Flat rolled steel prices continued to rise for the 6th week (according to SMU HRC average) with the benchmark hot rolled coil price average just below $680 per ton and just a few dollars away from the $685 announced by Nucor and a number of other mills at the beginning of April. For the first […]
A large portion of the recent Nucor 1st Quarter earnings conference call with analysts was devoted to the progress of the company’s DRI (direct reduced iron) project which is called Nucor Louisiana. First Quarter 2014 was the first full quarter that the equipment was up and running. Nucor Louisiana is home to the largest single […]
With the various flat rolled indexes reporting hot rolled pricing approaching $680 per ton in the mill spot market we are quite close to the $685 announced by Nucor on April 4th and matched by a number of the domestic steel mills. The question now is will the mills attempt to move prices up to […]
The following is an analysis of trading over the past week in the financial markets, especially in the hot rolled coil derivatives (futures) and busheling scrap futures markets. This article was written by Andre Marshall, CEO of Crunchrisk, LLC and the instructor for the Steel Market Update Managing Price Risk series including our newest addition: […]
Nucor announced consolidated net earnings of $111 million for first quarter 2014, up from $84.8 million a year ago but down from $170.5 million in the previous quarter. Net sales were up 12 percent to $5.11 billion year over year and 4 percent from fourth quarter 2013. Tons shipped to outside customers increased 8 percent […]
Steel Technologies, which is a service center and a 50/50 joint venture between Nucor and Mitsui & Co. (USA), announced earlier this week the acquisition of Stripco LLC. Below is the press release provided to Steel Market Update by Steel Technologies: LOUISVILLE, KY (April 22, 2014) – Steel Technologies LLC (“Steel Technologies”) today announced its […]
Earlier today, Steel Market Update (SMU) participated in the monthly galvanized steel with members of HARDI. The last conference call was held the day after ArcelorMittal has announced the first of two price increases during the month of March (Galvanized base of $39.50/cwt). The purpose of today’s call was to discuss what has been happening […]
We learned today that ArcelorMittal will be taking down their #7 blast furnace at Indiana Harbor for two months: June & July 2014 (scheduled maintenance). The #7 furnace is capable of producing up to 11,500 tons of molten pig iron per day when ready at full capacity. Our assumption is US Steel Gary Works should […]
John Correnti is moving forward with his plans for Big River Steel with groundbreaking anticipated in June. The air permit for the mill had been challenged by neighboring steel mill Nucor, but was upheld by a Mississippi County judge in March. The Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission will vote on acceptance of the permit […]
To our Premium Level members – just a quick note to let you know that we publish Premium articles to the front of the website prior to sending them out in a supplemental newsletter. We have been waiting for imports by product, port and country to become available before we send out a supplemental issue. […]
More flat rolled steel mills have joined in and raised flat rolled steel prices over the past couple of days. On Friday, April 4th USS/POSCO sent a letter to their customers advising them that flat rolled steel base prices would rise by $30 per ton ($1.50/cwt) on all products. UPI opened their June order book […]
On Friday morning, April 4th, Nucor became the first mill to announce a new wave of flat rolled steel price increases. In a letter to their customers, the Nucor Sheet Mill managers advised that effective immediately, minimum base prices would be as follows: Hot Rolled = $34.25/cwt ($685 per ton)Cold Rolled = $40.75/cwt ($815 per […]
Steel Market Update began this week with an article on Sunday evening titled, “This Could Be a Tumultuous Week.” Looking back over the past five days that title was an understatement. This week has been tumultuous times ten. Why? U.S. Steel can’t seem to catch a break. They now have steelmaking operations temporarily suspended at […]
In an email sent late in the afternoon on Monday, March 17th, ArcelorMittal USA announced a price increase on all of their new flat rolled orders, with specific base prices at $33.00 for hot rolled, $39.50 for cold rolled, and $39.50 for galvanized. The mill justified their increase by stating “Despite the recent drop in […]
A Houston, Texas jury returned a verdict for $52 million in damages against Nucor Corp., Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co., its unit Chapel Steel Corp., American Alloy Steel Inc., and JSW Steel Inc. in an antitrust lawsuit brought by former plate steel distributor MM Steel, LP. SSAB was also named in the lawsuit but settled […]
The following article was written by contributing writer David Phelps. Mr. Phelps is recently retired from his duties as the Director of the American Institute for International Steel. In that capacity he had occasion to interact with the domestic steel mills. The following article contains the viewpoint of Mr. Phelps regarding Big River Steel and […]
Last week Steel Market Update published an article from one of our contributing writers, David Phelps who was the former president of the American Institute for International Steel (AIIS). The article was about Big River Steel and Nucor. You can link to the original article by clicking here. One of our readers had strong opinions […]
We are beginning to see a new push away from a fragmented steel mill supply base as closures of capacity coupled with the recent acquisition of ThyssenKrupp Steel USA by ArcelorMittal/Nippon Steel Sumitomo Metals Corporation (AM/NS Calvert) are reducing the number of players and the tons in the game. Over the past two years we […]
The following article was written by contributing writer David Phelps. Mr. Phelps is recently retired from his duties as the Director of the American Institute for International Steel. In that capacity he had occasion to interact with the domestic steel mills. The following article contains the viewpoint of Mr. Phelps regarding Big River Steel and […]
Steel industry leaders met with members of the Congressional Steel Caucus this morning (March 25, 2014) to discuss the need for policy reform on trade, energy, environment and infrastructure in order to keep US industries competitive. SMU has reprinted the short version of the American Iron and Steel Institute press release below. The full testimonies […]
Big River Steel is cleared to begin construction. Mississippi County Judge Charles Moulton ruled in favor of the John Correnti led Big River Steel in an air quality permit lawsuit filed by rival steel-maker Nucor Corp. An air permit was provisionally granted on Sept 18, 2013 but subsequently challenged by Nucor on the basis that […]
Following an unsuccessful attempt to block the air pollution permit for Big River Steel, Nucor Corp. finds itself on the on the receiving end of tighter air pollution orders from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The EPA has ordered the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) to require Nucor Steel Louisiana to take additional steps […]
In our Thursday evening issue, we published an article regarding recent price increase announcements out of Nucor, California Steel Industries (CSI), and AK Steel. We incorrectly stated the increase out of CSI as $40.00/cwt for all products, when it was really a $40 per ton increase. We apologize for the error. The image below is […]
Yesterday (Wednesday the 19th) Nucor announced a price increase on their new orders and listed base prices of $33.00/cwt on hot rolled, $39.50/cwt on cold rolled, and $39.50/cwt on galvanized. These are the same levels that ArcelorMittal, NLMK USA, and Severstal announced earlier in the week. California Steel Industries (CSI) also announced an increase on […]
The steel market, in particular the steel service center market, has been anticipating a flat rolled price increase announcement for the past few weeks. The fact that it was ArcelorMittal USA leading the way should not come as a surprise. The mills that have few to no spot tons to sell are AK Steel, US […]
In an email sent late in the afternoon on Monday, March 17th, ArcelorMittal USA announced a price increase on all of their new flat rolled orders, with specific base prices at $33.00 for hot rolled, $39.50 for cold rolled, and $39.50 for galvanized. The mill justified their increase by stating “Despite the recent drop in […]
Nucor says weather and imports affected steel sales for first quarter 2014. Nucor revised its forecast for first quarter results downward from its guidance in fourth quarter 2013. Nucor expects a $0.53 decrease per diluted share in the first quarter ending April 5, 2014 as compared to fourth quarter 2013 earnings. Results are expected to […]
Steel Market Update has been aware for awhile that at least one, and probably more than one, domestic steel mill has been trying to convince the rest of the industry to support dumping suits on coated products. This would most likely include galvanized and Galvalume steels. The countries being mentioned include China, India, Taiwan and […]
The rumor mill has been buzzing for a number of months about the potential for flat rolled steel dumping suits on galvanized and Galvalume steels. The focus of attention seems to be on China, India, Taiwan and South Korea as being the major offenders. However, Steel Market Update, which has a long background in coated […]
There are situations at two mills which are causing sleepless nights for some flat rolled steel buyers. AK Steel is helping tighten the Midwest market and keeping prices from plunging perhaps further than they may have otherwise. As one of our steel sources put it to Steel Market Update today, “…the further reduction of melt […]