The following is an email we received from a service center executive regarding the current contract negotiations and their opinion as to how changes can change the mix of contracts to spot orders on with a mill and, price volatility in the marketplace. We have heard the same argument from others within the steel industry […]
You don’t usually think of fruit when visiting a domestic steel mill. However, our gracious hosts at Nucor Arkansas (Hickman) let us in on the secret of Strawberries – and that’s all I have to say about that. For more details talk to anyone associated with Nucor Arkansas and they will most likely let you […]
Kloeckner Metals Co. announced the opening of a new light gauge flat rolled processing center at the ThyssenKrupp Steel USA plant site in Calvert, Alabama. The service center will provide toll processing for ThyssenKrupp Steel USA based on a long-term, owner-independent exclusive contract. The 100,000 square foot facility will offer slitting first and will later […]
Gov. Robert Bentley of Alabama announced that IT-TRI LLC will build a steel tubing and manufacturing plant in Lawrence County. The Chicago-based company hopes to break ground in Trinity, Ala. this fall and begin operations in 2014. “Having two raw material suppliers in Alabama, Nucor Steel in Decatur and U.S. Steel in Birmingham, and due […]
CHARLOTTE, N.C., Oct. 7, 2013 — Nucor Corporation NUE +0.08% announced that The Steel Manufacturers Association (SMA) presented Nucor’s Executive Chairman Dan DiMicco with its Iverson-Selig award, recognizing his outstanding contributions to the minimill steel industry. The award is named after Nucor’s founder Ken Iverson and Marvin Selig, founder of CMC Steel, who were two […]
Activist investor Cevian Capital announced it has increased its stake in ThyssenKrupp AG from 5.2 percent to 6.1 percent. You may be familiar with the definition of an activist as “a vigorous advocate of a cause” but an activist investor is not quite the same. Investopedia defines an activist investor as: An individual or group […]
Severstal NA announced on Monday an increase in flat rolled steel base price in line with the ArcelorMittal announcement. Hot Rolled $34.00/cwt $680/net tonCold Rolled $39.50/cwt $790/net tonGalvanized $39.50/cwt $790/net ton In the company letter sent to their customers Severstal pointed to steady pace of automotive sales and demand […]
Nucor was the last of the major domestic flat rolled mills to come out with new minimum base price levels on flat rolled steel products. Nucor chose to mimic those of ArcelorMittal and not NLMK or AK Steel whose announcements were slightly different than the rest of the industry. Nucor advised their customers through use […]
On Monday morning, NLMK USA announced new flat rolled steel base prices which are to become effective immediately. The minimum base prices announced are: Hot Rolled: $33.50/cwt base ($670 per ton plus extras) Cold Rolled: $38.50/cwt base ($770 per ton plus extras) Galvanized: $38.50/cwt base ($770 per ton plus extras) Specialty 1050: $48.00/cwt […]
ArcelorMittal USA came out with new flat rolled base prices shortly after those announced by NLMK USA. In an email to their customers, AM advised, “Effective immediately, the following minimum base prices are applicable to all future orders accepted by Arcelor Mittal USA LLC for delivery by December 31, 2013.” The base prices presented were […]
AK Steel joined NLMK and ArcelorMittal in raising spot market base prices for all carbon flat-rolled steel products. Effective immediately, the company will be quoting the following minimum base prices for new orders: Minimum Base Prices for New Orders: – Hot Rolled: $680 per ton – Cold Rolled: $790 per ton – Hot Dipped Galvanized: […]
Severstal NA announced more management changes on Friday to complete its senior leadership team. Gerrit Reepmeyer was appointed Vice President, Procurement. An April 2013 addition to SNA as Director, Energy and Utilities, Reepmeyer worked previously as a Principal of E.On Inhouse Consulting, a power and gas company located in Dusseldorf, Germany. Mikhail Zhavoronkov was appointed […]
“I am shocked” was how one manufacturing purchasing manager put it to SMU in a conversation regarding the replacement of Tom Marchak as head of Commercial for Severstal North America. On Tuesday, Severstal North America introduced Sachin Shivaram as the new Vice President, Commercial for the mill. This change comes three weeks after the […]
ThyssenKrupp AG received permission from lenders to waive a test on its EUR 2.5 billion line of credit. The loan required ThyssenKrupp to limit its debt to equity ratio to 150 percent, a test that ThyssenKrupp would likely have failed, allowing lenders to cancel the loan. In June of 2013, the company’s debt ratio was […]
A storage dome collapse will delay the start-up of Nucor’s new DRI plant in Convent, La., until the end of the year said Nucor officials in a press release on Sept. 26. On Wednesday afternoon, one of three storage domes for storage of iron ore pellets, suffered structural failure and collapsed, creating what sounded like […]
US Steel announced management changes in the company’s raw materials and procurement organizations last week. Scott Conley will succeed Marc Stoken on Oct. 1 as general manager—raw materials. Stoken is retiring after 37 years with US Steel. Conley began his US Steel career in 1987 as an associate programmer in Pittsburgh and worked in purchasing […]
Big River Steel received its air quality permit from the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality on Sept. 19, clearing the way for final financing and preparation for construction. The company plans on breaking ground between Thanksgiving and Christmas 2013. The construction of the $1.1 billion plant is projected to take 18 months and provide […]
Furnace Outage Keeps AK from Taking Advantage of Higher Spot Prices AK Steel is expecting a loss for the third quarter that includes approximately $12 million uncovered by insurance related to an unplanned furnace outage in the third quarter. In its guidance released Thursday, the company said the blast furnace outage at Middletown Works reduced […]
ArcelorMittal plans to invest $25 million in improvements in its hot-dip galvanizing line at Cleveland Works bringing its total investment over the past ten years to more than $95 million. Louis Schorsch, of the company’s group management board, told attendees at a City Club Business Leaders event last week that Cleveland Works will be a […]
Another steel-related publication produced an article on September 18th regarding a lawsuit brought by the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality against the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The lawsuit is regarding air permits issued to Nucor Louisiana for their DRI operation which is about to begin operations. Nucor, in a letter to investors […]
Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp. and Ternium SA announced the start-up of its joint venture steel operation, Tenigal, near Monterrey City, Mexico on Sept. 18. Tenigal is part of Ternium’s Pesqueria Project, a $1.1 billion steel complex that includes a cold-rolling plant with a 1.5 million ton annual capacity. Tenigal will produce automotive […]
Steel Dynamics offered guidance on Tuesday saying it anticipates a better third quarter as compared to the second quarter due to increase in shipments and average metal spread (spread being the difference between steel costs and selling prices). In the sheet steel segment higher volumes and better spread increased profits, while in the long products […]
Canadian shipments for all steel products in the month of August were 478,700 net tons, an increase of 4.2 percent from the month before but a decrease of 6.8 percent from August 2012. Inventories at the end of the month stood at 1,388,800 tons, a decrease of 5.0 percent from last month and a decrease […]
Every month HARDI members conduct a steel conference call to discuss what member companies are seeing regarding galvanized steel prices and demand for steel products within their regional markets. Steel Market Update, as a HARDI member company, is an active participant in these monthly calls. Over the past four weeks HARDI wholesalers have seen the […]
According to just released MSCI data, total steel shipments out of the U.S. service centers were reported to be 3,632,900 tons during the month of August 2013. The daily shipping rate rose from 157,500 tons per day in July to 165,100 tons per day in August. Compared to August 2012 shipments (all products) were lower […]
Austrian-based, Benteler International AG has begun construction of a division of Benteler Steel/Tube in Shreveport, LA. The $975 million steel manufacturing project will include a hot-rolling seamless tube facility to be completed in third quarter 2014 and an electric arc furnace in 2020. The facility will have a capacity of producing 320,000 tons of steel […]
In guidance remarks released Tuesday, Nucor Corp. said it expects the third quarter to outperform the second due to strong performance from its sheet and structural steel segment. Sheet steel improvements are attributed to competitor supply disruptions, customer inventory restocking and market demand improvement. The structural segment benefited from higher production following a planned maintenance […]
A minor fire at the ArcelorMittal Burns Harbor plant was contained by company and local firefighters on Sept. 15. According to an ArcelorMittal spokesman, the fire occurred at around 2:40 Sunday on a conveyor unit that carries revert materials to the sinter. No employees were injured, however, a firefighter was taken to the hospital for […]
Severstal North America announced the appointment of Olga Petrova as new Chief Financial Officer. Petrova will succeed Interim CFO Michael Tuomey who has been appointed Deputy Chief Financial Officer. Petrova held the position of Head of Business the Planning and Controlling at parent company OAO Severstal since 2011. Her background includes high-level financial positions at […]
Attempts to save the Warren steel mill connected with the former RG Steel have finally come to an end. BDM Warren Steel Operations filed a permit application to demolish the mill that was shut down in May 2012 said Howland Township Administrator Darlene St. George. The mill was purchased by BDM in August 2012 and […]