Essar Steel Algoma announced Monday that it has entered Companies Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) protection. It is the third time Algoma will seek restructuring under CCAA—the first time in 1991 and again in 2001. In November 2014 Algoma completed a recapitalization and refinancing plan supported by Essar Global Fund Ltd. Essar Algoma has struggled to […]
According to the latest data released from the US Department of Commerce and the American Iron and Steel Institute, apparent steel supply for the month of September 2015 was 8,543,021 net tons. Apparent steel supply is calculated by adding domestic steel shipments and finished US steel imports and subtracting total US steel exports. September supply […]
I am here in New York City participating in the Cowen & Company Global Metals and Mining Conference. Day one was dedicated to the steel industry and the various commodities (scrap, iron ore, metallurgical coal). I thought I would provide a snapshot into some of the comments made during the conference by various CEO’s. Lourenco […]
Our scrap sources reported ferrous scrap prices as having the most strength in the east where export pricing has bounced off the bottom and momentum has apparently turned in that region. One of the east coast dealers told us that scrap flows are “atrocious” and if it wasn’t for the “terrible demand situation the market […]
Steel Market Update asked one of our Asian iron ore and steel trading sources to comment on the recent decline in iron ore prices which recently broke below $50/dmt on 62% Fe fines in China. We also asked for a comment about the recent spat of trade suits and the Chinese mills not cooperating with […]
US Steel continues to utilize its Carnegie Way initiative to find cost savings throughout the company to offset the challenges of unfairly traded imports, lower order rates, and falling steel prices. In third quarter 750 projects were completed, raising the total number of projects contributing savings benefits to the company this year to almost 2000. […]
US Steel Corp. reported a net loss of $173 million for third quarter 2015. Results included a $53 million loss due to shutdown of the blast furnace and associated operations at Fairfield Works. It also included a charge of $10 million for pension obligations to US Steel Canada and $7 million in restructuring costs. In […]
I am aware that on October 23, 2015 the domestic steel mills filed allegations of critical circumstances on exports of hot rolled coil from four countries: Brazil, Australia, Japan and The Netherlands. I will have more details and statements from both buyers and sellers later this week. I wanted to spend time studying the affirmative […]
The USW is taking a brief break from talks with US Steel. In an Oct. 27 update, the USW said US Steel continues to demand “major changes to health care benefits that would amount to thousands of dollars per year in added costs” for active works and retirees. The parties also wrangling over contract provisions […]
US Steel has filed court documents seeking a process trial date of November 20 to request approval of repayment of $2.2 billion in debt that it claims is owed by US Steel Canada. The court date was delayed by other restructuring issues and has been hotly contested by the USW, former Stelco president Bob Milbourne, […]
After three days of non-stop packaging followed by 24 hours of non-stop cleaning we have finally departed our Georgia offices and are in transit (as I write) to our new location in Florida. It is a two day trip so if you call our office you may get a voice mail message – my apologies […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) asked a manufacturing company when they thought prices will stop dropping? Their response was both classic and profound, “Prices will stop going down, when they go up. Prices can’t go below absolute zero. Question then becomes as to what defines absolute zero…?” Flat rolled steel prices continued their march lower this […]
In September, vehicle sales reached a new post-recession high of almost 18.2 million units at a seasonally adjusted annual rate. This followed the August rate of 17.8 million units. Both at the time were the best pace since July 2005, when incentives caused sales to surge. Sales in September were 10 percent higher than the […]
The difference between auto industry and steel industry: the UAW has issue a notice to GM that they could walk out at midnight tonight (Sunday) if they don’t have a contract. The USW is content to work under the old contract for as long as they can get away with it since both US Steel […]
Steel earnings calls began this last week and all of them reference the downturn in the oil industry and its effect on production. Low oil prices, overcapacity, and resulting weak demand for OCTG products continues to force firms to adjust output and workforce. Vallourec Star Steel announced this week that it will begin a third […]
Figure 1 shows published data for the growth of GDP, industrial production and consumer prices through Q3 2015. The GDP and industrial production portions of this graph are three month moving averages. The growth of GDP was 6.9 percent in the third Q, beating forecasts for 6.8 percent growth, but decelerating to its slowest pace […]
The HARDI wholesalers held their monthly galvanized steel conference call earlier today. During the call the wholesalers provided insights into business conditions affecting the companies and discussed the status of the flat rolled steel markets. HARDI wholesalers supply galvanized sheet and coil steels to the mechanical contractors associated with residential and commercial construction in North […]
Cliffs Natural Resources is back pedaling after CEO Lourenco Goncalves said he would shut down a plant in the Iron Range if Essar Steel Minnesota goes into production. “If they go online, I will shut down a plant up there the same day,” Lourenco Goncalves said in an exclusive interview with the Mesabi Daily News […]
SMU was disappointed in two key data sets which were released this past week. The first was the MSCI service center shipment and inventories which indicated a weakening economy and a continuation of the high inventory levels at the U.S. distributors. The second was the import license data through the first 15 days of October […]
Flat rolled steel prices continued their downward spiral this past week based on our analysis of the four steel indexes followed by Steel Market Update. We will be watching prices closely over the next week or two to see if we breach the psychological $400 per ton number on benchmark hot rolled coil. We have […]
USW negotiations with ArcelorMittal and US Steel continue to be bogged down. The USW bargaining committee with ArcelorMittal will take a brief break this coming week to conduct discussions with local membership. “We urge ArcelorMittal management to use this time away from the table to consider the uncertainty and strain this unnecessarily long, drawn-out process […]
The Metal Service Center Institute (MSCI) released September shipments and inventories for U.S. distributors. We reported in Thursday evening’s issue that flat rolled steel shipments were weaker than expected while receipts were higher than expected. The combination of the two has driven our Apparent Excess to over 1 million net tons. The SMU Flat Rolled […]
We will begin our next flat rolled steel market analysis with an invitation to participate in our questionnaire going out at 8 AM on Monday morning. If you receive an invite please take a few minutes to click on the link and complete the questionnaire. Steel Market Update will be moving our headquarters over the […]
Essar Steel Algoma announced it has secured an alternate, interim iron ore supply and is withdrawing its motion for a Temporary Restraining Order against Cliffs Natural Resources. Essar will continue to pursue resolution of the matter of breach of contract through the court system. Cliffs Natural Resources, as of Oct. 5, canceled its 3 million […]
US Steel Canada and its parent company US Steel Corp. are parting ways but uncertainty about the future of the Canadian steel mill lingers. In a Superior Court decision last week, Justice Herman Wilton-Siegal agreed to sever the connection between the companies and allow US Steel Canada to suspend health care benefits to more than […]
Contract negotiations continue to progress at ArcelorMittal and US Steel but at a very slow rate. The USW reported that the ArcelorMittal bargaining committee reached a “basic understanding with the company on some non-economic issues.” At US Steel talks are at an impasse with the USW resisting concession demands. The bargaining committee headed home last […]
Earlier this year US Steel adjusted their coating extras and the long wait began for other mills to follow suit. In the meantime, spot zinc prices dropped below $0.74 per pound before bouncing back to $0.82 per pound over the past few days. Over the past couple of weeks most of the domestic mills have […]
Global steel demand will decrease by -1.7 percent to 1,513 million tonnes in 2015, according to the World Steel Association’s Short Range Outlook for 2015 and 2016. The 2015 decrease follows a gain of 0.7 percent in 2014, the same amount of growth that WSA expects to see again in 2016 as steel demand reaches […]
Hamilton MPs are urging legal action against US Steel Canada to force them to honor pension obligations. “It is unacceptable that US Steel Canada is abandoning these workers and their families,” said Industry Minister James Moore in a statement on the recent court decision that frees USSC from paying pension health benefits and property taxes. […]
We include here an abridged statement from the IMF that was released last week and in which the commodity situation looms large. Followed by our Steel Market Update data analysis and comments about the future of global and domestic steel demand through 2020. Transcript of the World Economic Outlook Press Conference Good morning. I have […]