New Report Preview:
Our Advance/Decliner Index jumped to a six-week high as a surge of pricing strength drove our China Index to the highest level since August 2011. Spot hot-rolled coil (HRC) …more
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Steel Market Production Increases – Chinese pipe fabricator Kingland plans to construct a 200,000 tpy spiral submerged arc welded pipe mill for the production of oil and gas line pipe. This is an increase from the original plans for a 120,000 tpy mill and will add to Kingland’s current capacity of 900,000 tpy for welded pipe.
Steel Market Production Increases – Chinese steelmaker Hanzhong Iron and Steel is assembling a new 600,000 tpy wire rod mill that is scheduled to begin production in early 2013. The new mill is a complement to the 1 million tpy double-strand wire rod facility that was commissioned last month at the 3 million tpy Hanzhong steel plant.
Steel Market Production Increases – Turkish steelmaker Kardemir has ordered a new basic oxygen furnace (BOF), as well as an expansion of the two existing BOFs at the Karabuk plant that will expand total capacity from 1.3 million tpy to 3 million tpy. The new BOF is scheduled to be commissioned in September 2013.
Sources: Steel Business Briefing, SteelOrbis
New Report Preview:
August preliminary imports declined 4.2% to 2.48 million tons (mt), with meaningful declines for line pipe (-32.9%), coiled plate (-27.2%), hot-rolled coil (HRC) (-25.2%) and …more
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Weekly domestic raw steel production for the week ending September 22, 2012 increased a nominal 0.4% to 1.824 million tons (mt) from last week’s 1.817 mt, but was down 1.5% year-on-year. Production has increased just 0.7% since reaching a 10-month low of 1.811 mt two weeks ago.
We would caution readers that only half of the AISI reporting companies release their weekly production in “real time” so the other half of this data is estimated – using prior months’ reported production & operating rate. What this means is that when production is changing, the weekly data is actually understating the change.
Capacity utilization rose to 73.8% this week, slightly above last week’s 73.5% but well below the year-ago level of 75.7%.
The lowest production level since the recession began was 800,000 tons for the week of December 27, 2008, while the highest level was 2.005 mt for the week of May 12, 2012. The lowest capacity utilization rate since the recession began was 33.5% for the week of December 27, 2008; the highest was 81.1% on May 12, 2012.
Source: AISI and Steel Market Intelligence
The spot reference price for 62% Fe iron ore cfr North China rose 4.7% to $106.40/tonne for the week ending September 21, 2012, despite falling 2.9% from Tuesday’s peak of $109.60. Prior to the last two weeks, iron ore prices declined 23.7% over five weeks of consecutive decreases, to a 34-month low of $89.00/tonne.
For the first quarter of 2012, the iron ore price averaged $141.84, and for 2Q, $139.35; this compares to an average of $176.90 for 1H 2011 and $167.59 for full-year 2011. The post-recession low was $59.10 on March 27, 2009, while the high was $190.19 on February 17, 2011.
Source: The Steel Index
Steel Market Production Cuts – JFE Steel, Japan’s largest plate producer, announced a 20% production cut for commodity and ship plate production by 20% from October through December; JFE produced about 4.41 mt of plate in 2011.
Steel Market Production Cuts – ArcelorMittal halted production at its Gijon plate mill on September 14 and its Aviles hot-strip mill on September 17. The company expected to re-start both mills today but had to push it back due to a one day strike by all of their Spanish workers.
Steel Market Production Increases – Chinese steelmaker Hanzhong Iron & Steel Group Company, Ltd ordered a new 600,000 tpy wire rod mill that is expected to become operational in early 2013.
Steel Market Production Increases – Mexican steelmaker Tubacero announced plans to build a 200,000 tpy spiral-weld pipe mill in Monterrey that is scheduled to begin production in the second quarter of 2013.
Steel Market Production Increases – Adria Steel, a Croatian rebar mini-mill, plans to re-start a 200,000 tpy meltshop by the end of October. The company hopes this will increase the efficiency and production of its rebar rolling process as the company will no longer have to import billet.
Steel Market Production Increases – Turkish pipemaker Ozbal doubled the production capacity of its new spiral-welded pipe mill – that came on line in March 2012 – to 150,000 tpy.
Sources: Steel Business Briefing, SteelOrbis, American Metal Market
New Report Preview:
August average daily steel production declined 3.9%, much more than the normal seasonal drop of 1.0%, as Chinese production – which had been rising while the rest of the …more
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New Report Preview:
The American Institute of Architects’ (AIA) ABI Index – a leading indicator of non-residential construction activity 9-12 months into the future – rose for the third consecutive … more
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New Report Preview:
Domestic mills reduced rebar and beams by $15/ton effective immediately, by offsetting the $28/ton scrap surcharge with a $13/ton base price increase, while mills cut …more
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