U.S. Steel remains focused on its acquisition of Big River Steel even as the COVID-19 crisis forces the idling of U.S Steel operations and layoffs of employees. The success of U.S. Steel depends on having the best of integrated and EAF steelmaking, said the company during its first-quarter earnings call. “Make no mistake, our ‘best […]
Canadian steel mill Stelco has entered into a new eight-year pellet sale and purchase agreement with U.S. Steel. The eight-year contract runs until Jan. 31, 2028, and will provide 100 percent of Stelco’s iron ore pellet requirements at Lake Erie Works including volume required to support the expansion in production projected after the upcoming blast […]
SMU contributor Tim Stevenson is a partner at Metal Edge Partners, a firm engaged in Risk Management and Strategic Advisory. In this role, he and his firm design and execute risk management strategies for clients along with providing process and analytical support. In Tim’s previous role, he was a Director at Cargill Risk Management, and […]
By CRU Senior Analyst Erik Hedborg, from CRU’s Steelmaking Raw Materials Monitor In the past week, iron ore prices have declined as we are seeing mixed sentiment in the Chinese market leading up to the country’s Labor Day holiday (May 1-5). Seaborne supply remained strong as Brazilian exports improved, particularly from the southern part of […]
The global Covid-19 outbreak has resulted in sharply falling steel demand all over the world. For the steel industry, it is a challenging task to reduce production levels as ~70 percent of global output is produced through the BF/BOF, or integrated steelmaking, process route. Blast furnaces (BFs) suffer from low operational flexibility—they cannot typically be […]
By CRU Research Analyst Eduardo Tinti, from CRU’s Iron Ore Market Outlook Despite some volatility driven by divergent signs related to supply and demand expectations, iron ore prices were flat w/w. On Tuesday, April 21, the 62% Fe fines price was assessed at $86.0 /t. Last week, Chinese steel demand was robust as the country […]
The U.S. dollar strengthened against 14 of the 16 steel and raw materials trading nation currencies in the last three months and also in the last month. There was a turnaround in the last seven days when the dollar weakened against 14 of the 16. In the last three months, the currencies of Brazil, Mexico, […]
Liberty Steel Group has shifted its executive leadership in order to better manage the impact of COVID-19. The group’s board of directors, based in London, will be chaired by Sanjeev Gupta who also serves as CEO. International operations in the U.S. and Australia will be overseen by Regional President Dak Patel who will continue in […]
Cleveland-Cliffs will temporarily idle Northshore Mining in Minnesota and Tilden Mine in Michigan due to current market conditions. The iron ore supplier plans to work down current inventory from the operations to fulfill its commercial agreements with steel customers. Demand is down at U.S. steel mills, with several adjusting production due to closures in the […]
By CRU Senior Analyst Erik Hedborg, from CRU’s Steelmaking Raw Materials Monitor The iron ore price rose by $3.0 /dmt in the past week, driven primarily by optimism in the Chinese market, where both rebar and HRC jumped sharply from the bottom. On Tuesday, April 14, the 62% Fe fines price has been assessed at […]
While other iron ore mining operations are temporarily shutting down due to the impact of the coronavirus on iron ore demand, Prairie River Minerals plans to start construction this month on a multimillion dollar ore processing plant in Minnesota. Prairie River bought the assets of bankrupt Magnetation in Coleraine and Keewatin for $1.9 million in […]
ArcelorMittal USA will idle the #6 blast furnace at Cleveland Works due to reduced demand resulting from coronavirus closures in the automotive sector. ArcelorMittal USA President and CEO John Brett said in an April 3 letter to employees that extended closures in the automotive sector and reduced demand in other segments require the company to […]
Steel Market Update’s monthly analysis of Key Market Indicators has done a good job of anticipating the ups and downs of the steel market in the past, but the economic data currently available seriously lags the impact of the coronavirus on the economy. Only 3 of 36 indicators in this month’s report have even begun […]
SMU Contributor David Feldstein is president of Rock Trading Advisors (davidfeldstein@rocktradingadvisors.com). In addition to market analysis, RTA provides price risk management not only for ferrous products, but also base metals, energy and interest rates. RTA also trains sales staff and creates the infrastructure necessary for firms to offer their customers fixed pricing on physical sales. […]
By CRU Credit Research Analyst Eduardo Tinti, from CRU’s Steelmaking Raw Materials Monitor Last week iron ore prices increased, supported by news of mining bans in Canada and South Africa before being pulled down due to the worsening global demand outlook after the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic led governments around the world to adopt […]
By CRU Prices Analyst George Pearson, from CRU’s Steel Monitor In the U.S. Midwest market, sheet prices were split this week. The price of HR coil fell $21 /s.ton to $561 /s.ton while CR and HDG coil prices fell by only $1-$3 /s.ton to $770 and $747 /s.ton, respectively. The spread between HDG coil and […]
By CRU Research Manager Paul Butterworth, from CRU’s Steel Monitor CRU has massively downgraded forecast GDP growth in China to 1-2 percent for 2020 and we now expect the USA and Eurozone to fall into recession. Global GDP growth is now expected to be 1 percent for the year, an effective global recession. While economic […]
In the past week, iron ore saw its biggest drop of the year as prices fell by nearly $10 /t. The main reason for the fall was an escalation of Covid-19 cases outside of China, which caused concerns of iron ore demand in key steelmaking regions such as Europe and northeast Asia. At the same […]
Raw materials prices are poised for a rapid decline as the dollar strengthens and the global economy slumps. Table 1 summarizes the price changes through March 18 of the five materials considered in this analysis. It reports the month/month, 3 months/3 months and 12 months/12 months changes on a percentage basis. This is likely our […]
News on the spread of the coronavirus changes by the hour, which effects the outlook of steel buyers. But as of early this past week, based on Steel Market Update’s canvass of the market, the steel sector appears to have weathered the worst of the bad news so far. Steel Prices Most executives responding to […]
Cleveland-Cliffs has temporarily shut down construction activity at its hot-briquetted iron (HBI) site in Toledo, Ohio, due to the COVID-19 virus. All construction at the site will cease at the end of the business day on March 20 until further notice. Cleveland-Cliffs’ iron ore mining and steelmaking facilities will continue operations. The Toledo plant is […]
SMU contributor Tim Stevenson is a partner at Metal Edge Partners, a firm engaged in Risk Management and Strategic Advisory. In this role, he and his firm design and execute risk management strategies for clients along with providing process and analytical support. In Tim’s previous role, he was a Director at Cargill Risk Management, and […]
Australian steelmaker BlueScope withdrew its earnings guidance for the second half of FY 2020 based on challenges it foresees related to the COVID-19 global outbreak. Previously, the company believed earnings would be similar to 1H FY 2020 earnings of $302.4 million. Although group performance to date, including stable performance at North Star BlueScope, has been in […]
The currencies of the commodity dependent nations have crashed in a flight to the safe haven of the U.S. dollar. The U.S. dollar strengthened against 13 of the 16 steel and raw materials trading nation currencies in the last three months. In the last 30 days, the currencies of Brazil, Mexico and Russia were down […]
Steel prices are as unpredictable as the spread of a rogue virus, but one symptom of COVID-19 is likely to be lower steel prices. As of this writing on March 13, the price of flat rolled steel products had yet to see much effect from the global panic over the coronavirus. Steel Market Update’s latest […]
Cleveland-Cliffs has officially closed on its acquisition of AK Steel Holding Corporation, integrating the value-added steelmaker with Cliff’s iron ore operations. The combined company will be led by Cleveland-Cliffs Chairman, President and CEO Lourenco Goncalves. “This is a new era for Cleveland-Cliffs as a producer of differentiated, high quality iron ore, metallics and steel in […]
By CRU Analyst Arshiya Sibia and Research Manager Paul Butterworth, from CRU’s Steel Monitor Current information from our China team shows that steel demand is closely tracking our base case forecast for the impact of Covid-19, though steel production remains slightly higher than we had forecast. While our forecast was for steel demand to return […]
The following article discussing the global ferrous derivatives markets was written by David Feldstein. As an independent steel market analyst, advisor and trader, we believe he provides insightful commentary and trading ideas to our readers. Note that Steel Market Update does not take any positions on HRC or scrap trading, and any recommendations or comments […]
By CRU Senior Analyst Ryan McKinley, from CRU’s Steel Metallics Monitor The CRU metallics price indicator (CRUmpi) rose slightly by 1.3 percent m/m to 206.4 (see chart). While this is broadly stable it bucked the trend compared to steel markets, which came under relatively more price pressure. Structurally, most markets were similar in condition to […]
Is it me, or has the world become much more complicated recently? The NBA has suspended games indefinitely. The NCAA “March Madness” basketball tournament will be played in empty stadiums. Princess Cruises just announced they are cancelling cruises for the next 60 days. Europeans will not be allowed to fly to the United States for […]