Flat Rolled = 47.6 Shipping Days of Supply Plate = 44 Shipping Days of Supply Flat Rolled U.S. service center flat rolled inventories increased again in June, though service centers continue to report that they are unable to meet customer demand. At the end of June, service centers carried 47.6 shipping days of supply, up from the […]
Steel Market Update reported our service center inventories and shipment data to our data providers today. Our Premium level members will get the report at 1 p.m. ET tomorrow. I can whet your appetite by telling you that flat rolled inventories on a days of supply basis rose slightly, but are not yet at what […]
I’ve heard more than a few times now that we should keep a close eye out for falling steel prices because, “Look what happened in lumber.” In case you’ve been under a rock (or tree), lumber prices fell more than 40% in June, their biggest monthly drop on record, according to CNBC and others. What […]
One of two United Steelworkers (USW) locals at Algoma Steel is opposed to the Ontario mill’s proposed switch from integrated steelmaking to electric arc furnace (EAF) production. USW Local 2251 President Mike DaPrat went so far as to boycott an event at the mill – attended by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau – to announce government-funding […]
Cleveland-Cliffs has launched a cash-incentive program across all its facilities to encourage employees to get their COVID-19 vaccines. “The program works per site. The company will pay all vaccinated employees a cash bonus based upon the level of vaccination achieved by that site,” a Cliffs spokeswoman said. If 85% of workers at a given mine, mill or […]
There will be no Steel Market Update published on Sunday, July 4th, due to the national holiday (USA). We will resume coverage on Tuesday, July 6th. We wish everyone a safe holiday filled with family and friends (at least for those who have been vaccinated). Interesting comments received earlier this week from a steel executive whom I […]
Interesting comments received earlier this week from a steel executive whom I know well, and I respect his opinions. The topic of the day was one that I know drives the steel mills crazy – steel analysts’ price projections. Many of the analysts are calling for prices to peak within the next 60 days (in […]
Though he admits it was not the original plan, Cleveland-Cliffs Chairman, President and CEO Lourenco Goncalves said Wednesday at AISTech that his company no longer intends to produce merchant pig iron for sale to competitors, as has been widely speculated. In the past two years, Cleveland-Cliffs has purchased AK Steel and ArcelorMittal USA, making it the largest […]
U.S. Steel is studying the possibilities for deploying carbon capture and storage (CCS) as well as hydrogen-based production as part of its efforts to decarbonize. The Pittsburgh-based steelmaker is doing so via a non-exclusive memorandum of understanding with a U.S. subsidiary of Norwegian energy company Equinor ASA. The effort will be centered in the Mon Valley […]
The dilemma is global warming, CO2 is just the proxy, Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. President and CEO Lourenco Goncalves said during the opening keynote speech at CRU’s Steel Decarbonization Strategies 2021 Virtual Conference. Cliffs’ top executive took a strong stance during his talk—which opened the first major event devoted exclusively to the topic of decarbonization in the […]
The dilemma is global warming, CO2 is just the proxy, Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. President and CEO Lourenco Goncalves said during the opening keynote speech at CRU’s Steel Decarbonization Strategies 2021 Virtual Conference. Cliffs’ top executive took a strong stance during his talk—which opened the first major event devoted exclusively to the topic of decarbonization in the […]
Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. plans to take a 45-day maintenance outage at the big No. 7 blast furnace at its Indiana Harbor steel works in East Chicago, Ind., a company spokeswoman said. The planned outage, for a partial reline of the furnace, is scheduled to start on Sept. 1, she said. The No. 7 furnace has capacity […]
As it turns out, the slight downturn seen in steel mill lead times last month was not the beginning of a trend change. Lead times for all products but plate have inched higher in the last two weeks, indicating no relief yet from the tight supplies that continue to push steel prices higher. According to […]
The Ashland Works steel mill is coming down after operating for the better part of 100 years on the Ohio River. Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. confirms that it will demolish the idled Kentucky mill that it acquired from AK Steel in 2019. Although there were initial discussions about restarting the mill to produce pig iron, ultimately the […]
2021 SMU Steel Summit Conference Revised Agenda as of June 20, 2021 There are 55 days before the start to the 2021 SMU Steel Summit Conference. We should have close to 300 companies and 800+ executives attending this year based on where we are today. The conference agenda is close to its final shape. There […]
2021 SMU Steel Summit Conference Revised Agenda as of June 20, 2021 There are 55 days before the start to the 2021 SMU Steel Summit Conference. We should have close to 300 companies and 800+ executives attending this year based on where we are today. The conference agenda is close to its final shape. There […]
Cleveland-Cliffs increased its second-quarter and full-year 2021 guidance in an announcement on Tuesday. Second-quarter adjusted EBITDA is projected at $1.3 billion and full-year 2021 at $5 billion. The increase is based on current contracts and assumes that the U.S. HRC price index will average $1,176 per net ton for the remainder of the year. The […]
SMU’s Community Chat webinar with Bank of America metals and mining analyst Timna Tanners last week was our second-best attended ever. Barry Zekelman, executive chairman and CEO of Zekelman Industries, still holds the title. But Tanners gave him a run for his money. We received more questions during the webinar than we were able to […]
I asked a good friend of mine after he was appointed to as the deputy head of a cabinet department what a typical day was like for him. “It’s drinking water from a fire hose. Things come at you so fast you can’t get out of the way,” he said. As an observer and occasional […]
I asked a good friend of mine after he was appointed to as the deputy head of a cabinet department what a typical day was like for him. “It’s drinking water from a fire hose. Things come at you so fast you can’t get out of the way,” he said. As an observer and occasional […]
I thought it would be an interesting exercise to take a look at benchmark hot rolled pricing over the past 12 months. I thought I would compare the numbers on a month-over-month basis to give everyone an idea of how steep the price increases have been. At the same time, we can think about the […]
I thought it would be an interesting exercise to take a look at benchmark hot rolled pricing over the past 12 months. I thought I would compare the numbers on a month-over-month basis to give everyone an idea of how steep the price increases have been. At the same time, we can think about the […]
Steelmaker Cleveland-Cliffs marked sixth months of continued operation and production of hot-briquetted iron (HBI) at its direct reduction plant in Toledo, Ohio, with a ribbon-cutting celebration. In attendance for the June 9 on-site event hosted by Cliffs’ Chairman, President and CEO Lourenco Goncalves were Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D, Ohio), and Toledo […]
JSW Steel (USA) and JSW Ohio are accusing Nucor, U.S. Steel and Cleveland Cliffs of conspiring to boycott and deny critical semi-finished steel slab to the company. A lawsuit filed on June 8 alleges that the three steel giants have formed a cartel that has cost JSW millions of dollars in lost profit. According to […]
The 2021 SMU Steel Summit Conference will be the first major steel conference to be held in person since the pandemic shut down all events across the world. Our conference will begin at 9 a.m. ET with our Pre-Summit Programs on Monday, Aug. 23. The official opening of the conference will be at 1 p.m. ET […]
ArcelorMittal Mexico plans to start up its new hot strip mill in Lázaro Cárdenas in Mexico’s Michoacán state in the fourth quarter of this year, a company spokeswoman said. The hot strip mill cost $1 billion and is expected to have annual capacity of 2.75 million tons per year (tpy), according to an ArcelorMittal press […]
Cleveland-Cliffs is ramping up the No. 5 blast furnace at its steel mill in Cleveland, Ohio, after a minor incident earlier in the week, according to market participants. A blowout on a tuyere resulted in limited damage, including melted wiring, and led to the furnace being down for several days, a source familiar with the […]
The thought is we could well see a pull-back of the Section 232 tariffs by the end of the year. Steel industry executives seem to be leaning in that direction (even though they are lobbying to keep the 232 tariffs) and talking about what is next for the industry. The topic most likely to be […]
Much attention has been paid to how much new electric-arc furnace (EAF) flat-rolled steel capacity is being added to the North American market. Less has been written about how many tons of integrated steelmaking capacity have been taken out. An analysis by Steel Market Update indicates that the latter figure is perhaps equally significant. It […]
Much attention has been paid to how much new electric-arc furnace (EAF) flat-rolled steel capacity is being added to the North American market. Less has been written about how many tons of integrated steelmaking capacity have been taken out. An analysis by Steel Market Update indicates that the latter figure is perhaps equally significant. It […]