USS-POSCO (UPI) in Pittsburg, California, filed a layoff warning with the California Economic Development Department (CED) that created concern that 690 employees would be laid off effective January 14, 2014. USS-POSCO says media reports of a layoff were in error. A spokesperson for USS-POSCO said the company has “no imminent plans to lay off any employees […]
A Christmas Eve start-up of the Nucor direct reduced iron (DRI) facility in St. Louis Parish, Louisiana, came off without a hitch. Within 24 hours the output quality matched best-in-class levels of Nucor’s Trinidad plant, said the company. “We are very pleased to announce this important step in executing our raw materials strategy,” said John […]
With the announcements by NLMK USA, Nucor and ArcelorMittal USA on Monday, it is quite clear that the flat rolled steel mills are marching to the same drummer when it comes to carbon sheet pricing. All of the announcements made on Monday reflected the same base price levels: Hot Rolled = $35.00/cwt ($700 per ton) […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) communicated with Todd Leebow, President of Majestic Steel about their just announced purchase of Flat Rolled Steel, Inc. We asked him how the Flat Rolled Steel, Inc. will be handled, what it added to their company and what plans did Majestic have as they move into the Southwestern section of the […]
Worthington Industries reported a strong second quarter (ending November 30, 2013) for fiscal year 2014. Sales were $769.9 million, up 24 percent from the previous quarter due to an overall increase in volume. The steel segment was especially robust with sales of $491.1 million—up 43 percent year-over-year. As we reported in our last issue, net […]
Majestic Steel, a flat rolled steel service center located in the Cleveland, Ohio area, announced on Wednesday their acquisition of Flat Rolled Steel, Inc. which has locations/offices in Tulsa, OK; Grand Prairie, Texas (Dallas) and Houston, Texas. In a letter to their new customers, Majestic Steel provided no details of the purchase. Todd Leebow, President […]
Steel Dynamics issued its fourth quarter 2013 guidance on Tuesday reporting earnings in the range of $0.21 to $0.25 per diluted share, below analyst estimates ranging from $0.26 to $0.31. SDI announced a quarterly cash dividend of $0.11 per share. Earnings are expected to be comparable to those of third quarter. Higher steel pricing is […]
Worthington Industries, Inc. reported net earnings of $23.0 million and net sales of $769.9 million for the second quarter of fiscal year 2014, ending November 30, 2013. Net sales increased 24 percent from the previous year and 9 percent from the previous quarter and were attributed to higher overall volumes related to new acquisitions. Net […]
AK Steel announced its fourth quarter earnings guidance and expects to realize net income of $0.01 to $0.06 per diluted share. Steel shipments are expected to increase by 13 percent to 1,400,000 tons in the fourth quarter compared to 1,242,400 tons in the third quarter. The company says demand has increased, especially in carbon sales […]
According to data just released by the Metal Service Center Institute (MSCI) total steel inventories dropped slightly during the month of November while steel shipments were off 11,500 tons per day compared to the daily rate reported for the month of October. When compared to last November shipments improved by 6,200 tons per day and […]
We want to take a moment to remind our Executive Members (as well as our trial members) that we have a section under the Resources tab for steel mills. Once there you can navigate to the Furnace Status sub-menu tab and then over to the Blast Furnace tab where you can access the most up-to-date […]
Planned outages and the collapse of the storage dome at Nucor Steel Louisiana negatively impacted earnings said Nucor in its fourth quarter guidance. Earnings per diluted share are expected to be in the range of $0.30-$0.40, down from third quarter 2013 earnings of $0.46 per diluted share and fourth quarter 2012 earnings of $0.43 per […]
Essar Steel Algoma has been granted funding relief for the Company’s defined benefit pension plan by the Ontario government. The new regulation allows Essar Algoma make fixed payments over the next three years and extends the amortization period through 2024. The regulation is effective as of December 1, 2013. Essar Steel Algoma’s pension contribution requirements […]
An explosion and fire at the US Steel Great Lakes Works in Ecorse, Mich., has killed a worker and halted steel production. The Ecorse fire department was called to the scene of the fire at 2:50 am on Sunday morning. US Steel spokesman Courtney Boone said that the explosion occurred at the plant’s steel shop […]
The Department of Commerce said on Dec. 9 that Severstal is in compliance with the terms of a suspension agreement on certain cut-to-length (CTL) carbon steel plate from the Russian Federation. The original agreement was signed by the DOC on Dec. 20, 2002 suspending the antidumping investigation on certain CTL carbon steel plate from Russian […]
Alton Steel announced the election of James Hrusovsky as CEO effective immediately. Hrusovsky, former Essar Steel Algoma CEO and a 31-year veteran of the steel industry, will succeed Charlie Linnemeyer. Prior to his career at Essar Steel, Hrusovsky was CEO for Severstal Columbus where he led a significant expansion for the company. Linnemeyer, who started […]
ArcelorMittal announced it will change its organizational structure to one of regional management in order to simplify how the company is run. The reorganization will allow each business to follow its own strategy and focus for product specialization. The Group Management Board will be as follows: – Lou Schorsch , CEO of Flat Carbon Americas […]
Worthington Industries plans to close their Essex facility in Baltimore County, located near the former Sparrows Point steel site, by the end of its fiscal year, May 31, 2014. The closing will result in the layoff of 54 employees. The company filed the following SEC report: On December 10, 2013, the Steel Processing Segment (“Worthington […]
Michael Wagner has been appointed Chief Sales and Marketing Officer at Essar Steel Algoma, pending regulatory approval. Wagner most recently served as Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer at SeverCorr where he was a founding member in 2005. He began his career at Bethlehem Steel and moved on to progressively advanced roles at Nucor […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) conducted the first of our two monthly surveys for the month of December. We invited approximately 600 companies to participate in this week’s market analysis. Of the companies responding 47 percent were manufacturers, 42 per cent were service centers/wholesalers and the balance consisted of steel mills, trading companies, toll processors and […]
There have been a number of rumors flying about the marketplace since the announcement of the ThyssenKrupp Steel USA facility in Calvert, Alabama. We thought it prudent to address a couple of the issues where we have some insights. TK USA 2014 Contracts Steel Market Update has been advised by ThyssenKrupp Steel USA customers that […]
ThyssenKrupp AG exceeded its target of positive EBIT for the 2012-2013 fiscal year, ending September 30, by 100 million euros. EBIT for the fiscal year was 599 million euros ($815 million) said management at the annual press conference. Operating losses and impairment charges for Steel Americas (re-included in the fiscal year as a continuing operation), […]
ArcelorMittal conducted a conference call with steel analysts regarding the purchase of ThyssenKrupp Steel USA steel mill. The company outlined the reasons for the purchase and addressed a number of issues of importance to the steel community. In his opening remarks, ArcelorMittal CEO, Lakshmi Mittal spelled out their reasons for making the purchase: “So firstly, […]
ArcelorMittal (AM) and their 50/50 joint venture partner Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation (NSSMC) reached an agreement with ThyssenKrupp AG to acquire the ThyssenKrupp Steel USA steel mill located in Calvert, Alabama. The purchase was valued at $1.55 billion for the 4.3 million tons of flat rolling capacity along with 1 million tons of […]
US Steel announced the election by the board of directors of David S. Sutherland to the position of independent, non-executive chairman effective Jan. 1, 2014. Sutherland will replace executive chairman John Surma who will retire on Dec. 31. US Steel split the roles of CEO and chairman when Mario Longhi succeeded Surma as CEO in […]
ArcelorMittal (AM) and their 50/50 joint venture partner Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation (NSSMC) reached an agreement with ThyssenKrupp AG to acquire the ThyssenKrupp Steel USA steel mill located in Calvert, Alabama. The purchase was valued at $1.55 billion for the 4.3 million tons of flat rolling capacity along with 1 million tons of […]
Steel Market Update spoke with steel analyst Charles Bradford of Bradford Research about the purchase of the ThyssenKrupp Steel USA assets by the ArcelorMittal/Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metals Corporation joint venture. We wanted to understand the economics of the purchase as well as what will happen next prior to the closing of the deal. “ArcelorMittal […]
The anticipation over the fate of ThyssenKrupp Steel Americas is finally over with the sale of the Calvert, Alabama mill to joint venture partners ArcelorMittal and Nippon Steel and Sumitomo Metal Corporation. The $1.55 billion sale gives ArcelorMittal a firm foothold in the Southeast and in the NAFTA auto market. Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal […]
A fire at Republic Steel in Lorain, Ohio injured five people and destroyed three floors within the plant before being contained on Saturday. The victims suffered smoke inhalation, first degree burns and broken bones. The fire started just before 2:30 pm on Nov. 30 when a spark or heat ignited the oxygen supply of the […]
ThyssenKrupp AG put out a press release late this afternoon postponing their annual financial statements which were originally scheduled for this Thursday, November 21st. The reason being provided is the company is involved in “..exclusive negotiations on the potential sale of the US steel plant in Calvert/Alabama (ThyssenKrupp Steel USA). The talks also include a […]