SMU Community Chat with Timna Tanners of Wolfe Research
Date/Time: July 12 2023, 11:00 am
Guests: Timna Tanners
Wolfe Research managing director Timna Tanners was the featured speaker on SMU’s Community Chat webinar on Wednesday, July 12.
We talked about what Tanners described as “the myth of mill discipline.” Yes, the domestic sheet industry is more consolidated than it used to be. But do the “big four” mills – Nucor, Cliffs, SDI, and U.S. Steel – really have as much clout as advertised?
Mills in Canada continue to march to their own beat. And some of the “smaller” competition is not very small. ArcelorMittal, for example, the largest steelmaker outside of China, has significant sheet capacity in both the US (AM/NS Calvert) and Canada (Dofasco).
We compared the consolidation in the US sheet market to that of the domestic rebar market. Guess which is more disciplined?
We also talked about the galvanized market, which has quietly seen significant capacity expansion – even as HRC capacity growth garners more attention. Coated products, meanwhile, are also subject to more import competition.
Could the sheet storm come with a layer of zinc? Tune in on July 12 to find out!
PS – Tanners was also a speaker at our Steel Summit conference, the premier flat-rolled steel event in North America, on Aug. 21-23 in Atlanta. You can learn more about the event and sign up to attend here.
By Michael Cowden, michael@steelmarketupdate.com