US Steel plans to temporarily lay off up to 6,500 employees nationwide or more than a
third of its total workforce of 16,000 in North America. The company will temporarily
idle no. 6 blast furnace at Gary Works and no. 1 blast furnace at Mon Valley Works,
effective immediately. As a result, the corporation also will indefinitely idle iron ore
production at Keetac after the completion of a planned outage in mid-May and has
extended coking times at Clairton Works to align coke production with steel production.
(Source – Steelguru)
China's recovery in manufacturing in March was short-lived, as the two leading purchasing managers' indices fell in April, providing further evidence that steel demand from the sector will be weak in the near-term. The manufacturing PMI published by the National Bureau of Statistics, or NBS, fell to 50.8 points in April from 55 in March, while the PMI published by Chinese media company Caixin dropped back to 49.4 in April from 50.1 in March. The latest PMIs indicate that Chinese manufacturing remains hampered by a lack of export customers due to the global spread of the virus; and that domestic activity may not be strong enough to support flat steel prices. (Source – Platts)
Baosteel said in its 2019 annual report that China's steel market will face growing oversupply pressure in 2020, while overall domestic steel demand is expected to be stable. Newly commissioned steel capacity, through capacity swaps, will put added pressure on supply this year, while direct and indirect steel exports are expected to drop sharply, especially in the second-quarter. Baosteel said that the Chinese Government's economic stimuli would be focused on boosting investment, rather than on consumption. Therefore, construction and engineering machinery would benefit the most from this, boosting demand for rebar, hot-rolled coil and plate. (Source - Platts)
US hot-rolled coil prices fell again on Thursday, though mills were withdrawing lower offers and raising prices. The daily Platts US HRC index dropped by US$ 3.75/s.T. to US$ 460/s.T. and was down by US$ 7.50/s.T. since the start of the week. Most major mini-mill producers were trying to push prices toward US$ 500/s.T. for June production. (Source – Platts)
U.S. Steel has granted Stelco the option to buy a 25% stake in its Minntac mine and pellet processing plant in Mountain Iron. The announcement came as U.S. Steel, reeling from numerous layoffs and a drop in demand for its steel amid the COVID-19 pandemic, reported a loss of US$ 391 million in the first quarter of 2020. Hamilton, Ontario-based Stelco will pay U.S. Steel US$ 100 million throughout 2020 and another US$ 500 million by the end of January’ 2027 to obtain the 25% ownership stake in Minntac. (Source – Metal Junction)
India’s domestic steel makers are likely to face muted demand and oversupply which would lead to suppressed steel prices post-lockdown, according to a report by India Ratings (Ind-Ra). Besides, they are also expected to face issues with availability of workforce and logistics movement. Muted demand and oversupply is likely to create a loop leading to suppressed prices until either there is a substantial uplift in demand or a substantial volume goes out of the market. (Source - Press Reports)
China's recovery in manufacturing in March was short-lived, as the two leading purchasing managers' indices fell in April, providing further evidence that steel demand from the sector will be weak in the near-term. The manufacturing PMI published by the National Bureau of Statistics, or NBS, fell to 50.8 points in April from 55 in March, while the PMI published by Chinese media company Caixin dropped back to 49.4 in April from 50.1 in March. The latest PMIs indicate that Chinese manufacturing remains hampered by a lack of export customers due to the global spread of the virus; and that domestic activity may not be strong enough to support flat steel prices. (Source – Platts)
Baosteel said in its 2019 annual report that China's steel market will face growing oversupply pressure in 2020, while overall domestic steel demand is expected to be stable. Newly commissioned steel capacity, through capacity swaps, will put added pressure on supply this year, while direct and indirect steel exports are expected to drop sharply, especially in the second-quarter. Baosteel said that the Chinese Government's economic stimuli would be focused on boosting investment, rather than on consumption. Therefore, construction and engineering machinery would benefit the most from this, boosting demand for rebar, hot-rolled coil and plate. (Source - Platts)
US hot-rolled coil prices fell again on Thursday, though mills were withdrawing lower offers and raising prices. The daily Platts US HRC index dropped by US$ 3.75/s.T. to US$ 460/s.T. and was down by US$ 7.50/s.T. since the start of the week. Most major mini-mill producers were trying to push prices toward US$ 500/s.T. for June production. (Source – Platts)
U.S. Steel has granted Stelco the option to buy a 25% stake in its Minntac mine and pellet processing plant in Mountain Iron. The announcement came as U.S. Steel, reeling from numerous layoffs and a drop in demand for its steel amid the COVID-19 pandemic, reported a loss of US$ 391 million in the first quarter of 2020. Hamilton, Ontario-based Stelco will pay U.S. Steel US$ 100 million throughout 2020 and another US$ 500 million by the end of January’ 2027 to obtain the 25% ownership stake in Minntac. (Source – Metal Junction)
India’s domestic steel makers are likely to face muted demand and oversupply which would lead to suppressed steel prices post-lockdown, according to a report by India Ratings (Ind-Ra). Besides, they are also expected to face issues with availability of workforce and logistics movement. Muted demand and oversupply is likely to create a loop leading to suppressed prices until either there is a substantial uplift in demand or a substantial volume goes out of the market. (Source - Press Reports)
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