AM Castle reported a consolidated net loss of $16 million for first quarter 2014, compared to net loss of 10.6 million in first quarter 2013. Metals segment net sales were $219.1 million, 15.2 percent lower than Q1 2013 due to decline in average pricing per ton and volume. Net volume improved by 13.4 percent from […]
SMU was pleased to attend the Association of Steel Distributors (ASD) Regional Meeting in Pittsburgh at the Esmark Center on April 27. Esmark Steel CEO Jim Bouchard welcomed ASD members to its new “American steel built” global headquarters on the Ohio River. ASD members were treated to a cocktail hour followed by a presentation by […]
Steel Technologies, which is a service center and a 50/50 joint venture between Nucor and Mitsui & Co. (USA), announced earlier this week the acquisition of Stripco LLC. Below is the press release provided to Steel Market Update by Steel Technologies: LOUISVILLE, KY (April 22, 2014) – Steel Technologies LLC (“Steel Technologies”) today announced its […]
CENTRIA Coating Services has promoted two longstanding employees of the organization. Jim Connelly will assume the newly created position of Director of Continuous Improvement and Supplier Relations and Charlie Hamilton has been named Director of Coil Coating Operations for the company’s two plants. “Both of these individuals exemplify CENTRIA’s ‘That’s How We Roll’ swagger,” said […]
Would you want to start up your own service center in today’s environment? The risk and rewards are much different than in the past and, more often than not, entrepreneurs are not opening steel distribution centers. Last week, Steel Market Update attended the Platts Steel Markets North America conference, where the challenges of service center […]
One of the keys watched by Steel Market Update is service center spot pricing into their customers – especially the manufacturing segment of the industry. We have found if service centers are lowering their spot prices on hot rolled, cold rolled and coated steels, especially after a price increase announcement, it is more difficult for […]
New Star Metals has acquired Material Sciences Corporation (MSC) a provider of acoustical products used in brakes, body panels, and engine components. MSC also specializes in electro-galvanizing and coil coating of flat-rolled steel and aluminum and provides products and services to the automotive, construction, appliance, and lighting industries. “We are excited to complete the purchase […]
Fulton County Processing (FCP), a joint venture with Heidtman Steel, is expanding its pickling capacity at its facility in Delta, Ohio. The $20 million project will add a new 4 tank Butech Bliss/Nelson push/pull pickling line and is scheduled for completion in fourth quarter 2014. The steel processing expansion will add 82,000 square feet and […]
Steel Market Update saw the percentage of manufacturing companies reporting steel service center flat rolled steel spot prices as declining increase from 20 percent in early February to 54 percent at the beginning of March. This past week Steel Market Update (SMU) conducted our early March analysis of the flat rolled steel markets. This is […]
Manufacturing companies and service centers are beginning to agree on one topic: service center spot prices are faltering and spot price offers are beginning to drop. The percentage of manufacturing companies reporting lower spot prices out of the service centers rose from 4 percent in early January to 20 percent. At the same point in […]
Leeco Steel, a supplier of carbon, HSLA, heat-treated and alloy steel plate, will open its first Florida sales and distribution center in Tampa. This will be the eleventh location for the Illinois-based company. The 98,000 square foot facility will have drive-through bays and rail service and is scheduled to be operational by April. Processing equipment […]
We are beginning to capture signs of a fracture in the resolve of the service centers to push higher steel prices into their end user accounts. With flat rolled steel spot prices trading within a fairly narrow and stable range for the past 10 weeks according to our SMU price indices, it should not come […]
Last week John Temples of Steel Market Update attended the Association of Steel Distributors regional meeting in Detroit, Michigan. This was his first ASD meeting, and found the meeting to be a beneficial resource for networking and learning more about steel related business in the Midwest. The featured speaker was Mike Fezzey, president of Huntington […]
We are beginning to capture signs of a fracture in the resolve of the service centers to push higher steel prices into their end user accounts. With flat rolled steel spot prices trading within a fairly narrow and stable range for the past 10 weeks according to our SMU price indices, it should not come […]
One of the interesting points brought out in the most recent flat rolled steel survey is distributors inventories are rising. According to the results from last week’s survey steel inventories rose to their highest levels since January 2013 and now stand at 2.35 months. MSCI data is due out later this week and SMU is […]
ELK GROVE VILLAGE, Ill.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Material Sciences Corporation, a leading provider of material-based solutions for acoustical and coated applications, announced today that it has entered into a definitive merger agreement with Zink Acquisition Holdings Inc. (“Parent”) and Zink Acquisition Merger Sub Inc. (“Merger Sub”), which are affiliates of New Star Metals Inc. and Insight Equity Holdings […]
Commercial Metals Company (CMC) posted net earnings of $45.9 million on net sales of $1.7 billion for its first quarter of fiscal year 2014 ending on November 30, 2013. This compares with net earnings of $49.7 million on a similar net sale amount of $1.7 billion for the same period in FY 2013. Results included […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) spoke with Ryan Letz, CEO/President of Willbanks Metals a hot rolled and plate distribution and value-add services company located in Fort Worth, Texas. The Letz brothers had just announced the purchase of the assets and the book of business of First Process Steel, Inc. out of Tulsa, Oklahoma with the following […]
The U.S. service centers are believers and, according to their customers as well as the distributors themselves, they are raising spot prices on flat rolled steel. It has been Steel Market Update’s opinion for quite some time that for domestic mill price increases to continue to rise the service centers need to support the increases […]
Based on the results from our recent steel market analysis of the flat rolled steel service centers we found inventory levels increased to 2.30 months. As you can see by the graphic below, the Steel Market Update service center inventory levels tend to make very modest changes. It will be interesting to see if the […]
Horizon Steel Company, plans to build a 90,000 square foot service center facility in Bowling Green, Kentucky. The $15 million project is expected to provide 30 new full-time positions in the region. The facility will be part of a co-located operation that will span approximately 150,000 square feet in the Kentucky Transpark and will also […]
Over the past few months we have seen constraints in the supply of flat rolled steel as one of the main drivers behind the higher price trend. Supply disruptions continued at a number of mills due to maintenance at Severstal, ArcelorMittal, USS and others as well as the restart associated with USS Lake Erie Works. […]
After compiling the results from our most recent Steel Market Update survey, we found service center inventories have risen to an average of 2.21 months for mid-November, the highest figure since mid-July of this year. This is an improvement compared to the early-November survey, when inventories were measured at 2.04 months, the lowest figure since […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) asked those distributors participating in our twice monthly steel market survey to advise us how many months of flat rolled steel they have on hand. We do not pretend to possess the data base of the MSCI and we defer to their data base – especially in the case of the […]
GlobeNet Metals and Flack Steel will merge to become one company with projected steel sales of approximately 275,000 tons per year. The combined entities will continue to sell steel under the GlobeNet Metals and Flack Steel brands. Ben Bucci, CEO of GlobeNet Metals which is headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona told Steel Market Update, “We started […]
AM Castle, a metals and plastics distributor, reported a net loss of $6.9 million for the third quarter 2013, compared to net income of $3.2 million in Q3 2012. Consolidated net sales were $253 million down from $304 million in 2012. Metal sales in the third quarter were $220 million, a drop of 19.2 percent […]
Scrap supplier, Sims Metal Management, announced the appointment of Galdino Claro as Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, effective Nov. 4. Claro joins Sims from Harsco Corporation, a global provider of industrial solutions and engineered products, where he has served as Executive Vice President and CEO of Metals and Minerals since July 2010. Claro’s experience […]
Global distributor A.M. Castle & Co. expects a third quarter loss of 28 to 32 cents per share and EBITDA between $4 million and $5 million according to preliminary results announced on Oct. 8. Sales are expected to range between $250 million and $255 million for the quarter. Projections were well below analyst estimates of […]
A certain level of frustration appears to be hitting the service centers in both the spot and contract markets. In the spot market we have heard from a number of service centers that their attempts to raise spot prices are being met with a certain level of disbelief as end users evaluate how to perceive […]
The most recent survey of the flat rolled steel industry conducted by SMU began at 8 AM on Monday of this past week. Within a few hours of our start, NLMK and ArcelorMittal had both announced price increases and USS was busy telling their customers that they too would raise spot flat rolled pricing. As […]