Olympic Steel posted significantly improved results for third-quarter 2017. Demand is strong across all three business segments at Olympic, but is expected to soften due to seasonality and the holidays. “Looking ahead, we are encouraged by both the positive demand trends our customers are projecting for 2018 and by the market’s outlook for improved metal […]
Republican legislators are too worried about passing tax legislation to stand up to Trump on NAFTA, reports Inside U.S. Trade. Although legislators are receiving heavy pressure from the business community to stop the president from withdrawing from NAFTA, behind closed doors Republicans say they won’t publicly intervene due to possible negative consequences from the White […]
U.S. manufacturing slowed a bit from September but remained robust in October, according to the latest Manufacturing ISM Report on Business from the Institute for Supply Management. The headline PMI registered 58.7 percent, a 2.1 percentage point decrease from September’s score of 60.8 percent. A reading above 50 indicates growth. Comments from respondents suggest that […]
Economic indicators of manufacturing activity are still healthy overall and portend well for the balance of this year. This report summarizes seven data sources that describe the state of manufacturing in the U.S. We have reported on most of these separately in our Steel Market Update publications, and therefore will be brief in this summary. […]
Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. and wholly-owned subsidiary Diamond Manufacturing Co. announced the acquisition of Ferguson Perforating Co., effective Oct. 2. Los Angeles-based Reliance is the largest service center company in North America. Ferguson specializes in producing highly engineered and complex perforated metal for diverse end markets ranging from aerospace and automotive to industrial machinery, […]
Manufacturing expanded in the United States, along with the overall economy, as the Institute for Supply Management’s September PMI jumped 2 percentage points to register 60.8 percent. ISM’s New Orders Index gained 4.3 points. New orders have averaged 61.6 percent since December 2016, said Timothy R. Fiore, chairman of ISM’s Manufacturing Business Survey Committee. Any […]
Two new hot strip mills are in the works for the Mexican steel industry. Both ArcelorMittal and Ternium announced plans this week to make investments in their facilities to meet growing demand. The announcements coincide with decrees by Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto creating three special economic zones that offer tax breaks to companies investing […]
Economic indicators of manufacturing activity are still healthy overall and portend well for the balance of this year. This report summarizes seven data sources that describe the state of manufacturing in the U.S. We have reported on most of these separately in our Steel Market Update publications, therefore will be brief in this summary. We […]
Durable goods orders rose more than expected in August, picking up a gain of 1.7 percent versus a forecast for 1.0 percent, the U.S. Census Bureau announced today. The increase was welcomed after a 5.8 percent decline in July. A 45 percent jump in the volatile category of nondefense aircraft orders led the increase. Core […]
Rumors were flying on Tuesday morning that U.S. Steel Corp. has agreed to sell its Kosice operations in Slovakia to China’s Hesteel. The sale is expected to close in the coming weeks with Hesteel taking over operations at the beginning of the year, according to the Slovak Spectator. However, securing approval from anti-monopoly authorities in […]
Millennials are the steel industry’s future and are anxious to solve problems and get results. Attendees who remained for the final presentation at the SMU Steel Summit heard an eye-opening discussion on just what the millennial generation is seeking and how the steel industry can recruit and retain talent from this important demographic. Three young […]
Global manufacturing rose to a 75-month high in August. The J.P. Morgan Global Manufacturing PMI climbed to 53.1 from 52.7 in July. Most components of the PMI increased in August and at a faster rate. Future output was the only measure to remain the same as July, at a strong 63.5. Developed nations on average led […]
The chaos to commerce continues in the Houston area as a result of flooding and damage from Hurricane Harvey. Texas Governor Gregg Abbot estimates damage to the area will be in the range of $150 billion to $180 billion. A quick survey of steel service centers and distribution centers in the area found that many […]
Ryerson Holding Corp. turned in a strong performance in Q2 despite conflicting business and industry conditions, said President and CEO Eddie Lehner. Margins took a hit as steel import levels rose and nickel and carbon hot rolled prices moved lower. “Ryerson saw some mix-shift impact to margins,” said Lehner, “as sheet and stainless related demand […]
Manufacturing activity in the U.S. expanded in July, though the PMI declined 1.5 percentage points to a reading of 56.3, reports the Institute for Supply Management in its latest Manufacturing ISM Report On Business. The PMI has remained above the neutral 50.0 point for 11 consecutive months indicating growth in manufacturing. Although still at robust […]
Orders for durable goods jumped 6.5 percent in June for the largest increase since July 2014, said the Commerce Department on Thursday. Most of the gain, however, was due to a 131.2 percent surge in orders for commercial aircraft. Excluding aircraft and transportation, orders rose a more modest 0.2 percent. Core capital goods, which exclude […]
Kloeckner Metals is investing $11.3 million to expand its Greenville, S.C., operations. The expansion will add 50,000 square feet to the facility to house a new high-speed slitting line capable of processing aluminum and advanced high-strength steel. The company plans to begin operating the new line by Sept. 1. “We wanted a slitting line that […]
The Manufacturing ISM Report on Business exceeded expectations in June with a PMI reading of 57.8 percent. The composite index jumped 2.9 points for its strongest reading since August 2014, said the Institute for Supply Management, Tempe, Ariz. A reading above 50 indicates growth. The new orders index strengthened with a 4 point increase to […]
Ryerson Holding Corp., a processor and distributor of industrial metals, said end-market shipments to most sectors improved in the second quarter, particularly in commercial ground transportation and HVAC industries. Shipments also increased to the oil and gas sector, while a quarterly year-over-year decline was seen in industrial machinery and equipment, consumer durables, and food processing […]
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 […]
Manufacturing activity expanded in May according to the Manufacturing ISM Report on Business. The PMI rose 0.1 percent from April to a reading of 54.9 percent. The new orders index rose 2 points to 59.5 percent while the production index declined 1.5 points to 57.1. Inventories were relatively stable in May. The inventory index rose […]
WEST CHESTER, OH–(Marketwired – May 17, 2017) – AK Steel (NYSE: AKS) announced today that it has accepted an award of up to $1.8 million from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) under the Advanced Manufacturing Office’s Next Generation Electric Machines (NGEM) program to develop the next generation of advanced, non-oriented electrical steels (NOES) for […]
The April 2017 ISM Report on Business showed economic activity in the manufacturing sector expanding for the eighth consecutive month. The PMI registered 54.8, dropping 2.4 points from March as new orders slowed. The PMI has averaged 56.4 since the beginning of the year. New orders decreased 7 points to 57.5 percent. New export orders […]
Durable goods orders rose to a lower rate in March than expected. New orders rose 0.7 percent to $238.7 billion, well under the Bloomberg forecast of 1.3 percent. Orders for core capital goods (non-military capital goods minus aircraft that are used in GDP calculation) rose 0.2 percent, less than the 0.5 percent predicted. Automotive vehicles […]
The following is a press release on steel exports from the American Institute for International Steel with updates from AIIS on 4/18/2017: Falls Church, VA. April 17, 2017. Steel exports rose slightly from January to February to total 827,559 net tons. February exports were 1.1 percent higher than in January and 6.2 percent higher than […]
Manufacturing activity in the U.S. continued to grow in March according to the Manufacturing ISM Report on Business. The composite headline PMI registered 57.2 compared to 57.7 in February for its seventh consecutive month of growth. Index readings for New Orders and Production were strong at 64.5 and 56.6, respectively, but slowed from February readings […]
Durable goods orders rose in February by 1.7 percent after gaining 2.3 percent the prior month. The increase beat the Bloomberg estimate of a 1.4 percent gain. Excluding the volatile transportation category, orders gained 0.4 percent. Aircraft led the increase with a jump of 47.6 percent for civilian aircraft. Core capital goods orders (excludes aircraft […]
The February ISM Report on Business indicates manufacturing activity expanded in February with the overall economy in a 93rd month of consecutive growth. The PMI was 57.7 percent, up from 56 percent in January. Looking at it from a 3 month moving average, February showed growth at 56.1, up from 54.7. Production at 62.9 gained […]
Durable goods orders grew 1.8 percent in January, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau. The increase was due mostly to a jump in orders for commercial and military aircraft, up 70 percent and 60 percent, respectively. Core capital goods (non-military goods excluding aircraft) fell 0.4 percent after a larger than expected gain of […]
EUROFER, the European Steel Association, recently released its Economic and Steel Market Outlook report for 2017-2018. The Association is expecting steel demand to continue its recovery in 2017 and 2018 but is concerned about the rise of unfairly traded imports. Apparent steel consumption stabilized in the second half of 2016 after rising 3 percent year […]