Each month the Bureau of Labor Statistics puts out its series of producer price indexes, for thousands of goods and materials. The latest release on Friday reported August results. These statistics are a useful way to evaluate any changes in the competitive position of steel against competing materials. For the purpose of this report, Steel […]
A new generation of solar panels has been developed by ArcelorMittal. Instead of using glass plate, a thin semi-conductor coating is layered directly on steel substrate to produce electricity via solar radiation. The photovoltaic technology using steel is more environmentally friendly process than solar modules using glass panels, said ArcelorMittal. The new technology will allow […]
SunCoke Energy has signed an agreement to supply metallurgical coke to ArcelorMittal for another ten years. SunCoke’s Indiana Harbor cokemaking operation, located in East Chicago, Indiana, will provide more than 1.2 million tons of coke in an extension of an existing contract with ArcelorMittal that includes pass-through of coal costs and certain operating and maintenance […]
Earlier this year a number of mills announced that they would no longer accept CRU minus based steel contracts. Since at the time most flat rolled steel contracts were negotiated to go through the end of the calendar year we did not see how the mills were going to approach the subject until just recently. […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) has been advised that ArcelorMittal USA is attempting to raise Tinplate prices by 12 percent for calendar year 2014. Tinplate, which is used to make cans and other product packing devices, is commonly sold on an annualized contract basis to a fairly limited number of buyers. Last week we received an […]
Final Scrap Pricing Settlement Numbers Still in Negotiation Scrap prices continued their weakening trend – especially on shredded with cut grades such as #1 HMS and prime grades such as #1 busheling are moving sideways to down $10 depending on the geographical location and the status of the mills in each area. We heard from […]
The key factor holding prices firm was the continuation of supply issues at the domestic steel mills. During the month we had ArcelorMittal Indiana Harbor lose their #3 blast furnace for a week. The furnace is back online as of the end of the month. We also had U.S. Steel performing maintenance on a furnace […]
HARDI held their monthly steel conference call earlier today. The purpose of the call is to keep the HVAC wholesalers who sell galvanized sheet and coil in touch with market conditions and trends which could impact their businesses. The consensus of opinion, based on the comments made during the conference call, is prices remain stable […]
We are picking up a very mixed bag over the past two days regarding spot flat rolled pricing. As we go through the process we ask ourselves is the spot pricing market glass half full (meaning prices will go higher from here) or half empty (meaning prices will move lower). We don’t have a clear […]
ArcelorMittal Cleveland will take down their C-6 blast furnace according to a company spokesperson who communicated with Steel Market Update this afternoon. The blast furnace is scheduled to go down on September 5 and is scheduled to be down approximately ten weeks, according to the company. The company is conducting a partial reline of the […]
On Friday, August 23rd, Steel Market Update adjusted our SMU Price Momentum Indicator from “Higher” to “Neutral.” This change is meant to be an indicator of the direction we expect flat rolled steel prices to move over the next 30 days. Prior to Friday our Indicator was set at Higher for 10.5 weeks going back […]
The erosion of the rupee brought the currency to a new record low on Monday at 62.76 to the U.S. dollar. A growing deficit at 4.8 percent of the GDP is blamed for the currency weakness in India that some say may be the country’s worst financial crisis in decades. The Royal Bank of […]
Written by: John Packard With other periodicals calling a top or “peak” to the market the pressure has been put on Steel Market Update to clear up the muddied waters. From our perspective, the peak is usually identified when one of the domestic mills breaks ranks and starts cutting deals at numbers less than what […]
Written by: John Packard ThyssenKrupp AG continues to be in heavy negotiations with the lead bidder (believed to be CSN out of Brazil) regarding the sale of the Steel Americas assets. The assets in question consist of both the Calvert, Alabama operation as well as the CSA slab mill which is located in Brazil. In […]
With other periodicals calling a top or “peak” to flat rolled prices, the pressure has been put on Steel Market Update to clear up the muddied waters. From our perspective, the peak is usually identified when one of the domestic steel mills breaks ranks and starts cutting deals at numbers less than what they were […]
As I mentioned above in the first article I am getting pressure to adjust our Price Momentum from Higher to Neutral.I am not willing to do that – yet – and the main reason is we are in a supply driven pricing cycle and the supply issues have not yet been fully resolved.Does this mean […]
SMU doesn’t normally publish obituaries. I found the one about Berthod Beitz former Chairman of Krupp Steel especially touching and important to acknowledge. For the younger generation the idea of death camps and the world at war must be quite foreign. Even those of us born after World War II have only faded memories of […]
House Subcommittee Presentations The American Iron and Steel Institute made its presence known last week on Capitol Hill. Top steel executives encouraged members of the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade to remedy government policies on tax, energy, infrastructure, environment and trade to strengthen American jobs in steel and other manufacturing […]
On a personal note I want to wish Joel Mazur much success in his new position as President of CENTRIA. For those of you who do not know this, Joel Mazur was president of Winner Steel while I was still an agent for the steel mill (Winner Steel is now called Sharon Coatings and is […]
According to SMU sources combined with an article written by Jose Manuel Saavedra & Ivo Ribeiro we have discovered that CSN has not yet made a firm proposal on the assets of ThyssenKrupp Steel Americas steel mills. The Brazilian article reported that CSN is requesting an extension of time in order to conclude their negotiations […]
Written by: Sandy Williams ArcelorMittal outlined a new management savings target of $3 billion by the end of 2015 by improving the reliability, productivity and energy efficiency of its blast furnaces and mills and shifting to low-cost U.S. gas. The company has already streamlined a number of assets though an aggressive restructuring plan in the […]
In our last issue of Steel Market Update we published an article regarding the latest round of price increases and how those responding to this week’s steel survey felt regarding the potential success of this increase versus the one announced six weeks earlier. Our survey was finding 60 percent of those responding to the survey […]
Last week the domestic steel mills made their statement by raising prices on flat rolled steel. Led by U.S. Steel most mills followed their lead and pushed prices by $50 per ton. Two mills – Severstal and ArcelorMittal – put base prices to their announcements with hot rolled being referenced as starting at a “minimum” […]
Written by: John Packard I have been involved in the flat rolled steel industry since 1977. I cannot recall another time during those 36 years in the business when the domestic steel mills have announced two significant price increases within six weeks of one another – with the target minimum base price being exactly the […]
Steel buyers are scratching their heads while steel mills begin to line up announcing identical $50 per ton price increases on all flat rolled products. AK Steel was the first to follow U.S. Steel when they put out a press release advising their customers of their intention to raise spot prices by a minimum of […]
Question is can TK get two or more mills in a bidding war? Our sources advise SMU that the binding bids for the ThyssenKrupp Americas plants (Calvert, Alabama and CSA in Brazil) – the ones which truly count – are to be submitted by the end of this week. There are a number of prospective […]
I was watching the daily results from our SMU steel survey which began on Monday of this week. I found it curious those working on Monday (a holiday to some, but not all in the U.S.) were much more negative than those who responded to our survey as the week progressed. Our SMU Steel Buyers […]
Steel Market Update received the following information from an ArcelorMittal spokesperson this evening: On February 19, 2013, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) posted a Notice of Allowance of a re-issue of ArcelorMittal pioneer patent US 6 296 805 on aluminum pre-coated steel product for hot stamping, worldwide known as Usibor®, confirming its […]
An ArcelorMittal spokesperson confirmed to Steel Market Update earlier today that their Cleveland facility had a fatality on Saturday afternoon. Local press reports are reporting the fatality occurred when the 50 year old man fell off a railroad car and into the path of an oncoming train. The company provided the following information regarding the […]
Written by: John Packard & Sandy Williams “Clear preference for cash” ThyssenKrupp AG officials declined to talk about the Steel Americas sale during their 1st Quarter 2013 earnings conference call, but CFO Guido Kerkhoff said he can say that the company has a “clear preference for cash” and that the bidders understand that message. The […]