Nucor announced it will resume operations at its direct reduced iron (DRI) plant in Louisiana at the end of January. Operations were suspended at the end of last year due to market conditions following a scheduled maintenance outage. The company said in a statement: “Nucor’s raw materials strategy is built on flexibility, with the company […]
The Associated General Contractors of America released the results from their 2016 Construction Hiring and Business Outlook Report. Survey responses from more than 1,500 construction firms indicate that the construction industry is optimistic about business opportunities for 2016. A mix of private and public sector market segments are expected to drive demand for construction in […]
TransCanada says it intends to file a claim for more than $15 billion against the U.S. for what it calls the “arbitrary and unjustified” rejection of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline. The claim, filed under Chapter 11 of the North American Free Trade Agreement, seeks to recover “costs and damages that it has suffered as […]
An explanation of the Key Indicators concept is given at the end of this piece for those readers who are unfamiliar with it. The total number of indicators considered in this analysis is currently 36. We have made a change to our analysis this month by removing the capacity utilization of both the flat rolled […]
Each month the Commerce Department issues its Construction Put in Place (CPIP) data, usually on the first working day covering activity two months earlier. November data was released on Monday January 4th and data for private construction was revised back to January 2005, almost eleven years. Construction Put in Place is based on spending work […]
A quick note about December import license data reported as of this evening: Vietnam for December has requested 63,932 net tons of import licenses. Of those 42,114 net tons are cold rolled and 11,787 net tons are galvanized.The average for cold rolled and galvanized exports from Vietnam over the past twelve months was less than […]
The flat rolled steel price roller coaster did not do the steel mills or companies holding inventory any favors this past year. We saw hot rolled prices drop from just below $650 per net ton (average) at the beginning of the year to the low point of $360 per ton achieved the week of December […]
The negotiating committee at US Steel reached a tentative agreement on a new labor contract on Saturday, Dec. 19. Although terms of the contract will not be officially released until after ratification, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette obtained a copy and revealed some of the content. The new contract references slowdowns for the company including those at […]
Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton gave Essar Steel Minnesota a week to agree to a terms of proposal to repay $66 million in loans. Essar received the loans in 2004 in return for promises to build a $1.9 billion iron ore processing plant and steel mill in Nashwauk, Minn. The taconite plant is still under construction […]
The following is the Chicago Federal Reserve statement followed by our own graphical analysis. The CFNAI is an excellent reality check for much of the economic analysis that we routinely provide in The Steel Market Update and is also a reasonably good predictor of the direction of steel demand with a six to nine month […]
Each month the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) puts out its series of producer price indexes, for thousands of goods and materials. For an explanation of this program see the end of this piece. The latest release last week reported results through November. We run this analysis every three or four months to give readers […]
US Steel Corp announced it will postpone construction of the electric arc furnace at its Fairfield Works operation in Alabama due to “continued challenging market conditions in both the oil and gas and steel industries.” The $230 million EAF was scheduled for completion next year, giving US Steel the flexibility of its first EAF. The […]
On Dec. 21, the Department of Commerce (Commerce) announced its affirmative preliminary determination in the countervailing duty (CVD) investigation of imports of heavy walled rectangular welded carbon steel pipes and tubes from Turkey. The investigation covers heavy walled rectangular welded carbon steel pipes and tubes, which are rectangular (including square) welded carbon steel pipes and […]
Total housing starts in November were at an annual rate of 1,173,000 which was up from 1,062,000 in October. Since April total monthly starts annualized have ranged from 1,062,000 to 1,211,000 with the high month being June. In November the three month moving average (3MMA) was 1,147,000 which was up from 1,128,000 in October. August […]
The domestic steel mills began raising flat rolled steel prices late last week and into this week. We saw a mild rise in our hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized and Galvalume indices as the domestic mills began to collect at least a portion of the announced increases. As we canvass the buyers and sellers of […]
Flack Steel has closed the deal on acquisition of selected assets of Consolidated Systems, Inc.’s (CSi) Consolidated Metal Products (CMP) business. The acquisition expands Flack Steel’s penetration into the bare and painted hot-rolled and cold-rolled carbon steel, galvanized, stainless steel and aluminum markets. CMP provides metal processing for construction, transportation, HVAC, lighting, appliance and other […]
Nucor is expecting weaker financial results in fourth quarter. Operating performance in the steel mill segment was down from third quarter, especially at sheet and bar mills, as lower selling prices outpaced the decline in raw materials pricing. “This performance is due to continued deterioration in global steel markets amplified by global excess capacity and […]
Steel Dynamics expects reduced profitability from its steel operations in fourth quarter compared to third. Lower steel shipments, customer destocking and seasonal demand weakness are impacting the steel platform and, in particular, commodity grade hot roll products. Lower steel pricing will offset any benefits from lower ferrous scrap costs. Fabricated steel joist and decking products […]
Demand for architecture design services fell again in November. The Architecture Billings Index score was 49.3, down from 53.1 in October and 53.7 in September. The Index has been up and down throughout 2015. The new projects inquiry index was 58.6, up just barely from 58.5 in October. “Since architecture firms continue to report that […]
Based on Steel Market Update (SMU) analysis of the recently released MSCI service center inventory and shipment data, total service center carbon steel shipments decreased by 482,000 tons in November to 2.728 million tons. Shipping days at 20, were down by two from October. On a tons per day basis (t/d) shipments decreased from 145,900 […]
Earlier this week Steel Market Update (SMU) attended the annual HARDI conference in Orlando, Florida. The well attended conference focused on a number of areas affecting the HVAC Wholesalers including presentations on the economy by Alan Beaulieu of the Institute for Trend Research (ITR) and Steel Market Update regarding the status of the galvanized sheet […]
I expect the other domestic mills to go along with price increases of their own – whether they choose to announce the move may depend on what they feel is in their best interest. I would anticipate that Nucor will come out with their own announcement. US Steel and ArcelorMittal are in the process of […]
The Dodge Momentum Index dropped 3.7 percent to 119.9 in the November report from Dodge Data and Analytics. The index spiked in July and September but lost construction planning momentum in October and November. The index is now more consistent with the “gentle upward trend in planning activity that began in 2012” says Dodge. Commercial […]
A Delaware judge invalidated a patent by ArcelorMittal in a ruling favoring AK Steel in a dispute that has been ongoing for almost six years. The original suit, filed in January 2010 by ArcelorMittal, claimed that AK Steel’s lightweight, high-strength steel Ultralume, used in automotive applications, violated ArcelorMittal’s 2001 patent (patent 6,296,805—referred to as ‘805) […]
I will have a detailed report regarding the HARDI annual conference in Thursday evening’s issue. However, the news is good for those involved in the construction industries with Alan Beaulieu, Chief Economist for HARDI and co-founder of the Institute for Trend Research, proclaiming 2016 will be better than 2015 and 2017 will be even better […]
On Friday of this past week Steel Market Update (SMU) adjusted our Price Momentum Indicator from Lower to Neutral. This move is being made as we are seeing more evidence of the domestic steel mills taking a stand and either raising spot prices (especially on coated steels) or refusing to go any lower. As one […]
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) analysis of non-farm employment reported on Friday that 211,000 jobs were added in November, which was in line with economist’s consensus expectations. Both September and October were revised up by a total of 38,000. The three month moving (3MMA) of gains through November was 218,000. The unemployment rate, U3, […]
Navigation for freighters on the Great Lakes is winding to a close. This winter is expected to be warmer which may mean less ice on the Lakes and fewer delays of ore to mills when the shipping season reopens. The past two winters saw unusually high levels of ice coverage that persisted into April and […]
Mexican steelmaker, TYASA will begin construction of a Castrip facility at its Ixtaczoquitlan site near Orizaba, Veracruz, Mexico. The excess melt capacity of TYASA’s Quantum Furnace will supply the Castrip thin-strip casting process. TYASA expects the new facility to have a production capacity of 500,000 tons of thin-gauge, high-strength, sheet steel that will supply local […]
Essar Steel Minnesota met a deadline set by Governor Mark Dayton to repay $66 million in incentives owed the state after failing to complete a $1.9 billion integrated iron ore-to-steel mill. The governor gave Essar a deadline of Friday, December 4, to make payments to vendors on the project and provide assurances that future debts […]