Tag: steel

In this Premium analysis we cover North American oil and natural gas prices, drilling rig activity, and crude oil stock levels.

The Biden administration on Wednesday announced measures to support the domestic steel industry.

Earlier this week, SMU polled steel buyers on an array of topics, ranging from market prices, demand, and inventories to imports and evolving market chatter.

The steel market appears to be finding a new, higher normal with the shocks of the pandemic and the Ukraine in the rearview mirror. The good news: a more profitable and consolidated post-Covid US steel industry has been able to invest in operations. That includes efforts to decarbonize. The bad news: That “new normal” could be tested. Because it’s not just domestic sheet prices that have been volatile. Geopolitics are too.

I’m writing these Final thoughts from the 2024 ISRI Convention and Exposition in Las Vegas. I wasn’t the only one with the good idea to attend. Approximately 6,625 others did – a new record for the event. So, a big congratulations to ISRI.

Steel industry veteran Mark Bush announced he will be joining AM/NS Calvert as area manager steelmaking.

Domestic raw steel production slipped from last week’s multi-month high, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI).

Bula tapped as CEO of Finland's Blastr

Flat Rolled = 58.3 shipping days of supply Plate = 60.6 shipping days of supply Flat Rolled US service center flat-rolled steel inventories edged up in March as shipments remained low. At the end of March, service centers carried 58.3 shipping days of supply on an adjusted basis, up from 56.6 shipping days in February. […]

U.S. Steel’s No. 8 blast furnace (BF8) at its Gary Works in northwest Indiana is undergoing a 45-day maintenance outage that started on April 4.

Does the price of ferrous scrap depend on the price of finished steel product? And how much of an influence do billet and slab prices have on scrap prices?

Nucor said its spot hot-rolled (HR) coil price for the week of April 15 will be $835 per short ton (st), up $5/st from last week. The Charlotte, N.C.-based steelmaker said the new price would be effective immediately in a letter to customers on Monday morning. The exception again is California Steel Industries (CSI), Nucor’s […]

As the ISRI 2024 conference unfolds in Las Vegas, attendees are diving into crucial discussions shaping the future of the recycling industry. Here are the main topics being discussed: New steelmaking capacity coming online this year Export demand during this period Infrastructure spending Supply of pig iron and HBI Current logistics challenges May scrap prices […]

Last week was a newsy one for the US sheet market. Nucor’s announcement that it would publish a weekly HR spot price was the talk of the town – whether that was in chatter among colleagues, at the Boy Scouts of America Metals Industry dinner, or in SMU’s latest market survey. Some think that it could Nucor's spot HR price could bring stability to notoriously volatile US sheet prices, according to SMU's latest steel market survey. Others think it’s too early to gauge its impact. And still others said they were leery of any attempt by producers to control prices.

Drilling activity decreased in the US but rose in Canada in the week ended April 12, according to the latest data from Baker Hughes.

Total domestic aluminum mill products orders in March were up 0.2% compared to March 2023, according to the latest “Index of Net New Orders of Aluminum Mill Products” released by the US Aluminum Association (AA). This is much lower than the growth of 9.3% year over year (y/y) reported in February.

The Department of Commerce (DOC) has issued new rules to combat evolving "unfair" trade practice — including the unfair trade of steel products. They go into effect on Wednesday, April 24.

U.S. Steel Corp.’s impending sale to Japan’s Nippon Steel Corp. (NSC) has cleared one hurdle: USS stockholders voted overwhelmingly in favor of the nearly $15 billion merger.

SMU’s Steel Buyers’ Sentiment Indices both rose this week.

While shipping and supply chains have always been subject to wars, pirates, privateers, geopolitical issues, and natural disasters, it seems that “it’s been busier lately when it comes to dealing with significant supply chain disruptions,” according to logistics expert Anton Posner.

To ease trade tensions with the United States, the economy ministry in Mexico is preparing measures to strengthen definitions on steel being shipped into the country. Mexico has faced accusations it is being used as a route for steel and aluminum produced in Asia to be sent on to the US, so-called triangulation.

For something that wasn’t on the agenda in Washington this week, the proposed Nippon Steel deal for U.S. Steel is getting a lot of attention.

The market appears to be taking a pause after the heavy buying that occurred in March.

Steel buyers said mills are more willing to talk price on spot orders on all the products SMU covers, according to our most recent survey data.

Steel prices continued to ease lower in early March – a trend seen since mid-January –  before showing signs of bottoming and inflecting up. The SMU Price Momentum Indicator for sheet products shifted from lower to neutral mid-way through the month after Nucor, Cleveland-Cliffs, and ArcelorMittal all targeted new base minimums between $825-840 per short […]

For those of you old enough to remember The King and I, the April scrap market seems to be a puzzlement. While it is now clear that everything went sideways, one could clearly make an argument for prices to have been down.

The United Steelworkers (USW) union is calling out Nippon Steel for already prioritizing its Japanese operations at the expense of American workers despite forging ahead with its proposed plan to purchase U.S. Steel.

US hot-rolled (HR) coil has become increasingly more expensive than offshore hot band as stateside prices have moved higher at a sharper pace vs. imports.

President Biden said on Wednesday he would stand by his commitment to US workers regarding the proposed sale of U.S. Steel to Japan’s Nippon Steel.

The spread between hot-rolled coil (HRC) and prime scrap prices has widened this month after narrowing for three months, according to SMU’s most recent pricing data.