Tag: Manufacturing

Metalformers are expecting business conditions to remain steady over the next few months, according to the March Business Conditions Report from the Precision Metalforming Association.

Galvanized buyers reported solid demand and balanced inventories this week and were anticipating the sheet price increase announced by Cleveland-Cliffs on Wednesday.

With the help of a large government grant, SSAB may soon expand its operations in the US – including constructing a fossil-fuel-free green ironmaking facility in Mississippi.

The Department of Energy (DOE) announced on Monday six projects that will receive up to $1.5 billion in funding to further decarbonize the iron and steel industry.

With Earth Day almost a month away, the world’s attention often turns to the manufacturing sector with calls for greener production processes.

SMU caught up with Barry Zekelman, executive chairman and CEO of Zekelman Industries, on Wednesday’s Community Chat. As one of the largest independent steel pipe and tube manufacturers in North America, his company is also one of the largest steel buyers in the region. This year alone, the Chicago-based company will buy roughly 2.8 million tons of steel. As such, Zekelman provides a great perspective on the steel industry and the markets it serves.

Earlier this week SMU polled steel buyers on an array of topics, ranging from market prices, demand, and inventories to imports and evolving market chatter.

Data on US industrial production, capacity utilization, new orders, and inventories remained overall steady and strong through January and February figures, indicating a healthy manufacturing sector. The strength of the manufacturing economy has a direct bearing on the health of the steel industry.

New York state manufacturing activity slipped deeper into negative territory this month, according to the latest Empire State Manufacturing Survey from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Strength in its flat-rolled steel operations is pushing Steel Dynamics Inc. (SDI) to guide to higher sequential earnings in the current quarter.

U.S. Steel has announced an investment in Freespace Robotics, a Pittsburgh-based manufacturer of robotic storage and retrieval systems.

The LME three-month price continued to strengthen through Friday, March 8, defending its position close to its five-week high and rising further to $2,262 per metric ton (mt), up 0.3%, on the day. Gains were also noted over the last week in other industrial metals, including copper, zinc, and lead. The price gains appeared to be due to weakness in the US dollar, which fell sharply against a basket of currencies after Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said on Wednesday that rate cuts were still expected this year.

A weak start for sheet demand this year has continued to weigh on global prices. European demand outside of the renewable energy sector was weak enough that market participants said mills are likely to cut output further after several furnace restarts earlier in the year. In China, demand has also failed to pick up after recent holidays, and even government announcements of more stimulus measures during the country’s “Two Sessions” meetings failed to boost market confidence.

Economic activity across the US increased marginally from early January through the end of February, according to the latest Beige Book report from the US Federal Reserve.

What are folks in the steel industry talking about at present? Respondents to SMU’s mini-survey this week shared some of their thoughts with us about what's going on in the market. Rather than summarizing their responses, here’s some of what they had to say in their own words.

Northwest Pipe posted lower earnings in the fourth quarter as the company said it faced significant challenges in its steel pressure pipe (SPP) and precast businesses in full-year 2023.

US manufacturing activity continued to slump in February, contracting for the 16 consecutive month, according to the latest report from the Institute for Supply Management.

When it comes to finding ways to reduce emissions in steel manufacturing, we are in the all-of-the-above camp.

Cleveland-Cliffs CEO Lourenco Goncalves said he blames U.S. Steel’s lack of participation in the tin mill products trade case for an unfavorable US International Trade Commission (ITC) decision.

Metalformers expressed increased optimism about business activity this month, according to the February 2024 Precision Metalforming Association (PMA) Business Conditions Report.

The United Auto Workers (UAW) executive board has voted to start a new “solidarity project” to support auto workers in Mexico.

Domestic prices have been sliding since the beginning of the year, and I don’t see any obvious reasons why the slide might stop this week. But let’s put the timing of a bottom aside for a minute. The question among some of you seems to be whether we’ll see another price spike, or at least a “dead-cat bounce,” before the typical summer doldrums kick in.

The US already had strict regulations on air-quality standards for particulate matter, but they are going to get even tighter.

Falling steel prices at present are not a symptom of demand but of imports arriving into the US and to some parts of Mexico, Ternium’s CEO Maximo Vedoya said this week.

Latin American steelmaker Ternium posted a strong uptick in earnings in its fourth quarter, and sees increasing steel demand growth in Mexico.

While seaborne trade has been challenging due to weak global steel production, demand for ferrous scrap in the US remains strong, according to Sims Ltd.

Manufacturing activity in New York State continued to shrink this month, according to the latest Empire State Manufacturing Survey from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Australia's BlueScope Steel has begun making plans to potentially add cold rolling and coating capabilities in the US.

Reliance Inc. – formerly Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. – introduced its “new company identity” that emphasized its “evolution to more than steel,” the company said in its fourth-quarter and full-year earnings report.

Prices for galvanized products have been falling for more than a month, and market participants expect this trend to continue in the near term.