Posted on 20 Jun 2022
The start-up of new expansions and restarts of maintenance-idled mills could combine in the next few months to add more flat-rolled steel into the already oversupplied US market.
The US has seen comparatively short steel lead times for weeks, with at least one mill reporting limited spot transactions for a couple of weeks and another indicating slowed spot demand. Service centers and consumers have reported downstream demand to be remaining relatively steady, with some weakness on the warehousing side related to Amazon's decision to cut investments in new sites.
US steelmakers BlueScope, Cleveland-Cliffs, Nucor and Steel Dynamics (SDI) all have production ramping up that could equate to at least 14,900 short tons/d of additional flat-rolled steel and raw steel capacity into the market.
The Argus US hot rolled coil (HRC) assessment has fallen by 26pc to $1,118/st on 14 June since hitting a peak of $1,500/st in April.
Steel demand from the automotive industry will also pare back somewhat in the next few months, with many North American automakers cutting production for summer shutdowns.
Electric arc furnace (EAF) steelmaker Steel Dynamics (SDI) is continuing to ramp up its 3mn st/yr flat-rolled mill in Sinton, targeting shipments of 1.5mn st in 2022. The mill's full production run rate is 8,200 st/d.
In Cleveland, integrated steelmaker Cleveland-Cliffs appears to be targeting the third quarter to restart its blast furnace No. 5, with production of 4,400 st/d of raw steel.
In Kentucky, EAF steelmaker Nucor expects its 1.4mn st/yr Gallatin flat-rolled expansion to be online this month, with the full 3mn st/yr capacity realized in the third quarter. The expansion alone adds 3,800 st/d of additional capacity, with the total mill capacity at 8,200 st/d.
Australian steelmaker BlueScope has added 937,000 st/yr of capacity at its North Star EAF flat-rolled mill in Delta, Ohio, which when fully operational will add nearly 2,600 st/d of new steel capacity. BlueScope expects the first coil to be rolled in mid-2022 and the expansion ramp-up to take 18 months.
Source:Argus Media
