Existing home sales in the US continue to be impacted by escalating mortgage rates, according to the latest information from the National Association of Realtors. Falling for a seventh consecutive month, sales of existing homes in August declined 0.4% from the month prior and were down 19.9% from one year ago to a seasonally-adjusted annual […]
Nucor Corp. is pursuing LEED v4 for Building and Design certification for its new plate mill in Brandenburg, Ky. With categories of sustainable performance and climate change, and third-party transparency and reporting requirements, the certification is even more rigorous than previous LEED rating systems, the Charlotte, N.C.-based steelmaker said in a press release. “Sustainability has […]
Zekelman Industries is set to build a new steel tube galvanizing facility in Blytheville, Ark. The new, 200,000-tons-per-year Wheatland Tube facility will share a campus with Zekelman’s existing Atlas Tube operations there. The new facility will serve the fence, solar, and mechanical markets, producing tubes using Wheatland’s ThunderCoat™ inline galvanized coating. Construction is slated to […]
ThyssenKrupp Material Services is investing $37 million to build a new aluminum and steel service center in San Luis Potosí, Mexico, to serve the automotive supply markets. Operations at the new location are scheduled to begin mid-2023. A Schuler blanking line to cut aluminum and high-strength steel blanks will be a focal point of the […]
To bring its results in line with a recent US Court of International Trade (CIT) decision, the US Department of Commerce is amending antidumping duties on imports of hot-rolled steel flat products from Australia. The move comes after Australia’s BlueScope Steel Ltd. was successful in challenging at the CIT Commerce’s final results of the first administrative review […]
The US Department of Commerce has released updated antidumping duty rates on certain pipe and tube imports after administrative reviews. It has also brought prior determinations in line with remand orders from the US Court of International Trade (CIT). OCTG Commerce set a 1.59% weighted-average dumping margin for the Interpipe group of companies in the preliminary results of […]
GrafTech Mexico SA de CV has temporarily suspended manufacturing of graphite electrodes at its facility in Monterrey, Nuevo León, after an inspection revealed its operating license is no longer in effect. Discovery of the invalid operating license was made during an inspection by the State Attorney’s Office for the Secretary of Environment of the State […]
A group of European steel companies and nongovernmental agencies, members of the Austrian non-profit organization ResponsibleSteel, have come together to create international standards for greenhouse gas emissions as the industry works to decarbonize across the supply chain. The ResponsibleSteel International Standard V2.0 will allow steel companies to clearly show how they are driving down GHG […]
SSAB Americas is forging ahead to show customers, the government, and other stakeholders that it is serious about sustainability and achieving its ultimate goal of “net zero” emissions. The flat-rolled steelmaker recently released Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) for its steel plate and coil products that show it is well ahead not just of others in […]
United States Steel Corporation has idled the No. 8 blast furnace at its Gary Works in Indiana due to market conditions and high import levels. A spokeswoman confirmed the idling began on Sept. 7. “We continue to monitor market conditions and plan to bring the furnace back online when business conditions allow,” she told SMU. […]
Steel Dynamics Inc. expects its third quarter earnings to be down from the second quarter as the Fort Wayne, Ind.-based steelmaker is seeing lower flat rolled earnings and pricing, as well as continued impacts from the start-up of its new sheet mill in Sinton, Texas. SDI’s earnings guidance is in the range of $4.93–4.97 per […]
A planned maintenance outage at SSAB America’s 1.25-million-tons-per-year plate mill in Montpelier, Iowa, began this week, the company confirmed to Steel Market Update. The outage had been planned for October but was moved up into September and is now expected to last through Oct. 5. Costs related to the outage were previously anticipated to be […]
Everguard.ai CEO Sandeep Pandya will be the featured speaker on the next SMU Community Chat webinar on Wednesday, Sept. 21, at 11 a.m. ET. The live webinar is free for anyone to attend. A recording will be available for SMU members. You can register for the webinar here. Sandeep will explain some of the most innovative […]
Lapham-Hickey Steel has acquired SMC Metal Fabricators of Oshkosh, Wisc., for an undisclosed sum. SMC operates a 115,000-square-foot facility adjacent to two Lapham-Hickey facilities in Oshkosh. Its facility, previously owned by the Albright family for nearly three decades, hosts laser cutting, forming, welding, powder coating, and assembly services. SMC’s products and services “will enhance our […]
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 […]