Canadian flat-rolled steelmaker Stelco Holdings Inc. recorded sharply lower fourth-quarter profits. The culprit: the “triple whammy” of declining steel prices, shorter lead times, and higher costs, company chairman and CEO Alan Kestenbaum said. “Now, however, we are seeing a reversal of all of these factors with rising steel prices … lengthening lead times, and input […]
NLMK USA has announced new, higher base prices for steel sheet. The steelmaker said the higher prices were effectively immediately on all new spot orders and justified by “strong demand and extending lead times,” in a letter to customers on Wednesday, Feb. 22. NLMK USA said that its new minimum base price for hot-rolled coil was […]
Sheet prices are up again. By a lot. For the third time this month. And it’s not over yet! Nucor alone is up more since Thanksgiving ($310/per ton) than they were after the invasion of Ukraine ($275/ton), according to our price increase calendar. We had obvious drivers for the last two big rallies. The snapback […]
ArcelorMittal has followed three major domestic mills in increasing sheet prices by at least $100 per ton ($5 per cwt). Luxembourg-based ArcelorMittal, one of the world’s largest steelmakers, also said it was targeting a minimum base price of $1,000 per ton for hot-rolled coil (HRC) effective immediately. That echoes new HRC base prices announced earlier […]
Cleveland-Cliffs has called back workers to its idled Northshore Mining operations in Minnesota, a company spokeswoman confirmed. She declined to say how many workers were being called back or why. “We will provide more details when we decide when and at what capacity this operation will be brought back online,” the spokeswoman said in an […]
US Steel has joined competitors Nucor and Cleveland-Cliffs in raising base prices for steel sheet by at least $100 per ton ($5 per cwt). The Pittsburgh-based steelmaker said the price hike was effective immediately for all new spot orders in a letter to top sales staff dated Tuesday, Feb. 21. The company said the increases […]
Sheet prices continue to push higher even as buyers contacted by Steel Market Update remain divided about the state of demand. Hot-rolled coil lead times now stand at 5.41 weeks, up from 4.94 weeks in our prior survey and marking the first time this year that HRC lead times have broken out significantly above five […]
Cleveland-Cliffs has ruled out spending money to build new electric-arc furnaces (EAFs), the company’s top executive said. The Cleveland-based steelmaker will instead focus on decarbonizing its blast furnaces (BFs) and basic-oxygen furnaces (BOFs), which are better suited than EAFs to supply the automotive industry, company chairman, president, and CEO Lourenco Goncalves said. “Cleveland-Cliffs does not […]
Ternium plans to spend $2.2 billion to build an electric-arc furnace (EAF) and direct-reduced iron (DRI) module in North America. The Latin American steelmaker said the EAF would have capacity of 2.86 million short tons (2.6 million metric tons) per year and that the DRI unit would have capacity of 2.31 million short tons (2.1 […]
Ternium recorded narrower profits in the fourth quarter on lower steel prices and higher costs. The Luxembourg-based steelmaker, which operates primarily in Latin America, said it expected results to improve in 2023, echoing the comments of its competitors in their recent earnings releases. Ternium’s earnings financial results are in the table to the left. The […]
Sheet prices rose again this week as a blitz of $50-per-ton ($2.50/cwt) price hikes spurred the market higher. Steel Market Update’s hot-rolled coil price now stands at $825 per ton, up $15 per ton from last week and nearing the highest levels we’ve seen since late July. The difference: HRC prices were on their way […]
Cleveland-Cliffs swung to a loss in the fourth quarter of 2022 but predicted better times ahead in 2023. Cliffs chairman, president, and CEO Lourenco Goncalves said that optimism comes because the economy in general is on a much better footing in 2023 than had been feared in late 2022, when hot-rolled coil prices fell into […]
ArcelorMittal and NLMK USA have followed three major domestic steelmakers in increasing sheet prices by at least $50 per ton ($2.50 per cwt). Luxembourg-based ArcelorMittal said it was targeting a minimum base price of $900 per ton effective immediately, echoing moves first announced by Nucor and Cleveland-Cliffs. “The increase is applicable to all new spot […]
Cleveland-Cliffs has joined Nucor in increasing spot prices for steel sheet by at least another $50 per ton ($2.50 per cwt). The Cleveland-based steelmaker, like Nucor, is also targeting a base price of $900 per ton for hot-rolled cold. Cliffs said the increase was effective immediately and applied equally to all new orders of hot-rolled, […]
ArcelorMittal expects that its $2.2-billion acquisition of Brazilian steelmaker Companhia Siderúrgica do Pecém (CSP) will close in late February. “The transaction closes end of this month,” chief financial officer Genuino Christino said during an earnings call with analysts last week. The Luxembourg-based steelmaker had said that the deal had received final antitrust clearance in commentary […]
ArcelorMittal executives think that the global steel market should rebound in 2023 as the destocking period that characterized 2022 ends. “I believe the worst conditions of these cycles have passed,” Lakshmi Mittal, executive chairman of the Luxembourg-based steelmaker, said in a conference call with analysts last week. Mittal made the prediction after the company – […]
SMU’s hot-rolled coil price has cracked $800 per ton ($40 per cwt), and so have prices on the futures market. The question of whether the $800-per-ton threshold would be breached has been answered. But it’s still unclear to me whether that threshold was breached by solid underlying demand or by momentum (buying ahead of the next […]
I am writing these Final Thoughts from an exhibition hall at Tampa Marriot Water Street hotel, where we just wrapped up the Tampa Steel Conference. The table I’m writing from is about to be taken down and packed up, and I have to get to the airport soon – so forgive me for what tonight […]
Sheet prices continue to rise, extending a rally that began the week after Thanksgiving. SMU’s hot-rolled coil price is now above $800 per ton ($40 per cwt) for the first time since early August, roughly six months ago. At $810 per ton on average, HRC prices are up $30 per ton from $780 per ton […]
US Steel restarted the No. 3 blast furnace at its Mon Valley Works in western Pennsylvania because of stronger demand, company executives said. The Pittsburgh-based steelmaker intends to keep the No. 8 blast furnace at its Gary Works in northwest Indiana temporarily idled “for now,” chief financial officer Jessica Graziano said. “We’re watching the order […]
Nucor Corp. has joined the push to increase sheet prices by at least another $50 per ton ($2.50 per cwt). The Charlotte, N.C.-based steelmaker, the largest in the US, said the move was effective immediately for base prices on new orders. The company made the announcement in a letter to customers dated Friday, Feb. 3. […]
US Steel posted a drop in fourth-quarter 2022 profits partly attributable to lower flat-rolled steel shipment volumes and selling prices. But the Pittsburgh-based steelmaker nonetheless recorded the second-best annual profit in its history. “We are well-positioned for 2023. Our record cash and liquidity support a balanced capital allocation approach,” US president and CEO David Burritt […]
Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. has rolled out another $50/ton ($2.50/cwt) sheet price increase just a couple of weeks after doing the same in mid-January. The Cleveland-based steelmaker has also announced a target base price of $850 per ton for hot-rolled coil, up from the $800 per ton announced in mid-January. NLMK USA almost immediately upped the ante, […]
NLMK USA has joined Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. in raising sheet prices by at least $50 per ton ($2.50 per ton), effective immediately. The steelmaker is also seeking a base price of $875 per ton for hot-rolled coil, $25 per ton more than the $850 per ton Cleveland-Cliffs is aiming for. “Orders received and not yet confirmed […]
Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. aims to increase spot prices for steel sheet by at least another $50 per ton ($2.50 per cwt). The Cleveland-based steelmaker said the move was effective immediately and applied equally to hot-rolled, cold-rolled, and coated products. The company said it also set a minimum base price of $850 per ton for hot-rolled coil, […]
Hot-rolled coil prices have now risen for 10 consecutive weeks. Let’s put that in perspective. That’s a longer run than the price spike we saw following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last February. It also marks the longest sheet price rally we’ve seen since the boom times of early 2021 – when a snapback in demand […]
Sheet prices rose again this week, continuing a rally that began shortly after Thanksgiving. SMU’s hot-rolled coil price stands at $780 per ton ($39 per cwt), up $20 per ton from $760 per ton last week and up $165 per ton from a 2022 low of $615 per ton recorded in November. HRC prices haven’t […]
We’ll kick off the Tampa Steel Conference next Sunday, and I’m looking forward to seeing many of you there in person. For kicks, I decided to look back at how the market was in mid-February 2022, when we held the event along with the Port of Tampa Bay last year. So join me for a […]
The cost and scope of Steel Dynamics Inc.’s flat-rolled aluminum mill in Columbus, Miss., and related scrap processing operations, have increased. The total cost of the project is now expected to be $2.5 billion, up from an initial $2.2 billion, SDI chairman, president, and CEO Mark Millett said during the quarterly earnings call last week. […]
I’ve written in my last two columns about various factors that indicate the price rally that began after Thanksgiving might be running out of steam. You know the list by now: low capacity utilization, lead times not pushing out in tandem with prices, and a consensus that prices will peak this month or next. All […]