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 […]
Written by Sandy Williams Essar Steel Minnesota LLC announced it will supply 3.5 million metric tonnes of standard and fluxed iron ore pellets annually to ArcelorMittal North American operations. The agreement is for a ten year period and will commence during the second half of Essar’s fiscal year ending March 31, 2014. Essar Steel Minnesota, […]
Written by: Sandy Williams A blast at the Vorkutinskaya coal mine, owned by Russian steelmaker Severstal, killed 18 people on Monday and left nine missing. There were 259 men in the mine when a methane build-up ignited. Most of the miners were able to escape on their own while others were rescued from the site. […]
In one corner we have ArcelorMittal scratching and clawing and trying to hold on to at least a portion of their price increase. One week ago they were trying to collect $650. As the week progressed the number slipped a bit. This week…well, it slipped some more. In the other corner we have a group […]
Written by: John Packard “The key to the steel industry is you have to put steel in the hands of people who want to make money with it.” Quote attributed to Service Center Executive. Earlier this week Steel Market Update (SMU) wrote an article about the break-down of the pricing cycle as service centers were […]
“’Europe’s steel mills face obsolescence and steelmakers may quit the region if politicians continue to prevent restructuring and capacity cuts in the sector’ said Wolfgang Eder, the chief executive of Austrian specialty steelmaker Voestalpine and president of the European Steel Association, or Eurofer.” (Wall Street Journal) Eder’s comment comes on the heels of the announcement […]
Written by: Sandy Williams ArcelorMittal closed a difficult year with a net loss of $3.73 billion for 2012. The loss included a $4.3 million write-down on its European assets and a $1.3 billion loss from idled and closed plants during restructuring. In comparison, net income was $2.3 billion in 2011. “2012 was a very difficult […]
Written by: Andre Marshall, Crunchrisk LLC Financial Markets: Big news today was that the Euro cratered on the back of Draghi’s comments about the Euro from, in USD terms, $1.357 to $1.34. Unless, of course, you think that ArcelorMittal losing $3.99 billion in the Quarter was bigger news. Ouch! I don’t think any of us are […]
One week ago, ArcelorMittal circulated their price increase announcement and in their internal memo the company raised the issue of, “The market manipulation and discounting of the CRU has had a dampening effect on industry spot prices.” AM then went on to raise prices by $45 per ton but did so by taking the benchmark […]
Written by: Sandy Williams ArcelorMittal is permanently closing six finishing lines and a coke plant at its Liege facility in Belgium. A seventh line will be maintained only as a repairing line. The company announced in October 2011 that it would permanently idle its liquid phase at Liege due to over-capacity in Northern Europe. Liege […]
The issue of excessive discounting against CRU and other index-based issues raised by ArcelorMittal in their price increase announcement are ones which Steel Market Update has been researching and which we began raising in our last steel market survey. During conversations with service centers, steel mills and end users we were catching frustrations with the […]
ArcelorMittal raised flat rolled spot prices on Wednesday and in the process took a shot at the rest of the industry (and perhaps themselves?) when they identified, “The market manipulation and discounting of the CRU has had a dampening effect on industry spot prices.” They then used the most recent index benchmark plus $45 to […]
As Steel Market Update (SMU) checked with various market sources after the AK Steel price announcement we found most of the industry expecting the other domestic steel mills to follow the AK Steel pricing lead. At the same time, most buyers expect the net result to be an end to the current slide in pricing […]
Written by: Sandy Williams ArcelorMittal Lázaro Cárdenas, Mexico recently launched production of specialized slabs for use in pipelines that transport sour gas. Lázaro Cárdenas is known as a leading producer of high quality, value added steel. In order to increase its share of the growing market for API (American Petroleum Institute) pipes, best technological practices […]
SMU has been asked about the status of the negotiations regarding the sale of the ThyssenKrupp Steel Americas assets. This includes ThyssenKrupp Steel USA and their sister facility in Brazil which produces slabs – CSA. We understand the due diligence process continues and a number of mills have been through both facilities. Based on SMU […]
Written by: Sandy Williams ArcelorMittal announced Wednesday that it will offer common stock and mandatorily convertible subordinated notes (MCNs) for an expected amount of $3.5 billion in an effort to reduce indebtedness. The company expects the sale of stock and notes, along with other initiatives, to enable ArcelorMittal to reduce its current debt to $17 […]
Written by: Sandy Williams ArcelorMittal will sell a 15 percent interest in ArcelorMittal Mines Canada to a consortium led by POSCO and China Steel Corporation for $1.1 billion. The deal will be completed over the first and second quarters of 2013. “We are committed to growing ArcelorMittal’s mining business,” said Peter Kukielski, Chief Executive of […]