North Star BlueScope officially celebrated its expansion project and the commissioning of its new EAF meltshop this week in Delta, Ohio. The project, which will add 850,000 metric tons (roughly 937,000 short tons) of annual hot rolled sheet capacity once complete, was originally announced in August 2019. It was delayed slightly when, in April 2020, BlueScope said it would reschedule […]
AZZ Inc. completed the purchase of Precoat Metals from its parent, Sequa Corp., for approximately $1.28 billion. The deal continues the Fort Worth, Texas-based company’s buying spree in the coated metals space. “Today we welcome the 1,100 employees of Precoat to the AZZ family and begin the work of swiftly integrating Precoat into AZZ while leveraging […]
Steel prices have peaked and are trending downward – and fast, according to the latest SMU survey results and comments from market participants. The consensus: the war in Ukraine reset the steel market to roughly where it was on Jan. 1. And now the market is trending downward at least as fast as it was in January […]
Sheet prices fell hard this week after bouncing around between about $1,440-1,480 per ton ($72-74 per cwt) for much of April. Our average hot-rolled coil price dropped to $1,365 per ton this week, down $75 per ton (5.2%) from $1,440 per ton a week ago and down $115 per ton (7.8%) from $1,480 per ton […]
Nucor has been granted final approval for a construction permit, clearing the way for the building of its $2.7 billion, three million tons per year sheet mill in Mason County, W.Va. The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection’s Division of Air Quality issued the air permit to Nucor on May 5, noting that “all available […]
Construction employment edged up by just 2,000 jobs in April because contractors scrambled to find workers in an increasingly tight labor market, the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) reported. “The pause in employment gains last month most likely signifies a shortage of qualified workers rather than any slowdown in demand for projects,” AGC chief economist […]
The US labor market expanded at a rapid pace in April, adding 428,000 new jobs, matching the downwardly revised 428,000 increase in March. The result kept the unemployment rate unchanged month-on-month (MoM) at the pandemic-era low of 3.6%, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. Payroll gains were better than economists had expected amid an increasingly […]
US construction spending in March totaled $1.730 trillion at a seasonally adjusted annual rate, just 0.1% above February’s total. Investment in construction cooled because increased spending on residential projects was offset by a decline in nonresidential investment, the Commerce Department reported. Construction spending in March missed expectations, down from a 0.5% gain in February and behind […]
The Dodge Momentum Index moved 6% higher in April, rebounding following lower revised reading for the month prior, according to data and analytics from the Dodge Construction Network. The index registered 164.8 last month, up from March’s downward revised reading of 155. In April, planning for commercial projects drove the index’s overall reading upward, expanding […]
Nonresidential and multifamily construction spending slumped in March as supply-chain woes and labor shortages stymied strong project demand, the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) reported. Spending on most categories of nonresidential and multifamily construction declined from February to March, AGC said, noting that contractors struggled to find enough workers and to get timely deliveries […]
Ryerson reported sharply higher profits on increased prices and despite lower year-over-year (YoY) shipment volumes. The Chicago-based service center predicted a strong second quarter as well but forecast that average selling prices might be flat or up only modestly. “Our optimism around enduring secular drivers favoring recyclable industrial metals as a core enabler of sustainable […]
Steel prices were relatively steady in April, following increases in March. Hot rolled prices were at $1,460 per ton ($73 per cwt) the first week of April, the highest level seen since January 2022. Prices then bounced around within a $30 per ton range for the remainder of the month, with the SMU index averaging $1,450 per ton as […]
Housing’s share of the economy edged higher at the start of 2022 due in part to a surprise drop in GDP growth. For the first quarter of 2022, overall GDP growth declined at a 1.4% annual rate, driven by increased inventories and a jump in imports, according to the National Association of Home Builders’ analysis […]
Monthly Key Market Indicators improved slightly through March, though sentiment remains cautious, according to the latest analysis by Steel Market Update. Neutral and positive indicators have increased, while negative indicators have eased. Consumers and businesses continue to spend even though economic dynamics remain in flux, with supply disruptions weighing on the economy. While inflation continues […]
Strong demand, growing shipment levels, and robust metals pricing allowed Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. to achieve another record quarter with first quarter sales of $4.49 billion and gross profit of $1.39 billion. “Notwithstanding ongoing macroeconomic challenges, our performance was supported by positive underlying trends including continued strong demand with improving shipment levels in each […]
Sales of new single-family homes fell 8.6% in March compared to the month prior because buyers were deterred by higher prices. The sticker shock results largely from supply chain disruptions and rising mortgage rates. The seasonally adjusted rate in March was 763,000, down an even steeper 12.6% compared to March 2021, the US Department of […]
Ternium plans to continue to invest heavily in and to grow its North American presence – including in the US, company CEO Máximo Vedoya said. Case in point: The Latin American steelmaker is considering a new United States-Mexico-Canada (USMCA) compliant greenfield electric-arc furnace facility. “An announcement could still be seen in either 2022 or 2023 – we […]
Ternium reported net earnings of $877.5 million in the first quarter of 2022, down from $1.14 billion in the prior quarter but up 24.2% from $706.7 million in the first quarter of 2021. The Latin American flat-rolled steelmaker posted first quarter net sales of $4.30 billion, a 32% compared to the first quarter of last […]
Sheet prices continue to bump around what some sources think might be the top of the market, with prices for most products down modestly week-over-week. Hot-rolled coil and cold-rolled prices slipped $30 per ton ($1.50 per cwt). Galvanized base prices were down $20 per ton. And Galvalume prices slipped $45 per ton. The dip comes […]
Nucor has ordered two galvanizing lines from equipment supplier Fives SAS for its $2.7 billion electric arc furnace (EAF) sheet mill in West Virginia. One is a vertical galvanizing line, the other is a horizontal line – each will have annual capacity of 500,000 tons, France-based Fives said in a press release on Tuesday, April 26. […]
Distributors who sell galvanized steel products to the construction and HVAC sectors are still seeing strong demand despite record-high prices. But the flurry of buying that happened immediately following the outbreak of the war in Ukraine has slowed, members of the Heating, Air-Conditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International (HARDI) said in their monthly conference call on Tuesday. […]
Nucor Corp. is partnering with the University of Kentucky (UK) Research Foundation on a new carbon dioxide capture system at the steelmaker’s Gallatin sheet mill in Ghent, Ky. The innovative research partnership between Nucor and UK is one of 12 federally funded research projects by a Department of Energy (DOE) grant to advance point-source carbon […]
This past week the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued a memorandum with details of the Buy America rules that apply to infrastructure projects governed by the infrastructure bill passed last year (the “Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act,” or “IIJA”). This week, I detail some of the changes and their impact on the number […]
Demand for design services from architecture firms in the US expanded sharply in March, following a more modest increase over the previous three months. The gain marked the 14th consecutive month of growth following the pandemic-induced downturn in 2020. March’s AIA’s Architecture Billings Index registered 58.0, according to the latest report from the American Institute […]
Today we are sharing the full proposed agenda for the 2022 SMU Steel Summit Conference. As you will note there are a few programs where we are in negotiations with speakers or working on making sure the program is fresh for those who have attended our conference in the past. There are several themes we […]
Nucor expects to complete the $650 million expansion and upgrade of its Gallatin sheet mill in Ghent, Ky., in June, company executives said. And the Charlotte, N.C.-based steelmaker’s new $1.35 billion plate mill in Brandenburg, Ky. – slated to have annual capacity of 1.2 million tons – remains on track to start up late in […]
Housing starts declined in March, driven by rising mortgage interest rates and ongoing supply chain bottlenecks that continue to delay construction projects and raise home building costs. Though the single-family housing market showed signs of softening last month, strong multifamily production pushed overall housing starts up 0.3% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.79 […]
Steel Dynamics Inc. (SDI) posted better-than-expected results for the first quarter of 2022. Earnings surpassed the consensus estimate by 8.1% while sales exceeded expectations by 5.5% to start the year, according to data from Zacks. The Fort Wayne, Ind.-based steelmaker’s strong results came thanks to record steel shipments and increased production. The company said it […]
Builder confidence fell in April as strong headwinds continue to erode housing affordability and delay projects, according to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI). Homebuilder sentiment fell for the fourth straight month, as rapidly rising interest rates combined with ongoing home price increases and higher construction costs continue to take […]
Today we are sharing the full proposed agenda for the 2022 SMU Steel Summit Conference. As you will note there are a few programs where we are in negotiations with speakers or working on making sure the program is fresh for those who have attended our conference in the past. There are several themes we […]