The Chicago Fed Midwest Manufacturing Index (CFMMI) is a monthly estimate by major industry of manufacturing output in the Seventh Federal Reserve District states of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan and Wisconsin. It is a composite index of 15 manufacturing industries that uses hours worked data to measure monthly changes in regional activity. The official news […]
Big River Steel received its air quality permit from the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality on Sept. 19, clearing the way for final financing and preparation for construction. The company plans on breaking ground between Thanksgiving and Christmas 2013. The construction of the $1.1 billion plant is projected to take 18 months and provide […]
Furnace Outage Keeps AK from Taking Advantage of Higher Spot Prices AK Steel is expecting a loss for the third quarter that includes approximately $12 million uncovered by insurance related to an unplanned furnace outage in the third quarter. In its guidance released Thursday, the company said the blast furnace outage at Middletown Works reduced […]
ArcelorMittal plans to invest $25 million in improvements in its hot-dip galvanizing line at Cleveland Works bringing its total investment over the past ten years to more than $95 million. Louis Schorsch, of the company’s group management board, told attendees at a City Club Business Leaders event last week that Cleveland Works will be a […]
Steel Market Update conducted our mid-September flat rolled steel market survey this week. The survey began on Monday with an invitation to approximately 600 companies who are active participants in the flat rolled steel industry. Part of the survey includes questions regarding attitudes within the industry regarding how successful the respondents see their company both […]
Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp. and Ternium SA announced the start-up of its joint venture steel operation, Tenigal, near Monterrey City, Mexico on Sept. 18. Tenigal is part of Ternium’s Pesqueria Project, a $1.1 billion steel complex that includes a cold-rolling plant with a 1.5 million ton annual capacity. Tenigal will produce automotive […]
Steel Dynamics offered guidance on Tuesday saying it anticipates a better third quarter as compared to the second quarter due to increase in shipments and average metal spread (spread being the difference between steel costs and selling prices). In the sheet steel segment higher volumes and better spread increased profits, while in the long products […]
In guidance remarks released Tuesday, Nucor Corp. said it expects the third quarter to outperform the second due to strong performance from its sheet and structural steel segment. Sheet steel improvements are attributed to competitor supply disruptions, customer inventory restocking and market demand improvement. The structural segment benefited from higher production following a planned maintenance […]
NAFTA Automotive production in August rebounded to 1.436 million units after the summer shut down. The annual rate in August was 17.243 million units. On a rolling 12 month basis production was 15.719 million units, up 5.9 percent from the 12 months through August a year ago. Growth has been slowing as production approached then […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) has received many emails from our readers as well as interested parties regarding our SMU Price Momentum Indicator which we have had at Neutral since Friday, August 23, 2013. Since that time we have seen hot rolled pricing remain in the $630-$660 per ton level (see Comparison Price Indices article below) […]
Taylor Steel collaborated with Herr-Voss Stamco in order to produce the first slitting line specifically designed with the sole purpose of meeting the processing needs of the advanced high strength steels (AHSS) markets in North America. The new slitting line is using strand extensioning in combination with a 45 foot looping pit in order to […]
Worthington Industries announced that Ivan Meltzer has been named president of TWB Company, a laser welded blanking joint venture with Wuhan Iron and Steel Company. Meltzer will replace interim president and CFO Michael Lowrey, a 15 year veteran of the company, who will continue to serve as executive vice president and CFO. Meltzer is no […]
Severstal NA revenue for Q2 rose to $953 million from $930 million in the first quarter 2013. Demand growth was led by U.S. automotive, construction and pipe and tube industries. First half 2013 revenue, however, fell to $1,883 million from $2,158 million in H1 2012—a 12.7 percent loss. Severstal reported a utilization rate of almost […]
Sims Metal Management, a metals and electronics recycler headquartered in Australia, announced North American results for FY 2013 ending June 30, 2013. Underlying EBITDA for North American operations rose 30 percent year-over-year to $102.3 million. (Underlying EBITDA is a measure of the actual profits realized by a company used for business process planning, rather than […]
The erosion of the rupee brought the currency to a new record low on Monday at 62.76 to the U.S. dollar. A growing deficit at 4.8 percent of the GDP is blamed for the currency weakness in India that some say may be the country’s worst financial crisis in decades. The Royal Bank of […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) received a question related to the most recent “Steel Buyers Basics” article published in Sunday evening’s issue of Steel Market Update. The article was about “spread” in flat rolled steel pricing and how it is measured. On Monday one of the transportation companies which recently joined SMU as a member provided […]
Australian company BlueScope Steel announced EBIT of $66.7 million for its 50 percent ownership of U.S. based North Star BlueScope Steel for FY 2013 ending on June 30, 2013. Earnings for the fiscal year improved by 7 percent over FY 2012 due to improved cost control and decreased depreciation charges that offset slightly weaker spreads. […]
Metal fabricators are reporting stable business conditions according to the Fabricators & Manufacturers Association’s inaugural survey of small to mid-sized metal fabricating companies. No significant growth or shrinkage was noted in new order activity by most respondents. Commodities and logistic prices were also seen as fairly stable. New trucking rules have some respondents expecting higher […]
Twice per month Steel Market Update (SMU) surveys the flat rolled steel market in order to gage market trends, pricing and Sentiment within the steel community. Since November 2008 SMU has been measuring Steel Buyers Sentiment. The resulting index is measured on a zero to plus 100 (+100) scale for those who are optimistic about […]
AK Steel said its steel shipments will be 1.27 million to 1.30 million tons in the first quarter of 2013, compared to 1.4 million tons in the fourth quarter of 2012, since the normal cycle of spot pricing increases has floundered and not resulted in higher sales. Automotive market shipments are expected to surpass fourth […]
Worthington Industries, a diversified metals manufacturing company, reported a one percent gain in net sales in the third quarter ending February 28, 2013, finishing at $619.5 million compared to $611.3 million the prior year. Gross margin improved to $97 million from $83.3 million in 2012, mostly due to gains from Pressure Cylinders and acquisitions. Steel […]
Written by: Sandy Williams Steel shipments will be flat in the first quarter compared to the fourth quarter of 2012 said Steel Dynamics in its first quarter 2013 earnings guidance. Galvanized sheet volume is projected to decrease but be offset by increases in long product shipments, including SBQ, standard railroad rail and wide flange products. […]
Written by: Sandy Williams ArcelorMittal outlined a new management savings target of $3 billion by the end of 2015 by improving the reliability, productivity and energy efficiency of its blast furnaces and mills and shifting to low-cost U.S. gas. The company has already streamlined a number of assets though an aggressive restructuring plan in the […]
Written by: Peter Wright Automotive production, inventory and sales; February 2013. Within NAFTA, the Detroit three lost production share in February compared to February last year, dropping from 52.1 percent to 51.5 percent. Performance amongst the three varied wildly with GM and Chrysler loosing 2.2 percent and 0.8 percent respectively as Ford gained 2.1 percent. […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) has been speaking to a number of service centers regarding their spot sales and especially those sales which are made between service centers or brokers. A number of service centers have been commenting about their spot warehouse business being off over the past three months. Lisa Goldenberg of Delaware Steel told […]
Written by: Sandy Williams Nucor is expecting shares to drop by half in the first quarter of 2013, falling to $0.20 to $0.25 per diluted share from $0.43 per diluted share in the fourth quarter of 2012 and $0.45 per diluted share in first quarter 2012. Weak performance in sheet steel offset by improved profitability […]
Written by: Sandy Williams Dr. Gerhard Cromme is resigning as Chairman of the ThyssenKrupp Supervisory Board effective March 31. Cromme, 70, has held the post for 12 of his 27 years with ThyssenKrupp. The resignation has been called for by shareholders angry over the Board’s investment disaster with Steel Americas. “I want to support a […]
Written by: Sandy Williams Steel Dynamics announced that John Nolan, Vice President and General Manager of the Company’s Structural and Rail Division, has been appointed to the newly created corporate level position of President-Product Development. Nolan will be responsible for identification, development and innovation of new products for the automotive, construction and rail markets. Nolan, […]
Written by: Sandy Williams Klockner and Co. is undergoing a major restructuring program to shrink its European line to a profitable core by eliminating 60 sites, 40 of which have already been sold or closed. Klockner EBITDA before restructuring was €139 million in 2012 (down from €227 million in 2011) and €62 million after restructuring. […]
Question is can TK get two or more mills in a bidding war? Our sources advise SMU that the binding bids for the ThyssenKrupp Americas plants (Calvert, Alabama and CSA in Brazil) – the ones which truly count – are to be submitted by the end of this week. There are a number of prospective […]