The number of active oil and natural gas rigs in the United States fell for the fifth straight week – declining by 11 to a 22-month low of 1,763 for the week ending December 28, 2012 – down 0.6% from last week and 12.2% 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 showed its usual year-end plunge – down 46.9% to 204 from 384 last week, and some 7.7% 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.
Steel Market Production Increases – Venezuelan state-owned steelmaker SIDOR re-started one of the two blast furnaces at its slab mill after being idled for 25 days because of a limestone shortage and is using the output to produce rebar.
Steel Market Production Cuts – Chinese steelmaker Shandong has been ordered by the Chinese government to cut crude capacity by 14.9 mtpy and finished capacity by 22 mtpy over the next three years.
Steel Market Production Increases – Chinese steelmaker Shougang has fired the furnace at a new 1.1 mtpy wire rod mill and plans to begin production in mid-January.
Steel Market Production Cuts – Egyptian steelmaker Ezz halted production at the 1.3 mtpy Suez HRC facility on Tuesday due to a strike and will resume production once the dispute is resolved.
Sources: Steel Business Briefing, American Metal Market
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After falling 0.8% in early December, Chinese steel production estimated by the China Iron & Steel Association (CISA) for the second 10 days of December declined another …more
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November preliminary steel imports rose a surprising 4.7% to 2.66 million tons (mt) from October’s 2.54 mt as semi-finished tonnage jumped nearly 40% to the highest level…more
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Steel Market Production Increases – ArcelorMittal has restarted the 3.5 mtpy blast furnace No. 1 at its 7.5 mtpy Tubarao facility in Brazil.
Steel Market Production Cuts – Following a pattern that has been in effect since 2010, most of Italy’s longs producers are idling their facilities for 2 to 4 weeks during the holiday season. This includes rebar producers Feralpi, Calvisano, Ferriere Nord, and Alfa, as well as sections producer Stefana and merchant bar producer Beltrame.
Steel Market Production Increases – Chinese longs producer Tianjin has successfully completed the testing phase of the continuous caster and wire rod line at the recently relocated N0. 3 Steel Rolling Mill.
Sources: Steel Business Briefing, SteelOrbis
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Our Advance/Decliner Index slipped from last week’s 9-month high, while our China Index stayed strong – though down slightly from last week- as Chinese mills increased…more
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For the week ending December 22, 2012, weekly domestic raw steel production rose 0.7% to a 15-week high of 1.840 million tons (mt), and is now up 9.6% from the recent low of 1.679 mt for the week of October 27, 2012.
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 came in at 74.5%, up from 73.9% last week, but still down from the year-ago level of 76.7%.
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
The spot reference price for 62% Fe iron ore cfr North China Increased 4.7% to $135.40 for the week ending December 21, 2012, reaching a six-month high. The price is now some 56.2% higher than the recent low of $86.70 on 9/5/2012.
The spot price for iron ore averaged $141.84 in 1Q, $139.35 in 2Q, and $112.12 in 3Q; this compares to an average of $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 Increases – Danish steelmaker Dansteel has begun operations at their new 4.2 mtpy heavy plate mill that will supply plates for off-shore drilling and off-shore wind platforms.
Steel Market Production Increases – Russian steelmaker Evraz has scheduled a re-start of the 950,000 tpy meltshop at its Czech unit, Evraz Vitkovice Steel. The meltshop has been idled since October and will be re-started on January 3, 2012.
Steel Market Production Increases – Chinese steel companies Xinyuantai and Shougang have completed the second phase of their OCTG joint venture after commissioning the final two pipe lines, adding 150,000 tpy of capacity and raising the total to 450,000 tpy.
Sources: Steel Business Briefing, SteelOrbis
