U.S. Steel anticipates an EBITDA loss of $25 million in the fourth quarter of 2019, which excludes about $225 million in estimated restructuring and other charges. Fourth-quarter results were negatively impacted by lower steel selling prices in the third quarter and in October, which impacted about 60 percent of shipments, said U.S. Steel in its […]
U.S. Steel announced today that it intends to “indefinitely idle” a significant portion of its Great Lakes Works operation near Detroit. The decision was made to better align the company with its three core flat rolled operations and advance its “best of both strategy” as an integrated and EAF company. U.S. Steel expects to begin idling […]
U.S. Steel announced today that it intends to “indefinitely idle” a significant portion of its Great Lakes Works operation near Detroit. The decision was made to better align the company with its three core flat rolled operations and advance its “best of both strategy” as an integrated and EAF company. U.S. Steel expects to begin idling […]
U.S. Steel tonight announced their intention of focusing their company on three core assets: Gary Works, Mon Valley Works and Big River Steel. This comment was made at the same time they announced their intention to idle a large portion of their Great Lakes Works near Detroit. WARN notices have been sent to the 1,500+ […]
Service has been restored to the largest of the blast furnaces, and a second furnace will be back online shortly, following a water pipe break Nov. 27 that forced U.S. Steel to shut down all three operating furnaces at its Gary Works mill. In an update on Monday, a spokesperson said the third furnace is […]
The following article is written by John Packard, President & CEO, Steel Market Update On Sunday, SMU published in my Final Thoughts the following: “There has also been discussion about U.S. Steel in the marketplace as to whether the mill has decided to concentrate on auto, appliance, energy and electrical markets and perhaps move away […]
The domestic steel mills were busy on Friday with SSAB USA announcing a $40 per ton price increase on steel plate, and then U.S. Steel coming out with a $30 per ton price increase on flat rolled. The SSAB increase was the second on plate this month. Flat rolled has seen three price increase announcements […]
The domestic steel mills were busy on Friday with SSAB USA announcing a $40 per ton price increase on steel plate, and then U.S. Steel coming out with a $30 per ton price increase on flat rolled. The SSAB increase was the second on plate this month. Flat rolled has seen three price increase announcements […]
The mills may have announced two increases in flat rolled steel prices in the past month, but you couldn’t tell from comments by members of the Heating, Air Conditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International. The distributors of galvanized steel to the HVAC sector report little impact on prices so far, though demand remains healthy despite some […]
U.S. Steel announced on Wednesday a new target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions intensity. As part of its “best of both” strategy, U.S. Steel said it will reduce its global greenhouse gas emissions intensity 20 percent by 2030, based on 2018 baseline levels. Emissions intensity is measured by the rate of carbon dioxide equivalents emitted […]
Flack Global Metals says it will move forward on plans to build a new coil coating and downstream processing facility adjacent to Big River Steel in Osceola, Ark. The new facility will cost approximately $150 million and create more than 150 new jobs. This investment, if completed, will add production capability to the Big River […]
U.S. Steel initiated layoffs for some of its non-union staff on Friday, citing challenging market conditions requiring a leaner and more efficient organization. The layoffs are related to restructuring plans that were announced in early October. “While market headwinds persist, we continue to focus on what we can control, including re-scoping our asset revitalization investments […]
Big River Steel announced it will be the long-term provider of high-quality steel products to Array Technologies, an industry-leading solar tracking manufacturer. Array was committed to finding a source of steel products that would allow the company to maintain its commitment to providing reliable renewable energy not only in their product design but also through […]
United States Steel Corp. reported a net loss of $84 million in the third quarter due to declining steel prices and weaker market conditions—down sharply compared with third-quarter 2018 yet better than analysts’ expectations. The steelmaker earned $291 million in last year’s third-quarter. “The team delivered better than expected results from solid cost performance and […]
By CRU Senior Analysts Ryan McKinley (USA), Ryan Smith (Australia) and Erik Hedborg (UK) Part three of our three-part series: What’s next for U.S. iron ore production? In parts one and two of our series, we examined the U.S. iron ore industry and reviewed recent market developments. We also explored the dependency of U.S. iron […]
U.S. Steel announced that it has completed $1.1 billion of financing activity that will support its previously announced growth projects. “The closing of these financing activities marks another successful step in the execution of our ‘best of both’ strategy,” said President and CEO David B. Burritt. “I am thankful for the strong support from our […]
By John Packard, President & CEO, Steel Market Update On Monday, I spoke to the North American Steel Alliance (NASA) in Chicago. My comments centered on a wide variety of proprietary indices Steel Market Update produces–our flat rolled and plate indices, SMU Sentiment Index, SMU Service Center Inventories and Shipments data, Mill Lead Times and […]
Steel price volatility was persistent in 2019, said CRU Principal Analyst Josh Spoores at the FMA/ASD Executive Networking Series held in Pittsburgh last week. U.S. economic growth was below the historical trend throughout 2019, but has improved since April, according to the Chicago Fed National Activity Index. Activity in two key steel sectors, fabricated metal products and […]
By John Packard, President & CEO, Steel Market Update The Steel Market Update Steel Buyers Sentiment Index has been a mirror of the comments made by buyers of flat rolled and plate steel over the past few days. Our Sentiment Index, which measures how buyers and sellers of steel feel about their company’s ability to […]
Even after selling nearly half the company to U.S. Steel, Big River Steel intends to move ahead with its plans for a new EAF mill in Brownville, Texas, according to comments from CEO Dave Stickler to S&P Global Platts. Stickler said that a development company has been formed called Brownsville Investment Group LLC to handle […]
U.S. Steel unrolled a new operating model on Tuesday that is expected to deliver $200 million of annual fixed cost savings by 2022. The new model includes a realignment of the company’s leadership team. The changes will be effective Jan. 1, 2020, and closely follow the recently announced investment in Big River Steel. “Our enhanced […]
With U.S. Steel buying almost 50 percent of Big River Steel and holding an option on the remainder over the next four years, SMU thought it an appropriate time to review the list of announced changes being made by the mills in the United States, Canada and Mexico. We reviewed this listing with the four […]
By CRU Principal Analyst Josh Spoores and Analyst Ryan Smith U.S. Steel has announced a 49.9 percent stock acquisition with an option to acquire the remaining 51.1 percent within the next four years, in smaller rival U.S. flat products new entrant Big River Steel. In its announcement, U.S. Steel labelled this acquisition, alongside its investment […]
Our last issue sparked our readers to comment on a couple of topics. We addressed the Bayou Steel comments in another article in tonight’s issue. I will address the comments I received from U.S. Steel regarding their purchase of a portion of Big River Steel and the exposure to electrical steels (something I have never […]
U.S. Steel announced today it will acquire a 49.9 percent ownership interest in Big River Steel at a purchase price of $700 million with the intent to acquire the remaining shares within the next four years. U.S. Steel has committed financing to execute the transaction. The implied enterprise value of Big River is approximately $2.325 […]
The news today that U.S. Steel plans to purchase a 49.9 percent interest in Big River Steel, with an option to buy the rest within the next four years, surprised the market. But most of the steel buyers polled by Steel Market Update view the pairing of one of the nation’s oldest integrated producers with […]
U.S. Steel announced today a joint venture partnership agreement under which it has taken the first step towards acquiring Big River Steel through the purchase of a 49.9 percent ownership interest at a purchase price of approximately $700 million in cash, with a call option to acquire the remaining 50.1 percent within the next four years. […]
U.S. Steel did what many analysts thought was impossible – they announced they are acquiring a 49.9 percent interest in Big River Steel. I wrote about this last week as a possibility and mentioned some of the reasons at that time why this deal might happen. According to Big River Steel’s announcement, the $700 million […]
For those of you who are not aware, my Final Thoughts is an area where I will sometimes provide my opinion or view of the marketplace. Understand that these are my comments and are not coming from any steel mills, service centers, trading companies or the financial community. You can take them or leave them; […]
Do plans by U.S. mills to add millions of tons of new steelmaking capacity over the next few years make a price-killing supply glut inevitable? That’s a question very much open to debate, as shown by the spirited exchange between three leading analysts during Steel Market Update’s Steel Summit Aug. 28 in Atlanta. Despite some […]