Steel Market Update continuously is in conversation with flat rolled steel buyers from around the country. We have noticed a growing nervousness within the steel community as the buyers grapple with ever higher steel prices and extended lead times. In some cases the lead times on foreign material are not much more than what the […]
US Steel reported a net income of $52 million for the first quarter of 2014 on net sales of $4.4 billion, compared to net income of $270 million (adjusted net income of $38 million) in fourth quarter 2013. Shipments for the quarter totaled 4.1 million tons. Flat rolled steel sales operating income in first quarter […]
Steel Market Update has been carefully watching the progress of iron ore shipments to U.S. Steel Gary Works. Earlier this month, US Steel reported the curtailment of steelmaking operations at the Gary Works plant. The Gary steel mill is the largest production facility for US Steel with four blast furnaces and two BOP’s with three […]
Based on an article published in the Hamilton Spectator we have learned that US Steel intends to restart the coke batteries at Nanticoke in Hamilton, ONT, Canada starting October 1st of this year. The steel mill recently reopened this past September after a lock out in April 28th, 2013 over demands for contract changes. The […]
With the various flat rolled indexes reporting hot rolled pricing approaching $680 per ton in the mill spot market we are quite close to the $685 announced by Nucor on April 4th and matched by a number of the domestic steel mills. The question now is will the mills attempt to move prices up to […]
For our plate customers, SSAB announced a $40 per ton plate price increase effective immediately. We will see if it sticks in the marketplace. We have a couple of minor bugs and tweaks we are working out of our systems and then we will release our Managing Price Risk II: Strategies & Execution workshop for […]
Once per month, Steel Market Update provides a flat rolled service center inventory forecast for our Premium Level members. We thought in light of the recent numbers released by the Metal Service Center Institute (MSCI) to see how our forecast for April compared with the actual figures compiled by the MSCI. As indicated in our […]
Flat rolled steel prices continue to be firm as supply issues haunt the northern steel mills and lead times remain extended at most mills throughout the eastern United States and Canada. US Steel has issues with receiving raw materials into their Gary Works facility which has slowed steelmaking operations to approximately 50 to 75 percent […]
AK Steel CEO James Wainscott, in the company’s earnings conference call with analysts, reported that their blast furnaces were running at reduced capacities due to the ice problems on the Great Lakes. US Steel has been upfront by reporting their Gary Works steelmaking operations are running at less than capacity as they struggle to get […]
Earlier today, Steel Market Update (SMU) participated in the monthly galvanized steel with members of HARDI. The last conference call was held the day after ArcelorMittal has announced the first of two price increases during the month of March (Galvanized base of $39.50/cwt). The purpose of today’s call was to discuss what has been happening […]
For the week ending April 19, 2014, the American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) reported that the U.S. steel industry produced 1,808,000 net tons (NT) of raw steel, a 1.3 percent increase over the previous week but a 1.6 percent decrease over the same week one year ago. The estimated capacity utilization rate is 75.2 […]
We learned today that ArcelorMittal will be taking down their #7 blast furnace at Indiana Harbor for two months: June & July 2014 (scheduled maintenance). The #7 furnace is capable of producing up to 11,500 tons of molten pig iron per day when ready at full capacity. Our assumption is US Steel Gary Works should […]
Steel Dynanics CEO Mark Millett and other officers of the steel mill provided their review of the company’s first quarter earnings as well as their insights into the various markets they serve as well as the challenges and opportunities they see in front of them. SMU found one comment interesting as Mr. Millett feels there […]
Ice coverage on the Great Lakes is beginning to subside with 36.7 percent coverage reported by NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory as of April 19. Ice persists, however, in Lake Superior and the northern sections of Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. Ice continues to clog the locks through Sault Ste. Marie. It is the […]
US Steel Gary Works is not alone as the mill limps along on two of its blast furnaces operating at reduced capacities due to a lack of raw materials. According to a US Steel spokesperson nothing has changed over the past five or six days as the mill waits for further shipments coming from Northern […]
Severe winter conditions negatively impacted Steel Dynamic’s first quarter earnings causing a 25 percent drop in consolidated operating income as compared to the previous quarter. SDI reported net income of $39 million for first quarter 2014, on net sales of $1.8 billion, down from $55 million on net sales of $1.9 billion Q4 2013. Steel […]
All of the current production issues are relegated to the northern fully integrated steel mills. One of our service center contacts laid out the production scenario and how it is impacting the other northern steel producers: “The Great Lakes outage, and then accident during repair, and the Gary reduction in output is the important factor […]
The convoy of freighters headed to Minnesota under US and Canadian Coast Guard escort arrived safely on Monday morning. The ships dispersed to begin loading iron ore pellets and to queue up for the return convoy east across the Great Lakes to the mills. USCG Mackinaw is expected to depart Duluth this afternoon to escort […]
First, our questions posed to U.S. Steel remained unanswered as we reached the end of the day today. The last we heard they were running two blast furnaces at reduced capacities for each at Gary Works. It is not known exactly how many tons per day of pig iron or steel are being produced. Iron […]
The following article is one that we would normally just provide to our Premium Level members. We thought that those who have Executive level members would be interested in some of the detail we are providing our Premium Level members. If you have questions about Premium Level membership please feel free to contact our offices: […]
Here is what I know/understand regarding the situation at US Steel as of early Sunday evening, April 13th. Our sources are advising us USS is moving iron ore from Great Lakes to Gary. We are also following the vessels which are now being reported as in port in Minnesota loading ore. We are aware that […]
Because of the severity of the curtailment of steelmaking at US Steel Gary Works and the shut down of steelmaking operations at USS Great Lakes we feel it is important to update our readers and the greater steel community as to what we have learned over the past 48 hours. First, Great Lakes steelmaking operations […]
Service centers and steel brokers within the secondary (non-prime) segment of the flat rolled industry are advising Steel Market Update that prices on secondary are rising just as quickly as prime. Production problems at a number of mills, coupled with logistics problems holding back shipments from some mill locations, has helped tighten inventories of vanilla […]
Alcoa CEO Klaus Kleinfeld is expecting great things for aluminum—“The opportunity in auto is tremendous,” he said in Alcoa’s first quarter conference call. Kleinfeld said he expects aluminum automotive sheet demand to top 1 million metric tons by 2025. “We believe that the aluminum content in cars is going to quadruple very, very soon, basically […]
“Mills are stubborn this week. We’ll see what happens when US gets caught back up,” is how one steel executive pegged the market for Steel Market Update earlier today. Many of the steel service centers we spoke to over the past few days are indicating there is strengthening demand in portions of their business. What […]
US Steel has been very cooperative answering Steel Market Update inquiries regarding the status of their Gary Works and Great Lakes steel mills. Both mills have issues regarding steelmaking operations. Because the steel industry is prone to over-react when production issues hit any mill we thought it prudent to try to understand to the best […]
For Thursday night’s issue my goal is to attempt to produce as accurate lead times for each mill as possible. This is easy for some mills who publish lead times on a weekly or, in at least one case, daily basis. Other mills hold the information a little closer to the vest. If you have […]
Steel Market Update requested information from US Steel regarding the status of USS Gary Works, which has been running steelmaking at reduced capacity due to a lack of raw materials and, USS Great Lakes which has steelmaking operations temporarily down due to damages suffered when a main collector pipe fell collapsing part of the roof […]
Steel Market Update began this week with an article on Sunday evening titled, “This Could Be a Tumultuous Week.” Looking back over the past five days that title was an understatement. This week has been tumultuous times ten. Why? U.S. Steel can’t seem to catch a break. They now have steelmaking operations temporarily suspended at […]
Unusual ice build-up on the Great Lakes has caused delays of raw materials headed for steel mills in the Midwest. Earlier this week, US Steel notified customers that Gary Works blast furnaces and steelmaking operations will be down temporarily due to “unforeseen and unprecedented ice conditions on the Great Lakes that is delaying the transportation […]