On Friday, August 15th, Nucor Plate Mill Group announced an increase on transaction prices for all new spot orders of carbon, alloy and heat-treated plate. Carbon and alloy plate prices were increased by $30 per ton ($1.50/cwt). Heat-treated plate prices were increased by $40 per ton ($2.00/cwt). Late last week our SMU plate indices average […]
We are now two weeks away from the opening of our 4th Steel Summit Conference and our first two day conference. I am quite pleased at the response that we have received from a number of different fronts regarding our conference. Our conference is being held on September 3 & 4 which is only two […]
Steel Market Update communicated with a number of the galvanized steel mills and learned that galvanized steel buyers should anticipate new coating extras out of most, if not all, of the domestic steel mills. Our discussions with the galvanizing mills found conversations are being held within the mills as they question whether they should return […]
With Nucor making a move and raising their coating extras, we decided to conduct a quick review of the LME spot zinc market going back to when the previous coating extra changes were made (prices were lowered) with the announcements being made just prior to January 2012. First, we will take a look at the […]
I got a note from a manufacturing company regarding the size of the Nucor move on galvanized coating extras. The comment that was made was, “Zinc average for 2014 is up 8.6% since average of 2012. Nucor increase is way too high.” This steel buyer went on to comment, “Aluminum average in same time period […]
Due to the higher LME zinc spot prices which have surged from about $.88 per pound in late March 2014 to just below $1.10 per pound in mid to late July, Nucor became the first steel mill to adjust their zinc coating extras for galvanized steel. With little fanfare, Nucor published new extras on the […]
Nucor Corp. is continuing its legal battle to prevent the construction of neighboring competitor Big River Steel. The company has filed another environmental complaint on August 7 in the US District Court in Jonesboro, Arkansas, claiming emissions from the planned mill would harm the air quality in Mississippi County. Previous legal attempts by Nucor to […]
We are aware that the domestic (USA) steel mills are unhappy with Chinese exports of cold rolled to the United States. The rumors of potential dumping suits against Chinese cold rolled, and possibly coated steel, have been floating about the industry for months. Based on latest import license data for the month of July, Chinese […]
Keith Grass, Nucor’s Executive Vice President of Raw Materials and Chief Executive Officer of The David J. Joseph Company will retire effective September 12, 2014. Mr. Grass began his career with DJJ in 1978, serving as President of DJJ from 2000 until December 2012 and CEO of DJJ since 2000. He was appointed Executive Vice […]
We will conduct our early August steel market analysis (survey) beginning first thing on Monday morning. If you receive an invitation to participate please take a few minutes to click on the link which will take you to SurveyMonkey.com where you can interact with our questionnaire. If by chance you would rather direct someone else […]
Once per month, HARDI sponsors a conference call for those HARDI members who are involved with the sale and distribution of galvanized steel to the HVAC and related industries. Steel Market Update participates in these calls along with wholesalers around the United States and Canada. Since the last HARDI conference call we have seen a […]
Big River Steel CEO John Correnti says government should “stay out” of private industry. What appeared to be a contradiction after receiving more than $125 million in incentives from the state of Arkansas, Correnti stated in an interview with Arkansas Business that states have to invest in big business in order to stay competitive, but […]
Nucor announced consolidated net earnings of $147 million for the second quarter of 2014. Second quarter net sales increased by 4 percent to 5.29 billion compared to Q1 and 13 percent compared to Q2 2013. Steel shipments to outside customers totaled 6,370,000 tons, an increase of 1 percent q/q and 9 percent y/y. Steel production […]
With the announcement of the sale of Russian owned Severstal North America assets to AK Steel (Dearborn, Mountain State Carbon & Joint Ventures) and Steel Dynamics (Columbus) for $2.325 billion, the market is now asking what, or who, is next. There are two mills that are being mentioned. One, Gallatin Steel, a hot rolled mini-mill […]
A special thank you to Pacesetter Steel Service Inc. who has stepped up to sponsor our networking/cocktail reception to be held at the end of the first day of the SMU Steel Summit Conference in Atlanta. For those of you who are unaware the conference will be held at the Georgia International Convention Center (GICC) […]
On Monday, July 21, 2014 OAO Severstal announced the sale of their two steel mills located in the United States for $2.325 billion. The two mills, Severstal Dearborn and Severstal Columbus were purchased by AK Steel and Steel Dynamics (SDI), respectively. The acquisition of the Severstal assets by two existing steel suppliers is being touted […]
For those of you who don’t realize it – Steel Market Update is conducting our mid-July market analysis this week. I have added a couple of questions about the sale of the Dearborn and Columbus steel mills. I will send out a reminder email first thing in the morning on Wednesday. If you receive an […]
Rick Blume, Nucor General Manager, Commercial Steelmaking Group, testified on Wednesday before the U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations on Homeland Security regarding trade remedy laws. “Nucor relies on trade remedy laws to combat unfair trade practices of our foreign competitors, but we face many challenges in using these laws,” said Blume. “First, we have to […]
US Steel agreed in a Northern Illinois federal court on Tuesday to pay $58 million to settle a class action lawsuit filed in 2008 by Standard Iron Works on behalf of direct purchasers of steel products. The suit alleged that eight U.S. steel producers violated federal antitrust laws by restricting production of steel products between […]
The Detroit scrap market settled on Monday with cut grades (such as heavy melt or HMS) rising by $10 per gross ton and shredded scrap by $15 per gross ton. Prime grades, such as #1 busheling traded sideways compared to last month. Our scrap sources are telling us that the best deals made (from a […]
Our ferrous scrap sources are advising Steel Market Update that June saw the bottom to scrap prices and July will see prices move sideways (no change) to as much as up $20 per gross ton. If scrap prices do indeed rise by as much as $20 per ton, this could be important for steel buyers […]
Our ferrous scrap sources are advising Steel Market Update that June saw the bottom to scrap prices and July will see prices move sideways (no change) to as much as up $20 per gross ton. If scrap prices do indeed rise by as much as $20 per ton, this could be important for steel buyers […]
Steel Market Update spent an extraordinary amount of time on today’s price ranges and averages. There has been a lot written recently about demand supporting prices and the lack of supply supporting prices. However, the deeper we dug the more questions we began to ask about what is real and what is a little murky. […]
Hello from Chicago, home of our first Managing Price Risk II: Strategies & Execution workshop. We have an excellent group in attendance and the program is going well. Tomorrow (Wednesday) is day 2 when we provide an opportunity to our attendees to do simulated trading based on profiles and directives that they have to meet […]
Nucor Corporation (NYSE: NUE) announced today guidance for Q2 ending July 5, 2014. The full press release can be viewed here. Below are key sections of the report: Nucor expects second quarter results to be in the range of $0.35 to $0.40 per diluted share. This range represents an increase from the second quarter of 2013 […]
We have two markets developing for flat rolled steel imports: hot rolled imports are expected to actually begin to shrink from here as the offers out of Russia and Turkey for hot rolled pricing are approximately $600 per ton or higher. Since most foreign steel buyers tend to be buyers of large tonnage and thus […]
According to industry sources, SSAB Americas announced a price increase on plate products as well as hot rolled coil. The price increase was referenced at $30 per ton ($1.50/cwt) and are effective immediately. Nucor and ArcelorMittal advised their customers after the SSAB announcement was made supporting the $30 per ton move. SMU learned from multiple […]
The US steel industry is contemplating challenging a trade agreement with Russia that governs imports of hot rolled steel from Russia. A suspension agreement currently exempts Russian steelmakers from antidumping duties by setting a cap and minimum price on HRC imports. According to a Reuters article on Tuesday, US steel companies say the HRC pricing […]
The US steel industry is contemplating challenging a trade agreement with Russia that governs imports of hot rolled steel from Russia. A suspension agreement currently exempts Russian steelmakers from antidumping duties by setting a cap and minimum price on HRC imports. According to a Reuters article on Tuesday, US steel companies say the hot rolled […]
ArcelorMittal has agreed to pay a $90 million settlement in an antitrust lawsuit brought in the US District Court of the Northern District of Illinois. The class action lawsuit, filed in 2008 by Standard Iron Works on behalf of direct purchasers of steel products, alleged that eight U.S. steel producers violated federal antitrust laws by […]