U.S. Steel’s mill in Košice, Slovakia, must swap out its blast furnaces for electric-arc furnaces (EAFs) to survive in a decarbonizing world, a government official said. The problem: Doing so doesn’t come cheap. The change would cost approximately €1.5 billion ($1.8 billion), Slovakian Finance Minister Igor Matovič said per reports in local media. “If we want […]
California Steel Industries (CSI) has opened its flat rolled orderbook for August, and the West Coast slab converter has also increased prices by triple-digit margins, according to market participants. “The purpose of this letter is to inform you that CSI’s August Flat Rolled Order Book is now open,” the company said in emails to customers on Thursday, May […]
Ford has joined General Motors in extending North American assembly plant outages into the third quarter because of a persistent shortage of microchips. “Our teams continue making the most of our available semiconductor allocation and will continue finding unique solutions to provide as many high-quality vehicles as possible to our dealers and customers,” a Ford […]
SSAB Americas and Evraz North America have followed Nucor in increasing plate prices by at least $100-150 per ton ($5-7.50/cwt). Both steelmakers said their price hikes were effective immediately in letters to customers dated Thursday, May 20. SSAB said the $100-per-ton increase applied to as-rolled mill plate and coil as well as to cut-to-length plate more […]
SSAB Americas and Evraz North America have followed Nucor in increasing plate prices by at least $100-150 per ton ($5-7.50/cwt). Both steelmakers said their price hikes were effective immediately in letters to customers dated Thursday, May 20. SSAB said the $100-per-ton increase applied to as-rolled mill plate and coil as well as to cut-to-length plate more […]
Nucor has in a leading move increased plate prices by $100-150 per ton ($5-7.5/cwt) along with the opening of its July order book. Nucor’s new ex-works base price for cut-to-length A36 plate is $1,320 per ton ($66/cwt), up from $1,120 per ton last month, according to letters to customers. The steelmaker’s new base prices for […]
A coalition of U.S. steel industry lobbying groups and the United Steelworkers (USW) union want the Biden administration to keep Trump-era Section 232 tariffs and quotas on imported steel in place. The groups say the tariffs – rolled out in March 2018 on national security grounds – are necessary for the survival of the domestic […]
Steel Manufacturers Association (SMA) President Philip K. Bell will be the featured speaker for the next SMU Community Chat webinar on Wednesday, May 26, at 11 a.m. ET. Bell will speak about the U.S. steel industry’s low carbon profile compared to steelmakers abroad – and its efforts to reduce carbon emissions even further. He will […]
Steel Manufacturers Association (SMA) President Philip K. Bell will be the featured speaker for the next SMU Community Chat webinar on Wednesday, May 26, at 11 a.m. ET. Bell will speak about the U.S. steel industry’s low carbon profile compared to steelmakers abroad – and its efforts to reduce carbon emissions even further. He will […]
The United States and the European Union have begun negotiations that could lead to the removal of Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum imported from the continent, according to market participants and a joint statement from the two sides. The official trigger of the talks: U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo […]
California Steel Industries (CS) will increase its zinc coating extras effective July 1. “Due to changing zinc costs, our galvanized coating extras have been revised,” the company said in a letter to customers on Friday, May 14. The West Coast slab re-roller last increased coating extras in early December. Zinc prices have since risen. Zinc […]
Japanese automaker Toyota continues to grapple with shortages of microchips and other parts at its North American manufacturing facilities. But some market participants are looking beyond automotive plant idlings to a potential rebound in auto builds in the second half of the year. “Toyota is currently experiencing a supply shortage that is affecting production at […]
Steel buyer sentiment remains near its highest reading of the year even as prices shoot farther into uncharted territory. The stratospheric price gains in theory bring the risk of an equally jarring crash. But steel buyers don’t appear overly concerned about that possibility – not when assessing their prospects in today’s market or when looking out at […]
Steel prices stand at $1,540 per ton ($77/per cwt) and are likely to hit at least $1,600 per ton – with no obvious signs of demand destruction in the short term, according to respondents to Steel Market Update’s most recent survey. And some respondents reported back that the only thing harder to find than metal […]
Two of the “Big Three” U.S. automakers are extending downtime at their North American plants into the summer months because of the ongoing microchip shortage. And one, Ford, has upcoming outages at all its U.S. assembly plants besides one in Dearborn, Mich., that makes the F-150 pickup truck, the best-selling vehicle in the United States. […]
NLMK USA is taking an unplanned seven- to 10-day outage on the hot-strip mill at its facility in Farrell, Pa., a company executive said. The repairs are necessary because a motor failed on the reversing roughing mill, NLMK USA Executive Vice President James Banker told Steel Market Update on Tuesday, May 11. The company will […]
NLMK USA is taking an unplanned seven- to 10-day outage on the hot-strip mill at its facility in Farrell, Pa., a company executive said. The repairs are necessary because a motor failed on the reversing roughing mill, NLMK USA Executive Vice President James Banker told Steel Market Update on Tuesday, May 11. The company will […]
Join us for a free, 45-minute SMU Community Chat on Wednesday with an infrastructure policy expert from the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI). Brett Smith, senior director of government relations at the AISI, will be the featured speaker during the webinar on May 12, at 11 a.m. ET. Smith serves as liaison between AISI member […]
Record-high steel prices result not from Section 232 tariffs or industry consolidation but instead from uniquely strong supply-demand fundamentals, Cleveland-Cliffs’ top executive said. And an ambitious infrastructure package would go a long way toward keeping those fundamentals, and the resulting investment in the domestic steel industry, stronger for longer, he suggested. “We in this country […]
Record-high steel prices result not from Section 232 tariffs or industry consolidation but instead from uniquely strong supply-demand fundamentals, Cleveland-Cliffs’ top executive said. And an ambitious infrastructure package would go a long way toward keeping those fundamentals, and the resulting investment in the domestic steel industry, stronger for longer, he suggested. “We in this country […]
Steel Market Update has revised its blast furnace status chart to reflect that two furnaces at Cleveland-Cliffs’ Indiana Harbor steelmaking complex in East Chicago, Ind., have been razed. The No. 5 and No. 6 blast furnaces have not been operated since 2010, were decommissioned in 2015 and have since been demolished, a spokeswoman for the […]
U.S. Steel has left open the possibility of moving its endless casting and rolling project–initially slated for its Mon Valley Works in western Pennsylvania–elsewhere. The Pittsburgh-based steelmaker declined to say what equipment it had in hand and where it might be able to relocate it. “We do not have any information beyond what has already been […]
Brett Smith, senior director of government relations at the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI), will be the featured speaker during the next SMU Community Chat on Wednesday, May 12, at 11 a.m. ET. Smith serves as liaison between AISI member companies from the American steel industry and the U.S. Congress and federal agencies. He […]
Brett Smith, senior director of government relations at the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI), will be the featured speaker during the next SMU Community Chat on Wednesday, May 12, at 11 a.m. ET. Smith serves as liaison between AISI member companies from the American steel industry and the U.S. Congress and federal agencies. He […]
Ryerson’s first-quarter profits expanded despite an “extreme commodity environment” thanks to strong demand, higher selling prices and the sale of a facility in Washington. And the Chicago-based metals service center thinks the black ink will flow into the second quarter as well. “At this point in the second quarter, demand fundamentals have continued to improve […]
Nucor plans to spend $58 million to upgrade its engineered bar mill in Norfolk, Neb., with the aim of increasing sales to the automotive industry. The modernization project is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2022, the electric-arc furnace steelmaker said. The scope of work will include adding a new reheat furnace, […]
California Steel Industries (CSI) is increasing freight rates by 5-13% because of a shortage of flatbed trucks. The freight surcharge is effective immediately, and the exact amount varies by region, the West Coast slab converter said in a letter to customers Tuesday, May 4. “Transportation costs are rapidly increasing and are expected to continue to […]
Canadian flat-rolled steelmaker Stelco swung to a profit in the first quarter and expects high steel prices and sales volumes to galvanize results for the balance of the year. “All signs point to continued robust demand and strong pricing in the near term,” Stelco Executive Chairman and CEO Alan Kestenbaum said in a statement released […]
I wish I could start off writing about something other than steel prices. That said, since I joined SMU from Fastmarkets AMM in early January, the news really has been the price. SMU’s average hot-rolled price on Tuesday, May 4, stood at $1,500 per ton ($75 per cwt). That’s a 12.8% increase from $1,330 per ton a month ago […]
U.S. Steel has commenced a 25-day maintenance outage at the No. 1 blast furnace at its Mon Valley Works in western Pennsylvania. Steel Market Update has updated its blast furnace status chart to reflect the development. The Pittsburgh-based steelmaker said on its first quarter earnings call on Friday, April 30, that it had begun the […]