Barry Zekelman will be the guest speaker for our upcoming SMU Community Chat webinar. The free webinar will be held at 11 AM ET on Wednesday, May 27. Zekelman Industries buys 200,000 tons of steel each and every month. Their customers are associated with construction, energy, agriculture and many other market segments critical to the […]
Memorial Day 2020 When you want to know where you are in life, look in your closet. There it was, bulging at the seams yet ignored. The cloth bag is blood red. I looked up the color online and the closest match was Vallejo Game Air Bloody Red. It is suspended by a white draw […]
Barry Zekelman will be the next speaker for our very popular SMU Community Chat webinar. The free webinar will be held at 11 AM ET on Wednesday, May 27. Zekelman Industries buys 200,000 tons of steel each and every month. Their customers are associated with construction, energy, agriculture and many other market segments critical to […]
Olympic Steel said it is weathering the COVID-19 crisis well, managing to earn a profit and supplying metals to essential industries making products for health care, transportation and food service markets. “We are sure to face some difficult times ahead, but we have weathered challenges and cyclical downturns throughout our history,” said CEO Rick Marabito […]
Infrastructure is finally getting some attention again, despite and because of the cornavirus. Congress and the White House are calling for an infrastructure bill to be included in the fourth COVID-19 relief package. “With interest rates for the United States being at ZERO, this is the time to do our decades long awaited Infrastructure Bill,” Trump […]
A battle is brewing among legislators, manufacturers and steel producers regarding whether tariff measures should be suspended on imports under Section 301 and Section 232 during the coronavirus crisis. Republican members of the Senate Finance Committee urged President Trump to ease tariff restrictions during the pandemic. In a letter on March 25, the committee exhorted […]
Despite a flurry of maintenance projects completed in the second half of 2019, several steelmakers are planning outages or idling of operations during the next few months. Steel producing mills have been designated as essential critical infrastructure and are not subject to state COVID-19 shutdowns. ArcelorMittal, however, is adjusting production by idling its IH-4 furnace at Indiana Harbor […]
Today, Steel Market Update had conversations with manufacturing companies across the United States. We found businesses reporting strong demand, plants are still open, office workers tend to be working from home and factory workers are being trained on social distancing as well as personal/equipment hygiene. Most of those we contacted either on the phone or […]
Today, Steel Market Update had conversations with manufacturing companies across the United States. We found businesses reporting strong demand, plants are still open, office workers tend to be working from home and factory workers are being trained on social distancing as well as personal/equipment hygiene. Most of those we contacted either on the phone or […]
Canadian pipe and tube company Nova Steel is returning to the U.S. with a $70 million investment in Delta, Ohio. Nova plans to construct two new tube mills in northwest Ohio in proximity to North Star BlueScope. The 250,000-square-foot facility will produce hollow structural sections and standard pipe. “We are very excited to be back […]
Steel prices finished 2019 on an upward trajectory, giving the market hope for a stronger 2020. That trend proved short-lived, however, as prices stalled in January and February, leaving both buyers and sellers wondering what to expect in the weeks and months ahead. Steel prices rose in November and December on a series of price […]
Steel buyers weighed in today as Steel Market Update conducted our sweep of the markets to determine where spot prices are this week, and to see what is on the minds of the buyers. Here are some of the comments made to SMU earlier today: A manufacturing company shared their perspective with these thoughts, “Where […]
The Senate voted its approval of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement in a sweeping 89-10 bipartisan vote on Thursday. The trade agreement now goes to President Trump for signature. The Canadian parliament is expected to follow suit, allowing the USMCA to be implemented later this year. The final agreement adds language addressing the internet, digital services and […]
The Congressional Budget Office expects the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement to result in higher than expected tariff revenue for the United States on motor vehicles and parts due to stricter rules of origin and labor value content requirements. Included in the revenue calculation is an estimated $3 billion in tariffs to be paid by automakers over the […]
William (Bill) Zielinski, chief operating officer for Chicago Tube and Iron, will succeed Dr. Donald McNeeley as president of CTI. As president, Zielinski will lead the business strategy and day-to-day operations of CTI in addition to his current duties as COO. McNeeley will continue with the company as chairman of CTI. The planned succession was […]
Editor’s note: The following commentary in support of the Trump administration steel tariffs was contributed by Barry Zekelman, chairman and CEO of Zekelman Industries, the largest steel pipe and tube manufacturer in North America. We often hear that the Trump administration’s steel tariffs are hurting the U.S. economy. News commentators certainly think so. They talk […]
Olympic Steel reported third-quarter net sales of $384 million, a 16 percent decline from third-quarter 2018 due to lower shipping volumes and pricing in the carbon flat segment. Net income was $591,000 for the quarter, down from $11.6 million in Q3 2018. “Softer global demand, unsettled trade agreements, excess global steel capacity and overall market […]
London, Brexit, new election, split country. As I was standing in line to enter the House of Lords, the gentleman to my left began discussing how Brexit has severed parties and even families. No longer can British families talk about their government openly. I heard the theme on many occasions as I traveled about London […]
The U.S. Department of Commerce has released an enhanced version of its popular interactive Global Steel Trade Monitor. Improvements to the monitor now allow users to create graphs and charts to compare changes in trade patterns between two steel trading countries or two groups of steel products at one time. Having the ability to conduct […]
Do plans by U.S. mills to add millions of tons of new steelmaking capacity over the next few years make a price-killing supply glut inevitable? That’s a question very much open to debate, as shown by the spirited exchange between three leading analysts during Steel Market Update’s Steel Summit Aug. 28 in Atlanta. Despite some […]
As mentioned above, it is crunch time for me and my team as we prepare for the conference, now one week away. I want to emphasize SMU will have a major announcement at the conference on Monday as we roll out our Service Center Inventories on Hand, on Order, Shipments and an analysis of what […]
As with any mill announcement, be it price, changes in production or in the case of the U.S. Steel’s announcement about how they are going to handle contracts going forward, there are always mixed opinions from steel buyers and from the other steel mills. This afternoon, Steel Market Update, as an index provider, spent a […]
As with any mill announcement, be it price, changes in production or in the case of the U.S. Steel’s announcement about how they are going to handle contracts going forward, there are always mixed opinions from steel buyers and from the other steel mills. This afternoon, Steel Market Update, as an index provider, spent a […]
Olympic Steel executives expressed positive sentiments about the company’s performance during an “unusual” second quarter despite declines in both sales and income compared with the same period last year. The Cleveland-based service center reported quarterly net sales of $429 million, 5 percent lower than in second-quarter 2018. Net income for the quarter totaled $2.1 million, […]
Brian Harroun, founder and president of Nobilis Pipe Co., sees an opportunity for a new domestic steel mill to bring production of specialty pipe and tube products back to the United States—and to do it in an environmentally responsible and sustainable way. Nobilis Pipe is now working to secure financing for construction of one of […]
By Paul Lowrey Editor’s note: Paul Lowrey is an industry consultant and president of Steel Research Associates, LLC. He will be a featured speaker at the upcoming Steel Market Update Steel Summit Aug. 26-28 in Atlanta. Click here for more information and to register for the summit. Recent announcements of new flat rolled capacity have […]
By Paul Lowrey Editor’s note: Paul Lowrey is an industry consultant and president of Steel Research Associates, LLC. He will be a featured speaker at the upcoming Steel Market Update Steel Summit Aug. 26-28 in Atlanta. Click here for more information and to register for the summit. Recent announcements of new flat rolled capacity have […]
Olympic Steel reported a 19 percent increase in its first-quarter sales, netting $446 million, thanks in part to its January acquisition of manufacturer McCullough Industries. Net income for the quarter totaled $2.1 million, down from 7.6 million in the same quarter of 2018. Returns from Olympic’s manufacturing segment are considerably higher than service center margins, […]
Nucor Corp. has acquired Century Tube LLC, a supplier of carbon tubing for automotive, mechanical and structural applications. Century Tube, based in Madison, Ind., offers round, square, rectangular, oval and other special welded shapes of mechanical steel tubing, and is a leader in supplying induction heat-treated tubes for automotive applications. The company has produced over […]
This morning SMU was speaking with one of the e-commerce companies regarding their business and some of the challenges they see when dealing with companies buying and selling steel through their platform. One of the pitfalls recognized by the head of the e-commerce site was the lack of use of proper nomenclature for the products […]