An explosion over the weekend at Evraz North America’s steel mill in Pueblo, Colo., injured eight people, three of them critically, a union official told Steel Market Update. The resulting damage will disrupt production at the mill given that its electric arc furnace (EAF) feeds three downstream operations, some of which do not have an […]
Cleveland-Cliffs is ramping up the No. 5 blast furnace at its steel mill in Cleveland, Ohio, after a minor incident earlier in the week, according to market participants. A blowout on a tuyere resulted in limited damage, including melted wiring, and led to the furnace being down for several days, a source familiar with the […]
The U.S. steel industry stands to benefit in a big way should the government put a price on carbon emissions, according to a study by CRU, Steel Market Update’s parent company. CRU examined the potential impact of a standard fee on carbon emissions and an equivalent border carbon adjustment (BCA) and found that such policies could […]
Friedman Industries, a manufacturer and processor of steel products, will add a new facility on the Steel Dynamics Sinton, Texas, flat roll steel mill campus. Friedman plans to build a 70,000-square-foot building on 25 acres leased from SDI under a 99-year agreement. Red Bud Industries has been selected to install stretcher leveler cut-to-length lines capable […]
U.S. Steel has completed a 25-day maintenance outage on the No. 1 blast furnace at its Mon Valley Works in western Pennsylvania, a company spokeswoman said. The outage was part of the steelmaker’s normal maintenance program. The downtime was used to apply shotcrete–a sprayed concrete–and other standard upkeep, sources have said. The Pittsburgh-based steelmaker said on its first-quarter earnings […]
Nucor CEO and President Leon Topalian will serve as the next chairman of the American Iron and Steel Institute, announced the AISI Board of Directors on Tuesday. Topalian will serve a two-year term at the head of the industry trade group, taking over the role from John Brett, CEO of ArcelorMittal North America. “Leon Topalian […]
Privately held Canadian steelmaker Algoma Steel has agreed to be taken over and taken public in a deal valued at as much as $1.7 billion, the company said. Proceeds from the initial public offering (IPO) might result in the Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario-based company becoming the latest producer to switch from integrated to electric arc […]
Steel Dynamics CEO and President Mark Millett will add chairman of the board to his executive duties. Millett, who co-founded Steel Dynamics in 1993 with Keith Busse and Richard Teets, will replace Busse as chairman, effective immediately as part of a planned leadership transition. Busse will continue to serve as a director on the board. […]
Much attention has been paid to how much new electric-arc furnace (EAF) flat-rolled steel capacity is being added to the North American market. Less has been written about how many tons of integrated steelmaking capacity have been taken out. An analysis by Steel Market Update indicates that the latter figure is perhaps equally significant. It […]
Much attention has been paid to how much new electric-arc furnace (EAF) flat-rolled steel capacity is being added to the North American market. Less has been written about how many tons of integrated steelmaking capacity have been taken out. An analysis by Steel Market Update indicates that the latter figure is perhaps equally significant. It […]
U.S. Steel’s mill in Košice, Slovakia, must swap out its blast furnaces for electric-arc furnaces (EAFs) to survive in a decarbonizing world, a government official said. The problem: Doing so doesn’t come cheap. The change would cost approximately €1.5 billion ($1.8 billion), Slovakian Finance Minister Igor Matovič said per reports in local media. “If we want […]
Ternium has completed its new hot strip mill in Pesqueria, Mexico, ahead of schedule. The Latin American steelmaker ran its first two hot rolled coils in mid-May at the new mill near Monterrey, more than two weeks ahead of its originally planned June start-up. “This is a very important milestone; it is the result of […]
California Steel Industries (CSI) has opened its flat rolled orderbook for August, and the West Coast slab converter has also increased prices by triple-digit margins, according to market participants. “The purpose of this letter is to inform you that CSI’s August Flat Rolled Order Book is now open,” the company said in emails to customers on Thursday, May […]
California Steel Industries (CS) will increase its zinc coating extras effective July 1. “Due to changing zinc costs, our galvanized coating extras have been revised,” the company said in a letter to customers on Friday, May 14. The West Coast slab re-roller last increased coating extras in early December. Zinc prices have since risen. Zinc […]
Klöckner & Company SE is under the new leadership of Guido Kerkhoff, effective May 13, 2021. Kerkhoff has been responsible for Europe business operations as Deputy Chairman of the Management Board since the beginning of September 2020. In the planned transition, he succeeds Gisbert Rühl, a member of the Management Board since 2006 and CEO […]
Commercial Metals was granted approval for an operating air permit that clears the way for construction of its micro mill in Mesa, Ariz. “Receiving the air permit is an important milestone in our latest micro mill project, which we have named Arizona 2,” said Tracy Porter, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. “With the […]
Lourenco Goncalves, chairman, president and CEO of Cleveland-Cliffs, will be honored as Steelmaker of the Year by the Association for Iron and Steel Technology at this year’s AISTech 2021 conference. The award recognizes Goncalves for his leadership in the iron and steel industry. Said AIST in a press release: “Goncalves is awarded Steelmaker of the […]
NLMK USA is taking an unplanned seven- to 10-day outage on the hot-strip mill at its facility in Farrell, Pa., a company executive said. The repairs are necessary because a motor failed on the reversing roughing mill, NLMK USA Executive Vice President James Banker told Steel Market Update on Tuesday, May 11. The company will […]
United Steelworkers at ArcelorMittal Mines and Infrastructure Canada went on strike Monday night after rejecting a May 7 offer by the company. The strike by 2,500 employees could have a “serious economic impact on the economy of the Côte-Nord and Quebec,” said Quebec Labor Minister Jean Boulet. ArcelorMittal and the USW executives of the five […]
U.S. Steel’s surprise decision to pull the plug on the $1.5-billion upgrade at its Mon Valley Works pleased environmental advocates but came as a serious blow to the economic environment in the Pittsburgh area. Government officials, unions and citizen groups cried foul over what they see as the loss of thousands of jobs from a […]
Record-high steel prices result not from Section 232 tariffs or industry consolidation but instead from uniquely strong supply-demand fundamentals, Cleveland-Cliffs’ top executive said. And an ambitious infrastructure package would go a long way toward keeping those fundamentals, and the resulting investment in the domestic steel industry, stronger for longer, he suggested. “We in this country […]
Steel Market Update has revised its blast furnace status chart to reflect that two furnaces at Cleveland-Cliffs’ Indiana Harbor steelmaking complex in East Chicago, Ind., have been razed. The No. 5 and No. 6 blast furnaces have not been operated since 2010, were decommissioned in 2015 and have since been demolished, a spokeswoman for the […]
Olympic Steel kept the momentum going at the start of 2021, achieving its most profitable first quarter ever and third best quarter overall in the company’s history. Despite supply/demand challenges, Olympic recorded record net sales of $463 million due to higher metals pricing. Net income was $22 million, a big improvement from $600,000 in Q1 […]
U.S. Steel has left open the possibility of moving its endless casting and rolling project–initially slated for its Mon Valley Works in western Pennsylvania–elsewhere. The Pittsburgh-based steelmaker declined to say what equipment it had in hand and where it might be able to relocate it. “We do not have any information beyond what has already been […]
ArcelorMittal’s joint venture AMNS Calvert ran at near capacity in the first quarter of 2021, delivering record first-quarter results. Hot strip mill production jumped 19.3% to 1.3 million metric tons from the fourth quarter. EBITDA nearly tripled to $159 million from $56 million in the prior quarter. The mill is currently supplied with slab sourced […]
Canadian steel producer Stelco is seeing the impact of its upgraded smart blast furnace, reporting production records and higher profit in the first quarter due to higher steel prices and increased value-added shipments of cold rolled and coated products. Compared to the previous quarter, revenue increased 57%, shipments jumped 38% and operating income soared a whopping […]
Ryerson’s first-quarter profits expanded despite an “extreme commodity environment” thanks to strong demand, higher selling prices and the sale of a facility in Washington. And the Chicago-based metals service center thinks the black ink will flow into the second quarter as well. “At this point in the second quarter, demand fundamentals have continued to improve […]
Nucor plans to spend $58 million to upgrade its engineered bar mill in Norfolk, Neb., with the aim of increasing sales to the automotive industry. The modernization project is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2022, the electric-arc furnace steelmaker said. The scope of work will include adding a new reheat furnace, […]
California Steel Industries (CSI) is increasing freight rates by 5-13% because of a shortage of flatbed trucks. The freight surcharge is effective immediately, and the exact amount varies by region, the West Coast slab converter said in a letter to customers Tuesday, May 4. “Transportation costs are rapidly increasing and are expected to continue to […]
Canadian flat-rolled steelmaker Stelco swung to a profit in the first quarter and expects high steel prices and sales volumes to galvanize results for the balance of the year. “All signs point to continued robust demand and strong pricing in the near term,” Stelco Executive Chairman and CEO Alan Kestenbaum said in a statement released […]