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Our Advance/Decliner Index rose and our Ex-China Index reached a three-month high, as rising iron ore and scrap prices drove steel prices in the US and MENA higher …more
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Steel Market Production Increases – Mexican steelmaker SIMEC is planning to commission a new 520,000 billet mini-mill in July 2013 in Brazil, with a 400,000 tpy bar and wire rod mill on site that could eventually be expanded to 560,000 tpy.
Steel Market Production Cuts – Indian steel company JSW has idled an 800,000 tpy Corex ironmaking furnace at the Vijayanagar facility for a scheduled 90-day maintenance outage that began on October 15.
Steel Market Production Cuts – Spanish steelmaker Celsa is planning to reduce crude steel production at the company’s Barcelona facility from an average of 2.0 mtpy to 1.33 mtpy in 2013.
Steel Market Production Increases – Italian steel company AFV Beltrame Group has commissioned a 350,000 tpy heavy plate mill at the company’s Laminados Industriales subsidiary in Argentina. The mill will eventually reach design capacity of 500,000 tpy and two new sections rolling mills will be “developed between 2013 and 2015.”
Steel Market Production Increases – ArcelorMittal announced that production is returning to “normal” at the Dabrowa Gornicza facility’s No. 3 blast furnace in Poland after an accident at the already repaired No. 2 BF in late October.
Sources: Steel Business Briefing, SteelOrbis, MetalBulletin
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Final October Chinese steel production came out overnight at 1.91 million tonnes per day (mtpd), a 1.3% decline from September’s 1.93 mtpd and down some 5.6% from …more
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For the week ending November 3, 2012, weekly domestic raw steel production increased 2.3% to 1.746 million tons (mt), the largest weekly percentage gain since December of last year, but still some 12.9% below the recent peak on May 12.
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 rose to 70.7% from 69.1% last week, the first time above 70% since October 13.
The lowest production since the recession began was 800,000 tons for the week of December 27, 2008, while the highest 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
Steel Market Production Cuts – Chinese steelmaker Wugang has suspended the planned 5 mtpy Brazilian JV with Brazilian steel company EBX, due to tough market conditions and high costs.
Steel Market Production Cuts – Chinese steelmaker Magang is relocating the 2 mtpy Hefei Steel longs subsidiary to a new location outside of Hefei city. Nothing from the current facility will be moved as the new facility will produce cold-rolled sheet, with a targeted capacity of 1.2 mtpy. The new CR mill is expected to be completed by year-end 2013 “at the earliest.”
Steel Market Production Increases – Russian steel company NLMK is nearing completion of the construction phase at the new 1.5 mtpy Kaluga longs mini-mill and is expected to begin production in early 2013.
Sources: Steel Business Briefing, NLMK website
Steel Market Production Increases – French pipemaker Vallourec is planning to increase production to 50% of capacity at the new 500,000 tpy OCTG mill in Ohio and 40% of capacity at its 300,000 tpy Vallourec Sumitomo do Brasil facility in Brazil.
Steel Market Production Increases – Korean steelmaker Posco commenced production at a new 450,000 tpy hot-dip galvanized coil line at its Shunde facility in southern China on November 3.
Sources: Steel Business Briefing, American Metal Market
Steel Market Production Increases – Brazilian steelmaker Gerdau hopes to resume production at the 600,000 tpy Sayreville, NJ plant by next week or sooner. The facility had lost power due to Hurricane Sandy, but avoided any damage and is in the process of being restarted.
Steel Market Production Increases – Korean HRC producer Hyundai Steel will increase hot strip capacity by 2 mtpy to 5.5 mtpy at the Dangjin facility, bringing the mill’s total HRC capacity to 10.3 mtpy by June 2013.
Steel Market Production Increases – Indian company Tata Steel is increasing sheet and coil capacity at the Jamshedpur facility from 6.8 mtpy to 10 mtpy by year end.
Steel Market Production Increases – Ukrainian steelmaker Industrial Union of Donbass aims to increase output of the Alchevsk subsidiary in November by 7% for rolled steel and 10% for crude, to 330,000 tpy and 365,000 tpy respectively.
Steel Market Production Cuts – Indian steelmaker Sail has backtracked on the previously reported plan to increase crude capacity to 24 mtpy by March 2013, and has reduced expectations to 18 mtpy. Current capacity is about 14 mtpy and the company still plans to reach 24 mtpy eventually.
Sources: Steel Business Briefing, American Metal Market, SteelOrbis
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Chinese steel production estimated by the China Iron & Steel Association (CISA) for the last 11-days of October came in at 1.926 million tonnes per day (mtpd), down 3.7% from …more
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Steel Market Production Increases – Chinese steelmaker Bagang plans to acquire Baosteel’s 3 mtpy Nanjiang integrated longs facility, bringing the company’s total capacity to 11 mtpy. The Nanjiang project has been under construction since 2010 and Bagang announced that trials will begin in 2Q13. Once completed, the facility will operate two 850,000 tpy bar mills and a 600,000 tpy wire rod mill.
Steel Market Production Increases – Chinese steelmaker Hebei Xinjin Iron & Steel has commissioned a 600,000 tpy wire rod mill – the company’s second – lifting wire rod capacity to 1.1 mtpy.
Steel Market Production Increases – Chinese steelmaker Baotou Iron & Steel plans to begin production at a new 400,000 tpy heat-treated rail line in about a year.
Steel Market Production Cuts – Russian steelmaker Severstal North America was forced to halt crude production at the Dearborn, MI facility due to an explosion in a cold air pipe; the outage could potentially last as long as five weeks.
Steel Market Production Cuts – ArcelorMittal announced that it is reducing operations at the 750,000 tpy Georgetown, South Carolina wire rod mill by cutting down from three crews to two. The reduction is due to bad market conditions caused by imports and will be returned to normal once conditions improve.
Steel Market Production Increases – Swedish steelmaker SSAB has completed a 200,000 tpy expansion of the quench and tempering line at the Mobile, Al plant that produces high-strength plate for mining and construction; some of the plate will be shipped to China.
Steel Market Production Increases – French steelmaker Vallourec has commissioned a new 350,000 tpy seamless pipe mill (initial capacity) for OCTG in Youngstown, Ohio and plans to begin sales in “early 2013.”
Steel Market Production Increases – Brazilian steel producer Gerdau plans to commission a new 800,000 tpy HRC line at the company’s Acominas facility by year-end 2012, with commercial production beginning by the end of 1Q13. The company estimates that 2013 shipments could reach approximately 300,000 – 400,000 metric tons.
Steel Market Production Increases – Korean autosheet producer Hyundai-Hysco is building a new 1.5 mtpy pickling and cold-rolled mill scheduled to come on-line in May 2013.
Steel Market Production Increases – Ural Steel, a subsidiary of Russian steel producer Metalloinvest, has begun operating a 1.2 mtpy vacuum degasser at its EAF melt-shop.
Steel Market Production Increases – Indian steelmaker SAIL is planning to increase steelmaking capacity at the Bhilai facility from 3 mtpy to about 7 mtpy and will potentially supply the plant with iron ore from the new Eklama mine (license pending).
Steel Market Production Cuts – Chilean steelmaker CAP is reducing HRC output by operating the Talcahuano plant for only 15 days out of the month. The decrease is due to falling prices and low demand caused by cheap Chinese imports.
Steel Market Production Cuts – Indian steelmaker JSW is planning an outage of at least one month at the hot-dipped galvanizing line at the Vasind facility starting in the third week of November. The outage will reduce production by about 20,000 – 25,000 metric tons.
Sources: Steel Business Briefing, American Metal Market, SteelOrbis
Steel Market Production Cuts – Russian steelmaker Severstal North America has been forced to halt crude production at the Dearborn, MI facility due to an explosion in a cold air pipe, but the finishing end will continue to operate.
Steel Market Production Increases – U.S. Steel announced that a 500,000 tpy continuous annealing line will be commissioned at the PRO-TEC joint venture in early 2013. The line will produce “high-strength, lightweight steels for the auto industry.”
Steel Market Production Cuts – ArcelorMittal South Africa announced that it has idled the EAFs at the Vanderbijlpark plant due to government claims it has violated emission regulations.
Steel Market Production Increases – Brazilian steelmaker Gerdau will begin operations at a 770,000 tpy hot-strip mill in December or January next year and is considering increasing crude steel and longs capacity by 280,000 tpy and 425,000 tpy at the Colina facility in Chile.
Steel Market Production Increases – Brazilian steel producer Usiminas has commissioned a 2.3 mtpy hot strip mill and a 500,000 tpy finishing line at the Cubatao facility.
Steel Market Production Cuts – Italian steelmaker Beltrame announced that it will permanently shutter two merchant bar rolling mills in Luxembourg and Belgium with 450,000 tpy of combined capacity.
Steel Market Production Cuts – Chinese steelmaker Shagang is planning a two-month maintenance outage that will result in 400,000 tonnes of lost output.
Sources: Steel Business Briefing, American Metal Market, SteelOrbis
