Saudi Arabian energy company Aramco, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), and China’s Baoshan Iron & Steel (Baosteel) signed an agreement on May 1 to build a steel plate manufacturing facility in Saudi Arabia. The operation is expected to have a plate production capacity of up to 1.5 million tons per year, Aramco said. It will […]
Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. has made its first acquisition of 2023, announcing the addition of Southern Steel Supply Co. to its portfolio of service center companies. Southern Steel Supply is based in Memphis, Tenn., supplying merchant and structural steel, pipe and tube, steel plate, ornamental products, and laser-cut and fabricated parts to […]
Cleveland-Cliffs is planning a blast-furnace reline at its Burns Harbor operations in northwest Indiana in 2025, a company executive said. Discussing capital expenditures on a Q1 earnings conference call with investors on Tuesday, Cliffs EVP and CFO Celso Goncalves said the company expected cap-ex ~$700 million in 2023-24. “Now when you get to 2025 and […]
Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. has reached a tentative labor agreement with Local 1943 of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) at its Middletown Works in Ohio. Pending ratification by the union, the new four-year contract will be effective on May 15 and will cover 2,100 hourly employees. “The new labor agreement with our valued […]
The prime scrap and metallic shortage in the US will continue over the next few years, according to Cleveland-Cliffs’ top executive. “Our conviction that this country’s prime scrap and metallic shortage will continue to tighten over the coming years is at the core of our strategy,” Cliffs’ chairman, president, and CEO Lourenco Goncalves said during […]
Cleveland-Cliffs swung to a loss in Q1 vs. a year earlier, but the loss narrowed from the previous quarter. The Cleveland-based steelmaker posted a net loss of $57 million attributable to shareholders in the quarter ended March 31, compared with net income of $801 million in the year-earlier period on revenues that slid 11% to […]
April scrap prices have fallen from March levels on weaker market conditions, market participants told SMU. “The four-month streak of price increases from December-March finally came to an end this month with some disparate price declines across the various grades traded and geographically where the trading happened,” one scrap source told SMU. He noted that, seasonally, […]
Rig counts continue to fall in the US and Canada, according to the latest data from oilfield services company Baker Hughes. The total US rig count was 748 for the week ended April 14, down three rigs from the week prior. The number of active oil rigs in the US dropped by two from the prior week’s 588. The […]
The US Department of Commerce has made initial decisions in several duty circumvention cases involving pipe and tube products from Asia. The department preliminarily found affirmative instances of duty circumvention in six out of seven investigations, according to filings with the Federal Register. In all the cases, Vietnam is the country in which pipe and tube […]
Remember the forecasts about 2023 being a normal year for steel? Instead, we find ourselves in a third consecutive year of “unprecedented” volatility. But I wonder whether we’re seeing a rough redux of 2022 when it comes to sheet products. Namely, sheet prices shooting sharply higher in Q1 only to correct lower in early Q2. […]
Steel exports from the US increased 8% in February from the previous month, according to the latest US Commerce Department data. Total exports for February were 786,223 tons vs. 728,907 tons in January. This is the highest exports have been since August 2022 when they were at 800,677 tons. Canada led the way with 350,998 tons of exports. […]
Looks like the Easter Bunny left a price increase in our baskets this week. After a price increase comes through, the question is always, “But will it stick?” This week’s market chatter contributors don’t seem to think it will. Many comments over the past few weeks refer back to long-term sustainability. Eventually, foreign prices will […]
Greenwave Technology Solutions has opened a new metals recycling facility in Cleveland. The company’s newest location is on a 10-acre site on the east side of Cleveland that was previously occupied by JBI Scrap Processors. Greenwave acquired the property in February. Suffolk, Va.-based Greenwave operates multiple metal recycling facilities throughout Virginia and North Carolina through […]
ArcelorMittal is anticipating delays in shipments after recent incidents took down two of its European blast furnaces (BFs). On March 22, a serious fire totally disabled BF A at its mill in Gijón, Asturias, in northeast Spain. Then, on March 30, BF HF4 at its Dunkirk plant in northern France was idled after a similar […]
Arbor Metals Inc. and Tube Supply LP have purchased the assets of Marco Steel and Aluminum Inc., a processor of carbon, alloy, and stainless steels, aluminum, and hot-rolled steel plate with operations in the southwestern US. Arbor Metals, a division of service center Triple-S Steel, will now own and operate Marco’s assets in Lubbock, Texas, […]
Sheet prices moved slightly higher as domestic steelmakers held to previously announced price increases and as Cleveland-Cliffs rolled out another round of price hikes. Cliffs had been inching prices above $1,200 per ton ($60 per cwt) before the price hike was announced, some sources noted. It’s not clear whether other producers will follow Cliffs’ move. […]
Manufacturing activity in the US continued to slow during the month of March, as did general economic activity, according to the latest Manufacturing Report on Business from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM). The ISM’s monthly PMI index declined for a fifth consecutive month, registering 46.3% in March. This was 1.4 points lower than the […]
Raw steel production by US mills slipped again last week, down 1.3% from the week prior, according to data released by the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) on Monday, April 3. Domestic production stood at 1,658,000 net tons in the week ended April 1 vs. 1,679,000 net tons the previous week. It was off 3.7% from […]
Nucor has chosen Primetals Technologies to build a continuous galvanizing line (CGL) at its Nucor Steel Berkeley facility in Huger, S.C. The new, automotive-grade CGL is designed for annual production of 500,000 tons, London-based Primetals said in a press release on March 29. The line will increase Nucor’s galvanized production capacity and enable this sheet […]
A coalition of trade groups is urging President Joe Biden to help with the ongoing West Coast port labor negotiations. Negotiations for a long-term labor agreement between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association at the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles have been ongoing for more than 10 months […]
Chevrolet recently announced it was retiring the sixth-generation Camaro. An iconic muscle car that first went on sale in late 1966 for the 1967 model year, it had already gone through a few changes. Recall that in 1967 a gallon of gas cost around 35 cents in the USA. That’s for those who can recall […]
Josh Spoores, principal analyst at CRU, will be the featured speaker on the next SMU Community Chat webinar on Wednesday, April 5, at 11 a.m. ET. The live webinar is free. A recording will be available for free to SMU members. You can register here. We’ll talk about CRU’s forecast for fourth quarter HRC prices and […]
General Motors is temporarily idling production at one of its plants in order to adjust production schedules to fit customers’ needs. While the automaker’s production has increased over the past month, automotive demand has been remaining consistent, thus leading to an increase in inventories, a GM spokesman told SMU. As a result, GM has decided […]
It’s not always easy to be a market disruptor, but when done right, it’s worth it. Reibus International is one of those companies hoping to bring change, increased efficiencies, and new ways of doing business to an older industry steeped in tradition. SMU sat down this week with John Armstrong, the founder and CEO of […]
North American auto assemblies rose 1.3%% in February, expanding for a second straight month after declining repeatedly to close out 2022. Last month’s assemblies are 8.4% higher year-on-year (YoY), according to LMC Automotive data. Despite the repeated increases through February, production hasn’t topped the 1.2-million-unit mark since November. And while inventories have improved, the market remains […]
This week started without a price increase. Not that we needed another. Still, it felt weird after so many consecutive weeks of them. Prices continue to move up even without increases and lead times continue to extend. But the pace has moderated. Our hot-rolled coil price stands at $1,140 per ton ($57 per cwt) this […]
Ken Simonson, chief economist for The Associated General Contractors of America (AGC), will be the featured speaker on the next SMU Community Chat webinar on Wednesday, March 22, at 11 a.m. ET. The live webinar is free. A recording will be available free to SMU members. You can register here. We’ll talk about the outlook for […]
The macro environment in the US has proven to be extremely volatile and continues to change on a month-by-month and sometimes even week-by-week basis. Last year ended with worries about an incoming recession as the Federal Reserve hiked interest rates to slow the economy. As 2023 opened and year-end economic data trickled in, the figures were […]
Lead times are increasing and so are prices. Do I sound like a broken record yet? This week’s survey showed that a whopping 61% of participants think lead times will remain flat two months from now. Based on historical data, March through June is high season for the HVAC sector. Taking that into account, we […]
Ken Simonson, chief economist for The Associated General Contractors of America (AGC), will be the featured speaker on the next SMU Community Chat webinar on Wednesday, March 22, at 11 a.m. ET. The live webinar is free. A recording will be available free to SMU members. You can register here. We’ll talk about the outlook for […]