The war in Eastern Europe is hitting close to home for some steel buyers. Steel Market Update’s survey this week asked readers: How might the Russian invasion of Ukraine impact your business? Roughly three out of four of the service center and manufacturing executives who responded said they fear at least some fallout from the […] The post SMU Survey: Steel Buyers Weigh in on Ukraine, Prices appeared first on Steel Market Update.
Editor’s note: SMU contributor Bryan Tice is a partner at Metal Edge Partners, a firm engaged in Risk Management and Strategic Advisory. In this role, he and the firm design and execute risk management strategies for clients along with providing process and analytical support. Before joining Metal Edge Partners, Bryan held a variety of commercial […] The post Hot Rolled Steel Futures: The Big Ripper appeared first on Steel Market Update.
You don’t need SMU pontificating about how the Russia-Ukraine conflict marks the end of the post-WWII order. Suffice it to say the world we woke up to today is vastly different from the one we reported on in our last edition. We’re also getting used to thinking about things we haven’t had to think about […] The post Final Thoughts appeared first on Steel Market Update.
Steel Market Update sources expect ferrous scrap prices to rise by at least $30/GT, and probably more, in most regions next month, following substantial declines in January and February. On the metallics front, mills around the world are watching anxiously to see how the conflict in Ukraine will impact pig iron supplies and prices. “The […] The post Scrap Prices Poised to Jump in March; Pig Iron a Casualty of War? appeared first on Steel Market Update.
Some North American flat-rolled steelmakers were silent when asked what the impact of the conflict between the U.S. and Russia might be on their operations. Others said their supply lines weren’t in the crossfire. One reason for the silence in some corners: Many rely heavily either on Russian slab or Russian or Ukrainian pig iron […] The post Some U.S. Steelmakers Shielded from Fallout from Russia-Ukraine War appeared first on Steel Market Update.
North Star BlueScope contributed substantially to record earnings reported yesterday by BlueScope Steel Ltd., its Australian parent. Sales for the first half of the global company’s 2022 fiscal year totaled $9.42 billion ($6.77 billion U.S.), netting earnings before interest and taxes of about $2.2 billion ($1.58 billion U.S.). For its North Star BlueScope operation in […] The post BlueScope Reports Record 1H Profit, First Coil From EAF Expansion in Mid ’22 appeared first on Steel Market Update.
Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. will indefinitely idle the No. 4 blast furnace at its Indiana Harbor steelmaking campus in northwest Indiana. The Cleveland-based steelmaker also announced that it was raising prices for April orders of carbon hot-rolled, cold-rolled and coated flat-rolled steel by at least $50 per ton ($2.50 per cwt). Cliffs will transfer hot metal production […] The post Cliffs to Idle Indiana Harbor No. 4 Blast Furnace, Raises Prices $50/ton appeared first on Steel Market Update.
The Tampa Steel Conference has wrapped up, and I thank all of you who attended and who took the time to catch up with me on stage or along the sidelines. Below are five themes that I took away from the event. If I were to sum it up in a sentence, it’s this: Steel […] The post Final Thoughts appeared first on Steel Market Update.
Ferrous scrap has been described as “the new precious metal,” as mills all over the world invest in scrap-fed electric arc furnaces as a means of lowering harmful greenhouse gas emissions. Indeed, prime scrap may prove to be even more rare and prized than most realize. In the United States alone, producers will add 5.3 […] The post Analysts: New EAF Capacity Will Make Scrap “a Precious Metal” appeared first on Steel Market Update.
Prices for five of the seven steelmaking raw materials tracked in this SMU analysis increased over the last 30 days, with only one product decreasing. Through Feb. 17, iron ore prices rose 18% from one month prior, aluminum prices increased 10%, coking coal prices rose 9%, zinc prices were up 3%, and pig iron prices […] The post Raw Materials Prices: Iron Ore, Coking Coal, Pig Iron, Scrap, Zinc appeared first on Steel Market Update.