Tag: AHMSA

After failing to reach agreements with its creditors, Altos Hornos de México (AHMSA) has been formally declared bankrupt by a Mexican bankruptcy court.

Altos Hornos de México (AHMSA) announced it is entering the third stage of bankruptcy.

On Monday and Tuesday of this week, SMU polled steel buyers on an array of topics, ranging from market prices, demand, and inventories to imports and evolving market events.

Cleveland-Cliffs Chairman, President and CEO Lourenco Goncalves had some insightful things to say today about the steel market and about a conference we suspect might be Steel Summit.

Steel Dynamics Inc. executives provided further insight into operations at the company’s Sinton, Texas, flat-rolled steel mill on a second-quarter earnings conference call on Thursday morning. Despite a series of start-up woes, the company recently commissioned two new coating lines there, and the mill continues to ramp up production. The execs were also bullish on […]

Earlier this week, SMU polled steel buyers on an array of topics, ranging from market prices, demand, and inventories to imports and evolving market events.

Earlier this week, SMU polled steel buyers on an array of topics, ranging from market prices, demand, and inventories to imports and evolving market events.

US sheet prices continue to fall, with SMU’s average hot-rolled (HR) coil price now at $670 per short ton (st). Prices for cold-rolled and coated products are now in the mid/high $900s/st. As I noted in my last Final thoughts, the consensus among our readers is that prices will bottom out in July. And that makes intuitive sense. Lead times in mid/late July should be stretching into the typically busier fall months. The question then is where prices bottom.

Outgoing Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) said the incoming administration of Claudia Sheinbaum will be able to resolve the woes of shuttered steelmaker Altos Hornos de México (AHMSA). 

The conventional wisdom is that sheet prices will trend down for the next few weeks (maybe the next two months) before rising again in August – around when lead times stretch into the busier fall months. We see that reflected in our survey results and in market chatter. And there are plenty of data points to choose from if you want to support of that position.

We’ve been writing a lot about sheet prices, and those for hot-rolled (HR) in particular, coming down. Here's one thing that hasn't dropped: The wide spread between HR and cold-rolled (CR) prices. That's what's in a chart below. And I'm using it as a rough proxy for galv and G'lume base prices as well

Everybody has a plan… until they’ve dealt with volatility in the HRC market. While Mike Tyson’s original quote was about getting punched in the mouth, it’s unlikely the ex-champ has gone many pricing rounds with hot-rolled coil.

On Monday and Tuesday of this week, SMU polled steel buyers on an array of topics, ranging from market prices, demand, and inventories to imports and evolving market chatter.

Earlier this week, SMU polled steel buyers on an array of topics, ranging from market prices, demand, and inventories to imports and evolving market chatter.

They say all’s fair in love and war. But that doesn’t seem to be the case in steel. Being deemed “unfair” could get you slapped with shiny new Section 232 tariffs these days. Then again, “unfair” implies a judge. And people on opposing sides seldom agree with the judgment. Such seems to be the current case between the US and Mexico.

AHMSA’s new investors, Argentem Creek Partners, have plans for a potential staggered restart of operations at the Mexican steelmaker.

On Monday and Tuesday of this week, SMU polled steel buyers on an array of topics, ranging from market prices, demand, and inventories to imports and evolving market chatter.

Earlier this week SMU polled steel buyers on an array of topics, ranging from market prices, demand, and inventories to imports and evolving market chatter.

What are folks in the steel industry talking about at present? Respondents to SMU’s mini-survey this week shared some of their thoughts with us about what's going on in the market. Rather than summarizing their responses, here’s some of what they had to say in their own words.

Domestic prices have been sliding since the beginning of the year, and I don’t see any obvious reasons why the slide might stop this week. But let’s put the timing of a bottom aside for a minute. The question among some of you seems to be whether we’ll see another price spike, or at least a “dead-cat bounce,” before the typical summer doldrums kick in.

At SMU, our goal is not to tell you what to think but to keep the conversation going. We asked you in our survey this week what you were seeing when it comes to steel prices, demand, imports, and wildcards. In your own words, with minimal editing, here’s what some of you in the SMU community shared with us this week.

Everyone knows the old saying that “a picture is worth a thousand words.” Just because it’s a cliché doesn’t mean that it’s wrong. A lot of inked has been spilled trying to figure out why prices are falling now. I thought it might be as simple as this: Market dynamics in the fourth quarter (UAW strike, companies buying ahead of an anticipated post-strike price spike, etc.) pulled forward restocking activity that typically happens in the first quarter.

What a difference a month makes. There are a few full bulls left in the room, but their numbers are dwindling. We’ll release results of our full steel market survey tomorrow afternoon. I took a sneak peak at the data on Thursday. And more people than I expected think that US hot-rolled (HR) coil prices will be in the $700s per short ton (st) two months from now. Vanishingly few think prices will be above $1,000/st in mid-April.

What are folks in the steel industry talking about? SMU polled steel buyers on a variety of subjects this past week, including domestic steel prices, import offers, buying activity, and more. Rather than summarizing the comments we received, we are sharing some of them in each buyer’s own words.

With rising steelmaking capacity and relatively flat demand, industry analysts are predicting lower prices for sheet products this year.

On Monday and Tuesday of this week, SMU polled steel buyers on a variety of subjects, including steel sheet prices, demand, inventory, imports, and what people are talking about in the market. Rather than summarizing the comments we received, we are sharing some of them in each buyer’s own words. We want to hear your […]

I want to thank the Heating, Air-conditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International (HARDI) for the opportunity to speak at their annual conference in Phoenix. I enjoyed the proceedings and participating in a panel for HARDI’s sheet metal/air handling council. I can’t recap all that we discussed in a few hundred words. But I’d like to share […]

On Monday and Tuesday of this week, SMU polled steel buyers on a variety of subjects, including steel prices, demand, inventories, imports, and what people were talking about in the market.

There was consensus that steel prices would crash on the UAW strike and then rebound just as sharply once the union and the “Big Three” automakers reached tentative deals.

Latin American flat-rolled steelmaker Ternium is seeing strong demand in Mexico, its main market. With its new mill in Pesquería, Mexico, up and running, more lines there set to come online, and the company now holding an increased stake in Brazilian mining and steel company Usiminas, Luxembourg-based Ternium is optimistic about the future direction of the company.