STEEL MARKET REPORT
facilities and expansions of existing steelmaking plants. In fact, SMA’s Bell has estimated that more than 17 million short tonnes of new US steelmaking capacity could come online by 2027. In fact, Daniel Beilfuss, general manager of Columbus McKinnon’s Magnetek brand, says that over the past few years more US greenfield steel mills have come online than have done so over the past 25 years or so. That doesn’t even take into account the brownfield expansions. This, Jeff McNeil, Gorbel’s vice president
of marketing and innovation, observes has come with the pickup – or expected pickup – in manufacturing activity motivating companies to increase their production activity and lower their costs.
Brian Roberts, market development manager for overhead cranes at Conductix-Wampfler, adds that it has been at least in part driven by an influx of large infrastructure projects and new automotive plants, as well as a need for
steelmakers to produce higher-quality steel more efficiently and sustainably. Also, mill profitability has been another factor. Gibbs points out that, for a while, they were hurting financially and didn’t have the necessary capital to make many investments but, post-pandemic, when they had two or three of their best years ever, they decided to reinvest in their businesses. Further, there is a political realm to this beyond what we have been seeing this year with the Trump administration’s policies. Beilfuss notes that previous administrations have also taken action to onshore more production of both steel itself and for steel-containing products, which had the effect of increasing the need for additional US production capacity for steel and other metals. Overall, Piso says he believes that the US steel industry continues to be quite healthy and it will continue to move in a positive direction: “With the US manufacturing activity growing, US steel companies are also busy and are investing in
additional sheet, plate and rebar production capacity and that is also positive for overhead crane demand.” In fact, Beilfuss observed that some recently built US greenfield mills and mill expansions have added as many as 30–40 new cranes at a single facility.
Outlook for steel and crane demand While some recently added steelmaking capacity is ramping up, such as that at Steel Dynamics’ greenfield Sinton, TX, mill, Nucor’s Brandenburg, KY, greenfield plate mill, the Nucor Gallatin expansion in Ghent, KY, and Commercial Metals’ Mesa, AZ, rebar mill, Gibbs says that the biggest increase in new steelmaking capacity in 2025 will be coming from US Steel’s Big River 2 mill in Osceola, AR. Piso says that it could be a big catalyst for the
steel industry should the proposed partnership of US Steel with Nippon Steel go through, as it is expected that Nippon Steel could modernise a lot of US Steel’s operations.
ochmagazine.com | Summer 2025 63
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71
