“It’s an understatement to say that the first quarter was challenging for General Motors,” said CEO Mary Barra in GM’s first quarter conference call. So far, Barra says the negative publicity surrounding the ongoing investigation into the recall of 7 million vehicles with faulty ignition switches has not had any meaningful affect on sales. GM […]
Reliance Steel & Aluminum, the largest metals service center in the United States, announced earnings earlier today. The company reported net income of $87.2 on sales totaling $2.09 billion. Sales included the recent acquisitions of Metals USA and Haskins Steel. The company reported an 8.4 percent improvement in same store sales over the same quarter […]
Light vehicle sales in the US rebounded strongly in March as the weather improved in the North and automakers increased incentives to reduce excess inventory. Light vehicles are cars and light trucks (GVW Classes 1-3, under 14,001 lbs.). The sales rate increased to 16.4 million units from 15.4 million units in February. The increase in […]
Severe winter conditions negatively impacted Steel Dynamic’s first quarter earnings causing a 25 percent drop in consolidated operating income as compared to the previous quarter. SDI reported net income of $39 million for first quarter 2014, on net sales of $1.8 billion, down from $55 million on net sales of $1.9 billion Q4 2013. Steel […]
All of the current production issues are relegated to the northern fully integrated steel mills. One of our service center contacts laid out the production scenario and how it is impacting the other northern steel producers: “The Great Lakes outage, and then accident during repair, and the Gary reduction in output is the important factor […]
SMU recently published an article about the excitement in the aluminum industry regarding automotive applications. We asked for comments from the steel industry on the competition by aluminum for a share of the automotive manufacturing industry. We received the following comments from Ron Krupitzer, vice president, automotive market for the Steel Market Development Institute (SMDI): […]
Alcoa CEO Klaus Kleinfeld is expecting great things for aluminum—“The opportunity in auto is tremendous,” he said in Alcoa’s first quarter conference call. Kleinfeld said he expects aluminum automotive sheet demand to top 1 million metric tons by 2025. “We believe that the aluminum content in cars is going to quadruple very, very soon, basically […]
Bank of America Merrill Lynch gave their quarterly global steel outlook on April 8. BofAML predicts demand for finished steel in China will grow 4.4 percent in 2014. Chinese crude steel production is expected to increase 4.6 to 815 million tons. The outlook is for a trend of slowing but positive growth. Despite mill closings […]
“Mills are stubborn this week. We’ll see what happens when US gets caught back up,” is how one steel executive pegged the market for Steel Market Update earlier today. Many of the steel service centers we spoke to over the past few days are indicating there is strengthening demand in portions of their business. What […]
Steel Market Update requested information from US Steel regarding the status of USS Gary Works, which has been running steelmaking at reduced capacity due to a lack of raw materials and, USS Great Lakes which has steelmaking operations temporarily down due to damages suffered when a main collector pipe fell collapsing part of the roof […]
US Steel recently announced a series of executive changes. David Britten, current Senior Vice President – Tubular Operations, will assume the newly created position of Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer. Britten will be responsible for a further expansion of the company’s worldwide innovation, technology, engineering, and research and development of products, services and […]
US automotive sales reached 1.53 million units in March besting estimates by WardsAuto who pegged sales at 1.48 million units. Projected sales for the year rose to 16.38 million. Lingering winter weather kept consumers away from dealerships early in the month but sales picked up in the latter half to finish strong. GM CEO Mary […]
Even as other companies were issuing lower guidance due to weather and its impact on negatively impacting their earnings during the first three months 2014, Worthington Industries reported their fiscal year 2014 3rd Quarter results which ended on February 28, 2014 as being the best in the company’s history. The company reported earnings of $40.6 […]
We are beginning to see a new push away from a fragmented steel mill supply base as closures of capacity coupled with the recent acquisition of ThyssenKrupp Steel USA by ArcelorMittal/Nippon Steel Sumitomo Metals Corporation (AM/NS Calvert) are reducing the number of players and the tons in the game. Over the past two years we […]
When I last wrote my final thoughts, I had just discovered that my passport had expired ten days earlier and I was scheduled to speak to the Toronto Steel Buyers & Associates dinner in Canada the following day. My efforts to have the passport renewed in Atlanta were rebuffed and I was down to my […]
Big River Steel is cleared to begin construction. Mississippi County Judge Charles Moulton ruled in favor of the John Correnti led Big River Steel in an air quality permit lawsuit filed by rival steel-maker Nucor Corp. An air permit was provisionally granted on Sept 18, 2013 but subsequently challenged by Nucor on the basis that […]
New Star Metals has acquired Material Sciences Corporation (MSC) a provider of acoustical products used in brakes, body panels, and engine components. MSC also specializes in electro-galvanizing and coil coating of flat-rolled steel and aluminum and provides products and services to the automotive, construction, appliance, and lighting industries. “We are excited to complete the purchase […]
The possibility for steel prices to have, at the very least, bottomed and improving weather conditions across the United States and Canada have sparked an improvement in our Steel Market Update (SMU) Steel Buyers Sentiment Index. The index, which has been monitoring buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel since 2008, was reported earlier today […]
Light vehicle sales in both January and February were depressed by the unusually bad weather in the North. This applied to both retail and fleet sales. The annualized sales total of autos + light trucks in February was 15.4 million units. Sales are expected to rebound to greater than a 16 million unit annual rate […]
Key Banc recently published its report entitled “The Industrial Cycle: Monthly Update on Key End Markets.” The following is a summary of findings from report that SMU readers may find interesting. Key Banc says the outlook for industrial activity remains positive for 2014. After a dismal performance in January affected by weather conditions, activity rebounded […]
Fulton County Processing (FCP), a joint venture with Heidtman Steel, is expanding its pickling capacity at its facility in Delta, Ohio. The $20 million project will add a new 4 tank Butech Bliss/Nelson push/pull pickling line and is scheduled for completion in fourth quarter 2014. The steel processing expansion will add 82,000 square feet and […]
On Monday of this week, Steel Market Update (SMU) began our early March flat rolled steel market analysis. We sent invitations to just under 600 companies associated with the industry. Of the companies responding 44 percent were manufacturing companies (end users), 40 percent were steel service centers/wholesalers (distributors), trading companies represented 6 percent of the […]
Winter weather weakened auto sales for a second month. February sales rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 15.29 million in February from a nine month low of 15.2 million in January. Sales fell below analyst consensus of 15.4 million and IHS forecast of 15.5 million. WardsAuto estimates inclement weather pushed sales down by […]
The sale of ThyssenKrupp USA to 50/50 joint venture partners ArcelorMittal and Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation is finally complete. The $1.5 billion acquisition of the Calvert, Ala., hot rolled, cold rolled and coating and finishing mill has met all regulatory approvals allowing ThyssenKrupp a sigh of relief and AM & NSSMC the opportunity […]
ArcelorMittal and Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation (NSSMC) announced the new name for the “world’s most modern steel finishing facility”—the former ThyssenKrupp mill in Alabama—will be AM/NS Calvert. The announcement was made during a private employee-only reception held at facility on Thursday. “The name is AM/NS Calvert. AM and NS need no explanation. And […]
The sale of ThyssenKrupp USA to 50/50 joint venture partners ArcelorMittal and Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation is finally complete. The $1.5 billion acquisition of the Calvert, Ala., hot rolled, cold rolled and coating and finishing mill has met all regulatory approvals allowing ThyssenKrupp a sigh of relief and AM & NSSMC the opportunity […]
Buyers and sellers have mixed emotions and opinions regarding the current steel market. Most companies which Steel Market Update has spoken or traded emails with over the past few weeks are telling us their order books are “OK” and in line with what they saw last year at this time. Most companies believe their demand […]
I have to admit I am very impressed with the quality of the speakers and the program that has been put on by the FMA Toll Processors Conference. One of the reasons why I am attending this particular conference was due to the agenda which included a couple of programs about Advanced High Strength Steels […]
Honda began production of the 2015 Honda Fit last week at its new Honda de Mexico, S.A. de C.V. (HDM) plant, located in Celaya, Guanajuato. The plant will increase Honda’s annual automotive production capacity in North America to around 1.92 million units. Currently 90 percent of Hondas sold in the US are built in North […]
Australian company BlueScope Steel announced EBIT of AUD$48.7 million ($44 million) for its Hot Rolled Products North America segment for the first half of FY 2014 ending December 31, 2013. EBIT increased 48 percent from the same period in FY 2013. The segment includes a 50 percent interest in US-based North Star BlueScope Steel Ltd […]