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July preliminary steel imports fell a nominal 0.4% to 2.58 million tons (mt) from 2.59 mt in June, and while this was the third monthly decline, we were surprised by …more
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July average daily steel production dropped 1.6%, much less the normal seasonal trend of a 4% decline, as China fell a scant 0.8% as compared to a normal decline of …more
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Steel Market Production Increases – The China Iron & Steel Association’s estimate of crude steel output for the first 10 days of August came in at 1.9699 million tonnes per day, up some 1.05% from the estimate for the last 11 days of July.
Steel Market Production Cuts – Chinese steelmaker Taiyuan Steel began maintenance on two of its HRC production lines last week for 23 and 40 days.
Steel Market Production Cuts – Chinese steelmaker Fujian Sangang plans to suspend blast furnace operations for 12 days starting in early September.
Steel Market Production Cuts – Chinese steelmaker Kunming Iron & Steel plans to undergo maintenance at its mill during which time it will lose 70,000 tonnes of hot metal for the month.
Steel Market Production Increases – Australian steelmaker BlueScope Steel is reportedly considering boosting capacity at its 50%-owned mini-mill in theU.S.to 2.6 million tpy from the current 2.2m tpy.
Steel Market Production Cuts – Japanese steelmaker Nippon Steel has moved forward a scheduled maintenance outage at its 500,000-600,000 estimated tonne per month large hot strip mill at its Oitaworks in Kyushufrom October to August 29th.
Steel Market Production Cuts – Italian steelmaker Riva Group’s 11 million tpy capacity Ilva plant has been ordered by an Italian court to halt operations during environmental retrofits – the plant had been running at minimal levels.
Steel Market Production Cuts – Ukrainian steelmaker Metinvest plans to conduct maintenance for 15 days at its 2-2.1 million tpy Ilyich Iron & Steel works starting August 26-27th.
Steel Market Production Increases – Moldavian steelmaker MMZ announced plans to restart production today following an outage that began on August 7 – the company plans to produce 26,000 tonnes of steel in August.
Steel Market Production Increases – Chinese steelmaker Kezhou Ganxin has announced the construction of a new 1 million tpy high strength steel production line with commissioning scheduled for July of 2013.
Sources: Steel Business Briefing, SteelOrbis, MetalBulletin, TheAge.
The spot reference price for 62% Fe iron ore cfr North China fell to $110.20 for the week ending August 17, 2012, the lowest level since the week ending December 18, 2009, and down some 3.2% from $113.80 last week.
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
The number of active oil and natural gas rigs in the United States fell to 1,914 for the week ending August 17, 2012, down 0.9% from the prior week and down 3.0% from the year-ago level.
The highest weekly rig count in theUnited Statessince 1940 was recorded on December 28, 1981, at 4,530; the lowest was recorded on April 23, 1999, at 488.
The number of rigs in Canada increased again this week by 9.0% to 326 compared with 299 last week, but was down 32.9% from the year-ago level.
The highest rig count forCanadawas 727 on February 3, 2006; the lowest was 29, recorded on April 24, 1992.
Source: Baker Hughes Inc.
New Report Preview:
The 6.4% July MSCI shipment decline was the third month of weaker y-o-y comparisons and a bigger drop than the seasonal norm of 4.8% as growing… more
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Steel Market Production Increases – Chinese steelmaker Linggang plans to commission two new bar mills with a combined capacity of 1.9 million tpy this September despite having recently curtailed bar production due to insufficient demand.
Steel Market Production Cuts – Moldavian Metallurgical Works (MMZ) has announced that it has temporarily halted production of crude steel which it had been producing at a rate of 18,000 tonnes per month.
Sources: Steel Business Briefing, SteelOrbis
New Report Preview:
Our Advance/Decliner Index continues to build strength outside China, rising above 50% for the first time since April, meaning that this is the first time… more
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Steel Market Production Cuts – ThyssenKrupp Steel USA says it will lay off almost 200 employees from its Calvert, AL rolling operations citing weaker market conditions than originally anticipated.
Steel Market Production Cuts – Chinese pipemaker Hengyang Valin Steel Tube has lowered its output target by 7% to 1.3 million tonnes after having just brought a new 500,000 tpy seamless pipe mill online last week.
Sources: Steel Business Briefing, American Metal Markets
Steel Market Production Cuts – A local court ruled this weekend that the Italian steelmaker Riva Group’s 11 million tpy capacity Ilva plant nearTarantocannot continue operating while required environmental retrofits are made.
Steel Market Production Increases – Chinese steelmaker Yukun Steel has begun operations at its new 1.227 million tpy capacity blast furnace inYunnanProvince.
Steel Market Production Cuts – Chinese steelmaker Masteel has shut its medium plate line on August 11 for an output loss of 15,000 tonnes and no restart time specified.
Steel Market Production Increases – South African producer Evraz Highveld has restarted operations after having temporarily suspended them since the end of July due to a strike.
Steel Market Production Increases – Trinidadian steelmaker Centrin has resumed operations today following a demand induced stoppage on June 17 – the company plans to produce steel at its longs mill at a rate of 8,000 tonnes per month.
Sources: Steel Business Briefing, SteelOrbis, SteelGuru and Evraz Press Release
