Cleveland-Cliffs is about to become the largest flat-rolled steel producer in North America. The company announced Monday that it will acquire all of the operations of ArcelorMittal USA and its subsidiaries for a purchase price of approximately $1.4 billion. The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2020. The ArcelorMittal assets include […]
From one of our SMU readers to John Packard, President & CEO of Steel Market Update, “Welcome back… Regarding steel, wow. What a difference a month (or, a month and half) makes!” A second reader told us, “Market pricing and lead-times have moved aggressively…and rapidly. Many are finding themselves too late to the party.” It […]
Steel Market Update has had conversations/communications with Robert Miller, CEO and James Banker, Jr., Executive Vice President of NLMK USA as we endeavor to learn more about the status of the strike against the Farrell, Pennsylvania facility, status of slabs for the Farrell mill, and gain a better understanding of the general flat rolled steel […]
Strong demand in auto, residential construction and consumer products benefited Worthington Industries in the first quarter of FY 2021. The company reported net sales of $702.9 million, an 18 percent decline from the first quarter of FY 2020. Net earnings totaled $616.7 million which included a net pre-tax gain of $746.6 million related to Worthington’s […]
By CRU Senior Analyst Helen O’Cleary and found in CRU’s Zinc Monitor US steel mills have reportedly been taking more refined zinc over the past few weeks and the outlook for Q4 is looking slightly more positive according to market contacts. There have been suggestions that the uptick in spot demand from mills could be […]
The Architecture Billings Index remained stuck at a score of 40 for the third consecutive month in August, indicating a prolonged decline in billing activity at architecture firms. The new project inquiries index provided a glimmer of optimism, rising for the first time since February to a positive score of 51.5. The value of new […]
Wholesalers who sell HVAC and galvanized steel products to the construction sector have been pleasantly surprised by the resilience of demand in a market dealing with the COVID pandemic. They have been downright shocked by the spike in galvanized steel prices, which have jumped by about $7/cwt or $140 per ton in just the past […]
Wholesalers who sell HVAC and galvanized steel products to the construction sector have been pleasantly surprised by the resilience of demand in a market dealing with the COVID pandemic. They have been downright shocked by the spike in galvanized steel prices, which have jumped by about $7/cwt or $140 per ton in just the past […]
Galvanized steel prices have skyrocketed by more than $200 per ton since August, leaving wholesalers who serve the HVAC market to wonder how much higher the price can possibly go before it begins to cut into demand. On a conference call this morning, members of the Heating, Air Conditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International (HARDI) said […]
Demand remains strong even as galvanized steel prices have topped $900 per ton, reported members of the Heating, Air Conditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International in a conference call this morning. But the HARDI members—wholesalers who serve the HVAC market—expressed concern about the tight availability of galvanized steel and fear of running low on supplies. “We are […]
I am back. One of the questions I got on this morning’s HARDI steel conference call was if I really did go off the grid and not stay in touch with the market over the 24 days that I was away from my office? The answer was I rented a cottage about as far off […]
Industry sentiment, as measured by Steel Market Update, took a small step back in the past two weeks, but remains at healthy readings well above recent lows as well as this time last year. With demand and steel prices on the upturn, buyers are still feeling relatively positive about the slowly improving market conditions. SMU […]
Steel Dynamics Inc. is expecting third-quarter 2020 earnings to be slightly better than the previous quarter due to stronger results from recycling and steel fabrication operations and lower costs associated with construction of the new mill in Sinton, Texas. Steel operations earnings are expected to be lower in the third quarter. The division experienced metal […]
The year 2020 started out strong for the construction industry, but the latest annual employment figures show the impact of the pandemic. Canceled or postponed construction projects were reflected in new government data on construction employment analyzed by the Associated General Contractors of America. Construction jobs fell in 39 states between August 2019 and August […]
By CRU Prices Analyst Estelle Tran, from CRU’s Global Steel Trade Service A combination of increased seasonal demand, low service center inventories, unplanned outages, spike in scrap prices and government restrictions on Brazilian slab imports have added fuel to the usual seasonal uptick and turned it into a surge. After reaching a bottom in mid-August, […]
Housing starts fell 5.1 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.42 million in August due to declines in multi-family construction. Single-family housing starts rose 4.1 percent from July’s annual rate, but multi-family starts plunged more than 20 percent, according to data from U.S. Housing and Urban Development and the Commerce Department. Building permits […]
Demand and pricing improved late in the third quarter, said Nucor in earnings guidance issued Thursday. Continued resiliency of the nonresidential construction market has resulted in a strong performance for Nucor’s downstream products. Steel segment earnings are expected to be similar to second quarter. Nonresidential construction is also benefiting Nucor’s bar and structural mills, but market conditions […]
Some leading pipe and tube producers are increasing prices by $50 per ton due to increased demand from construction and automotive-related industries, as well as higher raw material costs. On Monday, Nucor Tubular Products announced an immediate $50 increase on all new orders for HSS, pipe, mechanical and piling products. Atlas Tube followed suit on […]
Iowa farmers are complaining that tariffs are causing opportunists to raise steel prices for materials needed to rebuild following the devastating derecho storm that damaged farms last month. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) penned a letter to Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross asking that Section 232 tariffs be […]
By CRU Analyst Kevin Bai, from CRU’s Steel Sheet Products Monitor Domestic sheet prices in China continued to reach new highs for the year alongside further improvement in underlying sheet demand in combination with limited supply. Domestic CR coil prices went up by RMB290 /t to RMB4720 /t and HDG sheet by RMB140 /t to […]
By CRU Research Manager Paul Butterworth, from CRU’s Steel Raw Materials and Steel Costs CRU price and cost forecasts suggest that the steel sector generally will return close to steady-state, or “through-cycle,” levels of profitability over the five-year forecast period. However, as our analysis highlights, steady-state profitability of individual steel mills has varied widely in […]
Employment in manufacturing and construction is recovering much more slowly than in the overall economy. The net change in employed persons was negative 20.8 million in April. Each month since then has had positive growth, but the recovery slowed in July and August. We have created a new summary chart for August to track the overall […]
The net change in employed persons in September was 661,000. Employment gains have slowed each month since June when 4.8 million jobs were recovered. The baseline against which future comparisons will be made is February 2020, the all-time high for nonfarm employment. Figure 1 shows the total number of people employed in the nonfarm economy. […]
Through October, manufacturing has added 742,000 jobs and construction 789,000 since the pandemic-driven crash in April. The baseline against which future comparisons are made in this analysis is February 2020, the all-time high for nonfarm employment. Figure 1 shows the total number of people employed in the nonfarm economy. Table 1 is designed on rolling […]
Mills raised plate prices by an additional $40-50 per ton ($2-2.50/cwt) on Monday and Tuesday, the second increase in the past five weeks and the fourth round of increases since May. Plate prices have lagged the increases in flat rolled as plate demand is more dependent on the infrastructure, commercial construction and energy markets, which […]
By CRU Research Analyst Eduardo Tinti, from CRU’s Steelmaking Raw Materials Monitor The iron ore price rose further last week and is now approaching the $130 /dmt mark as demand from Chinese steel mills remains strong and seaborne supply declined w/w. On Tuesday, Sept. 8, CRU assessed the 62% Fe fines price at $128.0 /dmt, […]
By CRU Senior Analyst Ryan McKinley, from CRU’s Steel Metallics Monitor The CRU metallics price indicator (CRUmpi) rose by 9.9 percent m/m in September to 225.5. Rising steel demand internationally in combination with tighter markets has driven relatively large price increases in every market we assess. Market sentiment is bullish for October and, barring any […]
Steel Market Update is please to share this Premium content with Executive members. For information on upgrading to a Premium-level membership, email Info@SteelMarketUpdate.com. Nonfarm employment is improving, but made back less than half the losses seen in the two months of March and April in the four-month period from May through August. The August jobs […]
The September jobs report was released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) on Friday and failed to meet the consensus expectation. September’s net gain was 661,000. The average monthly gain in the four months May through August was 2.7 million. In the September data, the July gain was revised up by 27,000 and August […]
The economy added 638,000 jobs in October, exceeding consensus expectations, reported the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Expectations were for a gain of 600,000. In the October data, the August gain was revised up by 4,000 and September was revised up by 15,000. Of the job losses in March and April, 10,090,000 are still unemployed. Figure […]