (excluding North American Coal) with adjusted EBITDA of $94 million. US iron ore shipments of 2.9 million tons were less than the 4 million anticipated, but in the US iron ore business […]
Late last week AK Steel announced a $20 per ton price increase which matches the original increase announcement out of ArcelorMittal. As the week ended, the big mill missing from the charge at higher prices was U.S. Steel. The only mill to stick its neck out there and put specific base price levels on their […]
Late on Monday, ArcelorMittal sales people began informing their customers by email of their intention to raise flat rolled steel prices by $20 per ton ($1.00/cwt). The increase was to be effective with orders taken for June production and beyond. In an email seen by Steel Market Update, ArcelorMittal explained their reasoning for taking prices […]
Late last week one of the smaller mills (North Star Bluescope) not known to cold rolled and galvanized buyers since they only produce hot rolled coils, began moving spot prices higher. One of NS customers advised us toward the end of the week that the mill was looking for $465 per ton ($23.25/cwt) for new […]
The domestic mills were beginning to make moves late last week to increase steel prices. Those efforts accelerated earlier today with the announcements out of ArcelorMittal USA (internal memo), Nucor (verbal & later in a letter to their customers), NLMK USA (letter to customers). These moves have, at least temporarily, halted the slide in flat […]
AK Steel earnings in first quarter were challenged by high levels of imported carbon steel products, said CEO James Wainscott. “The first quarter of 2015 was certainly more challenging than we anticipated. That because of the extremely high level of imported carbon steel products–unfairly traded imports, in our opinion–that hit our countries shores at the […]
The Trade Promotion Authority bill S.995, or “fast track bill” as it being called, passed the Senate Finance Committee last week by a vote of 20-6. The fast track portion gives the President the authority and guidelines to negotiate trade deals in exchange for a vote by Congress passing resulting trade agreements without amendment. The […]
SMU Service Center Apparent Excess The Metal Service Center Institute (MSCI) released U.S. steel distributor shipments and inventories earlier today. We have a separate article which goes into detail in both flat and long products in this newsletter. This article focuses on our flat rolled steel Service Center Inventory Apparent Excess/Deficit forecast for the month […]
For those of you who are interested the Metal Service Center Institute (MSCI) shipment and inventory data is scheduled to be released tomorrow (Wednesday). We will have a full report for our Executive members in Thursday’s issue and our Apparent Excess and Price Forecast and another more detailed report for our Premium level members later […]
The following article was released by ArcelorMittal this past week to the greater steel community. The article deals with the challenges that ArcelorMittal says are “eerily similar” to those seen in 1998 which resulted in the bankruptcy of several steel mills, including LTV and Bethlehem Steel. Steel Market Update has a separate article normally produced […]
During my conference call with Cowen & Company and their customers last week I mentioned that I thought we could see a domestic mill price increase by the middle of May. My reasoning is inventories should begin to drop at the service center level and many of the end users want to tie up steel […]
Our scrap sources are advising Steel Market Update that the scrap markets in the Midwest have been slow to settle with only a few deals done as of Tuesday morning. The expectation by those involved in the Midwest ferrous scrap markets is that the transactions will be completed over the next day or two. Most […]
There have been so many announcements made by the integrated steel mills (US Steel and ArcelorMittal especially) since the beginning of 2015 we thought we would provide details on various blast furnace outages and other equipment and plants associated with steel making that have been affected by slowing order books in the energy sectors and […]
ArcelorMittal may temporarily idle some of its operations at Lázaro Cárdenas, Mexico’s largest steel producer and slab exporter, according to reports by El Diario and BN Americas. “ArcelorMittal Lázaro Cárdenas is considering a temporary idling of certain steel producing operations,” a company spokesman told BN Americas in an emailed statement. “However, we are still in […]
Earlier today, Steel Market Update adjusted our SMU Price Momentum Indicator from “Lower” to “Neutral.” Since November 16, 2014 the SMU Price Momentum Indicator has been pointing toward “Lower” steel prices. Prior to November 16th we had a period of time where our Momentum Indicator vacillated between Neutral and Lower going back to May 2014. […]
Three steel industry executives met in Washington D.C. on Thursday at the Congressional Steel Caucus to discuss state of the US steel industry and the impact unfairly traded imports have had on jobs and manufacturing. Revisions to the “material injury” standards were proposed to add language that clearly defines indicators of injury and allows relief […]
The current downward cycle is getting a little “long in the tooth” (old) and there are signs that even with the short lead times and excessive inventories at the service centers the domestic steel mills are not chasing business but rather negotiating for specific pieces of business with known tonnages and want dates. The mills […]
ArcelorMittal Cleveland is planning several maintenance outages over the next few months. A vessel reline at No. 1 basic oxygen furnace (BOF) begins on March 23 and will be completed by the middle of second quarter. The No. 1 steel producing facility will continue operations with one vessel throughout the outage period. The C-5 blast […]
CHICAGO — The Association of Steel Distributors (ASD) is proud to announce the 2014 recipient of the Steel Man of the Year Award is Michael G. Rippey, chairman of ArcelorMittal USA in Chicago, Illinois. The industry’s highest honor, this annual ASD award recognizes one individual who embodies leadership, dedication, service and excellence in the steel […]
Chinese steel exports to the U.S. in January 2015 were 40 percent higher than in January 2014, according to World Steel Association data. As Chinese domestic demand weakens, exports have flooded not only the U.S. but nations across the globe. The resulting depressed prices and undercutting of domestic steel production has led to increased government […]
The United Steel Workers will be negotiating new contracts with U.S. Steel and ArcelorMittal later this year. The current three-year contracts expire August 31, 2015. Discussions start a few months before and serious bargaining begins about a month before contract expiration, said USW Communications Director Wayne Ranick. Contract negotiations are frequently contentious battles as evidenced […]
ArcelorMittal is preparing to idle the No 3 blast furnace at Indiana Harbor for scheduled stove repair on March 16. The steel making outage is expected to last until late second quarter 2015. A statement received from ArcelorMittal read as follows: “ArcelorMittal Indiana Harbor will move forward with a previously scheduled maintenance outage to conduct […]
The domestic steel mills are resorting to adjustments in supply as a weapon against the chronic short lead times which are helping to push flat rolled steel prices lower and lower. The heavy lifting is being done by the integrated steel mills, especially by U.S. Steel which has taken three blast furnaces down over the […]