US Steel is in the midst of a 45-day planned outage on the No. 8 blast furnace at its Gary Works in northwest Indiana. The outage began on April 11 and is for typical repairs, a spokeswoman for the Pittsburgh-based steelmaker told SMU. She did not have an end date for the repairs. That said, […]
US Steel is no longer importing pig iron from Ukraine and Russia for its Big River Steel Works – now the official name of its Osceola, Ark., electric arc furnace (EAF) sheet mill. The Pittsburgh-based steelmaker has also mostly weaned its integrated steel mill in Košice, Slovakia, off Russian raw materials as well, they said. […]
Monthly Key Market Indicators improved slightly through March, though sentiment remains cautious, according to the latest analysis by Steel Market Update. Neutral and positive indicators have increased, while negative indicators have eased. Consumers and businesses continue to spend even though economic dynamics remain in flux, with supply disruptions weighing on the economy. While inflation continues […]
Strong demand, growing shipment levels, and robust metals pricing allowed Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. to achieve another record quarter with first quarter sales of $4.49 billion and gross profit of $1.39 billion. “Notwithstanding ongoing macroeconomic challenges, our performance was supported by positive underlying trends including continued strong demand with improving shipment levels in each […]
Steel Market Update’s latest check of the market indicates steel mill lead times are sideways to down for sheet and plate products, decreasing by an average of 0.4 weeks compared to two weeks prior. This is the first time lead times have declined on average since late January. Hot rolled, cold rolled, and galvanized lead […]
Sheet prices continue to bump around what some sources think might be the top of the market, with prices for most products down modestly week-over-week. Hot-rolled coil and cold-rolled prices slipped $30 per ton ($1.50 per cwt). Galvanized base prices were down $20 per ton. And Galvalume prices slipped $45 per ton. The dip comes […]
NIM Group has announced plans to acquire the PlatePlus Inc. facility in Tulsa, Oka. The deal between the two service center groups is expected to close on April 29, NIM Group said. It comes after NIM Group scooped up another PlatePlus facility in Windsor, Colo., earlier this year. “We are pleased to welcome the Tulsa […]
Nucor has ordered two galvanizing lines from equipment supplier Fives SAS for its $2.7 billion electric arc furnace (EAF) sheet mill in West Virginia. One is a vertical galvanizing line, the other is a horizontal line – each will have annual capacity of 500,000 tons, France-based Fives said in a press release on Tuesday, April 26. […]
Distributors who sell galvanized steel products to the construction and HVAC sectors are still seeing strong demand despite record-high prices. But the flurry of buying that happened immediately following the outbreak of the war in Ukraine has slowed, members of the Heating, Air-Conditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International (HARDI) said in their monthly conference call on Tuesday. […]
Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. will install an electric-arc furnace (EAF) at its steel mill in Middletown, Ohio, to make electrical steels for electric vehicles (EVs) – but only if demand merits it. “Let’s see how many of my clients will be really doing what they’re saying they’re going to do in terms of electric vehicles,” company chairman, […]
US Steel is planning a 21-day maintenance outage on its No. 3 blast furnace at its Mon Valley Works in western Pennsylvania, a company spokeswoman confirmed to Steel Market Update (SMU). The outage, scheduled for mid-October, will be used to apply shotcrete – a sprayed concrete – and other standard upkeep. The furnace is located […]
Nucor Corp. is partnering with the University of Kentucky (UK) Research Foundation on a new carbon dioxide capture system at the steelmaker’s Gallatin sheet mill in Ghent, Ky. The innovative research partnership between Nucor and UK is one of 12 federally funded research projects by a Department of Energy (DOE) grant to advance point-source carbon […]
Matthew Abrams, Analyst, CRU Group As costs, premiums, and prices all remain high, market participants across all sectors are all looking for the edge of the cliff. The war, Covid 19, and inflation are all part of the daily conversation. Supply disruptions and demand destruction are very real worries for all those involved. In what could […]
Imports of less expensive sheet and plate products continue to arrive at US ports, but at a slower pace. February marked only the second decrease in overall flat product imports in 10 months, according to Commerce Department data. Imports’ share of the US sheet and plate products markets peaked in December, reaching their highest levels in the […]
Steel Dynamics Inc. (SDI) expects that its new electric-arc furnace sheet mill in Sinton, Texas, will reach a run rate of approximately 80% by the end of the third quarter and over 90% by year-end, company executives said during the quarterly earnings conference call on Thursday. The Fort Wayne, Ind.-based steelmaker has said that it […]
Nucor expects to complete the $650 million expansion and upgrade of its Gallatin sheet mill in Ghent, Ky., in June, company executives said. And the Charlotte, N.C.-based steelmaker’s new $1.35 billion plate mill in Brandenburg, Ky. – slated to have annual capacity of 1.2 million tons – remains on track to start up late in […]
Nucor Corp. “immediately” halted sourcing pig iron and other raw materials from Russia following the invasion of Ukraine in late February, the company’s top executive said. “The day after the invasion happened, we stopped buying materials immediately from Russia and have taken nothing from them,” Nucor president and CEO Leon Topalian said. “We pivoted very quickly […]
Nucor Corp. earnings dipped slightly in the first quarter of 2022 compared to the fourth quarter on lower profits from its sheet mills. But the Charlotte, N.C.-based steelmaker predicted that the trend would reverse in the second quarter – when it expects to post the most profitable quarter in its history. “Our key forward looking […]
I’m writing this Final Thoughts from our first in-person Steel 101 workshop in more than two years. It’s great to see everyone here in Memphis, Tenn. It turns out everyone has legs and feet. We are not all disembodied heads on Zoom or Teams. It’s also great to see so many people at Steel 101. […]
Sheet prices rose modestly across this board this week, following slight declines seen last week. Steel Market Update’s check of the market puts benchmark hot-rolled coil prices at $1,480 per ton, up $30 per ton from one week prior. Coated and plate products saw increases as well, moving upwards between $10 and $40 per ton […]
On Monday, April 18, Nucor and USS-UPI both notified customers of an upward revision to their galvanized steel coating extras. New Nucor extras are effective June 4, 2022, while USS-UPI extras are effective immediately (April 19, 2022). “Consistent with our practice to monitor the cost of zinc, we have revised our galvanized coating weight extras […]
Flat Rolled = 52 Shipping Days of Supply Plate = 44.4 Shipping Days of Supply Flat Rolled US service center flat rolled inventories edged down further in March. Inventories did not fall as much as expected, as attitudes about inventory changed with the reversal of pricing trends. At the end of March, service centers carried […]
Total mill shipments of steel products fell for the second straight month in February to 7.655 million tons, a 6.1% decline from January’s 8.153 million tons. Apparent supply also fell in February, down 12.1% versus the prior month, falling repeatedly and unable to maintain the momentum seen during the final quarter of 2021. This analysis is based […]
Steel mill lead times appear to be steadying this week for four of the five sheet and plate products we track. They are also rising at a slower rate compared to the big gains seen in March. Steel Market Update’s latest check of the market indicates sheet lead times increased by an average of 0.2 weeks […]
Sheet and plate prices are flat or modestly down. I didn’t expect to write that this week. But the data we collected and our methodology indicated that it was the right decision. I’ve had a lot of experience with pricing over the years. And in my experience, that data often moves before the words. In […]
Sheet prices were flat or fell modestly across this board this week for the first time since late February. Case in point: SMU’s average hot-rolled coil price slipped to $1,450 per ton, down $10 per ton from last week. The decline, while negligible in absolute terms, marks the first time HRC prices have not risen […]
Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. chairman, president and CEO Lourenco Goncalves blasted low US tariffs on Russian pig iron given sharply higher ones on steel. The pig iron tariff – $1.11 per metric ton, or $1 per short ton – is too little to stop companies, notably electric-arc furnace (EAF) sheet mills, from importing raw material from Russia, […]
US steel mills shipped 7.233 million net tons in February, a 7.4% increase from the same month last year when shipments totaled 6.753 million net tons, the American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) said. But while shipments were up year over year, they were down 6.8% from January. Shipments by US steelmakers year-to-date through February […]
Voestalpine is in advanced talks to sell a majority stake in its hot-briquetted iron (HBI) plant in southern Texas, the company said. “In recent months, Voestalpine has been conducting an open-ended market sounding to stabilize the business model of its direct reduction plant in Corpus Christi, Texas.” The Austrian specialty steelmaker didn’t disclose a potential […]
BlueScope plans to buy Coil Coatings from Cornerstone Building Brands for $500 million to expand its presence in painted products in the eastern US. The Australian steelmaker – parent company of sheet producer North Star BlueScope in Delta, Ohio – said the deal would complement its existing coated products business on the West Coast. The […]