Will the flat rolled mills be successful in collecting the $40 per ton price increase they announced last week? No, they will not, predict eight out of 10 steel executives who responded to this week’s Steel Market Update Market Trends questionnaire. Only about 20 percent believe the price increase will stick. Following are some insightful […]
Gaurav Chhibbar is a partner at Metal Edge Partners, a firm engaged in Risk Management and Strategic Advisory. In this new role, he and his firm design and execute risk management strategy for clients along with providing process and analytical support. In Gaurav’s previous role, he was a Trader at Cargill spending time in Metal […]
A strong economy and equally strong steel demand propelled Nucor Corp. earnings growth in the third quarter. Nucor reported earnings of $676.7 million in the third quarter, which included a non-cash impairment charge of $110.0 million related to its natural gas well assets. In comparison, second quarter net earnings were $683.2 and third quarter 2017 […]
This afternoon, Steel Market Update spoke with James Banker, Jr., Executive Vice President of NLMK USA, about two topics. First, the slab conversion agreement between NLMK USA and Allegheny Technologies Inc. Second, we spoke about NLMK not following the $40 per ton price increase announced by the other domestic steel mills. We will discuss both […]
U.S. Steel and Nucor made their final rebuttals to tariff exclusion requests filed by Evraz NA and California Steel Industries for imports of steel slab. Evraz and CSI maintain that the slabs they require are not readily available in the U.S. Both U.S. Steel and Nucor argue that exclusions would undermine the president’s policy to […]
I had an interesting conversation with James (Jim) Banker, Jr., who is the Executive Vice President of NLMK USA late this afternoon. We discussed a couple of topics. One I described in an earlier article about their Allegheny Technologies Inc. slab tolling arrangement announced this morning. The second topic was about why NLMK USA has […]
The flat rolled mills announced a price hike last week. This was at the same time Steel Market Update sources were advising of $38.00/cwt ($760 per ton) out of more than one domestic steel mill. The increase, announced initially by Nucor, was seen as an attempt to dry up the sub-$800 offers and put a […]
With the market sending mixed signals, distributors of HVAC products are keeping inventories lean as they wait to see if the price increase just announced by the steel mills gains any traction. “You can make a case for prices to go either way,” said one member of the Heating, Air-conditioning and Refrigeration Distributors International (HARDI) […]
On Wednesday of this week, Nucor’s Sheet Mill Group announced a $40 per ton ($2.00/cwt) price hike on flat rolled steel products produced by the mill. The price hike affects only spot tons and not contract orders, which tend to be tied to a flat rolled steel price index. In an Oct. 10 letter to […]
Yesterday, Nucor announced a $40 per ton ($2.00/cwt) price increase on all flat rolled products they produce. The increase was to take effect immediately on all “spot” orders. On paper, the increase announcement does not impact contract pricing. However, steel buyers are advising Steel Market Update that the reason behind the Nucor announcement was two-fold: […]
On the heels of the price hike announced by Nucor yesterday, the other major sheet mills followed suit today raising spot prices on flat rolled steel products by $40 per net ton. Customers were notified of the increase by ArcelorMittal USA, U.S. Steel, California Steel Industries and USS-POSCO Industries. California Steel Industries told customers it […]
Nucor’s Sheet Mill Group announced a $40 price hike this morning. In an Oct. 10 letter to customers, Nucor said that base prices on hot rolled, cold rolled and galvanized steel products would all increase by $40 per ton, effective immediately. The steel mills have been largely silent on price changes for the past few […]
California Steel Industries, NLMK and Evraz have filed rebuttals to objections made by U.S. Steel, Nucor and AK Steel to their petitions requesting exclusions for steel slab imports necessary for production. The slab converters charge that domestic mills have misled Commerce in their objections, overstating the current availability of domestic slab and the capacity to […]
The number of flat rolled and plate spot transactions has dwindled over the past couple of weeks. End users are squeamish about ordering any steel other than what is needed for the work on the floor. Steel buyers are reporting a weakening of the top end of the range but firming at the lower ends. […]
On Friday, Steel Market Update received a note from one of our readers asking why foreign steel import totals have not dropped. The domestic mills have won countless antidumping and countervailing duty suits against flat rolled and plate products. The president has placed 25 percent tariffs on steel, citing national security as the reason to […]
When looking at the last four years of import data, as well as the first seven months of data available from the U.S. Department of Commerce, we are seeing a reduction in most flat rolled products. Of the past four years, 2014 was by far the biggest year for foreign steel imports into the United […]
Employees are back to work at Nucor’s Carolina facilities following the deluge by Hurricane Florence. “Normal operations have resumed at all Nucor plants in North and South Carolina,” said Katherine Miller, Director of Public Affairs and Corporate Communications at Nucor. “Last week, Nucor suspended operations at several facilities in the Carolinas in advance of Hurricane […]
Nucor is expecting earnings to improve from second to third quarter at its sheet and plate mills, despite weather-related outages at some locations. Lower sequential earnings are forecast at its steel products segment. Decreased performance at Nucor’s scrap brokerage and processing operations and at the Louisiana DRI facility will result in lower earnings for the […]
Charlotte-based Nucor Corp. will suspend operations at its sheet mill in Berkeley, S.C., and its plate mill in Hertford, N.C., in anticipation of Hurricane Florence. Operations began shutting down on Wednesday and will restart after the storm passes, said Nucor spokesperson Katherine Miller. “At Nucor, safety is our top priority…. We are closely monitoring the […]
Flat rolled spot base prices continued to drop over the past week. There are mixed emotions from steel buyers with some believing the weakness being seen is an “overreaction” to a “perceived” weakness in the steel mill order books. Comments were made to Steel Market Update during the data gathering process that weakness is mill […]
I am in Middletown, Ohio, having spent the day at AK Steel’s Research and Innovation Center as part of our new Steel 201 training workshop. The facility is impressive both in physical beauty as well as the operations and people working there. Our class is being held in an auditorium that seats about 70 people […]
SMU President & CEO John Packard will be the featured speaker at the AWMI Industry Dinner at the Carnegie Hall at Newport in Newport, Ky., on Oct. 18. The event is open to the public. The mission of the Association of Women in the Metal Industries (AWMI) is to educate, network and mentor those in […]
Nucor Corp. announced plans to invest $650 million to expand the production capability at Nucor Steel Gallatin. The upgrade would increase the Kentucky flat rolled sheet mill’s capability to 3.0 million tons annually from its current level of 1.6 million tons. In addition, the maximum coil width would be increased to 73 inches. The facility […]
What is in the nation’s best interest when it comes to international trade? Are the Trump administration trade policies the best approach? Speaking at the Steel Market Update Steel Summit Conference in Atlanta on Aug. 27, a spokesperson for the domestic steel industry and a Washington trade attorney offered sharply contrasting views. The Steel Manufacturers […]
We sold out our first Steel 201 workshop which will be held next week at AK Steel in Middletown, Ohio. I am excited to conduct this workshop with the AK Steel team. It is the first time we have visited their Research and Innovation Center (RIC) and the fully integrated Middletown steel mill. Thank you […]
Those hoping for the inside scoop on Nucor’s plans to purchase Big River Steel were left to speculate following comments by Nucor Chairman and CEO John Ferriola during Steel Market Update’s steel summit this week in Atlanta. Ferriola neither confirmed nor denied Nucor’s rumored interest in BRS, but his posture suggested it’s a possibility. Nucor […]
The Nucor Sheet Mill Group and USS-POSCO Industries have notified customers of changes in their coating extras as a result of lower zinc prices. The announcements follow on a similar letter to customers from California Steel Industries (CSI) last week. Nucor’s Aug. 30 letter stated: “Consistent with our practice to monitor the cost of zinc, […]
Nucor and USS/POSCO announced new coating extras today, and SMU learned U.S. Steel will provide their new extras in about a week and Steel Dynamics will announce their numbers within the next few days. Coating extras have dropped due to lower zinc costs on the LME over the past few months. SMU expects all of […]
Due to our conference, we will hold back on producing our steel indices until Thursday of this week. It’s Tuesday evening and we are deep into our 8th SMU Steel Summit Conference. The official number of attendees is 912, which exceeded our most optimistic expectations when we did our last forecast about six months back. Tomorrow […]
The last few days leading up to what has become a major steel conference have been hectic to say the least. My SMU team has been playing the role of the Little Engine that Could (I think I can, I think I can…) and I am amazed when we hit the crest of the hill […]