With the 2023 SMU Steel Summit quickly approaching, SMU is in full-blown planning mode. Our preparations have me reflecting on last year’s event and what I personally can do to better take full advantage of all the opportunities this year’s event will bring. (Note: CRU and SMU are hosting a free pre-conference webinar on Tuesday, […]
Nucor Corp. said its second-quarter earnings should beat those of the prior quarter on strength in all its business segments. The steelmaker expects its Q2 earnings to be in the range of $5.45 to $5.55 per diluted share. Although down from the $9.67 per share posted in Q2 last year, it’s an improvement upon Q1 […]
The US Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration (ITA) is updating the antidumping duties on hot-rolled steel flats from South Korea. In an administrative review of the one-year period ended Sept. 30, 2022, the ITA set preliminary dumping margins of 0% for Hyundai Steel, Posco, and 45 other Korean companies not selected for individual examination. […]
The forest fires raging in Canada caused rail interruptions for Champion Iron last week. With the fires now subsiding in the area, the company reports a resumption in rail services between its Bloom Lake mine and the port of Sept-Îles on the Gulf of St. Lawrence in Quebec. Mining activities continued at Bloom Lake while […]
After hitting an almost five-year high in March, US steel exports fell back during the month of April. Exports totaled 768,235 net tons in April, according to the latest figures available from the US Department of Commerce. This was a 13% month-on-month (MoM) and a 7% year-on-year (YoY) decline. Note that March exports of 886,458 […]
Housing affordability is on the rise in the US, but builders are facing challenges in providing affordable housing, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) reports. In the first quarter of the year, 45.6% of new and existing home sales were affordable to American families earning the country’s median income of $96,300, according to the […]
General Motors Co. recently announced a series of investments to bolster its automobile manufacturing in the US – and it’s not all just for electric vehicles (EVs). Internal Combustion Engines The Detroit-based automaker plans to inject $1 billion into two of its manufacturing sites in Flint, Mich., for the production of heavy-duty trucks with internal […]
General Motors Co. recently announced a series of investments to bolster its automobile manufacturing in the US – and it’s not all just for electric vehicles (EVs). Internal Combustion Engines The Detroit-based automaker plans to inject $1 billion into two of its manufacturing sites in Flint, Mich., for the production of heavy-duty trucks with internal […]
Steel Market Update’s latest survey shows movements in lead times were varied across products this week, with hot rolled falling below the 5-week mark for the first time since early February. The average lead times for hot-rolled, cold-rolled, and galvanized sheet all fell back slightly from our market check two weeks ago, while those for […]
US steel imports were steady from April to May, according to the latest data from the US Department of Commerce. May’s import license count – a first look at import figures for a given month, at 2,395,039 net tons – was just 0.5% higher than April’s final count of 2,382,580 tons. Compared to the same […]
General Motors will soon be sourcing low-carbon steel from ArcelorMittal North America. The steelmaker said it will provide the Detroit-based automaker with its XCarb™ recycled and renewably produced (RRP) steel made at its ArcelorMittal Dofasco plant in Hamilton, Ontario. Shipments are anticipated to begin in the current quarter, ArcelorMittal said in a statement. Made via […]
The Steel Tube Institute (STI) has announced its new president, Ramiro Rodriguez Agusti of Nucor-Republic Conduit. Rodriguez Agusti, a long-time STI member, began his two-year term on June 1. He follows former STI president Glenn Baker of Searing Industries. Rodriguez Agusti is currently head of Nucor-Republic Conduit’s commercial division and is the company’s primary point of contact for the […]
The US government is moving forward with its goal of establishing a common framework on carbon emissions in the steel and aluminum industries with the European Union by October. US Trade Representative Katherine Tai asked the International Trade Commission this week to investigate and compile a public report assessing the intensity of greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions […]
The US Department of Commerce issued the final results of its expedited sunset review of antidumping (AD) duties on steel plate from three Asian countries. The agency found that allowing the duties to expire would result in the continuation of dumping at significant rates. This is the fourth sunset review of the AD duties on […]
US construction spending jumped in April on strength in nonresidential and multifamily home building. Total construction spending during the month was estimated by the US Census Bureau to be $1,908.4 billion at a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR). This was a 1.2% increase from March’s revised estimate of $1,885.0 billion and a 7.2% rise from $1,780.9 […]
The spread between hot-rolled coil (HRC) and galvanized coil base prices has been trending downward since mid-April when steel prices also began their descent. Figure 1 shows both SMU’s hot rolled and galvanized prices. SMU’s HRC price averaged $990 per ton as of Tuesday, May 30, unchanged from the previous week and down 14.7% from […]
An anticipated surge in flat-rolled steel imports due to higher domestic pricing has yet to be reflected in government data. For monthly imports, the International Trade Administration’s US Steel Import Monitor tracks license applications (a first look showing licenses to import but not necessarily the actual tonnages that entered during the month), a preliminary count, […]
Hyundai Motor Group and LG Energy Solution are teaming up to build a $4.3-billion battery cell manufacturing plant in Savannah, Ga. A memorandum of understanding was signed by the two companies on May 26 for a 50/50 joint venture with an annual production capacity of 30 GWh, able to support the annual production of 300,000 […]
After hitting a 10-month high in March, global crude steel production fell back in April as output declined in both China and the rest of the world (RoW). Production was down 2.4% from the same month last year, according to the latest data from the World Steel Association (worldsteel) analyzed by SMU. Global steel output […]
While architecture firms saw a modest decline in billings from March to April, there were more inquiries for future projects, according to the latest data from the American Institute of Architects (AIA). The monthly AIA Architecture Billings Index (ABI) registered a 48.5 reading in April, a decline from 50.4 the month prior. Excluding the slight […]
Nucor announced a reorganization of its plate mill group, including the closure of Nucor Steel Longview and a production shift to its new mill in Brandenburg, Ky. The production phase out at the 100,000-ton-per-year mill in Longview, Texas, will occur in the third quarter of this year, Nucor said in a statement on Wednesday, May […]
April was a strong month for sales of light vehicles in the US, with monthly sales pushing the seasonally adjusted annual rate to 15.9 million, according to figures from the Bureau of Economy Analysis (BEA). Light-vehicle sales totaled 1.347 million units in April, according to the BEA. This was a 1.5% decline from the month […]
Global steel production during the month of April was lower both sequentially and on-year, according to the latest data from the World Steel Association (worldsteel). Worldsteel reports an estimated 161.4 million metric tons of crude steel was produced globally in April. This was a 0.8% drop from the month prior and a 2.4% decline from […]
Existing-home sales slowed in April amidst an environment of push-pull housing demand, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). Total sales in all regions were down both month on month (MoM) and year on year (YoY). April’s seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of sales at 4.28 million, was off 3.4% from March’s rate and down […]
Networking is an integral part of life in the business world. Emails, phone calls, and even Zoom meetings are nice, but they can only take us so far. Getting out and about, shaking hands and meeting others face-to-face – this is what really allows us to form relationships with customers, contacts, and even competitors. It […]
The price spread between hot-rolled sheet and steel plate rose for the sixth consecutive week as hot-rolled prices continued their descent and plate prices remained relatively stable, according to SMU’s price indices published last Tuesday. SMU’s hot-rolled coil index averaged $1,040 per net ton ($52.00 per cwt) in the latest market check on May 16. […]
Indian steelmaker JSW reported its results for its fiscal fourth quarter and financial year ended March 31, noting a sequential rise in quarterly shipments and sales at its JSW Steel USA operations. JSW Steel USA’s Mingo Junction, Ohio, mill operated at 64% of capacity during Q4, producing 86,203 metric tons of HRC and 231,908 metric […]
United Auto Workers (UAW) members at a Constellium plant in Michigan are on strike after failing to reach a labor agreement with the aluminum products producer. 160 members of UAW Local 174 at Constellium’s automotive structures plant in Van Buren, Mich., opted to strike as of May 17 “after weeks of the company refusing to […]
Single-family housing starts are showing gradual improvement so far this year, according to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), which looked at data from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development and the US Census Bureau. Overall housing starts, at a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of 1.4 million units in April, were […]
The latest Empire State Manufacturing Survey shows a steep decline in business activity in the state of New York. The headline manufacturing general business conditions index from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York fell into the negative, dropping by nearly 43 points to -31.8 in the survey taken between May 2-9. The April index […]