General Motors warned that high steel and metals prices combined with a global chip shortage could cost it billions. “We expect commodity prices to be a significant headwind as platinum group metals and steel prices have seen major increases in recent weeks and months,” GM Chief Financial Officer Paul Jacobson said in a recent earnings […]
Aditya Mittal will become the next chief executive officer of ArcelorMittal, taking over from his father, Lakshmi Mittal, who founded the company in 1976. The elder Mittal will become executive chairman of the steelmaker, where he will remain in charge of the board of directors and continue to work with senior management, including his son, ArcelorMittal […]
The Coalition of American Metal Manufacturers and Users (CAMMU) wants the Biden administration to terminate Section 232 tariffs and quotas on imported steel and aluminum “at once.” The group–which claims to represent more than 30,000 companies and one million workers in downstream metals-consuming sectors–said doing so will save jobs at home and allow the U.S. […]
Section 232 tariffs and quotas have left domestic steelmakers and steel consumers in sharply different realities. One side is investing big at home and enjoying record profits. The other is angry about sharply higher costs and is scouting for more steel abroad. That was the takeaway from a trade roundtable at Steel Market Update’s virtual Tampa […]
General Motors has extended production shutdowns stemming from a microchip shortage at three North American plants through at least mid-March. The move impacts GM’s Fairfax assembly plant in Kansas, its CAMI assembly plant in Ingersoll, Ontario, and its San Luis Potosi plant in Mexico, the company said on Tuesday, Feb. 9. GM had already effectively stopped […]
Interest in imported flat-rolled steel is growing among some U.S. buyers thanks to a widening spread between domestic mill prices and foreign offers. Some market participants said they had already purchased material at what they thought was an attractive price–and because long domestic mill lead times reduce the risk of buying imports. But others said […]
Section 232 tariffs on imported steel and aluminum netted the U.S. government nearly $2 billion in its 2020 fiscal year. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) collected $1.3 billion in Section 232 tariffs on imported steel in fiscal 2020 and $500 million in tariffs on imported aluminum, according to a recent report from the agency. […]
North Star BlueScope will take a planned outage in April at its flat-rolled steel mill in Delta, Ohio, a company spokesman said. The company normally has outages in the spring and fall. The outages will be 3-7 days in duration, he said. This year North Star BlueScope will split the spring outage between April and June […]
Canada has determined that plate imported from Germany and Taiwan has injured its domestic plate industry and will impose anti-dumping duties as a result. Plate from Turkey was exempted from the trade action because the volumes exported to Canada were found to be “negligible,” the Canadian International Trade Tribunal (CITT) said. The decision–released late last […]
A decision from the U.S. Court of International Trade upholding Section 232 tariffs on imported steel means any repeal of the trade action will have to come from the Biden administration with the support of Congress, a top American Metals Supply Chain Institute (AMSCI) executive said. AMSCI should know because it went before the same […]
The Congressional Steel Caucus–in a bi-partisan show of unity–has asked President Joe Biden to keep Section 232 tariffs and quotas in place. The request comes as the Biden administration has acknowledged that a review of trade policies enacted by former President Donald Trump is ongoing. “The review is underway of the previous administration’s trade policy […]
A global semiconductor shortage continues to hobble automotive production in North America with Ford and Stellantis poised to cut production at assembly plants making some of the most popular vehicles in the U.S. Ford’s Dearborn, Mich., truck plant will run one of three production shifts the week of Feb. 8. And its Kansas City, Mo., assembly […]
The U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT) has upheld the legality of Section 232 tariffs following a legal challenge lodged by consumers of foreign steel. The ruling deals a blow to the plaintiffs–Universal Steel Products, PSK Steel Corp., The Jordan International Company, Dayton Parts LLC and Borusan Mannesmann Pipe U.S. Inc.–which claimed that they had […]
NLMK USA and striking United Steelworkers at the mill’s operations in western Pennsylvania remain at loggerheads nearly five and a half months after the labor action began. “As of now, we remain far apart with the union. We continue to meet in good faith working towards a resolution,” NLMK USA President and CEO Robert D. Miller said […]
It might be T-shirt weather before steel buyers in Canada have access to spot tons of sheet and plate, according to market participants. The three main Canadian sheet suppliers–Algoma, Stelco and ArcelorMittal Dofasco–are largely sold out through May and are in some cases out as far as June. And when it comes to plate, Canada’s […]
It might be T-shirt weather before steel buyers in Canada have access to spot tons of sheet and plate, according to market participants. The three main Canadian sheet suppliers–Algoma, Stelco and ArcelorMittal Dofasco–are largely sold out through May and are in some cases out as far as June. And when it comes to plate, Canada’s […]
Multiple major North American automakers have or will temporarily halt production because of a semiconductor shortage, something that could have an impact on steel and scrap prices. General Motors will effectively stop production at three assembly plants–one each in the United States, Canada and Mexico–next week because of a semiconductor shortage, the company confirmed. GM […]
Multiple major North American automakers have or will temporarily halt production because of a semiconductor shortage, something that could have an impact on steel and scrap prices. General Motors will effectively stop production at three assembly plants–one each in the United States, Canada and Mexico–next week because of a semiconductor shortage, the company confirmed. GM […]
The American Metals Supply Chain Institute (AMSCI) wants President Joe Biden to repeal Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum. The group, formerly known as the American Institute for International Steel (AIIS), said doing so was necessary for the health of the metals supply chain and the broader U.S. economy. The request: that the Biden […]
President Joe Biden has revoked a decision–made in the waning days of the Trump administration–to remove Section 232 tariffs from aluminum imported from the UAE. “In my view, the available evidence indicates that imports from the UAE may still displace domestic production, and thereby threaten to impair our national security,” Biden wrote in a presidential […]
American Heavy Plates has named steel industry veteran Jack Biegalski to be its new president and chief operating officer and Roxana Stoicea to be its chief financial officer. Biegalski, who has 35 years of experience in steel, most recently worked as director of sales and marketing for plate at ArcelorMittal USA. Stoicea has 15 years […]
Worthington Industries has sold its oil and gas equipment business to an affiliate of Ten Oaks Group, the company said. The deal includes operations in Bremen, Ohio, and Tulsa, Okla. Worthington said it would keep the land and lease it back to the new owners. “We’re pleased to find a family-owned buyer in Ten Oaks […]
U.S. Steel does not plan to build additional electric-arc furnace capacity for the “foreseeable future,” company executives said. The company also plans to keep the “A” blast furnace at its Granite City Works in southern Illinois idled, they suggested. U.S. Steel acquired two flat-rolled EAFs when it closed its deal for Big River Steel’s mill […]
A global microchip shortage could prove more disruptive to North American auto assembly plants than initially expected, according to some market participants. Nissan’s truck assembly plant in Canton, Miss., has had to slow production because of the microchip shortage, the company confirmed. General Motors–the largest automaker in the U.S.–has not been impacted “as of now,” […]
O’Neal Steel has appointed Andria Cleghorn to be its chief financial officer effective Feb. 1. Cleghorn has more than 12 years’ experience and previously held senior financial roles in the concrete and oil sectors. “Andria’s extensive background and proven results in corporate finance will accelerate our growth trajectory and help shape the landscape for our […]
JSW Steel USA has opened the March order book at its flat-rolled steel mill in Mingo Junction, Ohio. “We will restart in March…. The March order book is open,” JSW Steel USA CEO Mark Bush said in emails to Steel Market Update. The Ohio mill will sell both hot-rolled coil and slab, he said. Bush confirmed […]
Cracks might be forming in the groundwork that has to date led U.S. flat-rolled steel prices to their highest point on record. Whether they are big enough to send towering prices tumbling down or merely a distraction remains to be seen, markets sources generally agreed. Prices have nowhere to go but up in the short […]
Steel Dynamics Inc. President and CEO Mark Millett has been elected to serve as board chairman of the Steel Manufacturers Association for the lobbying group’s 2021-22 term. “The SMA is uniquely positioned to represent electric arc furnace steel producers, who over the last 30 years have emerged as the dominant force in North American steelmaking […]
JD Fields & Co. Inc. and HDM Tubes Ltd. have teamed up to build a new spiral-weld pipe mill on the campus of Steel Dynamic Inc.’s new flat-rolled steel mill in Sinton, Texas. The joint venture between JD Fields, a steel distributor focused on the energy and civil infrastructure markets, and HDM, a Turkish pipe […]
The Biden administration’s cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline has prompted the United Steelworkers union in Canada to prod Ottawa to implement “Buy Canadian” policies in a bid to stem job losses. “Layoffs and plant closures seem to be the only orders on the books for many Canadian steel plants,” said USW Western Canada Director Stephen […]