The U.S. employment situation continues to be good. Net job creation in June, including revisions for April and May, was 269,000, and the latest number of job openings was the highest on record. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) net job creation report released on Friday exceeded economists’ expectations and was another example of why […]
Stelco has been officially acquired by Bedrock Industries as of June 30. The former U.S. Steel Canada entered protection under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act in September 2014 and will now stand on its own as Stelco Inc. “This is an exciting day for Stelco and for all of those who have worked so hard […]
Worthington Industries posted a strong fourth quarter, setting record annual earnings per share and quarterly net earnings of $56.5 million. Net sales increased 18 percent year-over-year to $845.3 million. Steel processing sales rose 25 percent to $582.2 million, driven by higher average selling prices. Automotive demand is beginning to soften, said President and COO Mark […]
The American Institute of Architects reports that May indices for new project inquiries and contracts reached their highest level so far in 2017. The Architecture Billings Index (ABI) climbed 2.1 points to a score of 53.0. New project inquires increased 2.2 points for a reading of 62.4 and the new design contracts index reached 54.8 […]
An explanation of the Key Market Indicators concept is given at the end of this piece for those readers who are unfamiliar with it. This will explain the difference between our view of the present situation, which is subjective, and our analysis of trends, which is based on the latest facts available. In the June […]
Schnitzer Steel, a metals recycler and steel bar producer, reported its best third quarter since FY 2012. Total revenue increased 36 percent sequentially and 25 percent year-over-year to $477 million. Net income was up 50 percent from second quarter and 51 percent from Q3 2016 to $17 million. The improvement was primarily in the company’s […]
Commercial Metals Co., Irving, Texas, plans to exit its International Marketing and Distribution Segment. As an initial step, on June 12, its CMC Cometals International subsidiary signed a definitive agreement to sell its raw materials trading division, CMC Cometals, to Traxys North America L.L. and Traxys Europe S.A., affiliates of The Carlyle Group. CMC Cometals […]
New York State legislators approved an agreement this week prohibiting foreign steel to be used for New York roads and bridges. The “Buy American” legislation requires that seven identified state agencies purchase steel and iron manufactured completely in the U.S. for infrastructure projects valued at $1 million or more. Exemptions could be granted for specific […]
Mill Steel Co., Grand Rapids, Mich., one of the nation’s largest distributors of flat-rolled carbon steel, expanded its operations and geographic presence with the opening of a new facility in Houston. The new Texas location is now operational with slitting and cut-to-length capabilities in the 100,000-square-foot facility. This premier building houses three production lines with […]
Steel Dynamics, Inc., reported lower earnings guidance for the second quarter due to operational issues at two of its plants. An upgrade to Steel Dynamics’ galvanizing line at Butler required a three week outage, diminishing second-quarter pretax earnings by $15 million. In addition, quality issues related to start-up of the new Galvalume and paint line […]
Housing starts dipped 5.5 percent in May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,092,000, from April’s revised estimate of 1,156,000, according to data from the U.S. Commerce Department. Single family starts dropped 3.9 percent, while starts for buildings with five or more units fell 9.8 percent. Regionally, total starts were flat in the Northeast and […]
Cliffs Natural Resources announced today that it has selected Toledo, Ohio, to be the site of its first hot briquetted iron production plant. Midrex Technologies will design, engineer and procure equipment for the new plant, which will produce at least 1.6 million tons of HBI per year. The project is expected to cost approximately $700 […]
Mesabi Metallics, the former Essar Steel Minnesota, emerged from 11 months of bankruptcy on Tuesday with a new owner, Chippewa Capital Partners. Chippewa Capital is a joint venture of London-based GFG Alliance and billionaire Tom Clarke. Clarke is also the owner of Magnetation and hopes to use the taconite ore from both facilities to produce […]
We start this report with comments made by Jun Wei Yeo on iron ore and coking coal. “In April to May alone, there was an over 30 percent drop in the price of iron ore. Iron ore mining companies such as Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton, and Brazil’s Vale are suffering simultaneous stock price declines. Most […]
The Dodge Momentum Index gained 4 percent in May posting a score of 139.1 after slipping to a revised 133.7 in April. Commercial projects in planning increased 4.8 percent while institutional project planning was up 2.9 percent, recovering partially from April’s 12.0 percent decline. Despite signs of weakening occupancies and rents, the commercial component of […]
Steel 232 Investigation—Update from the Front Lines By Lewis LeibowitzThe Law Office of Lewis E. Leibowitz To put the steel proceeding in context, I would like to acquaint you with a couple of other proceedings that are “proceeding” right now. We’ll see how all of these developments may fit together. First, there are important negotiations […]
April data for Construction Put in Place (CPIP) was released by the Department of Commerce on Thursday June 1st 2017. Total construction still has positive growth but slowed to 2.5 percent year/year in the latest three months of data. Privately funded projects are the growth engine as state and local and infrastructure both had negative […]
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) employment report for May was released on Friday and revealed a disappointing total net job creation of 138,000 which was well below analysts expectations. To make matters worse, March and April were revised down by a total of 66,000 jobs. Using a three month moving average (3MMA), the result […]
An explanation of the Key Indicators concept is given at the end of this piece for those readers who are unfamiliar with it. This will explain the difference between our view of the present situation which is subjective and our analysis of trends which is based on the latest facts available. We now have three […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) has been contacted by end users, distributors and steel mills regarding an article published by another trade publication on Galvalume. The article, which was published on Thursday, May 18, 2017, quoted Keith Medick, president and CEO of Union Corrugating Company, as he made the point that there is not enough light […]
The U.S. Department of Commerce advised Steel Market Update, as a member of the media, who would be speaking at tomorrow’s (Wednesday, May 24, 2017) Section 232 hearing on steel. The hearing is part of the Commerce Department’s investigation about the need for steel for national security. Here is what we received from the US […]
AISI, WASHINGTON, D.C. – The American Iron and Steel Institute’s (AISI) Board of Directors today elected John Ferriola, Chairman, President and CEO, Nucor Corporation, to serve another year as chairman of the Institute, through May 2018. “John is a recognized leader in the global and domestic steel industry. He is an outspoken advocate for the […]
HVAC wholesalers reported despite “good” demand they are seeing ultra-competitive conditions on the sales of galvanized steel they are attempting to sell into the HVAC (heating, ventilation, air-conditioning) markets. Steel Market Update participates in a monthly steel conference call hosted by HARDI (Heating, Air-conditioning, and Refrigeration Distributors International) for their member companies. The HARDI conference […]
Housing starts surprised economists by moving lower in April to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,172,000. April’s tally is 2.6 percent below the March estimate of 1,203,000 but 0.7 percent higher than a year ago. Projections were for starts to reach 1.26 million in April. Starts increased 41.1 percent in the Midwest and 5.4 […]
Construction has expanded in the U.S. for over 30 quarters, and it still has legs, said Alex Carrick, Chief Economist at ConstructConnect. ConstructConnect presented a webinar May 11, entitled “Bump or Slump? 2017 Prospects for Design & Construction. AIA chief economist Kermit Baker and AGC of America Chief Economist Ken Simonson joined Carrick in discussing […]
The following article was provided and first published by ArcelorMittal USA news: After experimenting with aluminum in its luxury models, Audi’s next A8 will switch back to steel. Scheduled for release in 2018, the body structure of the new A8 will be made up of more than 40 percent steel, following the trend of automakers […]
Flatbed trucks are generally first choice to move steel products from mills to distribution centers to manufacturing clients. What determines what freights will be for this workhorse of the steel industry? Freight costs are influenced by fuel costs, weather, seasonal demand, historical costs, and load-to-truck ratios. Flatbed rates are particularly vulnerable to weather conditions in […]
The US Gross Domestic Product is the values of goods and services produced by all economic activity. The growth of GDP is a function of the growth in the number of employed people multiplied by the growth of their productivity. Steel consumption is correlated to GDP, therefore to understand the direction of the steel market […]
AIST – NASHVILLE, 9 May 2017 — Roger K. Newport, chief executive officer and board member, AK Steel, was named Steelmaker of the Year at AISTech 2017 — The Iron & Steel Technology Conference and Exposition, managed by The Association for Iron & Steel Technology (AIST). The Steelmaker of the Year Award is presented annually […]
The Dodge Momentum Index slipped 5.1 percentage points in April to a reading of 133.8. Institutional planning fell 12 percent while commercial construction planning gained only 0.1 percent. Dodge Data & Analytics sees April’s decline as part of a sawtooth pattern that has been prevalent since early 2016. Said Dodge regarding the April findings, “Despite […]