My opinion (and many of the items discussed in my Final Thoughts articles are just that – my opinion) is that we are getting close to seeing a disruption of services at one mill and we probably are close to possibly seeing two mills (ArcelorMittal and US Steel) lockout the USW members at their mills. […]
Progress appears stalled at the bargaining table with neither ArcelorMittal nor the USW willing to make concessions. In Update 12 on Friday, the USW reported progress in the labor negotiations has been “slow.” “Although the company says that it wants a new contract with our union, that desire has not been reflected in its proposals […]
Labor Day came and went without labor negotiations coming to a head for US Steel or ArcelorMittal. Although the parties were committed to staying at the bargaining table over the weekend, no agreement was made and, fortunately, no lockouts or strikes either. Allegheny Technology (ATI) is entering its fourth week of lockout for its 2,200 […]
I continue to receive positive comments regarding last week’s Steel Summit Conference. What is especially gratifying is the number of speakers who have come back with comments as to how much they enjoyed the conference, the quality of the speakers and the interest of the attendees. Many of our speakers stayed for the entire conference, […]
Trade discussion at the 2015 SMU Steel Summit Conference brought a number of conflicting views. Well before the Trade Panel began their formal presentations on Tuesday, attendees at the conference heard a number of comments on imports, steel overcapacity and whether the trade cases that have been initiated will help or hurt the US steel […]
US Steel plans to relocate 15,000 tons of monthly automotive steel production from Hamilton Works and Lake Erie Works to its US facilities. Court monitor Alex Morrison was informed that the reallocation will take effect for customer shipments in Oct. 2015. Seventeen employees at Hamilton will be laid off and 10 others redeployed. The production […]
The United Steel Workers said it would prefer to continue contract negotiations rather than seek a strike authorization from the membership. On Monday, June 1, the day before contract expiration, the USW offered to continue working under the previous contract while continuing negotiations with US Steel. US Steel responded that it remained committed to operating […]
The USW issued an update Friday regarding ArcelorMittal/USW negotiations. At this time the USW negotiating committee intends to remain at the bargaining table rather than seeking strike authorization from the membership. The update reads as follows: Our committee continued to meet both internally and with ArcelorMittal management this week in Pittsburgh. Although we are far […]
Our Steel Buyers Sentiment Index dropped for the second month in a row, however, our 3-month-moving-average rose slightly. Our Sentiment Index has been trailing what we reported during 2014 as business growth has been tempered this year versus last. Flat rolled steel prices dropped slightly from the end of last month through the end of […]
Essar Steel Algoma announced that first quarter FY 2016, ending June 30, 2015, closed with a positive EBITDA of CDN $12.4 million. Capacity utilization was at 90 percent and steel shipments of 632,000 tons were 19 percent higher year over year. Higher production and shipments, however, were unable to counter low pricing caused by dumped […]
It’s showtime! Our 5th SMU Steel Summit Conference is locked, loaded and ready to go. We move into the sold out Marriott Gateway Hotel early tomorrow (Monday) afternoon where we will begin registration at 4 PM until 6 PM. We anticipate the bar area will be full of steel people on Monday evening so come […]
Recently Steel Market Update produced information related to the changes in the LME spot price for zinc and the costs associated with applying the Zinc to steel substrate in order to make galvanized product. It has been normal for the domestic steel mills to react to significant adjustments in the cost of zinc by adjusting […]
The USW said it is committed to moving forward in contract negotiations at US Steel and is continuing to meet regularly with US Steel representatives in Pittsburgh. The current contract agreement will expire on Sept 1 and the parties are still wrangling over health care, hours, overtime and contracting out. The USW wrote in its […]
In early May 2015 zinc spot price on the LME was trading at, or close to, $1.10 per pound. In early April 2015 US Steel adjusted their coating extras while the rest of the mills remained at the levels they set in early 4th Quarter 2014 when zinc was trading in the range of $1.00-$1.10 […]
As the deadline for contract expiration draws near (Sept 1), SMU thought a historical perspective on US Steel and USW negotiations might be in order. In the history of US Steel there have been only two labor work stoppages. The first was a historic 116 day strike by 500,000 steelworkers in 1959. The second occurred […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) produces for our Premium level members a number of articles/analysis related to the Metal Service Center Institute (MSCI) data which is released on a monthly basis. One of the articles is our Service Center Inventories Apparent Excess/Deficit analysis. Our Apparent Excess/Deficit is the number of tons either over or under what […]
USW workers came out in force in rallies at ArcelorMittal and US Steel locations across the country last week. About 3,000 steelworkers marched to the gates of US Steel’s Gary Works in Indiana carrying signs saying “Fair Contract now” and “Mario Got his $15,000,000. Where’s Ours?” Hobart Mayor Brian Snedecor joined other mayors in the […]
Following the exceptional rate of vehicle sales in the US in May the June rate fell from 17.8 million annualized to 17.2 million then bounced back to 17.5 million in July. This was the second best month of the year. Light trucks continued to pull ahead of automobiles. In July LT sales which includes crossovers […]
The people who buy and sell flat rolled steel for a living continue to be optimistic about their company’s ability to be successful both now and three to six months into the future. However, the year over year weakening (or less optimistic) trend that we have seen for most, if not all of this calendar […]
Union workers from US Steel and ArcelorMittal staged rallies and marches at locations across the country this week. Contract negotiations are stalled over concessions the companies want on health and retirement benefits. Carrying signs and rallying to slogans like “United we bargain, divided we beg” and “No contract no peace,” thousands of USW members took […]
US Steel Corp. lost its bid to keep objections to its debt claims out of the CCAA proceedings for US Steel Canada. US Steel claims it is owed $2.2 billion by USSC, an amount that the United Steelworkers, the province, and former Stelco president Bob Milbourne question. Justice Herman Wilton-Siegel in his decision wrote that […]
A huge hole has been made in the heart the US steel industry. Big River Steel CEO John Correnti died this morning while on an out-of-town business trip. John Correnti, 68, was no stranger to the development of steel mills. His plan to build the mini-mill in Osceola, Ark. was backed by almost 50 years […]
Steel buyers are reporting a weakening steel market in both our phone conversations as well as through our survey responses. SMU reported a drop in hot rolled coil prices last week of $5 per ton and we are reporting an additional $5 per ton move lower this week. We are seeing weakness in all products. […]
Steel Market Update publisher, John Packard, participated in the monthly galvanized steel conference call held by HARDI for their wholesalers and other HARDI member companies. The wholesalers supply galvanized steel sheet and coil to the mechanical contractors who are involved in the residential and commercial HVAC markets. The group discussed a number of key market […]
US Steel announced Monday that it intends to permanently close its blast furnace and associated steelmaking operations at Fairfield Works in Alabama. Most of the flat-rolled finishing operations at Fairfield will also be shut down. About 1,100 employees will lose their jobs due to the closure. “We have made some difficult decisions over the last […]
It was very sad to hear of the passing of John Correnti earlier today. Mr. Correnti at 68 years old still had much to give to the steel industry and his Big River Steel mill will only be but one part of his legacy. The steel industry is buzzing on the news and I have […]
SMU requested a comment from the president of Steelscape regarding the challenges the mill will face if their parent companies’ supply of hot rolled coil is potentially cut off. We received the following note regarding their sources of supply which are named in the hot rolled antidumping and countervailing duty petition filed last week: “I […]
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 June 2015 was 9,373,498 net tons. Apparent steel supply is calculated by adding domestic steel shipments and finished US steel imports and subtracting total US steel exports. June supply […]
Net imports equals imports minus exports. We regard this as an important look at the overall trade picture and its effect on demand at the mill level. Figure 1 shows that net sheet product imports on a three month moving average (3MMA) basis in June continue to be more than double that which existed before […]
I was speaking with the owner of a manufacturing company late last week. He told me his company had a number of union plants and he has negotiated a number of union contracts over the past few years. “People don’t strike anymore,” he said, “unless someone puts a line in the sand and forces the […]