A shortage of qualified job seekers resulted in only 25 states adding construction jobs between May and June despite strong industry demand, says the Associated General Contractors of America. Forty-one states added construction jobs between June 2016 and June 2017. “Contractors in most of the country say they have plenty of projects booked and would […]
U.S. industrial production is in Phase B, accelerating growth, but the latest HARDI/ITR quarterly construction forecast warns that the next phase of the cycle, slower growth, is on the horizon. Steel Market Update is a member of an association connected to the construction industry called HARDI. HARDI stands for Heating, Air-conditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International. […]
Steel Dynamics, Inc., is excited about the second half and is expecting growth in all sectors through 2018. CEO Mark Millett says the flat rolled arena remains very strong despite a slight turning of the automotive market. Infrastructure is continuing to grow, as evidenced by cranes and road work funded by states, if not federal […]
Nucor CEO John Ferriola said that in the current challenging environment, he is encouraged by second-quarter results, but not satisfied. Illegally traded imports continue to be a problem in the United States for Nucor and the domestic steel industry, Ferriola said during the company’s second-quarter conference call. He cited a 15 percent year-over-year increase in […]
China’s economic performance through the second quarter continued to be impressive. Chinese growth of steel production lagged the rest of the world in the first months of 2017, but the June output could indicate an unwelcome change. Once each quarter, we publish the official statistics for Chinese GDP, industrial production, consumer price inflation and fixed […]
Housing starts in June jumped 8.3 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,215,000 and were 2.1 percent higher than in June 2016, said the Department of Commerce on Wednesday. The increase follows three months of decline and was driven by new construction in the Northeast and Midwest. Starts soared 83.7 percent in the […]
Drexel Metals, a custom metal fabricator and portfolio company of Arborview Capital, has been acquired by Carlisle Construction Materials. Drexel, headquartered in Louisville, Ky., is a leader in the residential and nonresidential architectural metal roofing segment with regional facilities in Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Colorado and Maryland. Drexel provides on-site rolling of metal panels, custom trim and […]
Like the rest of the steel market, wholesalers of galvanized steel and other products used in HVAC applications are stuck in an uncomfortable wait-and-see mode as the Section 232 drama plays out in Washington. In the monthly steel conference call hosted today by the Heating, Air-conditioning, and Refrigeration Distributors International, HARDI members reported anxiety over […]
Australian steel and aluminum manufacturers were relieved to hear that Australia will be exempt from any U.S. import tariffs imposed under Section 232. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Finance Minister Mathias Cormann lobbied U.S. officials at the G20 meetings arguing that Australia was a strong ally and exports relatively little of its steel and aluminum to […]
The European steel market and economy improved in the first half of 2017, but the EU is concerned that increasing protectionist policies may lead to “disastrous trade flow distortions.” Apparent steel consumption grew 3.1 percent year-over-year in the European Union during the first quarter of 2017, according to a new report by the European Steel […]
The Dodge Momentum Index continued to exhibit strength in June, climbing 1.1 percent to 141.1. The monthly measure of nonresidential construction projects in planning was driven by a 4.8 percent jump in planning for institutional construction. The commercial component of the index dipped 1.3 percent, but was 11.8 percent higher than in June 2016. Institutional […]
The U.S. employment situation continues to be good. Net job creation in June, including revisions for April and May, was 269,000, and the latest number of job openings was the highest on record. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) net job creation report released on Friday exceeded economists’ expectations and was another example of why […]
Stelco has been officially acquired by Bedrock Industries as of June 30. The former U.S. Steel Canada entered protection under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act in September 2014 and will now stand on its own as Stelco Inc. “This is an exciting day for Stelco and for all of those who have worked so hard […]
Worthington Industries posted a strong fourth quarter, setting record annual earnings per share and quarterly net earnings of $56.5 million. Net sales increased 18 percent year-over-year to $845.3 million. Steel processing sales rose 25 percent to $582.2 million, driven by higher average selling prices. Automotive demand is beginning to soften, said President and COO Mark […]
The American Institute of Architects reports that May indices for new project inquiries and contracts reached their highest level so far in 2017. The Architecture Billings Index (ABI) climbed 2.1 points to a score of 53.0. New project inquires increased 2.2 points for a reading of 62.4 and the new design contracts index reached 54.8 […]
An explanation of the Key Market Indicators concept is given at the end of this piece for those readers who are unfamiliar with it. This will explain the difference between our view of the present situation, which is subjective, and our analysis of trends, which is based on the latest facts available. In the June […]
Schnitzer Steel, a metals recycler and steel bar producer, reported its best third quarter since FY 2012. Total revenue increased 36 percent sequentially and 25 percent year-over-year to $477 million. Net income was up 50 percent from second quarter and 51 percent from Q3 2016 to $17 million. The improvement was primarily in the company’s […]
Commercial Metals Co., Irving, Texas, plans to exit its International Marketing and Distribution Segment. As an initial step, on June 12, its CMC Cometals International subsidiary signed a definitive agreement to sell its raw materials trading division, CMC Cometals, to Traxys North America L.L. and Traxys Europe S.A., affiliates of The Carlyle Group. CMC Cometals […]
New York State legislators approved an agreement this week prohibiting foreign steel to be used for New York roads and bridges. The “Buy American” legislation requires that seven identified state agencies purchase steel and iron manufactured completely in the U.S. for infrastructure projects valued at $1 million or more. Exemptions could be granted for specific […]
Mill Steel Co., Grand Rapids, Mich., one of the nation’s largest distributors of flat-rolled carbon steel, expanded its operations and geographic presence with the opening of a new facility in Houston. The new Texas location is now operational with slitting and cut-to-length capabilities in the 100,000-square-foot facility. This premier building houses three production lines with […]
Steel Dynamics, Inc., reported lower earnings guidance for the second quarter due to operational issues at two of its plants. An upgrade to Steel Dynamics’ galvanizing line at Butler required a three week outage, diminishing second-quarter pretax earnings by $15 million. In addition, quality issues related to start-up of the new Galvalume and paint line […]
Housing starts dipped 5.5 percent in May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,092,000, from April’s revised estimate of 1,156,000, according to data from the U.S. Commerce Department. Single family starts dropped 3.9 percent, while starts for buildings with five or more units fell 9.8 percent. Regionally, total starts were flat in the Northeast and […]
Cliffs Natural Resources announced today that it has selected Toledo, Ohio, to be the site of its first hot briquetted iron production plant. Midrex Technologies will design, engineer and procure equipment for the new plant, which will produce at least 1.6 million tons of HBI per year. The project is expected to cost approximately $700 […]
Mesabi Metallics, the former Essar Steel Minnesota, emerged from 11 months of bankruptcy on Tuesday with a new owner, Chippewa Capital Partners. Chippewa Capital is a joint venture of London-based GFG Alliance and billionaire Tom Clarke. Clarke is also the owner of Magnetation and hopes to use the taconite ore from both facilities to produce […]
We start this report with comments made by Jun Wei Yeo on iron ore and coking coal. “In April to May alone, there was an over 30 percent drop in the price of iron ore. Iron ore mining companies such as Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton, and Brazil’s Vale are suffering simultaneous stock price declines. Most […]
The Dodge Momentum Index gained 4 percent in May posting a score of 139.1 after slipping to a revised 133.7 in April. Commercial projects in planning increased 4.8 percent while institutional project planning was up 2.9 percent, recovering partially from April’s 12.0 percent decline. Despite signs of weakening occupancies and rents, the commercial component of […]
Steel 232 Investigation—Update from the Front Lines By Lewis LeibowitzThe Law Office of Lewis E. Leibowitz To put the steel proceeding in context, I would like to acquaint you with a couple of other proceedings that are “proceeding” right now. We’ll see how all of these developments may fit together. First, there are important negotiations […]
April data for Construction Put in Place (CPIP) was released by the Department of Commerce on Thursday June 1st 2017. Total construction still has positive growth but slowed to 2.5 percent year/year in the latest three months of data. Privately funded projects are the growth engine as state and local and infrastructure both had negative […]
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) employment report for May was released on Friday and revealed a disappointing total net job creation of 138,000 which was well below analysts expectations. To make matters worse, March and April were revised down by a total of 66,000 jobs. Using a three month moving average (3MMA), the result […]
An explanation of the Key Indicators concept is given at the end of this piece for those readers who are unfamiliar with it. This will explain the difference between our view of the present situation which is subjective and our analysis of trends which is based on the latest facts available. We now have three […]