Iron ore mine Magnetation is back in the news. Last time we reported on the company, the Iron Range was a hotbed of investment. Magnetation had been rescued from bankruptcy by Tom Clarke of ERP Iron Ore who was also rekindling operations at Mesabi Metallics (formerly Essar Steel Minnesota) with Chippewa Capital Partners. ERP filed […]
Home price gains continued to weaken in April, according to the latest S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Indices. The National Home Price NSA index gained 3.5 percent year-over-year compared to 3.7 percent the previous month. The 20-City composite was nearly flat with March, down 0.1 percent to post a 2.5 percent gain. Annual growth has slowed in […]
The Precision Metalforming Association says metalforming companies continue to be concerned about future business conditions. The May report, sampling 100 metalforming companies, shows little change in their confidence that orders and general business activity will increase. “PMA’s monthly Business Conditions Report reveals that metalforming manufacturers continue to show concern about business activity,” said PMA President […]
Manufactured durable goods orders declined in May by 1.3 percent to $243.4 billion, reported the U.S. Census Bureau. Orders have fallen in three of the last four months and the decline was steeper than expected in May. Civilian aircraft orders were to blame for much of the decline, plummeting 28.2 percent on difficulties at Boeing […]
U.S. Steel Corp. has named a new Chief Information Officer. Steven D. Bugajski, who currently holds the interim position, will advance to permanent CIO as of July 1, 2019. Bugajski joined U.S. Steel in 2008 holding several roles in the company’s Information Technology organization, including leading the global teams for Infrastructure, Business Processes, Project Management […]
The Supreme Court on Monday rebuffed a challenge to the president’s use of Section 232 tariffs, declining to review a March CIT ruling. In June 2018, the American Institute of International Steel and two of its member companies challenged the constitutionality of Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, charging the act provides […]
Sales of new single-family homes in May slipped 7.8 percent from April to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 626,000. Sales were down 3.7 percent from May 2018, said the latest report from Commerce. The median price for new homes sold last month was $308,000 and the average price $377,200. Inventory, estimated at 333,000 homes […]
SteelSummit Holdings, a national metals service center and trading company, has acquired Magic Steel Sales. Magic Steel Sales is a supplier of cold rolled, hot rolled, and coated slit steel products to customers in the eastern United States. The company operates service centers in Grand Rapids, Mich., and Decatur, Ala., and posts sales of approximately […]
ArcelorMittal is taking the lead on a new steel industry certification standard called ResponsibleSteel, which will set a single, global standard for the “mine to metal” steel value chain. The standard will enable steel producers to prove their production processes and products meet rigorously defined standards across a broad range of social, environmental and ethical […]
Construction employment increased in 31 states and the District of Columbia from April to May, according to an analysis of Labor Department data by the Associated General Contractors of America. In the 12 months to May 2019, 39 states and D.C. added construction jobs. “Construction demand remains strong, and contractors increased their workforce in most […]
Expansion at Commercial Metals Corp. is paying off with a 33 percent increase in revenue to $1.6 billion in the third quarter of FY 2019. In November, CMC acquired Gerdau’s four rebar mills and 33 fabrication facilities in the U.S., increasing its U.S. mill capacity by 75 percent. Net earnings for CMC totaled $78.6 million. […]
Existing home sales rebounded in May, according to the National Association of Realtors. Sales increased for the first time in two months, jumping 2.5 percent from April to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.34 million. Sales compared to May 2018 slipped 1.1 percent. NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said consumers are eager to take […]
Mexico voted to ratify the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement on Wednesday, paving the path for Canada and the U.S, to follow suit. The vote by the Mexican senate was nearly unanimous at 114 to 4 with three senators abstaining. Although some senators expressed concern about capricious tariff threats from the U.S. president, the sentiment was generally […]
Australian steel producer BlueScope lowered its earnings estimate for FY 2019 based on margins and market conditions. BlueScope now expects an increase in underlying EBIT of 6 percent for the year, down from previous guidance of 10 percent. EBIT for FY 2019 is expected to be around $1.35 billion and $500 million for the second […]
A small fire at Clairton Coke Works on Monday caused no environmental damage in the Mon Valley area, confirmed U.S. Steel and the Allegheny County Health Department. U.S. Steel said that the fire was the result of an electric arc flash on a breaker panel that provides power to Control Room #1 equipment. The fire […]
U.S. Steel Corp. announced today that it will idle two blast furnaces in the United States and one in Europe to align with current market conditions. The B2 furnace at Great Lakes Works was idled last week for planned maintenance. U.S. Steel plans to keep the furnace idled following repairs, as well as temporarily idling […]
Two of the biggest steel companies in the U.S. are expecting earnings to decline in the second quarter. Nucor and Steel Dynamics both cite lower shipments and inventory destocking as contributing factors. In guidance released on Monday, Nucor forecast earnings in the range of $1.20 to $1.25 per diluted share compared to $1.63 per share […]
The Empire State Manufacturing Index plunged 26 points in June to register -8.6 for its first negative reading in two years. Manufacturing growth in New York did an about face from May’s six-month high with the new orders index plummeting 22 points and shipments 7 points. The employment index fell to -3.5, while the average […]
Housing starts dipped slightly in May, inching down 0.9 percent from April’s revised rate to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,269,000. Starts were 4.7 percent below the May 2018 rate. Single-family starts led the decline, falling 6.4 percent from April to a SAAR of 820,000, while housing of five units or more jumped 13.8 […]
U.S. Steel Clairton Coke Works suffered its second fire in six months when a small blaze broke out in electrical equipment early Monday morning, disrupting environmental controls. U.S. Steel released the following statement: “Early this morning, Monday, June 17, a small electrical fire was detected on an electrical breaker panel impacting power to the by-products […]
Steel Market Update Briefs: ArcelorMittal, JSW Steel, Reibus in the news: JSW Steel Output Up 4.0 Percent in May JSW Steel announced that its steel output grew to 1.45 million metric tons in May 2019, a 4 percent increase year-over-year. Flat rolled products increased 6.0 percent to 1.02 million metric tons and long products increased […]
In just nine weeks the SMU Steel Summit 2019 will begin in Atlanta, Ga. While you are in town, take some time to sample some of the superb cuisine Atlanta has to offer. A Steel Market Update favorite is South City Kitchen, located in Midtown Atlanta and one of the outstanding Fifth Group Restaurants. South […]
Truckload volumes were a disappointment in May, said DAT Solutions in their monthly report. Truckload volumes for van trailers, which haul about 70 percent of all truckload freight, declined 12 percent from April and were down 10 percent year-over year. Volume for flatbed trucks that haul steel, heavy machinery and construction material declined 9.3 percent […]
The CEO of ArcelorMittal says Europe has a “steel glut” because of U.S. tariffs and the EU needs to do more to limit imports. ArcelorMittal Chairman and CEO Lakshmi Mittal told a German newspaper yesterday that safeguards initiated by the EU are not successfully protecting the European steel industry. “The EU has announced safeguard measures, […]
Beginning today, a new portal is available from the U.S. Department of Commerce for those who need to file exclusion requests under the Section 232 measures on steel and aluminum. Companies can request to have products they import excluded from the 25 percent tariff on steel and 10 percent tariff on aluminum if their needs […]
Mexican steel producer, Altos Hornos de Mexico, S.A.B. de C.V. (AHMSA) has reached an agreement with South Korea’s Paco Engineering to build Mexico’s first coated galvanized steel sheet plant. The new $20 million plant in Monclova will be able to process 90,000 tons of cold rolled sheet per year. “The painted sheet plant is one […]
Union Partners, an operator of metals and logistics companies, is rebranding itself as UPG Enterprises LLC. The new name focuses on UPG’s metal processing, manufacturing and distribution capabilities while highlighting its family of brands, which include Maksteel, Contractors Steel, Mapes & Sprowl, Lamination Specialties, National Metalwares and Chicago Steel. The name change comes with a […]
Orders for metal cutting machines and metalforming and fabricating machines saw their lowest April rate since 2016. The Association for Manufacturing Technology reports manufacturing technology orders totaled $344.6 million in April, a decline of 16.5 percent from March and 17.6 percent year-over-year. For the first four months of this year, orders were down 11.6 percent […]
Liberty Steel has announced the acquisition of Johnstown Wire Technologies, a producer of value-added carbon and alloy wire, in Johnstown, Pa. The acquisition will give Liberty the capacity to manufacture a range of high-value carbon and alloy wire products for multiple end markets including the infrastructure, automotive, utility and consumer sectors. The Johnstown operations will […]
Mexico will not have to face tariffs from the U.S. after coming to an agreement with the Trump administration on immigration. The 5 percent tariff on all goods imported from Mexico was scheduled to begin Monday, but the president called off the punitive measures in a tweet on Friday evening. Said Trump on Twitter: “I […]