Tag: steel

Cleveland-Cliffs has successfully completed a hydrogen injection trial at its Indiana Harbor #7 blast furnace in East Chicago, Ind., near Chicago.

December’s import level was slightly lower than an earlier license count had suggested, resulting in December marking the second-slowest month for imports in 2023.

Brazilian steel maker Usiminas has resumed operations at blast furnace (BF) No. 3 at its Ipatinga works in the state of Minas Gerais. The restart comes after a BRL2.7-billion ($546-million) refurbishment on the unit, which has capacity of three million metric tons (mt) per year.

The American steel market, including the stainless steel market, continues to face serious threats from subsidized and dumped imports resulting from foreign government policies creating an unfair playing field. It is no secret that China is a major culprit.

The state of the US scrap market is not very well understood, according to the dealer trade. It seems steelmakers in several regions are still looking to buy scrap, several sources told SMU.

The Tampa Steel Conference is just a few days away. Here are some topics I’m looking forward to learning more about during the proceedings on Monday and Tuesday. For starters, we’ll have about a month of 2024 under our belt when we convene on Sunday. How does that compare to what we thought the start of the year would look like? And what’s the outlook for the balance of the year?

The 35th Annual Tampa Steel Conference starts in just a few days. As one of the premier domestic steel conferences, it’s the perfect way to kick off 2024. It’s not too late to register if you haven’t already done so, but make sure to book now!

U.S. Steel has idled its USS-UPI LLC subsidiary in Pittsburg, Calif., a company spokesperson confirmed. The idling happened in December, they said in an email to SMU.

Steel Dynamics Inc. executives said the company’s Sinton, Texas, flat-rolled steel is now Ebitda positive.

Global steel output fell in December, led by cuts in China, the World Steel Association (worldsteel) said in its latest monthly report. Annual totals in 2023 saw a similar trend.

US hot-rolled coil (HRC) prices declined further this week, easing to their lowest level since late November. And while domestic tags remain notably more expensive than offshore product, the premium has declined as imported hot band tags have moved higher.

What's being talked about in the US steel market this week?

Steel Dynamics Inc.’s (SDI’s) top executive sees hot band demand remaining strong in 2024, which should support pricing.

SMU’s Jan. 24 Community Chat, featuring CRU's Principal Analyst Erik Hedborg, provided viewers with an update on the current state of the global iron ore market.

JSW Steel USA has teamed up with Primetals Technologies to upgrade its slab casting capabilities at the company's Mingo Junction, Ohio, slab and hot-rolled sheet mill.

Steel Dynamics Inc. (SDI) reported lower fourth quarter 2023 earnings on Tuesday but predicted good times ahead in 2024. The Fort Wayne, Ind.-based steelmaker posted a Q4’23 profit of $424.3 million, down 33.2% from a profit of $634.9 million in Q4’22 on sales that fell 12.3% to $4.2 billion.

This earnings season will hit a little different. U.S. Steel has announced that it won’t be hosting an earnings call. While this silence is normal during an acquisition process, it does alter a staple of the earnings landscape.

Canadian flat-rolled steelmaker Algoma Steel said its blast furnace could be down for approximately two weeks following an incident at its coke batteries over the weekend. “We expect some impact on shipments, the extent of which will depend on the timeline to resume blast furnace operations,” the Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario-based company said

CRU principal analyst Erik Hedborg, who has deep experience in iron ore and in pellets, will be the featured speaker on our next SMU Community Chat.

India-based Tata Steel is to close down the two blast furnaces at its loss-making Port Talbot works in South Wales, UK, during a four-year switch to EAF-based steel making. Under the proposals, 2,800 jobs are at risk.

The capacity for EAF steelmaking is growing both in the US and abroad. Ferrous scrap supply has never been more important. A lot of people have viewed the scrap industry as old-fashioned and resistant to change. However, the same forces affecting the steel and other industries are also at play in recycling.

Domestic production of raw steel edged lower for a second straight week, according to the most recent data from the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI).

Algoma Steel Group has halted coke production in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, after an incident at its coke-making facility this past weekend.

This latest SMU steel market survey is a snapshot of a sheet market inflecting lower. A significant 43% of survey respondents said that the hot-rolled (HR) coil market has already peaked. Compare that to only 8% when we released our last steel market survey on Jan. 5.

We’re just a week away from the 35th annual Tampa Steel Conference! It’s one of the premier domestic steel conferences and the first can’t-miss event of 2024. If you haven’t already registered, there is still time but make sure to book now!

CRU forecasts that global demand for steelmaking raw materials will fall month over month (m/m) between mid-January and mid-February. The major downward pressure on raw materials demand will come from China, where steel end-use demand will fall toward the Chinese New Year (CNY) holiday (Feb. 10–17).

While oil and gas drilling in the US and Canada rose in the week ended Jan. 19, less drilling is happening than at this time last year, Baker Hughes’ latest data shows.

The premium plate has held over hot-rolled coil (HRC) has been narrowing but remains elevated compared to historical levels.

When I started in the scrap business many years ago as a rookie trader in Luria’s Cleveland office, I saw an industry composed of family-owned businesses stretching across a great industrial nation.

SMU’s Current Steel Buyers Sentiment Index jumped this week, while the Future Sentiment Index remained flat, according to our most recent survey data.