Barry Zekelman calls himself a free-trader. Yet his company, Zekelman Industries, filed a trade case last year alleging that Chinese producers of circular welded steel pipe were guilty of evading U.S. import duties. Espousing free trade while suing to block imports may seem like a contradiction, but Zekelman made a good case for his position […]
U.S. Steel announced the appointment of Kevin P. Bradley as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Bradley will lead all aspects of the company’s financial enterprise, including internal and external reporting, credit, tax and treasury services, investor relations, internal controls and internal audit administrative oversight. He will also assist in developing and implementing the […]
“I bet the next increase happens later this week or at the latest next Monday,” one mill executive told Steel Market Update (SMU) earlier this week. Soon, we were hearing similar comments about new flat rolled steel prices coming from others (non-mill) in the industry. As you all are well aware by now, the U.S. […]
Bedrock Industries received a deal on the purchase of Canada’s Stelco, acquiring it for less than $500 million, according to a report by the Hamilton Spectator. U.S. Steel originally purchased what was then a much larger Stelco for $1.1 billion in 2007. The many transactions required to satisfy creditors, pension payouts, retiree benefits, taxes and […]
All of the major flat rolled steel producers have approached their customers and advised them of their intention to increase hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized and Galvalume prices by a minimum of $30 per ton. As of this evening (Tuesday, June 6, 2017) we have seen price announcements out of California Steel Industries, USS Posco […]
Over the course of the day today (Tuesday, June 6, 2017) Steel Market Update (SMU) spent time communicating with top executives at some of the largest flat rolled steel service centers in the United States about the steel price increase announcements and about the market as it exists right now. Four service center presidents responded […]
Today, US Steel Corporation president and chief executive officer David B. Burritt announced new roles and responsibilities for the company’s executive leadership team. Effective immediately, Christine Breves will become Senior Vice President – Supply Chain & Manufacturing Support; Pipasu Soni will serve as Interim Chief Financial Officer; Scott Buckiso will advance to Senior Vice President […]
A contract worker was killed in a work-related accident at US Steel Great Lakes Works in Ecorse, Mich., early Monday morning. The man, a 32-year-old subcontractor for Mid-American Group Inc., fell about 20 feet to his death in an accident reportedly related to a crane collapse. The Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Association said it […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) has an active presence on social media. We find LinkedIn in particular an area where we can get our LinkedIn readers involved in a subject prompting questions and responses. In the preamble prior to the posting of an article produced by Steel Market Update entitled “Is Trump Administration the Next Black […]
US Steel announced on Wednesday that Mario Longhi has stepped down as CEO of US Steel Corp. As of May 8, 2017, president and chief operating officer David Burritt will take the reins as chief executive officer. Longhi will remain on the board of directors and as an employee of US Steel, providing transitional support, […]
The retirement of Mario Longhi from US Steel follows the company’s devastating first quarter loss of $180 million. Despite efforts to rein in costs at US Steel through the much touted Carnegie Way, US Steel managed only one profitable year, 2014, under Longhi’s tenure. The Q1 2017 results caused a 27 percent crash of US […]
The latest license data was reported by the Steel Import Monitoring and Analysis system of the US Commerce Department on May 2nd and closed out the April data. An explanation of the methodology that we at SMU use to analyze the trade data is given at the end of this piece. All volumes in this […]
Stelco, the former US Steel Canada, is getting nearer to emerging from CCAA protection. A “sanction hearing” is scheduled for June 9 during which the court will decide whether Bedrock Industries will be the new owner. Bedrock has the support of most of the stakeholders but is still facing resistance from the local unions who […]
March 2017 steel exports totaled 948,606 net tons (860,562 metric tons), up 14.6 percent over February and up 22.4 percent from March 2016. This is the highest export level seen since November 2014 when 953,828 tons of steel were exported out of the US. The total March export figure is above the three month moving […]
According to the latest data released from the U.S. Department of Commerce and the American Iron and Steel Institute, apparent steel supply for the month of March 2017 was 9,300,718 net tons. Apparent steel supply is calculated by adding domestic steel shipments and finished US steel imports, then subtracting total US steel exports. This is […]
For a number of weeks now (?) Steel Market Update has had our Price Momentum Indicator pointing toward Neutral as opposed to Higher or Lower. Over the past couple of weeks flat rolled prices have been coming off their highs and yet SMU continues to keep our Price Momentum Indicator at Neutral. What gives? Why […]
US Steel stunned analysts and the financial community on Tuesday/Wednesday when the company announced a large loss when the street was expecting the company to make money. During the conference call the mill advised that they essentially need to upgrade their facilities in order for the company to remain competitive. The stock price dropped 25 […]
The U.S. Department of Commerce released the latest update on foreign steel import license request on Tuesday evening. The data suggest that April will be similar to that of March where license data is at 3.5 million net tons. Both March and the April trend a well above both the 12 month and 3 month […]
We include here an unabridged statement from the IMF that was released on Thursday this week which forecasts economic growth for all regions and nations through 2022. The IMF raised its forecast for economic growth in the US in 2017 from 2.2 percent in the October forecast to 2.307 percent and in 2018 from 2.08 […]
US Steel has completed repairs on a waste water pipe that spilled contaminants in the Burns Waterway at the US Steel Midwest Plant in Portage, Ind., last week. The EPA has been testing Lake Michigan water in the region and, so far, has not found significant levels of toxin present. On Friday, US Steel announced […]
February 2017 steel exports totaled 827,559 net tons (750,750 metric tons), up 1.1 percent over January and up 6.2 percent from February 2016. This is the highest export level seen since June 2015 when 885,190 tons were exported out of the US. The total February export figure is above the three month moving average (average […]
According to the latest data released from the U.S. Department of Commerce and the American Iron and Steel Institute, apparent steel supply for the month of February 2017 was 8,501,854 net tons. Apparent steel supply is calculated by adding domestic steel shipments and finished US steel imports, then subtracting total US steel exports. February apparent […]
Scrap dealers are pointing at the order book at the domestic mills as one of the main reasons why ferrous scrap prices inched back after the domestic mills initially pushed for shred and obsolete grades to be lower by $30 per gross ton. The mills could not get enough dealers to fill their scrap order […]
On Monday, Flack Global Metals announced the merger of Kenwood Painted Metals with Flack Global Metals. With the addition of KPM, Flack Global Metals is projecting sales for 2017 to be close to $400 million. Steel Market Update spoke with Flack Global Metals CEO, Jeremy Flack about their company’s drive to grow as a “Next […]
On Friday the President signed an executive order that is designed to enhance trade enforcement efforts by the Commerce Department. The Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of Commerce, and the United States Trade Representative Commerce are directed to develop a plan within 90 days that will […]
As we moved around the industry trying to gauge where flat rolled steel prices are this week, we found most buyers as being optimistic but perhaps not as many as two weeks ago. There seems to be a growing question about whether the market has “peaked” or not. Everyone wants to know where prices will […]
Production in the month of February was 126,579,000 metric tons, down from 137,837,000 tons in January. Capacity utilization fell from 69.2 to 65.5 The three month moving averages (3MMA) that we prefer to use were 132,861,000 and 67.8 percent respectively. This capacity utilization number is misleading because in February it was severely influenced by the […]
Flat rolled prices moved higher over the past week based on SMU sources. Even so, there is much discussion as to what direction prices will go from here and we will have more on that subject later this week. We did receive comments from a large service center that our readers might find of interest […]
Trade attorney Lewis Leibowitz asked Steel Market Update if he could comment on the recent request for comments on the Buy American rules suggested by President Trump on private projects that require government approval. The U.S. Department of Commerce was charged with telling the President what could be done under current law. Here is the […]
A quick note about our galvanized index: Effective today we are adjusting the coating extra being used on our .060” G90 galvanized benchmark items from $69 per ton to $78 per ton. We are continuing to use the US Steel extra for guidance. So, the change that you see in our G90 item is a […]