The potential for a rail strike in the US has been pushed back to early December. But concerns remain for the steel industry, which relies heavily on rail transportation. After rejecting a proposed national labor contract in October and reigniting the possibility of a rail strike, the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees (BMWE) Division […]
Imported sheet and plate products arrived at US ports at a slower clip in September, accounting for a lower share of the domestic market for the third straight month. That’s according to a Steel Market Update analysis of import data from the US Commerce Department and domestic shipment figures from the American Iron and Steel […]
Total US mill shipments of steel products were down in September, falling to their lowest total year-to-date (YTD). Mill shipments have been fluctuating up and down all year with little consistency. September’s shipments totaled 7.58 million tons, a 7.2% decline from August’s 8.18 million tons, and the lowest total since February 2021. Apparent supply also saw a […]
Steel prices continue to slide, and apparently so does sentiment. Based on SMU’s latest check of the market, sheet prices once again fell across the board, grinding lower and nearing levels some never expected to see again. Speculation that hot-rolled coil (HRC) prices will be at or near the $600-per-ton mark takes center stage with […]
Equipment from the 2023 “complete” closure of a carbon steel, tin, and sheet material cold-rolling mill in Pittsburg, Calif., is up for sale. It is believed to be the assets of the USS-UPI finishing plant owned by US Steel. The mill equipment — including a pickle line tandem cold reduction mill, a No. 1 continuous […]
Steel buyers continue to hold the upper hand in price negotiations with mills — a position they have enjoyed for nearly six months. A very high percentage of sheet buyers continue to report that mills are willing to talk price to secure an order. Negotiations on plate products are not as common, with slightly more […]
Steel mill lead times were steady to down this week compared to our previous market check. Production times shrunk for four products tracked by SMU and slightly extended for one. Lead times retracted by an average of 0.2 weeks compared to two weeks ago and are half a week shorter than levels one month ago. […]
Sheet prices fell across the board again this week as the slow grind lower that we’ve seen since last spring continued to gain speed. Hot-rolled coil prices fell $30 per ton ($1.50 per cwt) week-over-week. Declines in coated products were more pronounced, with cold rolled down $55 per ton, galvanized down $35 per ton, and […]
The United Steelworkers (USW) union and US Steel said on Tuesday that they had reached a tentative four-year labor agreement. The USW also said that its bargaining committee had unanimously recommended that union members ratify the deal with the Pittsburgh-based steelmaker. The tentative pact covers approximately 11,000 union-represented workers at US Steel. It does not […]
Canadian sheet and plate producer Algoma Steel Inc. posted sharply lower profits for the second quarter of its 2023 fiscal year. The Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario-based steelmaker said the drop resulted from falling steel prices, operational problems, and higher costs. The company had warned in September that its fiscal Q2 earnings would be substantially below […]
Nucor on Thursday confirmed its plate prices would remain unchanged with the opening of its December order book. Though the market was anxiously awaiting the Charlotte, N.C.-based steelmaker’s announcement, few were surprised by it. Why? It’s not clear that a price decrease at this stage in the fourth quarter would generate buying. And it would devalue […]
The number of active drilling rigs was mixed this week, with counts increasing in the US and falling in Canada, according to data from oilfield services company Baker Hughes. Activity in the US and Canada has held steady in recent weeks but is not quite back to pre-Covid levels. The number of oil and gas rigs […]
The Hard Work Starts Now, Executing on the Announced New Aluminum Capacity After the flurry of announcements in May and July of this year, the three new greenfield aluminum rolling mills are in various stages of execution. Novelis Breaks Ground Official ground breaking took place on Novelis’ Bay Minette, Ala., mill on Oct. 7. The […]
It’s official. Steel Dynamics Inc. (SDI) will build its $1.9 billion flat-rolled aluminum mill in Columbus, Miss., where the company already operates an electric-arc furnace (EAF) steel sheet mill. The Fort Wayne, Ind.-based steelmaker said it would also construct a “biocarbon” facility in Columbus to reduce reliance on anthracite coal in its EAFs and to […]
The US Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration (ITA) has set new, lower dumping rates on hot-rolled steel flat product imports from Japan and South Korea. The time period covered in both the ITA’s administrative reviews of the antidumping duties is Oct. 1, 2020, through Sept. 30, 2021, according to the Federal Register filings reviewed by […]
Steel Dynamics Inc. (SDI) appears poised to announce that its new aluminum flat-rolled mill will be located in Mississippi, according to state records and recent comments by the state’s governor. Governor Tate Reeves said he would convene a special session of the state legislature on Wednesday, Nov. 2, to finalize “the largest economic development deal […]
Sheet prices are down yet again, with our hot-rolled coil price now at its lowest point since late October 2020. The question two years ago was how far prices might rise as demand snapped back from the pandemic faster than supply could be brought online to meet it. The question now is when and where […]
Sheet and plate prices fell across the board once again this week as market participants continue to question when and where the market might bottom. Some not long ago predicted that hot-rolled coil prices wouldn’t fall below $800 per ton ($40 per cwt). Our average price is now well below $700 per ton, with some […]
Steel prices declined each week in October, with all sheet products now back in line with late-2020 levels. Hot rolled prices averaged $736 per net ton ($36.80 per cwt) in October, falling from $765 in the beginning of the month to $710 as of last Tuesday. The SMU Price Momentum Indicator for sheet products was […]
Arkansas has become a hub for steel production in the southern US, and it will soon be home to another steel mill. Hybar, a newly formed company led by steel industry veteran David Stickler, announced it will build a $500 million greenfield minimill to produce rebar in northeast Arkansas just outside of Osceola. The new […]
Steel mill lead times declined across the board this week for all products tracked by SMU. Our latest lead times analysis shows that production times on sheet products decreased by 0.2–0.5 weeks compared to our previous market check two weeks ago, while plate lead times dipped 0.1 weeks. On average, lead times retracted by 0.3 weeks compared to […]
Somewhat better-than-expected demand helped service center behemoth Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. achieve strong third-quarter sales. And despite macroeconomic uncertainty, inflation, continuing supply chain disruptions, and geopolitical issues, the Scottsdale, Ariz.-based company anticipates healthy demand trends to continue in the current quarter, according to its Q3 earnings report released on Thursday, Oct. 27. The company […]
Don’t look now but sheet price erosion continues, with tags across all flat-rolled products inching lower this week, according to SMU’s latest check of the market. For some time now we’ve been trying to gauge SMU survey respondents’ sentiment and their sense of market direction by asking when they think HRC prices will bottom out […]
Galvanized prices continue to drop, as discussed during this month’s call of the Sheet Metal/Air Handling Council of the Heating, Air-conditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International (HARDI). Prices have been steadily dropping for the past six months despite stable demand. A few highlights from the call include the differential between hot-rollled and cold-rolled coil being in […]
Domestic sheet prices slipped again this week across all sheet and plate products. It’s the continuation of a mostly downward trend on the sheet side that we’ve seen since mid/late April. Hot-rolled, cold-rolled and coated products were all down $20–25 per ton ($1–1.25 per cwt). Plate prices slipped a more modest $10 per ton. SMU’s […]
“Training is everything: Invest in your employees.” – Chris Shipp, vice president of sales for Reibus Over 50 individuals got an up close and personal look at steelmaking at Steel Market Update’s final Steel 101 Workshop of 2022 on Oct. 19–20 in Corpus Christi, Texas. A mill tour was hosted by Steel Dynamics Inc. (SDI) Southwest Sinton […]
The number of active drilling rigs were mixed this week, with counts increasing in the US and falling in Canada, according to data from oilfield services company Baker Hughes. Activity in both the US and Canada has leveled out over the last two weeks and is not quite back to pre-Covid levels. The number of […]
US sheet prices continue to slide, and the weakness in the domestic market has buyers confident that they can get domestic suppliers to negotiate. For hot-rolled coil, imports have not been very advantageous relative to futures. There have been some workable offers for tandem mill products. But buyers have been more inclined to buy domestically or […]
Well, earnings season is now well underway. We’ve seen the early reporters like steel processor Worthington Steel (who announced it will be splitting off its steel segment and creating two separate, publicly traded businesses), as well as tube producer Webco, and steel and metal manufacturer Commercial Metals Co. all report strong results in their latest earnings. […]
Although operating rates at its steel mills declined slightly from the second to third quarter, Steel Dynamics Inc. continues to demonstrate higher utilization rates than the US industry as a whole. The company’s overall Q3 utilization rate was 93%, down two percentage points from the 95% rate achieved in Q2, SDI chairman, president, and CEO Mark […]