US Steel has temporarily idled the No. 5 tin line at its Gary Works in northwest Indiana. The Pittsburgh-based steelmaker indicated that the move was necessary because of weaker demand and increased import volumes. “The company’s other tin operations continue to operate in line with customer demand. We expect to bring number 5 tin line back […]
Steel prices eased overall throughout August, following declines seen in the three previous months. Hot rolled prices were $805 per ton ($40.25 per cwt) the first week of August, falling to a low of $770 per ton in the middle of the month, and rising to $785 per ton as of last Tuesday. The SMU […]
US Steel’s month-long outage on No. 3 blast furnace at Mon Valley Works near Pittsburgh is underway, a company spokeswoman confirmed to SMU. The blast furnace was taken offline early Wednesday morning following a successful blowdown. Water quenching is scheduled for the weekend, and shotcrete will begin after Labor Day. “It did go offline safely,” […]
Hot rolled and galvanized prices continue to decline but many continue to go unchanged, members said during this month’s call with HARDI’s Sheet Metal/Air Handling Council. Much like July, members are currently seeing strong demand and foresee stability in the near future. It’s been an eventful month to say the least. Nucor and Cleveland-Cliffs both […]
Flat-rolled steel prices were steady to up based on the data points SMU collected this week. There’s undoubtedly been pressure from recent mill price hikes, but it’s still far too early to tell if they will stick or if this is just a blip. Sheet prices rose for each of our products this week. The […]
The steel and commodity price forecast panel – always a popular program at SMU’s Steel Summit – once again didn’t disappoint. Speakers included three of the steel industry’s most respected analysts: Josh Spoores, CRU’s principal steel analyst, Timna Tanners, Wolfe Research’s managing director, and John Anton, S&P Global Market Intelligence’s director. The sheet market today […]
Canada’s Algoma Steel and the United Steelworkers (USW) Local 2251 announced they have agreed on a new labor deal after members successfully ratified the terms of the five-year collective agreement. The bargaining committee of Local 2251 “unanimously recommended the offer,” encouraging members to vote in favor of the fair agreement. The two sides had agreed […]
Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. has reached a tentative agreement with the United Steelworkers (USW) on a new, four-year labor contract, the company and the union said on Saturday, Aug. 27. The agreement is pending ratification by the USW local union members, who are likely to vote in the coming days on the pact negotiated by the bargaining […]
NLMK USA is seeking to increase spot base prices for carbon steel sheet by at least $75 per ton ($3.75 per cwt). The price increase is effective immediately and applies equally to all new orders of hot-rolled, cold-rolled, and coated products in North America, the company said in a letter to its customers on Friday, […]
Economic conditions are still iffy at best. Housing data continues to suffer with new home sales plunging and inventory reaching the highest it has been since 2009. The Richmond and Kansas City Fed manufacturing indexes both plunged in July as well. The Richmond Fed’s manufacturing skill availability index, which indicates the demand for skilled labor […]
Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. aims to increase spot prices for carbon steel sheet by at least $75 per ton ($3.75 per cwt). The move is effectively immediately and applies to equally to all new orders of hot-rolled, cold-rolled and coated products in North America, the company said in a press release on Wednesday, Aug. 24. It comes […]
The second fireside chat of the 2022 SMU Steel Summit conference featured Mark Millett, president and CEO of Fort Wayne, Ind.-based steelmaker Steel Dynamics Inc. SMU founder John Packard chatted with Millett about everything from aluminum and the status of SDI’s new mill in Texas, to decarbonization, steel prices, scrap, and electrical steel. Here’s a […]
Canada’s Algoma Steel and the United Steelworkers (USW) Local 2251 announced they have reached a new, tentative five-year labor deal. The bargaining committee of Local 2251 is “unanimously recommending the offer,” encouraging membership to vote in favor of the fair agreement during the ratification vote scheduled for Aug. 25 and Aug. 29. The Local represents […]
Sheet prices are down across the board this week, putting big cracks in any hopes that hot-rolled coil prices would find a bottom around $800 per net ton ($40 per cwt). The declines came as market participants reported that at least one large producer had cut deals at low levels and, in doing so, put […]
The transformation the steel industry has undergone has been accelerated over the past 18-24 months, with even greater dynamics underway, said a panel of steel executives and analysts during the first day of Steel Market Update’s 2022 Steel Summit conference in Atlanta, Ga. Demand trajectories across regions are diverging, finished steel consumption in China is […]
United Steelworkers (USW) union Local 8782 has ratified a new, five-year labor agreement with Canadian flat-rolled steelmaker Stelco. The move effectively concludes a summer of protracted contract negotiations between Hamilton, Ontario-based Stelco and the USW. Local 8782 reported that 67% of its members voted in favor of the contract in update to members on Friday, […]
US plate prices edged down marginally this week, declining for the third straight week. The easing was driven by a tightening of the range, though sources feel pricing has flattened. The repeated declines are not exactly a surprise given plate prices have been holding an unsustainable premium over coil, while buying remains strategic and mainly hand-to-mouth. […]
The United Steelworkers (USW) union resumed face-to-face labor talks with Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. and United States Steel Corp. this week in Pittsburgh after a brief hiatus for the USW’s 2022 Constitutional Convention Aug. 8–11 in Las Vegas. Current labor agreements with the two flat-rolled steelmakers are due to expire on Sept. 1. Cleveland-Cliffs Update In an […]
End use market demand is mixed as mid-year shipment data is reported The recession, inflation, and interest rates remain hot topics for aluminum producers and consumers. As new economic data is announced, both bright spots and points of concern emerge. First, this month’s report on inflation showed a drop month-on-month (MoM) and may signal that […]
The percentage of buyers reporting that mills’ prices are negotiable contracted this week, following more than two consecutive months of rising negotiation rates. Four out of five steel executives polled this week reported that mills are willing to talk price to secure an order. According to our steel market surveys, a high willingness to negotiate […]
Producer prices fell in July, stunning a 27-month growth run. Last month the headline index declined by 3.1%, seasonally adjusted, driven by a plunge in energy prices that slowed the pace of inflation, the US Labor Department reported. July’s producer price index (PPI), a measure of the prices received for final-demand products, fell 0.5% from […]
Canadian flat-rolled steelmaker Stelco has reached a tentative agreement with one local union, and another has ratified a new, five-year labor contract with the company. The negotiating committee for United Steelworkers (USW) Local 8782 broke the news that it had agreed to tentative pact in an update to members on Wednesday, Aug. 17. USW Local […]
Sheet prices were mixed this week as market participants continued to debate whether a recent round of price hikes had stuck. While some said the increases would provide a floor and prevent further price erosion, others said prices were more likely to resume their downward trend in the weeks ahead. There were also questions about […]
On Monday and Tuesday, SMU reached out to numerous steel buyers inquiring about market conditions this week. Sources were asked whether recently announced sheet price increases were sticking, and when they thought hot-rolled coil (HRC) prices might bottom out. The majority of the responses we received suggest that price increases are either partially sticking or […]
Flat Rolled = 54.7 Shipping Days of Supply Plate = 63.8 Shipping Days of Supply Flat Rolled US service center flat rolled inventories declined slightly in July as service centers worked to align inventories with slowing demand. At the end of July, service centers carried 54.7 shipping days of supply, down from 55 shipping days […]
North Star BlueScope is “substantially complete” with a $700 million expansion that will provide the Delta, Ohio, EAF sheet mill with additional annual capacity of nearly 950,000 short tons (850,000 metric tonnes). The mill produced the first coil from its expansion in June and has begun the 18-month process of ramping up the facility to […]
Algoma Steel and United Steelworkers (USW) Local 2251 have once again narrowly averted a potential labor disruption. The Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario-based sheet and plate producer said Local 2251 had agreed to put the company’s “last offer” to union members for a vote. The union has scheduled ratification votes on the contract from Aug. 29-Aug. […]
Steelmakers stand firm in the face of Russian aggression The invasion of Ukraine led to a sharp and sudden decline in steel production as steelmakers hurried to idle their assets in the face of military aggression. In the weeks that followed, some of these producers restarted their facilities – albeit at reduced capacity utilization. As […]
Imported sheet and plate products arrived at US ports at a higher clip in June, resulting in them accounting for a larger share of the domestic market, according to US Commerce Department data. Imports’ share of US sheet and plate markets peaked in December, with sheet reaching its highest level in the past 4.5 years. The trend […]
Underlying price function stops sliding and may have found basis for strengthening The London Metal Exchange (LME) may have found a floor to stop the slide it has experienced since April. Topping out near $3,400 metric tons earlier this year, the price of aluminum drifted lower steadily in the second quarter and into the third […]