Due to the higher LME zinc spot prices which have surged from about $.88 per pound in late March 2014 to just below $1.10 per pound in mid to late July, Nucor became the first steel mill to adjust their zinc coating extras for galvanized steel. With little fanfare, Nucor published new extras on the […]
Total shipments of sheet and strip products including hot rolled, cold rolled and all coated products were down by 0.6 percent year to date (YTD) compared to the first half of 2013. In the second quarter of 2014 compared to the first quarter, the total tonnage was down by 0.7 percent and comparing Q2 2014 […]
License data for July was updated on August 5th through the Steel Import Monitoring System of the US Commerce Department. The SMU publishes several import reports ranging from this very early look using licensed data to the very detailed analysis of final volumes by district of entry and source nation which is published in our […]
The Steel Market Development Institute (SMDI), a business unit of the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) announced that Dr. Jody N. Hall will succeed Ronald P. Krupitzer as Vice President Automotive Market following Mr. Krupitzer’s retirement at the end of the year. Dr. Hall is a former Technical Integration Engineer at General Motors Company […]
The SMU Key Market Indicators is a Premium Level product produced by Peter Wright in collaboration with Steel Market Update. Our Executive Level members have been getting access to all of the Premium Level data for the month of July (today is the last day). This includes access to all of the Premium data which […]
Nucor announced consolidated net earnings of $147 million for the second quarter of 2014. Second quarter net sales increased by 4 percent to 5.29 billion compared to Q1 and 13 percent compared to Q2 2013. Steel shipments to outside customers totaled 6,370,000 tons, an increase of 1 percent q/q and 9 percent y/y. Steel production […]
With the announcement of the sale of Russian owned Severstal North America assets to AK Steel (Dearborn, Mountain State Carbon & Joint Ventures) and Steel Dynamics (Columbus) for $2.325 billion, the market is now asking what, or who, is next. There are two mills that are being mentioned. One, Gallatin Steel, a hot rolled mini-mill […]
Caterpillar said it was pleased with its second quarter results, particularly the improvement in profit despite weaker results in its mining segment. Profit after taxes was $146 million compared to $111 million in Q2 2013, an increase of 32 percent. Year over year revenue increased 5 percent to $728 million. “Construction Industries had a good […]
AK Steel has announced that it will acquire the Severstal Dearborn a cokemaking facility and three joint ventures from OAO Severstal for $700 million. Here is the AK Steel press release: West Chester, OH, July 21, 2014—AK Steel (NYSE: AKS) said today that it has signed an agreement to acquire Severstal North America’s integrated steelmaking […]
Steel Dynamics has announced the purchase of the Severstal Columbus steel mill for $1.625 billion in cash. According to the mill the purchase price will be financed with available cash and debt. The Columbus mill expands their hot rolled steel production by 3.4 million tons and broadens their product portfolio as well as geographical reach […]
Steel Dynamics announced net income of $72 million in second quarter 2014 on net sales of $2.1 billion. In comparison, second quarter 2013 net income was $29 million and sequential quarter net income was $39 million. Sales were 13 percent higher both year over year and sequentially. All reporting segments showed higher profitability after the […]
Essar Steel Algoma would like to stress that it is has not filed for bankruptcy or commenced insolvency proceedings in Canada or the U.S. according to a clarification document received by SMU. After reaching an agreement with its parent company for an infusion of cash, deleveraging of its balance sheet, and refinancing of its senior […]
Total service center carbon steel shipments in June declined by 56,500 tons to 3.527 million tons. This was almost exactly the same decline as experienced in May and which together almost wiped out the April gain. Shipping days were 21 in June, the same as in April and May. April was the highest monthly shipping […]
Essar Steel Algoma Inc., announced on Wednesday that Esssar Global Fund Limited, will provide $300 million of equity infusion along with planned refinancing of Algoma’s senior secured debt. The following press release from Essar Steel Algoma contains details of the agreement. SAULT STE. MARIE, ONTARIO, July 16, 2014 – Essar Steel Algoma Inc. (“Algoma”) announced […]
As you may have noticed, we have been writing a series of articles highlighting the benefits of our Premium membership. Through the end of July, our Executive members will have access to our Premium content. If you have not yet explored our Premium content, such as SMU’s survey data or imports by product/port/country, I would […]
US Steel has been one of the leaders in the push to prevent foreign oil country tubular goods (OCTG) from being unfairly traded here in the United States. US Steel recently closed two of their OCTG manufacturing facilities. One of the main reasons provided by US Steel was the flood of OCTG imports from countries […]
The final determination on oil country tubular goods (OCTG) was released on Friday afternoon (Friday, July 11, 2014). The steel industry believes that a positive ruling in favor of the domestic steel industry will prompt a new round of dumping cases aimed at flat rolled products – specifically cold rolled, galvanized and Galvalume. However, these […]
The supply of all steel products in the 3 months March through May 2014 was up by 10.0 percent from the same period last year. Flat rolled was up by 11.6 percent and sheet products by 11.5 percent. The sources of this analysis are the Commerce Department trade statistics and AISI steel shipment data. The […]
Apparent steel supply is defined as domestic mill shipments to domestic locations plus imports. Sources are the American Iron and Steel Institute and the Department of Commerce. The three month moving average of the total tonnage of sheet and strip supply in the period March through May was 4,603,548 tons, up by 11.5 percent from […]
For those of you who would like to read the fact sheet sent out by the International Trade Administration (ITA) which contains the US Department of Commerce Final Determination on the OCTG trade case you can click on this link. As I mentioned in one of the above articles, Roger Schagrin of Schagrin Associates is […]
Our sources close to the process are advising Steel Market Update that bids on the Severstal North America steel mill assets are due on July 2, 2014. If, and if is a big question with this potential transaction, the bids are acceptable to the Russian parent company, the deal to sell the mills could be […]
An explanation of the Key Indicators concept is given at the end of this piece for those readers who are unfamiliar with it. We have made two changes this month to try to make this even more representative of the market. Both the long and flat products shipment rows have been changed from “shipments” to […]
Our sources close to the process are advising Steel Market Update that bids on the Severstal North America steel mill assets are due on July 2, 2014. If, and if is a big question with this potential transaction, the bids are acceptable to the Russian parent company, the deal to sell the mills could be […]
Each month the Bureau of Labor Statistics, (BLS) puts out its series of producer price indexes, for thousands of goods and materials. The latest release on Friday reported May results. These statistics are a useful way to evaluate any changes in the competitive position of steel against competing materials and this month for the first […]
Steel Market Update participated in the monthly galvanized steel conference call sponsored by HARDI. Once per month, HARDI (Heating, Air-conditioning, Refrigeration, Distributors International) conducts a call amongst the HVAC wholesalers and supporting companies about the status of the hot dipped galvanized sheet and coil markets. The very first thing which needs to be mentioned is […]
Essar Steel Algoma and USW Local 2742 have reached a tentative agreement for the Company’s salaried employees. The agreement has been unanimously recommended by the USW bargaining committee, said Essar Steel in a statement on Friday. Special Membership meetings will be held on Tuesday, June 24, 2014 and voting will be held on Wednesday, June […]
Nucor Corporation (NYSE: NUE) announced today guidance for Q2 ending July 5, 2014. The full press release can be viewed here. Below are key sections of the report: Nucor expects second quarter results to be in the range of $0.35 to $0.40 per diluted share. This range represents an increase from the second quarter of 2013 […]
Total service center carbon steel shipments in May declined by 56,600 tons to 3.584 million tons, April was the highest monthly shipping month since March two years ago. Shipping days in May were unchanged from April at 21. Tons per day (t/d) shipments declined from 173,300 in April to 170,600 in May, both on a […]
Industry and economic data is always subject to inaccuracies so we at SMU try to compare different data sources to get the best handle on a situation. Housing and non-residential construction starts are examples that come to mind. In the case of steel imports we have three reports produced by the US Department of Commerce: […]
Total shipments of sheet and strip products including hot rolled, cold rolled and all coated products were up by 0.8 percent year to date (YTD) compared to the first four months of 2013. In the period January through April compared to the previous three months, the total tonnage was up by 4.8 percent. Comparing YTD […]