Distributors who sell galvanized steel products have some recent experience at managing purchasing and inventory in a rapidly rising price environment. In their monthly conference call earlier today, members of the Heating, Air-Conditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International (HARDI) drew some comparisons between the spike in steel prices prompted by the pandemic last year and the […]
North American auto assemblies grew by 8.0% in February, expanding for the second straight month despite ongoing supply hurdles. Though last month’s production was 2.2% higher year on year, it was 21.1% below the same pre-pandemic period in 2020. Despite February’s production gains, the industry was met with strong supply-related headwinds. The ongoing supply-chain and […]
The semiconductor shortage that has hamstrung North American automakers for the better part of two years is still causing production headaches. Stellantis is the latest carmaker to report delays due to the lack of microchips. The Auburn Hills, Mich.-based automaker has extended the downtime at its Belvidere Assembly Plant for a second straight week, a company […]
By CRU Senior Analyst Ryan McKinley, from CRU’s Steel Sheet Products Monitor, March 9 The CRUspi moved higher m/m as war in Ukraine broke steel supply chains. While prices in the USA were down m/m, this downward trajectory has now halted. Elsewhere, buyers are scrambling to secure enough steel and steelmaking raw materials before prices […]
U.S. job growth accelerated in February, as falling Omicron cases brought customers back to business and workers back off the sidelines. Employers added 678,000 jobs last month, topping economists’ forecasts for a second straight month and bringing the unemployment rate down to 3.8%, according to the Labor Department. Job openings are near a record high, […]
A lot has happened in the world since my last article. Please bear with me as there is much to talk about. First, my thoughts and prayers go out to the people of Ukraine, and for that matter the innocent people in Russia who want nothing to do with Putin’s war. The world order is […]
The Association of Steel Distributors honored Cleveland-Cliffs Chairman, President and CEO Lourenco Goncalves as its Steel Executive of the Year. The honor was bestowed on Goncalves at a dinner earlier this week in conjunction with the Fabricators & Manufacturers Association conference in Miami. The award is designed to recognize individuals who have demonstrated the ability […]
Ryerson has acquired Apogee Steel Fabrication, expanding the service center’s value-added offerings in a move likened to its purchase of Specialty Metals Processing (SMP) last September. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. “We see Apogee strengthening Ryerson’s network of value-added service centers in Canada, adding to our processing capabilities and growing our full-service fabrication business,” […]
In a letter to customers this week, Cleveland-Cliffs said it does not expect the geopolitical fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to directly impact the company’s operations. “While we continue to monitor the situation closely, we have not identified any specific elevated risk to our operations at this time,” the company stated. Cliffs said it will continue […]
Toyota Motor Corp. will suspend Japanese automotive production on Tuesday, Mar. 1, because of a system failure at a supplier of plastic parts and electronic components, a company spokeswoman confirmed to Steel Market Update (SMU). Kojima Industries Corp, the supplier in question, said the complete system failure might be the result of a cyber-attack. An investigation […]
If you look at Steel Market Update’s headlines from the past week, it’s not difficult to see a common thread. There’s change in the wind. Cleveland-Cliffs and Nucor both announced $50-per-ton increases in sheet prices. Scrap experts forecast substantial jumps in both prime and obsolete scrap prices in March. Prices for other steelmaking raw materials […]
By Matthew Abrams, Analyst, CRU Group Now that we have seen the first steps of an invasion into Ukraine by Russian forces, the business concerns shift to the possibility of sanctions and how severe they might be. While initially the aluminum market itself is not expected to be directly targeted, there are various potential and […]
U.S. consumer confidence slipped again in February following a downward revision in January, reported The Conference Board. The slight erosion in the headline index was the second straight decline following a small recovery in late 2021 that saw gains from September through December. Though results are mixed, the shift in momentum is worth noting. Sentiment towards […]
Editor’s note: SMU contributor Bryan Tice is a partner at Metal Edge Partners, a firm engaged in Risk Management and Strategic Advisory. In this role, he and the firm design and execute risk management strategies for clients along with providing process and analytical support. Before joining Metal Edge Partners, Bryan held a variety of commercial […]
You don’t need SMU pontificating about how the Russia-Ukraine conflict marks the end of the post-WWII order. Suffice it to say the world we woke up to today is vastly different from the one we reported on in our last edition. We’re also getting used to thinking about things we haven’t had to think about […]
For those of you who don’t pay attention to such things, today’s date is 2/22/22…. On Monday, Cleveland-Cliffs announced on their website their intention of indefinitely idling the #4 blast furnace at Indiana Harbor, and a $50 per ton ($2.50/cwt) price increase on orders slated for production in April 2022. Cliffs CEO Lourenco Goncalves spoke […]
Prices for steel sheet have fallen across the board since September of last year. But the pace of declines for hot-rolled coil has been much faster than for galvanized products. The result: Spreads between HRC prices and galv base prices – which have been at record levels since late last year – continue to widen. […]
Prices for steel sheet have fallen across the board since September of last year. But the pace of declines for hot-rolled coil has been much faster than for galvanized products. The result: Spreads between HRC prices and galv base prices – which have been at record levels since late last year – continue to widen. […]
The Tampa Steel Conference has wrapped up, and I thank all of you who attended and who took the time to catch up with me on stage or along the sidelines. Below are five themes that I took away from the event. If I were to sum it up in a sentence, it’s this: Steel […]
Ferrous scrap has been described as “the new precious metal,” as mills all over the world invest in scrap-fed electric arc furnaces as a means of lowering harmful greenhouse gas emissions. Indeed, prime scrap may prove to be even more rare and prized than most realize. In the United States alone, producers will add 5.3 […]
U.S. Steel Corp. is beginning a search for a new chief financial officer after the resignation this week of Senior Vice President and CFO Christine S. Breves, who will continue to serve as Executive Vice President-Business Transformation while the company seeks her permanent replacement. “Christie’s deep knowledge of the industry, leadership and superb insight have […]
Spot market prices are moving and moving very quickly. One of the service centers I communicated with today said, “I’ve not seen a market downturn quite like this one (nor the upside either), and it’s making the discovery of legit pricing quite difficult. I will say, the one constant I keep hearing is that the […]
Ternium plans to invest $1 billion to expand the operations of its Pesquería flat steel facility in Nuevo Leon, Mexico. The news came during the steelmaker’s fourth-quarter conference call on Wednesday, Feb. 16, when the Latin American steel group’s chief executive officer, Máximo Vedoya, confirmed the company was in the final stage of studying an […]
Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. “finished the year strong with record financial performance across nearly every metric,” CEO Jim Hoffman said during the service center’s earnings call on Thursday. Reliance reported record annual gross profits of $4.49 billion on record annual sales of $14.09 billion for full-year 2021. The fourth quarter was also the best […]
Steel mill lead times, which have shortened to near historical averages, are about as low as they will go and now register only minor movements up or down from week to week, based on Steel Market Update’s surveys of the market. Likewise, SMU’s data on negotiations between mills and buyers has reached a similar steady […]
Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. might shut a blast furnace this year, the company’s top executive said. “When we make a move, we make a move. … You might see a blast furnace going down for good still in 2022,” Cliffs Chairman, President and CEO Lourenco Goncalves said during a fireside chat at the Tampa Steel Conference this […]
Industry analyst Paul Lowrey is “bullish on the short-term outlook for steel,” but his goal as a presenter during the Tampa Steel Conference this week was “to get some of you to think differently about what is going on.” Lowrey, founder of Pittsburgh-based Steel Research Associates, is a contrarian when it comes to the common […]
Ternium reported net earnings of $1.136 billion in the fourth quarter 2021, down from $1.366 billion in the prior quarter, but a 31.4% boost from $865 million in the fourth quarter of 2020. The steelmaker achieved record profitability for the full year ended Dec. 31, 2021, with earnings totaling $4.367 billion, more than a five-fold […]
Ford, Toyota and Honda continued to see production disruptions at various factories due to ongoing protests by anti-vaxxers blocking the Ambassador Bridge, the busiest international border crossing in North America. The auto industry has struggled to get parts over the U.S.-Canada border as the protest by truck drivers at the bridge had entered its fifth […]
Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. could join other steel producers in adding electric-arc furnace (EAF) capacity, the company’s top executive said. The Cleveland-based steelmaker is considering that because the cost of relining a blast furnace – and investing in the supply chains needed to feed it – are roughly the same as those for of building a new EAF. […]