Tag: Iron Ore

CRU principal analyst Erik Hedborg, who has deep experience in iron ore and in pellets, will be the featured speaker on our next SMU Community Chat.

This latest SMU steel market survey is a snapshot of a sheet market inflecting lower. A significant 43% of survey respondents said that the hot-rolled (HR) coil market has already peaked. Compare that to only 8% when we released our last steel market survey on Jan. 5.

CRU forecasts that global demand for steelmaking raw materials will fall month over month (m/m) between mid-January and mid-February. The major downward pressure on raw materials demand will come from China, where steel end-use demand will fall toward the Chinese New Year (CNY) holiday (Feb. 10–17).

Both the United Steel Workers (USW) union and a number of politicians oppose the deal. The USW supports Cleveland-Cliffs’ offer. That offer is almost half of what Nippon Steel has proposed and what has been accepted by U.S Steel. I don’t understand the USW opposition to Nippon Steel buying U.S. Steel and the union favoring Cleveland-Cliffs. If Cleveland-Cliffs were to acquire U.S. Steel, it would likely mean the end of a headquarters in Pittsburgh.

There seems to be a growing consensus that the US sheet market has peaked at a high level and could begin losing ground from here. Whether declines happen quickly or whether sheet prices bop around at current levels for a few weeks more is the primary question.

With a new leadership team and a more streamlined workforce, digital metals marketplace Reibus is entering a new phase of its evolution as an innovator in the metals industry.

The iron ore price has edged up further from the already high level seen last week. The market is generally slow, meaning that the moderate price increase came from the bullish outlook from the market following last week’s stimulus announcements from China and expectations of restocking picking up. Supply fell w/w from both Australia and Brazil as […]

Trading slowed across the Midwest hot-rolled coil (HRC) futures curve in the final weeks of 2023, with prices drifting mostly sideways through the month of December.

As 2023 draws to a close, I wanted to look back on some of the key events and themes of the year. But I’m going to hold off on that idea because we were – as of Sunday afternoon - still waiting on news about arguably the biggest event of the year, the potential sale of U.S. Steel.

Steel Market Update’s Steel Demand Index has moved into growth territory, but barely, after recovering slightly from our reading in late November, according to our latest survey data.

SMU’s Community Chat on Wednesday, Dec. 13, featured Bank of America SVP Ira Kreft.

Sheet prices increased again this week on the heels of higher costs for scrap, pig iron, and iron ore.

The Canadian government has given ArcelorMittal-linked Baffinland Iron Mines permission to dispatch up to 6 million metric tons per year from its Mary River mine in Nunavut territory, higher than the 4.2 million metric tons per year previously permitted. The approval from northern affairs minister Dan Vandal allows Baffinland to make the extra shipments if […]

Prices of steelmaking raw materials are largely up over the over the last 30 days, as they were the month prior, according to Steel Market Update’s latest analysis.

The iron ore price has been rising from the $118 /dry metric ton (DMT) level seen in the last edition, initially due to greater optimism in China after the government’s RMB 1 trillion fiscal stimulus announcement. The price has gotten some extra support from concerns over supply, though the current price level is not backed by […]

In the dynamic landscape of the steel futures market, a confluence of factors is shaping the current narrative.

You could make a case that Nov. 1 was April Fool’s Day for steel – or at least for the widespread rumor that Cliffs would announce a $10-billion deal for U.S. Steel on that date. I’m not going to endorse any precise date or price tag. But I’d be surprised if a deal – or […]

U.S. Steel said it has converted two of its diesel switcher locomotives to “state-of-the-art battery-operated locomotives.”

Canadian steelmaker ArcelorMittal Dofasco could be impacted by a strike on the St. Lawrence Seaway, a company spokeswoman said.

The St. Lawrence Seaway is shut down after members of Canada’s Unifor union went on strike against the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp. (SLSMC) this past weekend.

The pig iron trade is an important element to the US steel and foundry industry.

Algoma Steel Group has extended its iron ore purchase agreement with U.S. Steel for another two years.

Cleveland-Cliffs said on Friday its United Steelworkers (USW) union employees at its Northshore Mining operations in Minnesota have ratified a new three-year labor agreement.

Sweden’s H2 Green Steel has signed an agreement with Brazilian miner Vale to jointly study the feasibility of developing green industrial hubs in Brazil and North America.

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. and the United Steelworkers (USW) at Cliffs’ Northshore Mine in Minnesota have reached a tentative labor agreement.

I learned a lot at Steel Summit this year. More than I can do justice to in one column. Below are four things that have stayed with me after the conference closed on Wednesday afternoon. Another, as I highlighted earlier this week, was electricity – who gets it, and which energy sources we use. 1. […]

I planned to write this column about some of the big themes we’ll be discussing at Steel Summit. That plan changed when U.S. Steel announced on Sunday afternoon that it was conducting a formal review of a sale of all or part of the company after receiving multiple unsolicited offers. It changed yet again when Cleveland-Cliffs said its offer for U.S. Steel had been rejected.

The last article I wrote on Thursday, July 13, pointed to the surprising rallies in the August and September futures, while noting the August future trading to just below its multi-year down trendline.

U.S. Steel has announced a collaboration with Google Cloud to build applications using Google Cloud’s generative artificial intelligence (gen AI) technology.

H2 Green Steel is partnering with global mining and metals company Rio Tinto and Brazilian miner Vale for the supply of direct-reduction iron (DRI) ore pellets for the company’s green steel production in Sweden.