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 […]
Steel Buyers Sentiment, as measured by Steel Market Update, has never been higher despite concerns over the latest COVID variant and signs that the rate of rise in steel prices is beginning to slow. SMU’s Current Sentiment Index registered a new all-time high of +84 this week – the first time the index has broken […]
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 […]
Over the last week or so, statistics have emerged about the surge in capacity utilization of the steel industry in the United States. Since Jan. 1, the American Iron and Steel Industry reports, domestic steelmakers have operated at a capacity utilization rate of 80.1%. In the most recent week reported, ending Aug. 7, capacity utilization was 84.8%, […]
We are seeing (again) the disruption that unexpected news can bring. Just when we thought we were out of the woods (no pun intended), we see a resurgence of hospitalizations from COVID, the fall of Afghanistan, perhaps the unluckiest country in the world, a major earthquake in Haiti, perhaps the second unluckiest, and a hurricane […]
The United States and the European Union aim to resolve their differences around Section 232 tariffs on the EU by Nov. 1, an EU official said. “On the U.S. Section 232, both sides confirmed readiness to find a solution by 1 November,” the EU official told Steel Market Update (SMU). “In terms of progress, both […]
Looking for Signs One year ago, benchmark hot rolled prices bottomed at $440 per ton ($22.00/cwt). Since then, steel prices have been on a tear with spot hot rolled more than four times higher at nearly $1,900 per ton ($95.00/cwt). The net result from this 52-week march higher is the way steel buyers view the […]
Looking for Signs One year ago, benchmark hot rolled prices bottomed at $440 per ton ($22.00/cwt). Since then, steel prices have been on a tear with spot hot rolled more than four times higher at nearly $1,900 per ton ($95.00/cwt). The net result from this 52-week march higher is the way steel buyers view the […]
We talk a lot about the price of steel going up. We don’t talk as much about spreads between hot-rolled coil and prime scrap – which are going up just as fast if not faster. And if you’ve listened to earnings calls over the last two weeks, you know that steel mills and industry analysts […]
We talk a lot about the price of steel going up. We don’t talk as much about spreads between hot-rolled coil and prime scrap – which are going up just as fast if not faster. And if you’ve listened to earnings calls over the last two weeks, you know that steel mills and industry analysts […]
2021 SMU Steel Summit Conference – Revised Agenda as of July 27, 2021 The 2021 SMU Steel Summit Conference will be held at the Georgia International Convention Center on Aug. 23-25. The convention center is conveniently located next to the Atlanta International Airport (ATL). The center and the hotels surrounding the convention center are on […]
Last week our average price on hot rolled coil (HRC) was $1,850 per ton ($92.50/cwt). We are not far away from $2,000 per ton ($100.00/cwt). The idea of HRC at $100.00/cwt is so far out of my historical perspective. I go back to the late 1970s when HRC sold under $10.00/cwt…. Jeez. I saw an […]
Last week our average price on hot rolled coil (HRC) was $1,850 per ton ($92.50/cwt). We are not far away from $2,000 per ton ($100.00/cwt). The idea of HRC at $100.00/cwt is so far out of my historical perspective. I go back to the late 1970s when HRC sold under $10.00/cwt…. Jeez. I saw an […]
Hyundai Steel has made what is probably its last offer for imported plate for 2021 delivery to Gulf Coast ports, according to market participants. And there might be only one more offering to West Coast ports, sources said. Plate made by the South Korean steelmaker is being offered to Houston and New Orleans – the primary Gulf Coast […]
Editor’s note: SMU contributor Bryan Tice is a partner at Metal Edge Partners, a firm engaged in Risk Management and Strategic Advisory. In this role, he and the firm design and execute risk management strategies for clients along with providing process and analytical support. Before joining Metal Edge Partners, Bryan held a variety of commercial […]
Editor’s note: SMU contributor Bryan Tice is a partner at Metal Edge Partners, a firm engaged in Risk Management and Strategic Advisory. In this role, he and the firm design and execute risk management strategies for clients along with providing process and analytical support. Before joining Metal Edge Partners, Bryan held a variety of commercial […]
NLMK USA joined the growing ranks of steelmakers posting massively higher second-quarter earnings on solid demand and record-high steel prices. The U.S. subsidiary of NLMK Group – Russia’s largest steelmaker – recorded EBITDA of $213 million in the second quarter of 2021, up more than threefold from $65 million in the first quarter and an […]
Steel Dynamics Inc. (SDI) doesn’t see a big steel price correction in the cards because of broader – and largely unrecognized – structural shifts underway in the U.S. steel market, company executives said. Industry experts have been focused on potential negatives such as new capacity, increased imports and the removal of trade barriers. They are missing […]
Lobbying groups for steel consumers blasted a federal appeals court’s decision to uphold former President Donald Trump’s abrupt doubling of Section 232 tariffs on Turkey to 50%. The tariffs have already led to high prices, long lead times and shortages that have hurt downstream manufacturers, and the decision regarding Turkey could set a dangerous precedent by […]
Former President Donald Trump acted within the law when he doubled Section 232 tariffs on Turkey from 25% to 50% in August 2018, a federal appeals court said. The decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upends a prior decision by a lower court – namely, by the U.S. Court of […]
So much for the summer doldrums. After a brief pause following Independence Day (and Canada Day), sheet prices have resumed their sharp upward trajectory. Hot-rolled coil prices are now over $1,800 per ton ($90 per cwt) while cold-rolled and galvanized base prices are above $2,000 per ton ($100 per cwt). If this pace of gains […]
NLMK USA sales surged in the second quarter on strong demand and increased slab supplies from its parent company in Russia. The U.S. subsidiary of Lipetsk, Russia-based NLMK Group recorded flat-rolled steel sales volumes of 502,000 metric tonnes in the first quarter. That’s up 17% from 431,000 tonnes in the first quarter and up 52% […]
As steel prices around the globe surge in response to the war in Ukraine, the brief competitive advantage domestic prices held over foreign steel has flattened, according to SMU’s latest foreign versus domestic hot rolled steel price comparison. Select foreign HRC prices are anywhere from $138 per ton cheaper than domestic prices to $74 per ton […]
The dilemma is global warming, CO2 is just the proxy, Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. President and CEO Lourenco Goncalves said during the opening keynote speech at CRU’s Steel Decarbonization Strategies 2021 Virtual Conference. Cliffs’ top executive took a strong stance during his talk—which opened the first major event devoted exclusively to the topic of decarbonization in the […]
The dilemma is global warming, CO2 is just the proxy, Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. President and CEO Lourenco Goncalves said during the opening keynote speech at CRU’s Steel Decarbonization Strategies 2021 Virtual Conference. Cliffs’ top executive took a strong stance during his talk—which opened the first major event devoted exclusively to the topic of decarbonization in the […]
SSAB Americas President Chuck Schmitt joined SMU for a Community Chat webinar last week during which we talked plate, renewable energy and fossil-free steelmaking. We also got to some good questions from you about the hydrogen-based steelmaking SSAB is undertaking in Sweden through its HYBRIT partnership with iron ore miner LKAB and power producer Vattenfall. […]
By Michael Marley The mini sheet mills face a maxi problem, namely no additional supplies of prompt industrial scrap to feed their growing appetites for that raw material. As they move ahead with planned expansions of existing facilities and the construction of greenfield plants, electric arc furnace (EAF) steelmakers may be forced to rely on additional […]
Readers asked me to discuss Section 232 and its possible future. Steel and aluminum tariffs have been around since 2018, not to mention other investigations on components of electric transformers made with electrical steel, autos and auto parts, and vanadium. I think that, under applicable law, certain of these cases have been resolved. I explain here […]
Last Tuesday, the Court of International Trade issued a major opinion in the massive litigation over China tariffs. As I’ve written before, the imposition of tariffs on more than $200 billion of imports per year from China has prompted a slew of lawsuits (more than 3,600 so far, including 6,500 separate plaintiffs), which could find […]