Steel prices continued to fall in each week of July, following declines in May and June. Hot rolled prices were $955 per ton ($49.75 per cwt) the first week of July, slipping between $35 and $45 per ton each week to reach $840 per ton as of last Tuesday. The SMU Price Momentum Indicator for […]
By Greg Wittbecker, Advisor, CRU Group US International Trade Commission hearings provide little direction Last week in DC, the US International Trade Commission (ITC) held a series of public meetings and hearings to take comments on current Section 232 tariffs. Representatives from throughout the value chain were in attendance. The Aluminum Association participated in a […]
There’s plenty of doom and gloom these days in steel. Our recent Community Chat with Associated General Contractors of America chief economist Ken Simonson provided a welcome respite from the dreary mood among some steel buyers. But let’s not get carried away. Simonson didn’t say prices weren’t falling. In fact, it’s not just steel prices […]
Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. “delivered an exceptional second quarter with record-setting financial performance and outstanding operational execution,” CEO Jim Hoffman said in the service center’s second quarter results release. Reliance reported record second quarter net income of $572.8 million on sales of $4.68 billion. The company’s top results were driven by “ongoing healthy demand” […]
Though steel prices might down from the historic highs of 2021, Reliance Steel and Aluminum sees its diverse product portfolio and end markets as a buffer, executives said during an earnings call with analysts on Thursday, July 28. “Our product breadth is so diverse, which is part of the strategy and design,” company president Karla […]
Inflation and slowing demand are hampering ArcelorMittal’s short-term outlook, but the global steelmaker remains bullish on steel’s long-term prospects. As it released its second quarter results, the Luxembourg-based company said the period was “overshadowed by the outbreak of war in Ukraine,” where it maintains steel and mining operations. “Globally the conflict is impacting growth and […]
Prices for all seven of the steelmaking raw materials tracked in this SMU analysis declined over the last 30 days, receding further from record-high levels seen in March and April. Through the latest data available as of July 27, coking coal prices decreased 56% compared to one month prior, pig iron and busheling scrap prices […]
Eyes glaze over when trade laws are discussed. Despite this, I think it useful to delve a bit into details on occasion. A couple of recent developments prompt me to do so this week. First, the US International Trade Commission (ITC) voted unanimously last week that material injury was not done to the domestic industry […]
Backward physical integration comes to the aluminum rolling industry SDI’s decision to “jump the fence” and enter the aluminum rolling sector was, in and of itself, blockbuster news. However, the repercussions on the aluminum scrap market may be even more profound. CRU has argued for some time that the big aluminum rolling mills would eventually […]
Producer prices rose moderately in June, maintaining a sustained 27-month growth run. Last month the headline index grew by just 3.3%, seasonally adjusted, but was up 23.4% compared to the same year-ago period, the US Labor Department reported. The wholesale level was hit hard by inflation as well in June. The producer price index (PPI), […]
Steel Dynamics Inc. (SDI) posted record second quarter profits despite a modest margin squeeze stemming from lower steel prices and higher scrap costs. The Fort Wayne, Ind.-based steelmaker also remains bullish about the second half of the year despite concerns about demand in some corners of the market. “Customer order entry activity continues to be […]
Steel Dynamics (SDI) this week announced plan to enter the aluminium flat-rolled products market. Pledging a $2.2 billion investment in rolling and recycling operations, SDI seeks to leverage its recycling expertise and technology, alongside its performance culture, to penetrate the underserved domestic can sheet and automotive flat-rolled markets in North America. With a nearly 30-year history […]
Steel Dynamics Inc.’s plan to construct a $2.2 billion recycled aluminum flat-rolled mill and two supporting recycled aluminum slab centers is an unprecedented and an exciting move for a steelmaker, its top executive said. “I haven’t been this excited about a project since we first launched this business,” SDI chairman, president and CEO Mark Millett said […]
Steel Dynamics, Inc. (SDI) unveiled its plan to build a $2.2 billion recycled aluminum flat-rolled mill and two supporting recycled aluminum slab centers. The proposed $1.9 billion aluminum flat-rolled mill will be located in the southeastern US, with an annual production capacity of 650,000 metric tons of finished products. It will serve the sustainable beverage […]
President Biden visited the Middle East last week. He touched down at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland early Sunday morning. Every presidential trip is and must be evaluated by what else is going on. This one was originally billed as routine: to attend a summit meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), a group […]
The prices contractors pay for construction materials and services – chiefly for new nonresidential construction – rose by 1.1% month-on-month (MoM) in June, outpacing the rise in contractors’ bid prices, the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) reported in its latest analysis of government data. AGC warned that rising materials prices were adversely impacting a […]
Kaiser declares force majeure due to an inability to secure its required magnesium Kaiser Aluminum, which operates a major aluminum can sheet rolling mill in Warrick, Ind., declared force majeure on July 8, citing its inability to obtain enough magnesium to sustain its production. Kaiser’s mill specializes in the production of food container and beverage […]
I’ve been writing a lot lately about steel prices going down. It’s hard at a certain point to find a new way to write about the same thing. So let’s talk about logistics, heat waves, and electricity for a little bit. First, I want to draw your attention to our Community Chat earlier this week […]
Century and Alcoa Close Smelter Capacity We talked about the INTALCO saga in a recent column and its inability to find competitive power to re-open this smelter. Power has again reared its ugly head and delivered another serious bite to the industry. Century Aluminum announced on June 24 that it would be immediately curtailing production […]
Steel Dynamics (SDI) has lowered metallic coating extras in response to declining zinc and aluminum prices. The new extras are effective Aug. 1, 2022. They apply not only to galvanized products but also to Galvalume, Galfan, and aluminized material, the Fort Wayne, Ind.-based steelmaker said. “Since the most recent adjustment to our published metallic coating […]
Steel prices continued to ease each week throughout June, following declines in May as well. Hot rolled prices were $1,190 per ton ($59.50 per cwt) the first week of June. Prices then slipped between $45 and $90 each of the following weeks, with the SMU index averaging $995 per ton as of last Tuesday. (This […]
President Joe Biden has increased tariffs on some Russian and Belarussian steel, ferroalloys, and aluminum products to 35%, according to a presidential proclamation signed earlier this week and related documents. That’s a significant increase from already higher duties on some products that went into effect earlier this year when Russia and Belarus were stripped of […]
Prices for six of the seven steelmaking raw materials tracked in this SMU analysis declined over the last 30 days, again receding from record-high levels seen 2-3 months prior. Through the latest data available as of June 23, coking coal prices decreased 28% compared to one month prior, aluminum prices fell 15%, iron ore and […]
By Greg Wittbecker, Advisor, CRU Group Century Aluminum Falls Prey to the Pitfalls of Day-Ahead Electricity Pricing When we wrote our column last week about INTALCO and the shortcomings of US energy policy, little did we know that we would see another example of this within a week. On Wednesday, June 22, Century Aluminum (CENX) […]
I mentioned in my last Final Thoughts that you should keep your eyes open for potential catalysts for higher prices even amid all the signs that tags probably have nowhere to go but lower. It turned out we found one hiding in plain sight. It’s contract talk season in the US, with labor pacts between […]
By Greg Wittbecker, Advisor, CRU Group The Saga of the Alcoa INTALCO Aluminum Smelter In April 2020, Alcoa announced its decision to close its Ferndale, Wash., primary aluminum smelter known as INTALCO. This smelter was built in 1966 by the French aluminum giant, Pechiney, and at its peak produced 284,000 metric tons per year. In […]
Despite inflation, rising interest rates, and faltering equities markets, the outlook is not all doom and gloom when it comes to the metals markets, says Rick Marabito, CEO of service center group Olympic Steel. In fact, the outlook for demand and consolidation is actually quite good, he told attendees of this week’s Steel Market Update […]
Olympic Steel CEO Rick Marabito will be the featured speaker on our SMU Community Chat on Wednesday at 11 am ET. The live webinar is free. A recording of it is free only to SMU members. You can register here. We’ll talk about why the sky is not falling even though carbon prices and futures are softening. […]
By Greg Wittbecker, Advisor, CRU Group Global Deficit Reduced Again The headline on aluminum fundamentals is that the deficit is shrinking again. We now believe that the global deficit will be about 700,000 metric tons compared to 1,000,000 metric tons in April. This deficit is exclusively held in the World ex-China, as we believe China […]
By CRU Principal Economist Alex Tuckett, from CRU’s Global Economic Outlook Energy costs for consumers – in the form of utility bills and the cost of filling a car – have risen sharply, but not as sharply as the cost of crude oil and natural gas. But this doesn’t necessarily mean a lot more pain […]