Daily Steel Market Production Report – ArcelorMittal Invests in Luxembourg

October 22, 2012 Posted by Steel Market Intelligence

Steel Market Production Increases – ArcelorMittal plans to upgrade the EAF at the 1 mtpy Esch-Belval, Luxembourg facility, increasing its capacity by over 10%.

Steel Market Production Cuts – Argentinian steel producer Ternium Siderar will idle one of two blast furnaces – about half of the plant’s 3.89 mtpy capacity – for approximately four months.

Steel Market Production Cuts – Japanese steelmaker Tokyo Steel commented that it had no plans to re-start the 1.8 mtpy pickling line at the Tahara works after it was damaged by a fire, and it might not be re-started until year-end.

Steel Market Production Increases – Peruvian steelmaker Aceros Arequipa plans to increase the company’s 900,000 tpy longs capacity by adding an additional 650,000 tpy rolling mill by year-end.

Steel Market Production Increases – Danish plate processor Dansteel announced a plan to “revamp” their new rolling mill, increasing capacity to 550,000 tpy.

Steel Market Production Increases – Palestinian steelmaker Hassouneh Group will begin production at a new 300,000 tpy EAF facility in Jordan by 2Q13.

Sources: Steel Business Briefing

Domestic Raw Steel Production Falls Again at a Lesser Pace

October 22, 2012 Posted by Steel Market Intelligence

For the week ending October 20, 2012, weekly domestic raw steel production declined 0.8% to 1.722 million tons (mt), the fourth consecutive week setting a new low (post-Jan 2011), and some 14.1% below May’s peak. Over this four week period, however, the rate of decline has lessened with each week – from the first decrease of 2.4% to 1.3%, 1.2%, and now 0.8%.

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 the last month’s reported production & operating rate. What this means is that when production is changing, the weekly data is actually understating the change.

Capacity utilization fell again to 69.7% this week, below last week’s 70.3% and like production, is at the lowest level since January 2011.

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

September Global Steel Production Posts Weaker-than-Seasonally-Normal Uptick

October 22, 2012 Posted by Steel Market Intelligence

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September average daily steel production rose 3.3%, less than the typical increase of nearly 5%, driven by weaker-than-normal global production with the exception of …more

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Iron Ore Prices Increase Modestly

October 22, 2012 Posted by Steel Market Intelligence

The spot reference price for 62% Fe iron ore cfr North China was up 0.7% to $115.30 for the week ending October 19, 2012, after increasing 9.9% the week before, and is now 29.6% higher than the recent low of $89.00 on 9/7/2012. Despite opening the week down, falling 1.7% to $112.60/ton, the price rebounded and hovered slightly above $115 for the final three days of the week.

For the first quarter of 2012, the spot price for iron ore 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

U.S. Rig Count Stops the Bleeding After 9 Weeks of Decline

October 19, 2012 Posted by Steel Market Intelligence

The number of active oil and natural gas rigs in the United States rose by 4 to 1,839 for the week ending October 19, 2012, up 0.2% from the previous week but down some 8.6% from a year-ago.

The highest weekly rig count in the United States since 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 fell 1.6% to 355 from 361 last week, and was 28.6% below the year-ago level.

The highest rig count for Canada was 727 on February 3, 2006; the lowest was 29, recorded on April 24, 1992.

Source: Baker Hughes Inc.

HRC Lead Times Move Out – CRC, HDG Contract

October 19, 2012 Posted by Steel Market Intelligence

HRC times for the week ending October 14 climbed to 3.5 from 3.3 the week prior and 2.9 two weeks ago.

HDG lead times declined to 5.4 from 6.2 the week before, while CRC lead times dropped to a 14-week low of 5.3 from 6.0.

Sources: The Steel Index, Steel Business Briefing

HRC = Hot Rolled Coil
CRC = Cold Rolled Coil
HDG = Hot Dipped Galvinized

September Chinese Steel Production Unexpectedly Jumps – Or Does It?

October 19, 2012 Posted by Steel Market Intelligence

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The Chinese National Bureau of Statistics released final September steel production yesterday along with other economic data, reporting final Chinese steel production …more

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Daily Steel Market Production Report – China Plans to Slim Down

October 18, 2012 Posted by Steel Market Intelligence

Steel Market Production Cuts – The Chinese province of Shandong is implementing a plan to remove about 23 mtpy of steel capacity by 2015. The plan calls for cuts of 700,000 tpy of ironmaking and 400,000 tpy of steelmaking capacity by the end of 2012 with additional reductions of 3 mtpy and 5.85 mtpy respectively in 2013.

Steel Market Production Cuts – Nucor will idle theBirminghamrebar mill over the weekend of October 27 and will resume production on October 30.

Steel Market Production Increases – Venezuelan steelmaker SIDOR plans to increase crude steel production from 1.85 mtpy to 4 mtpy next year.

Steel Market Production Increases – Kryvyi Rih, the Ukrainian subsidiary of ArcelorMittal, said that rebar output will be reduced by 10-15% to 235-245,000 tpy in  October.

Steel Market Production Cuts – The 1.8 mtpy pickling line at Tokyo Steel Manufacturing’s Tahara facility has been halted due to a fire, but the line was only operating at a run-rate of 120,000 tpy so the impact will be less severe.

Steel Market Production Cuts – Korean steelmaker Posco is following the lead of Dongbu and Hyundai with a planned HRC output reduction of 30,000 tonnes in October.

Sources: Steel Business Briefing, American Metal Market, SteelOrbis

Sheet Prices – Rush to Raise Prices

October 17, 2012 Posted by Steel Market Intelligence

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Following US Steel’s leading $40/ton sheet price hike yesterday, Nucor, ArcelorMittal, AKSteel, Severstal and NLMK have now announced matching price increases, with Severstal’s HRC list price set at $620/ton, a 7% increase. An additional five sheet producers raising prices cements the credibility of US Steel’s initial move and we expect any mill yet to follow to do so in quick order…more

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AK Steel Quickly Follows US Steel’s $40 Sheet Hike

October 17, 2012 Posted by Steel Market Intelligence

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Quick on the heels of US Steel’s leading sheet price hike yesterday, AK Steel followed with a $40/ton hike of its own, and we expect others to make similar moves in the next few …more

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