We appear much closer to the crossroads than I think many of you realize. Reliance, Nucor and Steel Dynamics spoke about the changes coming in their own way during their earnings conference calls. Reliance prodded the mills to raise prices – now. SDI spoke about their attorneys waiting for the right time before they can […]
With the steel executives testifying before the U.S. Congress today about foreign steel imports we thought it might be interesting to ask Dan DiMicco former CEO of Nucor Steel about the subject. Mr. DiMicco responded to our request with the following: Where do I start???? First let me say this is Dan DiMicco responding not […]
First, before everyone goes completely crazy regarding the US Steel announcement to “idle” the Granite City Works steel plant, SMU has been told by Courtney Boone, US Steel media spokesperson, that the plant would not go down prior to May 28, 2015. A lot can happen (and will happen) in the industry prior to that […]
Three steel industry executives met in Washington D.C. on Thursday at the Congressional Steel Caucus to discuss state of the US steel industry and the impact unfairly traded imports have had on jobs and manufacturing. Revisions to the “material injury” standards were proposed to add language that clearly defines indicators of injury and allows relief […]
The current downward cycle is getting a little “long in the tooth” (old) and there are signs that even with the short lead times and excessive inventories at the service centers the domestic steel mills are not chasing business but rather negotiating for specific pieces of business with known tonnages and want dates. The mills […]
Nucor Corporation plans to take the battle against construction of Big River Steel another step. Attorneys for Nucor filed a notice that it will appeal the dismissal of its lawsuit against Big River Steel. On February 25, U.S. District Judge Leon Holmes ruled that Nucor’s lawsuit was invalid under the citizen lawsuit provision of the […]
Nucor Corporation expects first quarter results to “decrease significantly” compared to fourth quarter and exceed first quarter 2014 levels only slightly. High levels of imports have lowered selling prices and squeezed margins. Nucor notes that total steel imports rose 38 percent in 2014 and account for 34 percent of the total domestic shipments last year. […]
Nucor Corporation expects first quarter results to “decrease significantly” compared to fourth quarter and exceed first quarter 2014 levels only slightly. High levels of imports have lowered selling prices and squeezed margins. Nucor notes that total steel imports rose 38 percent in 2014 and account for 34 percent of the total domestic shipments last year. […]
Chinese steel exports to the U.S. in January 2015 were 40 percent higher than in January 2014, according to World Steel Association data. As Chinese domestic demand weakens, exports have flooded not only the U.S. but nations across the globe. The resulting depressed prices and undercutting of domestic steel production has led to increased government […]
As Steel Market Update has discussed in previous articles on the subject of scrap pricing, the original projections by buyers of scrap were for prices to drop $20 per gross ton on all products for the month of March. The projected March reduction would have been on the heels of an $80 to $110 per […]
A federal judge on Wednesday dismissed Nucor’s lawsuit against future competitor Big River Steel. U.S. District Judge Leon Holmes said Nucor’s citizen lawsuit is not authorized under the Clean Air Act and the court has no jurisdiction over the case. Nucor argued that Big River steel was violating emission standards by constructing the mill without […]
Steel Market Update saw an interesting report on the impact of lower scrap prices to the steel industry. The report was produced by metals and mining analysts, Timna Tanners of Bank of America Merrill Lynch Research for her clients. A question Steel Market Update receives on a regular basis is what is the marginal cost […]
Phillip Bell, President of the Steel Manufacturers Association (steel mills) told those assembled at the 26th annual Port of Tampa Steel Conference, “There is a growing consensus that something just isn’t right.” What he was referring to was the domestic steel mills running at 75 percent capacity utilization rates and the industry still suffering due […]
Dan DiMicco continues to make economic and political waves with his newest book, American Made: Why Making Things Will Return Us to Greatness. In his book, the outspoken former Nucor CEO and chairman tells how restoring American manufacturing to greatness will make America strong. Publisher St. Martin’s Press, says that DiMicco, with his usual blunt […]
An explanation of the Key Indicators concept is given at the end of this piece for those readers who are unfamiliar with it. The total number of indicators considered in this analysis is currently 36. Please refer to Table 1 for the view of the present situation and the quantitative measure of trends. Readers should […]
Steel imports continue to flood U.S. shores and were a priority issue for CEOs during earnings calls this month. Low cost imports are creating competition for market share as well as depressing prices in the carbon steel spot market. Nucor CEO John Ferriola summed up the current market condition: “The other major headwind is from […]
AK Steel and Nucor spend time on their earnings conference calls earlier today to point out the negative impact imports were having on their business and steel pricing. James Wainscott talked about imports during his opening statements, “Between 2013 and 2014 flat-rolled finished carbon steel imports rose by some 60%. For the year, we saw […]
During Nucor’s earnings conference call the company’s CEO, John Ferriola told the analysts that scrap prices would drop “dramatically” during the 1st Quarter 2015. He told the analysts that steel prices have already gone down and scrap prices “have to” follow. Our scrap sources are telling us that lackluster demand at the steel mills, weak […]
Nucor Corp. reported net earnings of $210.4 million for the fourth quarter of 2014, compared to $245.4 million in the third quarter of 2014 and $170.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2013. The drop was expected due to typical seasonality in the fourth quarter and downward pressure on the industry from steel imports. Net […]
I was conversing with a consulting friend who reported to me that steel prices are taking a beating in Europe. He referenced hot rolled prices being offered out of Russia into Europe for 365 to 375 euros. He also reported that the sales of the Italian steel mill, ILVA would not succeed and the mill […]
I am in Charleston, South Carolina for our Steel 101 workshop. We have a great group here with representatives from manufacturing, service centers, steel mills and the financial community. The employees at Nucor Berkeley were very receptive to our visit. The mill provided a number of metallurgists so we were able to tour the mill […]
Nucor and Big River Steel met in federal court on Friday in a continuation of Nucor’s bid to stop construction of the rival steel mill. Nucor claims the air permit granted to Big River Steel was issued incorrectly and that emissions from the future plant will raise pollution levels in the county, violating the Clean […]
I am looking forward to traveling to South Carolina for our next Steel 101 workshop which is at the beginning of next week. I would like to recognize and thank Nucor and their Berkeley facility for allowing us to tour their flat rolled (sheet) and beam mills. This is the first time I personally will […]
.One of the subjects of conversation I had with a number of buyers is what do the domestic steel mills need to do to break the foreign import cycle? There are some who believe that the steel mills will be best served by letting the prices drift down to the point where the spread between […]
This is the first Steel Market Update Executive newsletter of the year (we produced our first Premium newsletter on Friday of last week). I can’t even imagine the number of articles I have written about the industry since I began keeping my steel customers up to date on industry events in 2004 (and explaining why […]
As we approach the end of the year we begin to think about what is ahead of us for 2015. Will we see the massive amounts of foreign steel continue to flood the domestic (USA) market or will buyers back off as domestic prices slide closer to foreign offers? The expectation is for demand to […]
Shredded scrap prices are up approximately $20 per ton compared to where they were the first week of December. According to Mike Marley of MetalPrices.com, shred is in tight supply in several Midwest cities due to the decline in the flows of shredded feedstock due to the lower selling prices in October and November and […]
Nucor Corporation expects a “moderate” decrease in earnings in the fourth quarter along with a seasonal drop in operating performance. In the company’s fourth quarter earnings guidance, Nucor noted that exceptionally high import levels have put pressure on steel production and margins. A larger than expected decrease in outside shipments is expected in the fourth […]
There has been a lot of information floating about the marketplace regarding the Chinese steel rebates and especially those represented as special alloy through the addition of boron to the steel. We wrote about this subject in early November and we remind our readers to go back and review the article entitled: Chinese Boron Added […]
I was advis ed today that Nucor had reduced their pricing on beams by $40 per ton in order to compete with foreign beam offers. The question then became what are the mills doing to blunt the impact of foreign steel offers of flat rolled products into the United States? As we reported on Tuesday, […]