US Steel Canada court monitor Alex Morrison reported sales were good in August, resulting in revenue of CAD $144.6 million. EBITDA increased by $30.7 million from July. Shipments were up 19.7 percent year-over-year to 192,734 tons. The company has been successful in replacing sales to automotive customers that were lost when US Steel cut ties […]
AK Steel will get help to restart the Ashland Works furnace from Kentucky legislators. The state Senate passed a house bill on Tuesday that would extend economic incentives from a 2014 measure to help AK Steel refurbish and restart the idled blast furnace at Ashland. The incentives were due to expire in July. AK Steel […]
Coal companies have been struggling with regulation changes and decreasing demand over the past several years. According to U.S. Energy Information Administration data, coal production fell 10 percent in 2015 to its lowest level since 1986. Coal prices have dropped 35 percent in just the past two years. The result has been bankruptcy restructuring proceedings […]
Global steel production in 12 months through October totaled 1.609 billion tonnes with a capacity of 2.3 billion tonnes. Production in the month of October was 133,640 tonnes up from 130,998 in September or 2.0 percent, however on a tons/day basis production was 4.311 million tonnes, down from 4.367 in September and from 4.518 in April […]
I am here in New York City participating in the Cowen & Company Global Metals and Mining Conference. Day one was dedicated to the steel industry and the various commodities (scrap, iron ore, metallurgical coal). I thought I would provide a snapshot into some of the comments made during the conference by various CEO’s. Lourenco […]
Cliffs Natural Resources reported a net income of $60 million for second quarter, managing a profit in the face of a challenging raw materials environment. Second quarter sales fell 33 percent on weak iron ore prices for total of $498 million, compared to $748 million in Q2 2014. CEO Lourenco Goncalves addressed the “single biggest […]
This piece, written by Peter Wright, combines our own data analysis with recently published opinions about the iron ore, metallurgical coal and zinc markets that we find credible. Iron Ore: The Platts IODEX of 62% Fe delivered North China recovered to $61.25 per dry metric ton (dmt) on May 22nd but by July 10th had […]
This piece, written by Peter Wright, combines our own data analysis with recently published opinions about the iron ore, metallurgical coal and zinc markets that we find credible. Iron Ore: The Platts IODEX of 62 percent Fe delivered North China recovered to $61.25 on March 22nd, continued its upward trend in June then on June […]
Earlier this week, World Steel Dynamics and their friends at AMM, hosted their Steel Success Strategies conference in New York City. Over the past 40 years the conference has become a magnet for those associated with the steel industry from around the world. Not everyone can afford to attend the conference which runs about $2300 […]
This is the first time we have dedicated a piece specifically to raw materials prices. It combines our own data analysis with expert opinion published in the last couple of weeks that we find credible. Iron Ore As of this past weekend, the Platts IODEX of 62% Fe delivered North China recovered by $6.25/dmt in […]
MID-SHIP continues to report concerns over weak demand in the dry cargo market coupled with over-supply of ships. The drop in shipping to and from China has pushed freight rates to their lowest levels since the mid 1980s according to the May 12 MID-SHIP Report. The Baltic Dry Index (BDI) was at a low of […]
Despite significant decreases in iron ore, steel, and metallurgical coal pricing, Cliffs Natural Resources, Inc. was able to achieve revenue of $446 million (excluding North American Coal) with adjusted EBITDA of $94 million. US iron ore shipments of 2.9 million tons were less than the 4 million anticipated, but in the US iron ore business […]
I was relieved to see the Sentiment 3MMA trend break after dropping for almost five straight months (since mid-September). I am not quite yet ready to say we have vanquished any growing pessimism within the flat rolled steel industry. But, breaking the streak was the first step. I have a number of concerns. The continuation […]
Even the Cliffs Natural Resources CEO weighed in on the food of foreign steel imports and what the domestic steel industry should do to protect their markets. Lourenco Goncalves is never at a loss for words and his comments made during Cliffs quarterly earnings conference call was no exception. First, the results posted by the […]
The following article is a continuation of our Steel Buyers Basics series written by Mario Briccetti. Mario is Principal of Briccetti & Associates, a Supply Chain consulting firm, and can be reached at Mario@mbriccetti.com. Briccetti wrote the following article as part of our Steel Buyers Basics series of articles, many of which can be found […]
We ended the article above talking about the tight range we have seen on hot rolled coil over the past 12 months. Total price movement from low to high during that time period has been $65 per ton. The question is, will U.S. hot rolled coil prices break through the low of the past 12 […]
Vessels carrying iron ore, metallurgical coal, aggregate and grain continue to work under the force majeure created when ice conditions at the start of the shipping season ended up costing the shipping companies 40 days of lost transit time. At the beginning of the season ice conditions were beyond the Coast Guard’s ice breaking capabilities. […]
One of the topic of conversations during the Cowen & Company Global Metals, Mining & Materials Conference was the issue of scrap prices versus iron ore and the value of iron “units.” On the first day of the conference, Dan DiMicco former CEO of Nucor, told the audience that iron ore and scrap would come […]
I have been in New York City since Sunday. I am participating in a panel on Wednesday at the Cowen & Company conference. Steel people don’t get to attend most of the financial related conferences. The attendees tend to be hedge fund managers and investors. Their perspectives of the steel industry can be quite different […]
Cliffs Natural Resources reported a net loss of 5.9 billion for third quarter. Consolidated revenue fell by 16 percent year over year to $1.3 billion due primarily to significantly lower prices for iron ore and metallurgical coal. Adjusted EBITDA for third quarter was $233 million, 45 percent below third quarter 2013. Cliff’s has had a […]
A federal crackdown is needed on the import and dumping of cheap products in the U.S. said US Steel Corp CEO Mario Longhi to attendees at the West Virginia Manufacturers Association Leadership Summit on Monday. Longhi, known for his strong stance on foreign import trade regulations, told manufacturers at the meeting that stronger trade laws […]
Metallurgical coal and iron ore prices were the topic of conversation in a call hosted by Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Platts earlier today. Met coal prices have been on a downward trend with a 10 percent correction in just the last two weeks and are currently at the lowest level since 2007. Lower […]
Met coal prices are plummeting and oversupply is the problem, says Goldman Sachs. On Friday, Goldman cut its metallurgical coal average price estimate for 2014 to $141 per metric ton from $150 due to higher Australian output and slower demand from China along with “limited U.S. supply rationalization.” Bank of America Merrill Lynch agrees that […]
I read two articles recently regarding the impact of the devaluation of the India rupee against the U.S. dollar. One article (IHS Global Insight) discussed the metallurgical coal markets as the Indian steel mills have pulled back from the market as their costs spiral out of control. According to IHS Global the Indian currency lost […]