Based on reported import licenses, US flat products imports rose 14% from 708,000 short tons in June to 810,000 tons in July. In comparison, July flat products imports in 2011 were 830,000 tons, in 2010 600,000 tons, and in 2009 291,000 tons.
An increase in hot roll and hot dip galvanized imports drove the overall rise. Hot roll imports increased by about 87,000 tons due to higher imports from countries such as Korea, Australia and the Netherlands. Hot dip imports rose by about 22,000 tons, with significant increases from India and Italy.
I will update the spreadsheet below when licenses are updated next week in order to show mid-August imports license data.
Three more companies have released Q2 2012 earnings. Links to each companies press release can be found below.
Ternium turned in another strong quarter, reporting EBITDA per ton of $145, and continued as one of the best performers among companies tracked in the
Nerds of Steel earnings spreadsheet. AHMSA and Gerdau both had good quarters as well, with EBITDA per ton of $90 and $120 respectively.
Q2 2012 earnings season is well underway. Below are links to the press releases for companies we track in the Nerds of Steel earnings spreadsheet. Not all have announced results but most have.
EBITDA per ton performance was generally better than Q1. SSAB, POSCO, ArcelorMittal, and Steel Dynamics led the way, as all 4 companies reported EBITDA per ton above $100 in the quarter. There are still a few companies left to report. We’ll post results as they become available.
China crude steel production in June was 60.2 million metric tonnes, 0.5% higher than the same month last year. Year-to-date Chinese crude production was 356.2 million tonnes, 1% higher than year-to-June 2011 output.
Looking at consecutive months, June’s production was 1.7% lower than May 2012’s, but due to the shorter June month, average daily production rose by 1.6%. In addition, China’s net exports in June were 4.12 million tonnes, 0.21 million tonnes higher than net exports in May.
Since this story hasn’t got to the English newsfeeds yet, we thought we’d draw your attention to this front page Italian story. Just two days after steel journalists reported a planned September restart of its No. 1 hot strip mill, Ilva Taranto, one of the largest flat roll mills in Europe, is facing closure of its hot end by authorities due to ongoing pollution investigations. According to front-page accounts from the Italian newspapers La Repubblica and Corriere della Sera, authorities have signed documents to seal off the entire hot end of the mill including raw materials storage, coke batteries, agglomeration, blast furnaces, basic oxygen furnaces, and ferrous materials management. Eight managers are currently under investigation including top managers of the steel plant such as Emilio Riva, owner, and his son Nicola Riva, who was president of the plant until two weeks ago. Among other accusations, they are accused of various levels of intentional and involuntary environmental disaster. Taranto has 11.5 million metric tonnes of BOF capacity and produced 8.4 million tonnes of crude steel in 2011. It has 2 hot strip mills, the largest with about 5.5 million tonnes capacity, the smaller with 3 million tonnes capacity. Plant workers are protesting the planned mill suspension, blocking major roads with processions.
Worldsteel published June’s global crude steel production on July 20th. World crude production was 127.9 million tonnes, a change of only 0.05% compared to June 2011 for the 62 countries reporting. Average daily production rose by 0.7% compared to May 2012.
China’s production dropped from May’s 61.2 to 60.2 million tonnes, which is an increase in average daily production of 1.6%, due to the shorter month of June. Japan and South Korea’s average daily production increased by 3.1% between May and June while the USA’s dropped by 5%.
As usual, all the data for June 2012 (and for a number of prior years) is generously shared in the Nerds spreadsheet below.
