Zekelman Industries’ newest tubular products facility will soon be up and running outside of Chicago. The 1-million-square-foot facility in Rochelle, Ill., will house four in-line galvanizing tube mills with a capacity exceeding 300,000 tons annually. An automated hot-dip galvanizing line with 100,000 tons of annual production capacity is also being added to the facility. “While […]
Negotiations between the United Steelworkers (USW) and Cleveland-Cliffs continued this week in Pittsburgh, with the union signaling optimism that a new labor agreement will be reached before the current contract expires next week. Important progress has been made in bargaining over local issues, healthcare benefits, and capital expenditures, the USW said in an Aug. 26 […]
Although traders can sometimes get a bad rap, they play an important role in the steel industry and aren’t going anywhere anytime soon, according to a trade panel speaking at the 2022 SMU Steel Summit conference in Atlanta. As Jerry Richardson, president of CSN LLN, pointed out, traders play many roles. From complying with trade […]
US Steel will take a week-long outage on its compact-strip production (CSP®) line at its Big River Steel Works in Osceola, Ark., in October. The planned maintenance outage is expected to take place from Oct. 23–30, a US Steel spokeswoman confirmed to SMU. Big River Steel’s six-stand CSP continuous caster has an annual capacity of […]
The United Steelworkers (USW) said the latest collective bargaining labor proposal from United States Steel Corp. “falls very short” of what the union wants. The proposal is “unacceptable” and has been rejected by the USW bargaining committee, according to an Aug. 24 text sent to USW members. A US Steel spokeswoman told SMU that its […]
The second fireside chat of the 2022 SMU Steel Summit conference featured Mark Millett, president and CEO of Fort Wayne, Ind.-based steelmaker Steel Dynamics Inc. SMU founder John Packard chatted with Millett about everything from aluminum and the status of SDI’s new mill in Texas, to decarbonization, steel prices, scrap, and electrical steel. Here’s a […]
Canada’s Algoma Steel and the United Steelworkers (USW) Local 2251 announced they have reached a new, tentative five-year labor deal. The bargaining committee of Local 2251 is “unanimously recommending the offer,” encouraging membership to vote in favor of the fair agreement during the ratification vote scheduled for Aug. 25 and Aug. 29. The Local represents […]
A technological revolution and the change to electric vehicles are coming faster than you think, Thomas Hosea, executive director of global purchasing and supply chain (GPSC) central operations at General Motors told attendees of Steel Market Update’s 2022 Steel Summit Tuesday morning in Atlanta. “This moment in time is historic for our company,” the GM […]
Cleveland-Cliffs Inc.’s chairman, president and CEO Lourenco Goncalves joined Steel Market Update senior editor Michael Cowden in the first fireside chat of this year’s SMU Steel Summit conference Monday afternoon in Atlanta. The Cliffs executive educated and entertained conference attendees with the unreserved honesty and candidness he has become well-known for in his long-term career […]
Gene Marks opened Steel Market Update’s 2022 Steel Summit conference with a keynote zeroing in on the major issues that are impacting business leaders today and in the coming years. The CPA, author, columnist, and journalist explored strategies to help businesses navigate inflation, recessionary pressures, and hiring challenges. With many economic indicators pointing towards a […]
The United Steelworkers (USW) union resumed face-to-face labor talks with Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. and United States Steel Corp. this week in Pittsburgh after a brief hiatus for the USW’s 2022 Constitutional Convention Aug. 8–11 in Las Vegas. Current labor agreements with the two flat-rolled steelmakers are due to expire on Sept. 1. Cleveland-Cliffs Update In an […]
Los Angeles-based JFE Shoji America Holdings Inc. is expanding its steel products business in the US with the acquisition of steel framing company California Expanded Metal Products Co. (CEMCO). Headquartered in Industry, Calif., family-owned CEMCO operates four manufacturing and distribution facilities in Industry; Pittsburg, Calif.; Denver, Colo.; and Fort Worth, Texas. It produces more than […]
The US Department of Commerce recently recalculated the dumping margins for hot-rolled steel flat imports from Japan’s Nippon Steel. And while Nippon supports the remand results, it has also filed comments with the US Court of International Trade (CIT) regarding two additional complaints. On the remand order of the CIT, Commerce recalculated Nippon’s dumping rate […]
United Steelworkers (USW) Local 1005 is set to hold a ratification vote on a proposed labor contract with Stelco on Wednesday, Aug. 17. Details of the new contract were presented to union members on Monday, Aug. 15. USW members at the Canadian steelmaker’s mill in Hamilton, Ontario, had been in a legal position to strike […]
Domestic steel groups are supportive of some portions of the recently passed Inflation Reduction Act. The bill is meant not only to make a down payment on deficit reduction to fight inflation but to also invest in domestic energy production and manufacturing. It in addition aims to reduce carbon emissions by 40% by 2030, allow for […]
Chicago-based Evraz North America is encouraged by its Russian parent company’s decision to divest its North American assets. The steelmaker said the move would provide increased certainty for its North American operations and employees. Evraz plc’s announcement of a sale “strengthens our long-term stability and will allow us to continue to lead in the markets where we […]
Russia’s Evraz plc has put its North American operations up for sale. Evraz North America (Evraz NA) operates two electric arc furnace facilities, four rolling mills, eight tube mills, and 17 scrap recycling facilities. It has annual steelmaking capacity of 2.3 million tons and a finished steel capacity of 3.5 million tons per year, including […]
A fire at one of Algoma Steel’s coal conveyors is not affecting iron and steelmaking operations at the company’s mill in Sault St. Marie, Ontario. But coke production will be reduced while the damage is repaired. The fire occurred on Aug. 7, 2022, on one of the conveyors that supplies coal to two of Algoma’s […]
Steelworkers at Stelco’s processing and finishing operations in Hamilton, Ontario, will be in a legal position to strike as of 12:01 am on Aug. 16, 2022. Leaders of the United Steelworkers Local 1005 said in the latest bargaining update that many issues remain unresolved with the Canadian steelmaker. “As the strike deadline rapidly approaches, we […]
While steel service centers remain cautiously optimistic on their demand outlooks for the remainder of the year, most agree that the environment for mergers and acquisitions remains quite strong. This is according to executives from Reliance Steel & Aluminum, Ryerson, and Olympic Steel—some of the industry’s top players—speaking on their recent and respective second quarter […]
At the request of US pipe and tube producers, the US Department of Commerce has begun inquiries into the alleged circumvention of antidumping and countervailing duties (AD/CVD) on a variety of products from a host of Asian countries. The request came from Atlas Tube Inc., Bull Moose Tube Co., Maruichi American Corp., Nucor Tubular Products […]
Strong OCTG pricing and demand is driving higher sales for global pipemaker Tenaris. The Luxembourg-based company reported $2.8 billion in sales during the second quarter—an 18% rise from the previous quarter and an 83% jump from Q2 2021. Q2 net income also rose 18% sequentially and showed growth of 118% year-on-year to reach $634 million. […]
Service center chain Olympic Steel posted record quarterly sales and the second-most-profitable quarter in the company’s history during the second quarter. Both net income and sales were 27% higher year-on-year at $37.6 million and $709 million, respectively. “The continued strength of our three business segments in the second quarter drove another record-breaking performance for Olympic […]
Additional antidumping and countervailing duty rates on imports of corrosion-resistant steel flat products have been updated by the US Department of Commerce. In the preliminary results of an administrative review looking at the period July 1, 2020, through June 30, 2021, Commerce updated the weighted-average dumping margins for three Taiwanese companies. Preliminary rates were set […]
Another Russian steelmaker has been sanctioned by the US government in response to Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine. The US Department of Treasury officially sanctioned Russian steelmaker Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works (MMK) and its majority owner Viktor Filippovich Rashnikov. MMK’s subsidiaries MMK-FINANS and MMK Metalurji were added to the list as well. The companies […]
The US Department of Commerce has issued the preliminary results of administrative reviews of the antidumping duties on corrosion-resistant steel flat products from China and South Korea, setting new import duty rates for the period July 1, 2020, through June 30, 2021. In China’s review, Metalco was the sole company subject to the review. Because […]
While Evraz plc’s earnings results in the first half of the year were negatively impacted by geopolitical tensions and resulting operational challenges, the company’s North American operations recorded a solid performance. The Russian steelmaker made no mention of Russian forces invading Ukraine in February in its H1 financial results, citing only “geopolitical tensions, mounting economic […]
Ryerson expects “counter-cyclical business conditions” in the third quarter, with moderating demand and falling prices resulting in lower sequential sales and shipments. The Chicago-based service center made the comments in its second quarter earnings report after the market closed on Wednesday, August 3. For Q2, sales volumes of 524,000 tons were down 6% from the […]
Ternium executives provided an update on the company’s new Pesquería hot strip mill and plans for a greenfield electric-arc furnace in North America on the company’s second quarter earnings conference call on Wednesday, August 3. Weak demand and falling prices are impacting the company, but it remains positive on its plans moving forward. Updates on […]
As it reported strong second quarter results, Ternium said it expects falling steel prices and high raw materials costs to negatively impact the third quarter. The current “significant” declines in steel prices are due to the normalization of the global steel market after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February of this year. They are also the […]