EVRAZ NA announced the resignation of president and chief executive officer Conrad Winkler and the appointment of James “Skip” Herald as the new CEO. The change in leadership will be effective Aug. 5, 2019. Winkler, CEO since July 2013, is leaving to pursue other opportunities, said a press release from the company. Winkler led the […]
Nucor reported a decline in earnings for the second quarter of 2019 due to lower shipments and pricing. A build-up of inventory before the Section 232 tariffs resulted in aggressive destocking at the end of 2018 and into 2019, which impacted order rates, along with an increase in domestic steel supply and a declining scrap […]
Perhaps taking a page from automakers’ playbook, ArcelorMittal USA reportedly sent a letter to its suppliers last week stating that it planned to implement a 10 percent price reduction on all existing purchase agreements, effective July 31. S&P Global Platts reported that ArcelorMittal is calling on suppliers to help it cut costs as it works […]
AK Steel union members at Butler Works in Pennsylvania ratified a new three-year labor agreement last week. The agreement covers about 1,200 members of the United Auto Workers Local 3303 and will be in effect until June 15, 2022. “We are pleased to have reached a labor agreement at Butler Works for our employees,” said […]
NLMK USA’s second-quarter sales dropped 3 percent from the previous quarter to 580,000 metric tons due to lower shipments in anticipation of further deterioration of steel prices. Flat steel prices in the U.S. went down by 6-11 percent from first to second quarter and 23-30 percent on a year-over-year basis. Pricing was impacted by steel […]
NLMK USA is blaming Trump’s tariffs for layoffs at its Pennsylvania steel mill. Last week, 80 to 100 workers were laid off at the hot mill at NLMK’s Farrell steel plant. NLMK USA CEO and President Robert Miller called the tariffs a “failed policy.” “This is what I predicted a year ago,’’ Miller told the […]
The steel price increases announced by the major mills have not had much effect on the HVAC sector yet, but members of the Heating, Air Conditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International (HARDI) are hopeful the market has bottomed and the value of their inventories has stabilized. “There hasn’t been much change in behavior on the street […]
Bellville Tube Company has a new and, as yet, undisclosed owner. The manufacturer of steel tubulars for the commercial construction, industrial, and oil and gas industries will be reopened by a U.S.-based private investment group during the third quarter of 2019. The facility is expected to expand to full annual capacity of 130,000 tons and […]
Canada’s Stelco, Hamilton, Ontario, has begun shipping fully processed, annealed cold-rolled sheet after investing more than $30 million in a new batch annealing facility. With completion of this project, Stelco will now be able to offer these high-quality products to the automotive, appliance, service center and pre-painted steel markets. These products have historically commanded higher […]
Worthington Industries, Inc., reported net earnings of $153.5 million for its 2019 fiscal year ended May 31, down 21 percent from earnings of $194.8 million in the prior year. Earnings were hurt by inventory holding losses from declining steel prices, among other factors. Sales for the year totaled $3.76 billion, up from $3.58 billion last […]
Have steel prices finally hit bottom? Nucor is counting on it. The industry-leading steelmaker announced a $40 per ton price increase on it’s flat rolled products earlier today. Other mills are expected to follow suit. Effectively immediately, the Nucor Sheet Mill Group increased base prices on new orders of hot rolled, cold rolled and galvanized […]
ArcelorMittal is taking the lead on a new steel industry certification standard called ResponsibleSteel, which will set a single, global standard for the “mine to metal” steel value chain. The standard will enable steel producers to prove their production processes and products meet rigorously defined standards across a broad range of social, environmental and ethical […]
Expansion at Commercial Metals Corp. is paying off with a 33 percent increase in revenue to $1.6 billion in the third quarter of FY 2019. In November, CMC acquired Gerdau’s four rebar mills and 33 fabrication facilities in the U.S., increasing its U.S. mill capacity by 75 percent. Net earnings for CMC totaled $78.6 million. […]
Australian steel producer BlueScope lowered its earnings estimate for FY 2019 based on margins and market conditions. BlueScope now expects an increase in underlying EBIT of 6 percent for the year, down from previous guidance of 10 percent. EBIT for FY 2019 is expected to be around $1.35 billion and $500 million for the second […]
A small fire at Clairton Coke Works on Monday caused no environmental damage in the Mon Valley area, confirmed U.S. Steel and the Allegheny County Health Department. U.S. Steel said that the fire was the result of an electric arc flash on a breaker panel that provides power to Control Room #1 equipment. The fire […]
U.S. Steel Corp. announced today that it will idle two blast furnaces in the United States and one in Europe to align with current market conditions. The B2 furnace at Great Lakes Works was idled last week for planned maintenance. U.S. Steel plans to keep the furnace idled following repairs, as well as temporarily idling […]
Two of the biggest steel companies in the U.S. are expecting earnings to decline in the second quarter. Nucor and Steel Dynamics both cite lower shipments and inventory destocking as contributing factors. In guidance released on Monday, Nucor forecast earnings in the range of $1.20 to $1.25 per diluted share compared to $1.63 per share […]
U.S. Steel Clairton Coke Works suffered its second fire in six months when a small blaze broke out in electrical equipment early Monday morning, disrupting environmental controls. U.S. Steel released the following statement: “Early this morning, Monday, June 17, a small electrical fire was detected on an electrical breaker panel impacting power to the by-products […]
The CEO of ArcelorMittal says Europe has a “steel glut” because of U.S. tariffs and the EU needs to do more to limit imports. ArcelorMittal Chairman and CEO Lakshmi Mittal told a German newspaper yesterday that safeguards initiated by the EU are not successfully protecting the European steel industry. “The EU has announced safeguard measures, […]
Mexican steel producer, Altos Hornos de Mexico, S.A.B. de C.V. (AHMSA) has reached an agreement with South Korea’s Paco Engineering to build Mexico’s first coated galvanized steel sheet plant. The new $20 million plant in Monclova will be able to process 90,000 tons of cold rolled sheet per year. “The painted sheet plant is one […]
Suppliers of steel products to the HVAC industry find themselves stuck in a good news/bad news market. Demand remains good as the construction season ramps up, but pricing on galvanized steel continues to weaken. “Demand in the Southeast is still very good, even though there has been a painful devaluation of our inventory,” said one […]
Liberty Steel has announced the acquisition of Johnstown Wire Technologies, a producer of value-added carbon and alloy wire, in Johnstown, Pa. The acquisition will give Liberty the capacity to manufacture a range of high-value carbon and alloy wire products for multiple end markets including the infrastructure, automotive, utility and consumer sectors. The Johnstown operations will […]
Big River Steel has big plans and now has access to the big dollars needed to fund them. The steelmaker reported Friday that it has closed and funded $487 million of 30-year bonds and $290 million of equity financing. The company will use the bond and equity proceeds to expand its scrap metal recycling and […]
NLMK Group has backed off from plans to invest in its U.S. division due to the steel duties that were imposed in 2018. The Department of Commerce has denied the Group’s request for exemption from the 25 percent Section 232 tariffs so that it can supply its facilities with steel slab. “Earlier we planned to […]
AK Steel reports that members of the United Auto Workers (UAW), Local 4104, have ratified a new three-year labor agreement covering about 110 hourly production and maintenance employees at the company’s Zanesville (Ohio) Works. AK Steel said that UAW officials notified the company that the new contract was ratified in voting held on May 30. […]
The chairman of Mexican steel producer Altos Hornos de Mexico SAB was arrested on Tuesday in an anti-corruption probe, resulting in the freezing of AHMSA accounts and a possible disruption to steel production in Mexico. The investigation involves the sale by AHMSA of an idled fertilizer plant in 2014, allegedly worth $50 million, to oil […]
ArcelorMittal announced it will make another cut to European production levels due to weak demand and high import levels in the region. Primary steelmaking will be reduced at facilities in Dunkirk, France, and Eisenhüttenstadt, Germany. Production at the facility in Bremen, Germany, will be reduced during the fourth quarter as well as extending planned furnace […]
A $700 million expansion at North Star BlueScope may be in jeopardy, according to some financial analysts who point to new challenges for the mill now that the Section 232 tariffs have been removed from Canada and Mexico. Softening hot rolled coil prices and higher cost inputs are expected to pressure U.S. steel spreads. The […]
Altos Hornos de Mexico (AHMSA) plans to increased steel production by 30 percent now that U.S. tariffs have been eliminated. The year-long Section 232 measures caused a 25 percent drop in AHMSA’s steel production and $300 million in lost revenue, said AHMSA President Alonso Ancira Elizondo. As orders from the U.S. fell due to the […]
Like everyone else in the steel industry, members of the Heating, Air-conditioning and Refrigeration Distributors International (HARDI) are wondering what will happen to supply and prices now that the Trump administration has lifted the Section 232 tariffs on steel imports from Canada and Mexico and cut in half the tariffs on steel imports from Turkey. […]