[Ferro-Alloys.com]

US steelmakers' strategies diverged in the second quarter as some kept production and shipments up while others seemingly allowed them to drift lower.

US steelmakers Cleveland-Cliffs and [Steel Dynamics (SDI)](SDI) increased their second quarter shipments by 15pc and 9.4pc, respectively, from a year earlier.

Cliffs pointed to higher automotive volumes for its better performance. The Big Three US automakers — Ford, [General Motors (GM)](GM) and Stellantis — all reported better second quarter sales.

Those trends of increased steel volumes to automakers and their rising sales could be disrupted as the three auto companies negotiate for a new contract with the United Auto Workers (UAW) union before a 14 September deadline.

SDI's steel mills — which are majority flat-rolled but include long products mills — ran at 93pc in the second quarter, excluding results from the company's troubled new Sinton, Texas, flat-rolled mill.

That is 2 percentage points below the prior year but significantly higher than other steelmakers and the industry average.

Total US steel mill utilization rates have remained at or above 75pc for four months, according to data from the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI).

SDI's 3mn short tons (st)/yr Texas mill ran at 52pc in the second quarter before suffering a failure of its caster shear, shutting down the electric arc furnaces (EAF) at the mill from 1-27 July. SDI said the mill restarted on 28 July and is aiming to reach an 80pc utilization rate by the end of the year.

Shipments for competitors Nucor and US Steel fell by 5pc and 5.3pc, respectively. Nucor's shipments fell as steel mill utilization rates of 84pc at its flat and long product mills remained 1 percentage point below the prior year. At US Steel, utilization rates increased at its US mills but production outstripped shipments by 16pc, or more than 450,000 short tons (st).

On the metals service center side, the top industry player Reliance Steel and Aluminum expects to increase its third quarter shipments by 1.5-3.5pc from a year earlier, with the majority of its shipments being carbon steel.

Competing service center Ryerson expects shipments to be down by 5.1-7pc in the third quarter from a year earlier. argusmedia

• [Editor:kangmingfei]