AK Steel has completed the reline of the blast furnace hearth at its Ashland, Kentucky Works and the furnace is back in full production. The maintenance and reline, which took 27 days, was moved up from 2015 to correct issues that occurred with the furnace earlier this year. AK Steel reports that the furnace is […]
A judge gave US Steel Canada permission on Friday to restart its Hamilton coke oven battery. A deal was formulated to allow coke produced at the plant to be sold to parent company US Steel in the United States. US Steel spokesperson Trevor Harris told SMU the restart is limited to the currently hot-idled coke […]
Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. announced on Tuesday the purchased of Fox Metals and Alloys, Inc. for an undisclosed sum. Fox Metals, based in Houston, Texas, is a steel distributor specializing in alloy, carbon and stainless steel bar and plate products, primarily servicing OEMs and machine shops supporting the oil, gas and petrochemical industries. “The […]
Big River Steel has asked a federal court to block the Clean Air Act challenge mounted by Nucor last August. In a court filing on Friday, Big River Steel said the challenge is a “collateral attack” by Nucor. Big River Steel received the necessary permits from the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (AEDQ) to build […]
ArcelorMittal and Italian steel processor Marcegaglia have submitted a non-binding, 30-day deadline offer for troubled Italian steel plant Ilva. Ilva, a privately owned company by Riva Steel, has been under special administration since last year after a court order temporarily shut down a portion of the plant for environmental violations. Toxic factory emissions were found […]
Mexican steel producer Altos Homos de Mexico SA (AHMSA) reported steel shipments of 361,939 tonnes (398,962 tons) in October. Shipments reached a new high due to increased production from expansion at Monclova. Annual production capacity has been boosted to 5.5 million tons from 4.75 million tons (6.06 million tons and 5.23 million tons, respectively). The […]
US Steel announced on Monday it will build a new corporate headquarters at the former Civic Arena site in Pittsburgh’s lower Hill District. The new headquarters is part of US Steel’s Carnegie Way and is expected to provide significant cost savings by housing employees from a number of locations under one roof. “As we continue […]
The Sparrows Point blast furnace is scheduled for demolition sometime within the next few days or weeks, according to Sparrows Point Terminal LLC, the current owners of the site. Officials said the 320-foot tall L blast furnace will be imploded by Controlled Demolition Inc on a weekday in December. The furnace from the former Bethlehem […]
Once the site of the largest steel mill in North America, Sparrows Point is being demolished piece by piece. The former Bethlehem Steel plant was put into bankruptcy by its last steel owner, RG Steel and the new owners have sold off the equipment and the buildings have been scrapped. The last major structure left […]
Total service center carbon steel shipments in October increased by 244,000 tons to 3.742 million tons. This was due to an increase in shipping days from 21 to 23. On a tons per day basis (t/d) shipments decreased from 166,600 tons in September to 162,700 in October. In every month this year since March, t/d […]
Earlier today Steel Market Update participated in the HARDI steel group conference call which resulted in more questions than answers being raised due to the uncertainty in the galvanized steel markets. The call began with a recap of the price announcements which were made by the domestic mills when AK Steel began the process on […]
Yesterday the Metal Service Center Institute (MSCI) released their inventory and shipment data. According to the latest data total steel inventories dropped by 0.40 percent from the previous month and stood at 9,312,500 tons as of the end of October. Although down from the prior month steel inventories were 15.5 percent higher than October 2013. […]
PITTSBURGH, Nov. 18, 2014 /PRNewswire/– United States Steel Corporation (NYSE: X) today announced the executive leadership for three of the company’s newly created commercial entities. Joseph R. Scherrbaum will serve as acting vice president – Industrial Solutions, Geoff M. Turk will serve as vice president – Service Center Solutions and Lawrence W. Sutherland will serve […]
PITTSBURGH, Nov. 18, 2014 — United States Steel Corporation (NYSE: X) today announced the executive leadership for three of the company’s newly created commercial entities. Joseph R. Scherrbaum will serve as acting vice president – Industrial Solutions, Geoff M. Turk will serve as vice president – Service Center Solutions and Lawrence W. Sutherland will serve […]
US Steel announced a realignment of its reporting segments in order to meet strategic goals set forth in its Carnegie Way transformation. The North American flat-rolled segment will include creation of commercial entities to address specific markets. The realignment will take effect by January 1, 2015. “These commercial entities will put our company in a […]
There is a new flat rolled steel mill under construction in Arkansas. The mill will be complete in 2016. However, we feel that many of you are probably interested to know what the timetable is for the ramp up of the mill at this point in time. We have obtained the ramp-up schedule from Big […]
Evraz Claymont Steel is slated for demolition by Commercial Development Company, Inc. (CDC). The Delaware mill, which has been idled since December 2013, will be sold by Evraz to CDC for an undisclosed figure by the end of the year. CDC plans to “take the site through a brownfield-cleanup process, which will include the demolition […]
Production has been suspended at the Nucor Louisiana DRI plant due to an major failure of the process gas heater on November 2. The company is assessing the damage from the incident but is not yet able to estimate how long repairs will take. The incident caused no injuries or environmental impact and no damage […]
ArcelorMittal reported $20 billion in sales for third quarter on 21.5 million tonnes (23.7 million tons) of steel shipments. Net income for the quarter was $22 million, compared to $52 million in Q2 2014 and a net loss of $193 million in Q3 2013. Total crude steel production for the company was 23.9 million tonnes […]
Ternium reported earnings for the 3rd quarter 2014 this week. Ternium is a large steel producer in Mexico, which accounts for 60 percent of the company’s shipments, as well as Argentina which accounts for 24 percent. Ternium also owns a conversion mill in the United States which produces galvanized and Galvalume products along with prepainted […]
The World Steel Association published its 2014 statistical year book this week with data through 2013. Figure 1 shows total crude steel production in the U.S. since 1880 in short tons. The peak production was 150,483,000 tons in 1973. The final total for 2013 was 95,566,000 tons, down by 2.05 percent from 97,565,000 in 2012. […]
Over the past few days, Steel Market Update has received a number of inquiries from steel buyers who were upset that they are being put into a position where they have to consider buying foreign steel rather than domestic due to the pricing disparity between the two products. A Midwest service center buyer reported that […]
Olympic Steel, a metals service center headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, reported net sales of 376.6 million for third quarter, an increase of 23.9 percent year over year and a new third quarter sales record. Net sales on flat products totaled $312 million while sales for tubular and pipe products totaled $63.8 million. Flat rolled shipments […]
Kloeckner Metals Corporation, the Americas segment of Klockner & Co. SE, had shipments of 733,000 tonnes (807,989 tons) in third quarter 2014, up 2.6 percent year over year due to favorable market development. Shipments were even with second quarter results. Sales were €634 million ($7.9 million), compared to €608 million ($7.5 million) in Q2 and […]
AK Steel reported a net loss of $7.2 million for the third quarter of 2013 due to one-time costs associated with the acquisition of Severstal Dearborn. Excluding the acquisition related costs, AK Steel’s adjusted net income was $16.4 million. Net sales were $1.59 billion on shipments of 1,462,900 tons. Shipments increased from 1,242,400 tons in […]
Nucor Corp. is reportedly one of the steel mill in talks with Cliffs Natural Resources over an investment plan for the Bloom Lake iron ore mine in Canada. Cliffs CEO Lourenco Goncalves said in the company earning calls that Cliffs would seek three investors, to partner at 10 percent each, to develop Phase 2 of […]
US Steel announced in their earnings conference call that Carnegie Way benefits now total $495 million for 2014 due primarily to improvements in manufacturing processes, supply chain and logistics, and SG&A reductions. “While our operating difficulties in North America in the first half of the year made it difficult to see the results of our […]
Steel Dynamics announced that effective immediately Don Switzer will be assuming the role of Manager of Sales for its recently acquired steel-making facility in Columbus, Mississippi. Switzer will succeed Kasandra Lutzko who recently left the company to pursue other interests. Mr. Switzer joined Steel Dynamics in 2006 as Product Manager for pre-painted products and most […]
ArcelorMittal announced today the formation of a flat-rolled segment in North America as well as a shake-up in leadership to enhance performance in its North American operations. The North American segment represents one fourth of the company’s steel shipments and profits. The reorganization is expected to improve North American operations and accelerate the successful integration […]
Commercial Metals Company (CMC) reported net earnings of $34.9 million for its fourth quarter ending August 31, 2014. Net sales increased 12 percent year over year to $1.9 billion. For the full fiscal year 2014, net earnings were 115.6 million on net sales of 7 billion. In comparison, FY 2013 net earnings were 77.3 million […]