Olympic Steel’s Andrew Wolfort has been promoted to the role of Vice President-Specialty Metals. Joining Olympic Steel in 2007, Wolfort most recently led three of the Olympic specialty steel locations as Regional Vice-President. In his new role he will continue to lead the teams at Schaumburg, Ill., and Gary, Ind., facilities and the Berlin Metals […]
A new Danieli spooler line is in operation at the Nucor Steel Sedalia minimill in Missouri. The spool will deliver twist-free compact and regularly shaped coils at up to 30 m/s. The high-efficiency and low-cost line is for the production of rebars and rounds in coils weighing up to five tons. The spooler line consists of […]
Olympic Steel posted a net loss of $6.5 million for the second quarter of 2020. Sales totaled $248 million, down from $429 million in Q2 2019 due to lower average selling prices and a significant decline in shipments as a result of pandemic-related shutdowns, including the automotive industry. “As the pandemic began to affect the […]
“The second quarter has been one of the most challenging quarters I can remember,” said Ternium CEO Máximo Vedoya. Steel demand fell in the second quarter with steel companies in many regions shutting down blast furnaces. Ternium operations in Brazil and Argentina were able to keep operating, albeit at reduced volumes, and increased shipments to […]
Steel Dynamics, Inc. has completed its acquisition of Zimmer, a Mexican scrap recycler, as part of its raw material procurement strategy to support the new flat rolled mill it is building in Sinton, Texas. SDI plans to begin operations at the new EAF mill in mid-2021. Zimmer is headquartered in Monterrey, Mexico, and operates a ferrous and […]
By CRU Senior Consultant Ibrahim Yucel, from CRU’s Steel Monitor Efforts to reshore critical supply chains and secure access to strategic materials have become a top political issue for many countries, and trade barriers are a common tool used by governments to help protect local producers of strategic materials. However, trade policy enforcements sometimes lead […]
“Second-quarter results are a reminder of why we have to change,” said U.S. Steel President and CEO David Burritt, during his quarterly conference. The second quarter marked the trough of a challenging year, he said, as U.S. Steel remains focused on its “best of both” strategy, which includes the acquisition of EAF mill Big River […]
ArcelorMittal is laying off 877 union and salaried workers at Indiana Harbor in addition to the 454 at ArcelorMittal Cleveland. The layoffs took effect on Saturday and will continue for the next two weeks until completed. In an amended letter to the Indiana Department of Workforce Development, ArcelorMittal said, “Due to additional and unforeseen deterioration […]
Cleveland-Cliffs is getting back to normal after idling 15 facilities in three months due to the impacts of COVID-19. As of today, all facilities, including the AK Steel Dearborn furnace, are back to operation with the exception of North Shore and Tilden, which will resume next week. Idling costs of around $50 million will be […]
Metals processor and distributor Ryerson Holding Corp. recorded revenue of $772 million for the second quarter of 2020, a plunge of 35.9 percent from a year ago and 23.6 percent sequentially. Shipments fell 25.8 percent to 462,000 tons. Average selling price declined 13.6 percent to $1,671 per ton. The company reduced warehousing, delivery, general and […]
Learning to do more with less during the COVID crisis is bringing structural changes to ArcelorMittal, said Aditya Mittal, president and CFO of the world’s largest integrated steel and mining company, during today’s second-quarter report to analysts and investors. Without offering specifics about which assets will be affected in pursuit of cost savings, Mittal said […]
Liberty Steel says it will continue to operate its Georgetown facility under “care and maintenance” due to the ongoing challenging market conditions. The company idled Georgetown in April with expectations of reopening in three months. Approximately 130 employees and contractors were laid off. “A skeleton staff will continue to manage the care and maintenance program. […]
World crude steel production declined by 7 percent in June, compared with the same month last year, to a total of approximately 148.3 million metric tons, reported the World Steel Association in Brussels. For the first six months of 2020, global steel production totaled 873.1 million tons, down 6.0 percent year over year as steel […]
Reducing harmful greenhouse gas emissions from the steelmaking process, which remains a very CO2- and energy-intensive activity, calls for a combination of approaches that may vary from nation to nation. “There is no single solution to drastically reducing CO2 emissions from our industry, and we believe that individual countries are best placed to assess and […]
A mass layoff of 454 workers at ArcelorMittal Cleveland is slated to begin on Aug. 1. A WARN notice was sent to the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services on July 27 informing the state of the impending layoffs, which will include hourly represented as well as certain salaried employees. Said ArcelorMittal in their […]
SSAB Americas’ third-quarter results were impacted by lower prices and volumes, which were somewhat offset by cost savings and lower raw material prices. SSAB Americas posted an operating loss of SEK 10 million ($1.13 million) versus a profit of SEK 106 million ($12 million) in the first quarter. Sales totaled $3.2 billion SEK ($361 million) […]
NLMK USA saw shipments plummet 39 percent quarter-over-quarter to 330,000 metric tons as steel demand dropped in Q2 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Revenue fell 37 percent to $238 million. EBITDA was $3 million compared to -$22 million in Q1 and was attributed to “widening of the slabs to rolled product price spread” as well […]
India-based steelmaker JSW Steel posted its first loss in six years in Q1 of FY 2021 after what it called “formidable challenges” related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The quarter was marked by “disrupted supply chains, unparalleled drop in demand and activity levels in the domestic markets, uncertainty in seamless inbound and outbound logistics movement, and liquidity […]
Investigations are under way into the cause of an accident at ArcelorMittal’s Indiana Harbor mill in East Chicago, Ind., that claimed the life of a 71-year-old worker who was struck by a coil tractor on Tuesday. ArcelorMittal offered condolences to the family of George Salinas of Gary, Ind. “We are deeply troubled by today’s incident […]
U.S. Steel plans to restart the No. 8 blast furnace at Gary Works on Aug. 1 in response to improved demand from automotive and other sectors. The 1.2-million-ton furnace was idled in April. “Gary Works is restoring this capacity to satisfy the very strong demand we are seeing from key contract customers with the reemergence […]
Nucor surprised analysts with earnings significantly higher than expected for the second quarter of 2020. Earnings for Q2 totaled $108.9 million or $0.36 per diluted share despite Nucor’s own guidance for $0.10-0.15 per share and analyst forecasts of $0.12 to $0.14. The company admits poor forecasting ability resulted in the welcome discrepancy, along with strategic […]
Reliance Steel & Aluminum, the industry’s largest service center organization, is expecting a slight increase in demand during the third quarter of 2020 after sales dropped 21.5 percent from the first to the second quarter to $2.02 billion. Shipments for the second quarter declined 17.5 percent to 1.2 million tons with an average selling price […]
The trough for steel volume, particularly for flat rolled steel, has passed and the second half looks promising, said Steel Dynamics CEO Mark Millett. Back orders are strong and order intake rates have picked up due to increasing demand as businesses resume operations following COVID-19 shutdowns. “It is still not possible to determine the full […]
Wholesalers who sell galvanized steel products to the HVAC sector remain surprisingly upbeat, despite weak steel prices and uncertain demand due to the coronavirus. In a conference call this morning, members of the Heating, Air Conditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International said they are benefiting from some pent-up demand, especially in the Northeast where state and […]
Wholesalers who sell HVAC and galvanized steel products to the construction sector report a market that is sharply split. In a conference call this morning, members of the Heating, Air Conditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International (HARDI) said demand from residential building is surprisingly healthy despite the coronavirus pandemic, while nonresidential/commercial construction is weakening. “I have […]
Australian steel producer BlueScope expects strong financial results for the second half of FY2020 ending June 30. “Some BlueScope businesses have been impacted by government mandated and customer closures, but in general business conditions have been better than expected – driven primarily by continuing building and construction demand in key markets,” said the company in […]
JSW Steel USA Ohio confirmed it will temporarily idle its operations at Mingo Junction due to weak market demand. Employee layoffs are scheduled for July and August with workers to be called back once market conditions improve and operations resume. “Unfortunately, market conditions in carbon flat rolled steel consuming sectors have deteriorated further since we […]
No one was injured in an explosion at ArcelorMittal Burns Harbor on Thursday morning, which caused damage to the mill’s “D” blast furnace. A spokesperson for ArcelorMittal said the explosion and resulting fire was caused by a stove dome failure and the furnace was safely taken offline. Burns Harbor Fire and EMS, along with the […]
NLMK Group reported a 2 percent year-over-year increase in sales during the second quarter of 2020 for total sales of 4.4. million metric tons. The increase was attributed to higher exports of slab and pig iron. Sales declined 3 percent from Q1 2020. Overall steel output declined to 3.9 million tons as a result of […]
Chicago-based Feralloy Corp. plans to locate a $17.5 million processing facility on Nucor Steel’s Gallatin campus in Kentucky. The company will lease a 60,000-square-foot facility and purchase steel coils directly from Nucor for further processing. The Gallatin site will service customers in the Ohio Valley and eastern U.S. and create 30 jobs. According to the […]