Bidding has closed for Serbian steel mill Zelezara Smederevo with a decision due around February 1. Esmark Steel Group is considered the leading contender out of the 10 bids submitted to the Serbian government. The eventual buyer of the mill will be obligated to ramp up production of Zelezara’s second blast furnace to fifty percent capacity […]
The European Steel Association (Eurofer) called for tougher anti-dumping and anti-subsidy regulations to level the international trade playing field for the EU. In a statement on Tuesday, Eurofer cites the growing absorption of EU steel demand by foreign imports. Although EU steel demand has grown only moderately in 2014, steel imports rose by 22 percent […]
Members of USW Local 1865 have ratified a new contract at AK Steel. The 42-month labor agreement covers more than 800 hourly and maintenance employees at Ashland, Kentucky Works. The new contract will take effect on March 1, 2015 and expire Sept. 1, 2018. “We are pleased that members of Local 1865 have ratified a […]
ArcelorMittal has idled the Indiana Harbor West No. 2 galvanizing line and plans to shut down the electric arc furnace at Indiana Harbor Long Carbon. Employees were told that the No 1 aluminizing line at ArcelorMittal Indiana Harbor West is also under consideration for shutdown as the company shifts production to AM/NS Calvert in Alabama. […]
Part of my talk at the 2014 HARDI conference was regarding galvanized imports which reached 325,000 net tons in October and appear will be approximately 300,000 tons when the November Census Data numbers are released later this month. To put this into perspective, at this point last year the U.S. received 150,000 net tons and […]
It has now been five weeks (October 28th) since AK Steel became the first domestic steel mill to announce a price increase on flat rolled steel. The relatively modest $20 per ton move was, in many steel buyers’ opinions, meant to stem the decline in steel prices. At that point in time benchmark hot rolled […]
With the exception of Platts, all of the other flat rolled steel indexes reported benchmark hot rolled pricing as being down $5-$9 per ton this past week. Our average also declined by $5 per ton and now sits at $637 per ton. With at least one mill offering spot hot rolled at, or below, $600 […]
ArcelorMittal and Italian steel processor Marcegaglia have submitted a non-binding, 30-day deadline offer for troubled Italian steel plant Ilva. Ilva, a privately owned company by Riva Steel, has been under special administration since last year after a court order temporarily shut down a portion of the plant for environmental violations. Toxic factory emissions were found […]
Last year at this time hot rolled steel prices averaged $670 per ton and were close to the peak for the year which was $680 per ton (SMU index HRC average). Lead times peaked the first week in December on all flat rolled with the exception of Galvalume. From mid-December 2013 until the middle of […]
On October 28, 2014 AK Steel announced a $20 per ton ($1.00/cwt) price increase on hot rolled, cold rolled and galvanized steels. Shortly after, ArcelorMittal and then Nucor advised their customers of specific base price levels on new spot flat rolled orders. Hot rolled was to be offered at $33.00/cwt ($660 per ton or higher) […]
Earlier today Steel Market Update participated in the HARDI steel group conference call which resulted in more questions than answers being raised due to the uncertainty in the galvanized steel markets. The call began with a recap of the price announcements which were made by the domestic mills when AK Steel began the process on […]
The Wyoming Business Council and JR Simplot Company are hoping to revive a shuttered iron ore mine and build a $500 million iron ore concentrator and pig iron production facility in central Wyoming. The plant would produce cast pigs with a carbon content of 3.5 percent made from low grade taconite ore with an iron […]
ArcelorMittal reported $20 billion in sales for third quarter on 21.5 million tonnes (23.7 million tons) of steel shipments. Net income for the quarter was $22 million, compared to $52 million in Q2 2014 and a net loss of $193 million in Q3 2013. Total crude steel production for the company was 23.9 million tonnes […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) conducted our early November flat rolled steel market survey this week. We invited approximately 600 companies to participate in the process. Of those participating 44 percent were manufacturing companies and 44 percent were steel service centers. The balance of the respondents was comprised of 6 percent trading companies, 5 percent steel […]
Nucor followed up their verbal price increase of $20 per ton last week with specific base prices yesterday (Wednesday, November 5, 2014). In a letter from the Nucor Sheet Mill Group, the mill advised their customers that their minimum base price levels on spot flat rolled are now: $33.00/cwt ($660 per ton) and $39.00/cwt ($780 […]
AK Steel, US Steel, Nucor (verbal) and ArcelorMittal all made spot price adjustments this past week. A number of the smaller mills are holding back or have lead times out into 2015 and their order books are closed. Steel Market Update Price Momentum Indicator continues to point toward Neutral meaning prices could be in transition […]
ArcelorMittal defined the flat rolled steel price increases announced earlier last week. In their announcement AM USA management did not announce a $20 per ton increase but rather specific minimum base prices for their sales people. In the process, AM has also made a statement as to where they feel base prices on flat rolled […]
ArcelorMittal announced today the formation of a flat-rolled segment in North America as well as a shake-up in leadership to enhance performance in its North American operations. The North American segment represents one fourth of the company’s steel shipments and profits. The reorganization is expected to improve North American operations and accelerate the successful integration […]
Esmark Inc has confirmed its interest in acquiring all the assets of Serbian government-owned steel facility Zelezara Smederevo, a producer of steel, hot-rolled and cold-rolled products, and tin plate-coated products serving customers in Central Europe. Esmark Inc. has formed Esmark Europe to lead mill operations, finance, and commercial sales if the bid is successful. During a […]
After the recent sell off of HRC futures, it appears the market has reached a critical support level with Cal 15 trading at $620. Near months aren’t much higher with Nov14 trading around $623 and Dec14 at $621. The selloff came as concerns over the global economy came to light in recent weeks. The International […]
SMU was reading a blog post put up by Metal Miner this morning regarding the consolidation of the steel industry. The main premise of the guest article from James May of Steel-Insight out of Canada, was 81 percent of the hot rolled production in the United States and Canada is controlled by four companies: ArcelorMittal, […]
Ferrous scrap prices for shipment to the domestic steel mills around the country have been dropping since the negotiations began at the beginning of the month. For most geographical areas scrap prices have declined $15-$20 per gross ton compared to where they were at this point in time last month. Our Chicago area sources are […]
Italian mill, Ilva Steel Italy expects bids from Indian steel producer JSW and a joint venture of ArcelorMittal and Italian steel processor Marcegaglia sometime within the next few days. ILVA owner Riva Steel shut down all of its plants except the Taranto-based Ilva in September 2013 after more than 1 billion euros ($1.25 billion) of […]
Steel Market Update spent the last two days canvassing end users and service centers to see where flat rolled steel prices are at the moment and where they might be heading from here. We heard from many service centers and end users that business conditions and demand for their products are doing quite well. We […]
From the years 1997 through 2007 Steel Market Update’s founder and publisher, John Packard, was representing Winner Steel, a domestic conversion mill operating out of Sharon, Pennsylvania and now part of the NLMK USA group. He shares some of his old notes on galvanized pricing which ultimately lead to the beginnings of Steel Market Update […]
On Wednesday, Steel Market Update (SMU) participated in a monthly steel conference call hosted by the Heating, Air-conditioning , Refrigeration Distributors International (HARDI). HARDI wholesalers supply galvanized sheet and coils to the mechanical contractors involved in residential, multi-family and commercial construction segments of the construction industry. Consolidation was the first topic of discussion with AK Steel […]
Creditors of US Steel Canada are wondering how they are going to recover the money owed to them by the steel company. The Hamilton Spectator reports that US Steel Canada owes more than $94 million to contractors and suppliers, 190 of which are in the Hamilton area. The CCAA process prevents creditors from suing USS […]
Allegheny Technologies, Inc. (ATI) is considering US Steel as a potential partner for a joint venture on its new hot-rolling and processing facility in Brackenridge, Pa., according to equity research firm Cowen and Co. ATI, a diversified specialty materials and components producer, is working with two steel mills to secure the joint venture, according to […]
For those who are keeping track I will be in Arkansas tomorrow for the Big River Steel groundbreaking. It will be interesting to see for myself what all the fuss is about… More about the groundbreaking (and maybe some of the fuss) in Tuesday evening’s issue of SMU. We have also been working on a […]
The following press release was made earlier today regarding two investments which are being made in the AM/NS Calvert steel mill (former ThyssenKrupp Steel USA Calvert mill). The two investments will assist in bringing the mill up to its 5.3 million metric ton (5.8 million net tons) target for production. The release (below) came from […]