The global steel industry is one of the biggest culprits in the climate change debate, responsible for some 7 percent of harmful carbon dioxide emissions each year. Every ton of steel produced in 2018 released 1.85 tons of carbon into the atmosphere. Thus the steel industry is under enormous pressure to reduce its carbon footprint. Fortunately, […]
U.S. steel mills have numerous maintenance outages planned between now and the end of the year. The list below was compiled from anecdotal reports from service centers, as mills usually don’t comment on such outages for competitive reasons. These outages are generally routine and short of duration. Individually, they are unlikely to have much impact on […]
The Steel Import Monitoring and Analysis (SIMA) system is receiving an upgrade courtesy of the Department of Commerce. A final rule was adopted on Sept. 11 that will modernize the SIMA system and set up a new online platform on the Commerce website. “These significant improvements to SIMA will enable Commerce and the public to […]
Ashland, Ky., will get a welcome infusion of jobs from Danieli USA after the closing of AK Steel Ashland. Danieli has rented a 130,000-square-foot building near the AK Steel mill and will operate a repair and refurbishment center serving steel producing clients in North America. The Italian firm is one of the world’s largest suppliers of […]
The strike by United Steelworkers Local 1016-03 at NLMK Pennsylvania is in its second week. NLMK issued a press release on Tuesday addressing some of the questions the public has asked regarding operations and negotiations. The facility in Farrell continues to operate, manned by salaried employees. The company is finishing production of coils that were […]
An issue at the #3 blast furnace at U.S. Steel’s Edgar Thomson Plant at Mon Valley Works resulted in an unplanned outage on Tuesday. The furnace suffered a mechanical failure of its top charging equipment. Repairs are under way and expected to be completed in about one week, the company said. A spokesperson for U.S. […]
Will it be “Steelmaggedon” or simply new capacity replacing old? Bank of America analyst Timna Tanners, who trademarked the term, still believes an abundance of new capacity will come online in the next few years, despite the COVID pandemic, oversupplying the market and dooming steel prices. Many of the other executives who spoke during SMU’s […]
Spot rates continued to rise for all truck categories in September. Spot load posts were up 1.4 percent in the week ending Sept. 6 versus the last week of August, while spot truck posts increased 1.6 percent on the DAT Loadboards. Hurricane Laura-related disruptions added volumes to the market pushing up spot prices, especially for […]
The Dodge Momentum Index increased for a second consecutive month, climbing 1.8 percent in August to 126.5. The commercial component of the index increased 3.3 percent while the institutional component dipped 1.2 percent lower. The index is a monthly measure of the first report for nonresidential building projects in planning, which has been shown to […]
Monthly auto sales are now just estimates due to the predilection of manufacturers to report on a quarterly basis, but analysts at industry forecaster ALG estimate U.S. sales were down about 11 percent year-over-year in August, compared to a 15 percent annual decline in July. Sales increased 6 percent on a month-over-month basis. Toyota sales […]
Economic activity increased modestly in most of the U.S. in August but remained well below pre-COVID-19 levels, said the Federal Reserve in its latest Beige Book publication. “Continued uncertainty and volatility related to the pandemic, and its negative effect on consumer and business activity, was a theme echoed across the country,” said the Fed in […]
Construction spending slid in July for both public and private nonresidential construction, says the Associated General Contractors of America in their latest analysis of government data. The decline contrasted a surge in construction spending for new homes in July. “The dichotomy between slumping nonresidential projects—both public and private—and robust homebuilding seems sure to widen as […]
Six months of adversity was not what Leon Topalian expected when he took over the reigns of Nucor in January. But a pandemic that devastated the economy, caused demand and pricing to plummet and put the very lives of employees in jeopardy was a formidable challenge to overcome. “I’m not sure I’ve seen before in […]
The U.S manufacturing sector expanded faster in August, according the Manufacturing ISM Report on Business. The August PMI rose 1.8 points to 56.0 in August for the highest reading of the year and indicated a fourth month of expansion after a contraction in April. The new orders Index jumped 6.1 points to 67.6 percent, while […]
The J.P. Morgan Global Manufacturing PMI rose to a 21-month high in August, driven by the restart of production and businesses following COVID-19 shutdowns. The composite PMI rose to 51.8 in August from 50.6 in July, its second month in a row in expansion territory. Manufacturing output grew for a second month after five months […]
ArcelorMittal Global Research and Development in East Chicago was awarded two High-Performance Computing for Manufacturing Program (HPC4Mfg) grants from the Department of Energy. The grants are part of $3.3 million in federal funding for 11 manufacturing and materials projects focused on solving technical challenges in manufacturing and materials development in the U.S. “These awards from […]
A strike at NLMK Pennsylvania turned ugly last week when a news reporter was thrown into the street by picketers while trying to take photos. While likely a one-off incident, the confrontation highlights the tension among workers trying to negotiate a contract during a time of economic uncertainty. “We understand emotions can run high on […]
The future of U.S. Steel and Big River Steel as one entity continues to excite CEOs from both companies. Speaking during the SMU Virtual Steel Summit this past week, U.S. Steel CEO David Burritt could barely contain his enthusiasm regarding the opportunities the marriage of the two companies will provide the iconic steel producer. Burritt […]
California Steel Industries has appointed Shinji Tanaka as President and Chief Executive Officer. He will replace Marcelo Botelho Rodrigues who completed his four-year term on Aug. 1, 2020. Tanaka joined CSI in January 2020 as the Executive Vice President of Engineering and Continuous Improvement following a 21-year career at JFE Steel in Japan. At JFE […]
Global steel production continued to decline in July. The World Steel Association reports crude production fell 2.5 percent year-over-year to 152.7 million metric tons based on reporting and estimates by 64 countries. The COVID-19 crisis and its disruption to economic activity was blamed for the fifth month of consecutive decline. Robust demand boosted China crude […]
Congratulations are in order to a rising star in the steel industry. Steel Market Update is pleased to announce that Stephen Serling, Vice President at Quality Metal Stamping, is the recipient of the 2nd annual SMU NexGen Leadership Award. Serling was selected from a slate of 24 nominees and will receive a mentorship day with […]
Orders for durable goods jumped 11.2 percent in July after rising 7.7 percent in June, posting gains for the third straight month and beating all expectations. Automotive orders drove the increase, leaping 22 percent following a robust 24 percent increase in June. Orders for core capital goods–nondefense goods excluding aircraft which are considered an indicator […]
Home prices rose 4.3 percent in the June S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index, matching the annual gain in May. The 20-city composite posted a 3.5 percent gain, slipping slightly from 3.6 percent in the previous month. Phoenix, Seattle and Tampa led the increases with year-over-year gains of 9.0 percent, 6.5 percent […]
Sales of new single-family homes soared 13.9 percent in July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 901,000 and the highest level in almost 14 years, according to estimates by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Compared to a year ago, sales surged 36.3 percent. The phenomenal increase stunned […]
Metalforming companies across the country reported a slight improvement in business conditions in August but are still expecting the next few months to be challenging, according to the latest survey by the Precision Metalforming Association. Most metalforming companies (45 percent) are expecting no change in economic activity in the next three months, while 38 percent […]
The SMU Steel Summit 2020 was off to a strong start on Day 1 covering a wide variety of topics from new capacity to international trade. SMU President John Packard officially opened the conference on Monday leading a panel discussion about the steel industry in Mexico, the Middle East, Turkey and China. Ternium CEO Maximo Vedoya […]
A threatened strike at NLMK Pennsylvania became reality on Saturday when United Steelworkers at the company’s Farrell, Pa., plant walked off the job over what they claim are unfair labor practices. Local 1016-3 gave NLMK management a 48-hour strike notice on Friday, Aug. 20. Months of labor negotiations between management and the union deteriorated over a proposed healthcare […]
Construction employment declined in 26 states and the District of Columbia from June to July, says the Associated General Contractors of America in a new analysis of government data. “Renewed outbreaks of coronavirus in numerous states likely caused many project owners and investors to pull back on planned construction,” said AGC Chief Economist Ken Simonson. […]
Existing-home sales made a record monthly jump of 24.7 percent in July to a seasonally adjusted rate of 5.86 million. Sales have soared the past two months. “The housing market is well past the recovery phase and is now booming with higher home sales compared to the pre-pandemic days,” said Lawrence Yun, National Association of […]
China’s July crude steel output jumped 1.9 percent from June and 9.1 percent from a year ago to 93.36 million metric tons, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. Steel demand rallied after declining during the pandemic-induced shutdowns and is now benefiting from Chinese stimulus measures that include infrastructure building and housing construction. Average daily […]