As we listen to the domestic steel mills earnings conference calls, one of the items we focus on is their viewpoint regarding service center inventories. One year ago the domestic mills were touting the lack of inventory as being one of the drivers of orders which was keeping flat rolled steel prices high. That tune […]
Margins are being compressed at the secondary steel services centers according to SMU secondary market sources. However, unlike prime flat rolled steel where we find prices have been in steady decline for a few months, secondary or non-prime flat rolled steel pricing did not begin to erode until right after the beginning of the New […]
In each and every flat rolled steel market survey Steel Market Update conducts, we ask both the flat rolled steel service centers and their manufacturing customers to comment on service center spot pricing. SMU believes spot prices being touted by the steel distributors is a microcosm of the health of the greater steel industry. We […]
Spartanburg, South Carolina, January 2, 2015. – Logic Ventures, LLC (“Logic Ventures”) is pleased to announce the acquisition of 100% of the shares of All Metals Service & Warehousing and All Metals Transportation and Logistics (“All Metals”), an independent, South-East based, flat rolled steel and aluminum toll-processor and end-to-end logistics provider. The acquisition comes as […]
Austrian international technology company ANDRITZ Group has acquired Herr-Voss Stamco in Callery, Pennsylvania for an undisclosed purchase price. The acquisition will enlarge ANDRITZ’s service and product offerings in the North American metals sector. Herr-Voss Stamco also serves a large customer base in the North American automotive, service center and oil/gas industries. Herr-Voss Stamco is supplier […]
Jodi Parnel, Vice President of Supply Chain for O’Neal Steel spoke to the AWMI conference attendees on Friday of this past week. During her presentation Ms. Parnel explained how purchasing has changed since she began in the industry in 1998. “Service centers,” she explained, “no longer fill the gaps in a weak supply chain.” Steel […]
A.M. Castle & Co. reported net sales of $245.5 million for third quarter for a net loss of $7.3 million. Metals segment sales totaled $210.7 million, down 1.6 percent from the previous quarter and 4.2 percent lower year over year. Pricing dropped 2.5 percent and sales volumes declined 1.4 percent compared to Q3 2013. “While […]
Schnitzer Steel Industries, Inc. expects significantly improved results for fourth quarter FY 2014, ending August 31, 2014. The company’s steel manufacturing business benefited from growing West Coast construction demand and productivity initiatives that resulted in operating income in the range of $13 to $14 per ton, the highest quarterly profit since FY 2008. Metals recycling […]
Metal Center News published their top 50 service centers based on volume with Reliance Steel & Aluminum taking top honors once again by a wide margin. Reliance 2013 revenues were $9.22 billion up from 2012 revenues of $8.44 billion. The next five service centers are closely bunched with revenues of at least $3.0 billion but […]
“A simple act can create awareness,” is how our interview with Association of Steel Distributors President Brian Robbins began. The topic of the conversation was a follow-up to his comments made at the Cleveland regional meeting of the ASD when he told the group “let’s bring back sexy” to the steel industry. He clarified his […]
Allegheny Technologies, Inc. (ATI) is considering US Steel as a potential partner for a joint venture on its new hot-rolling and processing facility in Brackenridge, Pa., according to equity research firm Cowen and Co. ATI, a diversified specialty materials and components producer, is working with two steel mills to secure the joint venture, according to […]
“Let’s bring sexy back to steel!” That was the rallying cry of Associated Steel Distributors President Brian Robbins at the regional meeting held at the Ritz Carlton in Cleveland, Ohio on September 18. Robbins, CEO of MidWest Materials, harkened back to the days of steel glory when CEOs were celebrities of sort and even sales […]
Esmark Industrial Group (EIG) announced the acquisition of Pittsburgh Annealing Box, Inc, for an undisclosed multi-million dollar purchase price. EIG is a metals and fabrication and manufacturing subsidiary of Esmark Inc. Pittsburgh Annealing Box, a maintenance, steel fabrication and repair operation, was founded in 1893 and has conducted business under the name KMA Manufacturing since 2003. […]
Steel Market Update received the following letter to the editor from a flat rolled steel service center. With contract negotiations heating up we thought the letter may spark a dialogue between the steel mills and their customers: John, we are a Mid-West Steel Service Center and attended your Steel Market Update Atlanta conference. We gained […]
Ohio-based service center Heidtman Steel announced production for its new slitting facility in East Chicago, Ind. is expected to begin in early September. Installation of equipment is nearly complete and trial runs will begin later this month. Full production is anticipated by October. The 120,000 sq. ft. facility houses an Alcos brand Advance High Strength […]
The service centers who sell secondary or excess prime flat rolled steels are reporting a very tight market as less material is being made available out of the steel mills and holes are developing in steel service center inventories. Secondary steel buying prices out of the domestic mills have been moving up but have not […]
Last week, Steel Market Update conducted our early July flat rolled steel market analysis. One of the items we watch as a key market indicator is how the manufacturing companies and service centers report whether distributors are raising, lowering or maintaining flat rolled steel spot prices. Just as the various indexes saw little movement in […]
Last week, while we were in New York City for various steel conferences, the Metal Service Center Institute (MSCI) published steel inventory and steel shipment data for the month of May. Based on this information and a special analysis of the data by Steel Market Update we produce our SMU Apparent Excess or Deficit of […]
O’Neal Steel and Leeco Steel have been awarded $117 million in compensatory and punitive damages against vendors who knowingly sold them inferior steel. Jurors in the US District Court in the Northern District of Alabama, agreed that World Steel Unlimited and General Purpose Steel, and their owners, conspired to violate the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt […]
Manufacturing companies as well as their service center suppliers, reported spot service centers prices as basically stable with a tilt toward the beginning of a downward price cycle for service center flat rolled steel spot pricing. Again, this is service center spot price offers to their manufacturing customers which is being measured as opposed to […]
Samuel, Son & Co., Ltd. is investing more than $16 million in an expansion project at its Winnipeg, Manitoba facility. The project will expand the current 88,000 square foot facility by 25,000 square feet and house a Bradbury Cut-to-Length line capable of producing product from coil up to .500 thick x 96” wide in lengths […]
BURR RIDGE, Illinois – June 3, 2014 – Material Sciences Corporation (MSC), a division of New Star Metals, has sold its Global OE and Aftermarket Brake Shim business to Wolverine Advanced Materials for an undisclosed sum. MSC will retain its North American production facilities in Walbridge, OH and Elk Grove Village, IL as well as […]
Gibraltar Industries has named Frank Heard as President and Chief Operating Officer, effective immediately. Heard, joins Gibraltar with more than 25 years of experience in the building products industry. He mostly recently was President of ITW Building Components Group, a division of Illinois Tool Works Inc. At ITW Heard was in charge of strategic direction […]
Mill Steel Co, a flat rolled steel service center company in Grand Rapids, Michigan, is investing $16.2 million in the purchase, opening and expansion of operations in Jeffersonville, Indiana, at the Port of Indiana-Jeffersonville. The existing 105,000 square foot facility will be expanded to 225,000 square feet and will house two state-of-the-art slitting lines in […]
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 […]