UPG Enterprises, LLC, has hired Bob Ross as Vice President of Sales, Electrical Steel. Ross is responsible for the business development of UPG’s Mapes & Sprowl Steel and Lamination Specialties divisions located in the Chicagoland area. Ross joins UPG with over 20 years’ experience selling electrical steel/laminations with the balance in forgings, metal fabrication and […]
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 […]
By CRU Analysts Irina Melkonyan and Iris Speelmanns, from CRU’s Steel Sheet Products Market Outlook Russia is among the biggest steel exporters in the world, delivering to a wide range of destinations. However, steel demand in all regions diminished as the world was hit by Covid-19 and most steel producers globally have struggled. Unlike steelmakers […]
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 […]
Ryerson Holding Corp. expects a net loss of between $26 million and $28 million for the second quarter of 2020. In earnings guidance issued July 13, Ryerson said revenue will be in the range of $765 million to $775 million. “Early indications for the third quarter are seeing a continuation of the recovery initiated in […]
Air Liquide, a supplier of industrial gases, plans to invest more than $100 million to upgrade and extend its Gulf Coast pipeline by 28 miles to serve Steel Dynamics, Inc.’s planned minimill in Sinton, Texas. Under the agreement with SDI, Air Liquide will install a new Air Separation Unit with the capacity to produce more […]
Next Generation Manufacturing Canada (NGen), a manufacturing and technology alliance devoted to promoting manufacturing innovation, has announced a $28.8 million collaborative funding effort to support nine cutting-edge Canadian projects, including one at ArcelorMittal Dofasco. NGen runs Canada’s Advanced Manufacturing Supercluster, a government initiative begun in 2018 that pledged up to $950 million to match private […]
By CRU Senior Analysts Ryan Smith and Andrew Gadd, from CRU’s Steelmaking Raw Materials Monitor Oil markets have had a torrid 2020, with the combination of demand losses due to Covid-19 and the breakdown of coordination between major producing countries resulting in plummeting prices. In this Insight, we assess how this oil price shock influences […]
Contractors Steel, a division of UPG Enterprises, has hired Jim Gould as West Region Sales Manager. In his new role, Gould is responsible for the business development of Contractors Steel’s newest service center location in Phoenix, scheduled to open in the fourth quarter. Gould joins Contractors Steel with more than 30 years of experience in […]
For the second year in a row, Nucor Corp. was recognized as a General Motors Supplier of the Year during a virtual ceremony on June 24. Less than 1 percent of GM’s suppliers receive this award. Nucor remains the only electric arc furnace steelmaker to get this recognition. Supplier of the Year award winners were […]
The COVID-19 pandemic took a serious toll on global steel output in May everywhere but in China. The World Steel Association reports that world steel production declined by 8.7 percent last month, compared with May 2019, to an estimated 148.8 million metric tons. Steel production in China actually increased by 4.2 percent in May to […]
SSAB’s Montpelier, Iowa, steel mill will begin a four-week outage starting on June 27. The downtime is for planned bi-annual maintenance, said a spokesperson for the company. SSAB Americas operates two scrap-based electric arc furnaces, one at Montpelier and the other in Mobile, Ala., with a combined annual production capacity of 2.4 million tons. In […]
Worthington Industries will start its fiscal year 2021 under the leadership of Andy Rose as president and chief executive officer. Rose will succeed John P. McConnell who will remain with the company as executive chairman. The transition is effective Sept. 1. Rose joined Worthington in 2008 as vice president and chief financial officer, helping to […]
AK Steel, a subsidiary of Cleveland-Cliffs, was named GM Supplier of the Year for Raw Materials during General Motors’ 28th annual Supplier of the Year Awards June 24. AK Steel was among 116 suppliers recognized by GM for their performance in 2019. The award is reserved for suppliers who meet performance metrics for quality, execution, […]
Worthington Industries faced a challenging quarter as stay-at-home orders and closure of nonessential businesses impacted the markets it serves. Demand levels fluctuated depending on the market with company conditions normal in March, break even in April and profitable in May, albeit at lower levels. Although the economic outlook is still unclear, Worthington expects a return to […]
Kate Mitchell joins the leadership team of Majestic Steel USA as executive vice president and chief marketing officer. Cleveland-based Majestic is a privately held distributor and processor of flat-rolled steel serving customers in manufacturing, construction and distribution throughout North America. Reporting to Majestic CEO Todd Leebow, Mitchell will oversee brand marketing and corporate communications, as well […]
The Ports of Indiana has been awarded a Marine Highway Grant by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration to develop a steel barge shuttle with Nucor Steel at its Jeffersonville port. The project will allow barge shipments of steel coils from Ghent, Ky., to the Port of Indiana-Jeffersonville. The $778,766 project includes the construction […]
PRCO America, Inc., a Chinese company that manufactures refractory brick used by steel mills to line their furnaces and transfer ladles, plans to open their first U.S. facility, in Graves County, Ky., by the end of the year. The western Kentucky location was chosen for its proximity to many steel mills, as well as to […]
Steel Dynamics expects its second-quarter earnings to be significantly lower than first-quarter results. Adjusted earnings per diluted share are expected to be in the range of $0.40 to $0.44, well below $0.88 per share reported in Q1. The decline in earnings is due to lower steel demand and selling prices attributed to the temporary closures […]
Mexican steelmakers Altos Hornos de México (AHMSA) and Villacero have a signed a non-binding agreement to merge assets as a new company. The agreement gives the two parties 90 days to complete regulatory documents to move forward with the reported $300 million deal. A June 18 filing with the Mexican Stock Exchange said: “The agreement […]
U.S. Steel anticipates the second quarter will “mark the trough for the year.” In earnings guidance issued on June 17, the company said it expects an adjusted EBITDA loss of $315 million, exclusive of approximately $100 million of estimated restructuring and other charges. The guidance was significantly lower than analyst consensus and nearly five times […]
Nucor is guiding to better-than-expected second-quarter earnings in the range of $0.10 to $0.15 per diluted share. First-quarter earnings were $0.07 per diluted share and included asset losses related to the mill’s equity method investment in Italy. Nucor’s downstream steel products segment remained strong during the quarter due to resilient demand in nonresidential construction. COVID-19 […]
Commercial Metals Co. navigated through third quarter FY 2020 pandemic challenges with almost no disruption to operations or loss of productivity, achieving net sales of $1.34 billion and earnings of $64.2 million Barbara Smith, chairman of the board, president and CEO, commented, “While the effects of the COVID-19 crisis impacted our business throughout the third […]
U.S. Steel plans to indefinitely reduce operations of the pickle line, cold mill and finishing division at Great Lakes Works in Ecorse, Mich. The action is separate from the indefinite idling of ironmaking, steelmaking and hot strip rolling mill facilities announced in December 2019. The company said in a June 8 letter to the Michigan […]
Big River Steel (BRS) expects to complete its capacity expansion by the end of this year more than two months ahead of expectations. The mill in Osceola, Ark., is in the process of doubling its annual steel production capacity from 1.65 million to 3.3 million tons. BRS began operations at its $1.3 billion scrap metal […]
EVRAZ NA will reduce its workforce by an additional 65 employees at EVRAZ Oregon Steel as operations are idled in response to weak demand due to the coronavirus. In a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification to the state of Oregon, EVRAZ said it “has experienced a significant business downturn” and will permanently reduce the workforce […]
U.S. Steel has restarted its No. 1 blast furnace at Edgar Thomson, part of Mon Valley Works. The furnace was idled on April 30 along with the Gary Works No. 6 furnace. Said U.S. Steel spokesperson Meghan Cox: “As we continue to navigate business conditions during the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, we are adjusting to changing […]
Cleveland-Cliffs will resume construction on its Hot-Briquetted Iron plant in Toledo earlier than expected. Construction was halted on March 20, 2020, due to the pandemic, but will resume with newly implemented safety measures. Cleveland-Cliffs plans to complete the HBI facility during the fourth quarter of this year. The Tilden mine that supplies AK Steel Middletown […]