A Pennsylvania state senator wants the Keystone State’s governor to work with him to land Nucor and U.S. Steel’s new, multibillion-dollar sheet mills in the western part of the state. Sen. Joe Pittman, a Republican, wants to meet with Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, in hopes of attracting the electric arc furnace (EAF) mill projects – […]
Nucor, in a leading move, announced that it was increasing plate prices along with the opening of its November order book. The price hike is $80 per ton ($4/cwt) for A36 plate and normalized product, and it is $200 per ton ($10/cwt) for quenched-and-tempered material. The increase – announced on Wednesday, Sept. 22 – marks at […]
Nucor plans to build a new, $100 million melt shop at one of its bar mills in the western United States. The melt shop is expected to have capacity of 600,000 tons per year and is slated to start up in 2024, the Charlotte, N.C.-based steelmaker said. It is also anticipated to create 140 new, full-time […]
Nucor has enough raw material to supply its planned $2.7 billion, 3-million tpy sheet mill, but is exploring new technologies that might help it further reduce carbon emissions. The Charlotte, N.C.-based steelmaker is eyeing a range of options – including increased use of shredded scrap in its sheet mills’ electric-arc furnaces (EAFs), “green” pig iron […]
Nucor plans to build a new, $2.7 billion electric-arc furnace (EAF) sheet mill with annual capacity of three million tons per year in either Ohio, Pennsylvania or West Virginia. The facility is aimed at customers in the Midwest and Northeast as well as at the automotive industry, the Charlotte, N.C.-based steelmaker said. “These important markets […]
NLMK USA has again sued the U.S. government over Section 232 and wants at least $130 million awarded to it for tariffs it claims were “wrongfully extracted” by the Commerce Department. The steelmaker and slab converter – a subsidiary of Russia’s Novolipetsk Steel – also claims that “secret,” undocumented and “off-record” meetings and communications between Commerce and […]
Nucor predicts that its third quarter earnings will be the highest in its history – surpassing a previous highwater market set in the second quarter. The Charlotte, N.C.-based steelmaker forecast third quarter earnings of $7.30-7.40 per diluted share, up from $5.04 per diluted share int the second quarter in guidance released on Thursday. And the […]
U.S. Steel expects its third-quarter earnings to be one for the record books, exceeding even the record-breaking results of the prior quarter. The news comes as both Nucor and Steel Dynamics Inc. (SDI), two of the Pittsburgh-based steelmaker’s domestic competitors, also predicted record-setting third-quarter earnings this week. U.S. Steel forecasts third-quarter earnings of roughly $2 […]
Nucor’s direct-reduced iron (DRI) plant in Covent, La., remains down after being pre-emptively idled ahead of Hurricane Ida last month. The reason: the storm resulted in a barge shortage on the Mississippi River, a Nucor spokeswoman said. “We are prepared to resume operations as soon as additional barges are available,” she said. The Charlotte, N.C.-based […]
NLMK USA’s operations in western Pennsylvania have secured enough liquid hydrogen (H2) to avert a shortage caused by Hurricane Ida, the company said. The steelmaker was notified after the storm ripped through the Gulf Coast earlier this month that a hydrogen supplier might not be able to meet its commitments. There were initial fears that […]
Nucor plans to restart its direct-reduced iron (DRI) plant in Louisiana after pre-emptively idling the facility ahead of Hurricane Ida. “Our Nucor teammates and their families are safe, and the DRI plant did not sustain any major damage from the storm,” a company spokeswoman said. “We expect to resume operations in the coming days when […]
Majestic Steel USA will build a new service center, processing facility and master distribution site on the campus of Nucor Steel Arkansas. The Cleveland-based service center said the new location in Blytheville, Ark., would allow it to better serve customers in the central and southern U.S. The facility – expected to be fully operational by […]
We often talk a lot about hot-rolled coil prices in Final Thoughts. I’d like to take a deeper dive into coated prices today. It’s been an almost straight line up for an entire year for flat-rolled steel prices. And galvanized is no exception. Galvanized base prices are at $2,070 per ton ($103.50 per cwt). That’s […]
Two of the steel industry’s most respected analysts delivered a reality check to the market on Monday during SMU’s Steel Summit in Atlanta. Record-high steel prices enjoyed by steelmakers and distributors for the past year “can’t last,” they declared. Simply put, supply-demand fundamentals indicate that prices are due – indeed overdue – to drop significantly in the next […]
In the face of tough circumstances, the SMU and CRU teams proved once again that we could conduct a safe, energetic, entertaining and informative Steel Summit conference. We did it despite suffering a power outage at the Georgia International Convention Center that lasted the entire afternoon on Monday. Our team was quick to react, and […]
Nucor has idled its Castrip® mill in Crawfordsville, Ind., and consolidated its remaining Castrip® business at its mill in Blytheville, Ark., a company spokeswoman confirmed. The Indiana mill was idled in 2020, and the Arkansas Castrip® operations “will continue to operate on a limited basis as we conclude our commitments to our customers,” she said. […]
At least two U.S. plate mills – SSAB Americas and Evraz North America – have followed Nucor in raising plate prices. SSAB has increased prices by $85 per ton (Canadian $105 per ton) for commercial, non-quenched-and-tempered (Q&T) product and by $170 per ton (C$215 per ton) for Q&T material. “These increases are to be applied to […]
Nucor might be wrapping up an approximately $4-billion expansion campaign, but it has no intentions of stopping there, the company’s top executive said. “We’re going to be a growth company. … And we’ve got the balance sheet to continue to invest,” President and CEO Leon Topalian said. Topalian declined to specify where the company might […]
Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. plans to expand into the scrap market – and is creating a new division for that purpose, the company’s top executive said. The scrap division – Cleveland-Cliffs Services – will be spearheaded by Keith Koci, Cliff’s chief financial officer. More details about the venture will be made available in early September, Cliffs Chairman, President and […]
Nucor Corp. has acquired Hannibal Industries, Inc., a national provider of steel racking solutions headquartered in Los Angeles, Calif. “We are excited to officially welcome our Hannibal teammates as part of the Nucor team,” said Giff Daughtridge, president of Sheet and Tubular Products. “Adding steel racking solutions to our product portfolio expands our ability to […]
After 12 months of planning, countless hours of discussions about our agenda, whether we would be virtual, live or both, and agonizing over how to best conduct a safe live event not knowing what direction the pandemic would be taking – the bottom line is it’s showtime. The weather forecast is for no rain on […]
Nucor – the largest steelmaker in the U.S. – in a leading move announced that it was increasing plate prices along with the opening of its October order book. The price hike is $85-165 per ton ($4.25-8.25/cwt) depending on the product. The increase – announced on Friday, Aug. 20 – marks at least the fourth consecutive month […]
Lead times have shortened noticeably based on Steel Market Update’s check of the market this week. But don’t read too much into that one data point. Other factors point to more of the same for steel prices, at least for a while. As reported elsewhere in this issue, lead times appear to have shortened by a […]
The 2021 SMU Steel Summit started with a bang on Monday morning. Turns out it was a transformer that blew. Just as the opening video and music was revving up and host John Packard was getting into his opening remarks, the Georgia International Convention Center was plunged into darkness save for some emergency lighting. Thinking […]
Schnitzer Steel Industries Inc. has resumed production at its Cascade Steel Rolling Mills in McMinnville, Ore., following a fire in late May that damaged the facility’s melt shop. The Portland, Ore.-based recycler, which also owns the Oregon mill, said the facility was accepting orders after restarting operations several weeks earlier than expected. “I am proud […]
On Friday, Steel Market Update sent data providers the final analysis for July of service center inventories, shipments, steel on-order, and percentage of inventories tied up for contract sales. Premium members will receive the report on Monday. As expected, after reviewing our Flash Report which is provided to data providers five days into the new […]
One Week to Go… There is now but one week to go before the doors open at the Georgia International Convention Center (GICC) in Atlanta for the 2021 SMU Steel Summit Conference on August 23. This year the conference will be unique as it will be a “hybrid” event. By this I mean we will […]
Integrated steelmaker U.S. Steel is taking the No. 6 blast furnace at its Gary Works steel mill offline for 38 days beginning at the end of next month, a company spokesperson confirmed to Steel Market Update. The planned maintenance outage at its Indiana facility is scheduled for Sept. 30 and should run through Nov. 9. […]
Nucor has completed its previously announced acquisition of Cornerstone Building Brands’ insulated metal panels (IMP) business. The $1 billion deal expands the steelmaker’s reach into the construction market. The Nucor management team is in place and the CENTRIA and Metl-Span brands acquired from Cornerstone Building Brands are now a part of the newly created Insulated […]
Klöckner & Co. SE posted its best quarterly results since its stock launch more than 15 years ago. The company attributed its record-setting second-quarter results to the surge in steel prices, a 60% increase in sales and a strong performance from its digital operations. The Duisburg, Germany-based service center, which has significant operations in the […]