Charlotte, North Carolina-based Nucor Corp. has announced earnings guidance for its second quarter ending June 29. Nucor says it expects second-quarter earnings to be in the range of $1.20 to $1.25 per diluted share compared with $1.63 in the first quarter of 2019 and $2.13 per diluted share in the second quarter of 2018.

“The performance of the steel mills segment in the second quarter of 2019 is expected to decrease compared to the first quarter of 2019 as service center destocking is impacting order rates,” the company says in a news release. “Increased domestic supply and a declining scrap price environment have led to aggressive inventory management by our customers. We still see stability in most of the end-use markets that we serve, with some softening in automotive.”

The performance of the raw materials segment was expected to decrease in the second quarter of 2019 compared with the first quarter because of “further margin compression” arising from a planned 25-day outage in June at its direct-reduced iron (DRI) facility in Trinidad, the company says.

Most end markets remain “strong or stable,” Nucor says.

“The profitability of the steel products segment in the second quarter of 2019 is expected to improve as compared to the first quarter of 2019, as typical seasonal patterns and improved weather conditions have benefited nonresidential construction markets,” the company says.

Nucor and its affiliates make steel and steel products, with operating facilities primarily in the United States and Canada. Its David J. Joseph Co. affiliate processes and brokers ferrous and nonferrous scrap, pig iron, hot-briquetted iron and direct-reduced iron. Nucor’s subsidiary, Skyline Steel, services the U.S., Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America and Colombia markets.

ResponsibleSteell members approved the final draft of what the nonprofit calls the industry’s first multistakeholder standard and certification initiative during a meeting hosted by Luxembourg-based global steel company ArcelorMittal June 17-18 in London.

Feedback on the ResponsibleSteel standard gathered from “extensive” public consultation was a point of focus at the meeting. In addition, members had the opportunity to review the final draft of the certification before the ratification process and implementation in the market at the end of 2019.

ArcelorMittal was a founding member and has played a leading role in developing the initiative since it was first established in 2015. The initiative aims to set a single, global standard for the entire “mine-to-metal” steel value chain.

Efforts to accelerate the creation of the standard, including public consultation periods, have increased over the past year, leading to the recent approval of the draft version, the steelmaker says in a news release. The standard will enable steel producers to prove their production processes and products meet rigorously defined standards across a broad range of social, environmental and ethical criteria. It also will serve to improve responsible sourcing of raw materials used in steelmaking and reduce supply-chain risk.

“I am encouraged both by the progress we have made in developing the ResponsibleSteel standard and the broad-based interest in the scheme,” says Alan Knight, head of sustainable development at ArcelorMittal and co-chair of ResponsibleSteel.

ResponsibleSteel has 19 members and 18 associate members, including steel producers Aperam, Luxembourg; BlueScope Steel, Australia; and Voestalpine, Austria, as well as financial institutions; automotive producers, including BMW; nongovernmental organizations (NGOs); and industry associations, including IndustriALL, International Tin Association and International Zinc Association.

“For a scheme like this to truly gain market acceptance we need involvement, collaboration and input from multiple stakeholder groups,” Knight says. “Steel industry participants clearly have an important role to play in its development, but an accreditation scheme created solely by the steel industry and for the steel industry would lack credibility. The multistakeholder aspect is critical, so the support and membership sign up we have received from mining majors, financial institutions, steel consuming customers and NGOs brings that credibility.”

ArcelorMittal has undertaken assessment against version three of the standard across nearly all its European flat products production site and sites in the United States and Brazil with “positive results.” The company says it is currently working on a site assessment and verification plan, starting in Europe, in anticipation of the market launch of the standard later this year.

“It has also been integral in ensuring the development of the standard is sufficiently stringent,” Knight says. “We received more than 600 responses to the public consultation carried out on version three of the standard. With this input carried into version four, I am confident the scheme will be market ready later this year and will achieve its objective of providing the reassurance steel customers and industry stakeholders need on industry sustainability standards.”

Viridor, Taunton, Somerset, England, has been awarded the contract to process about 50,000 metric tons of East Sussex County Council’s dry mixed recyclables per year.

The £20M contract (or about $25 million) will run for up to seven years from June 29, 2019. It will ensure that Viridor receives the county’s curbside recyclables, including paper, cardboard, plastic bottles, pots, tubs and trays, aluminum cans, steel cans and glass from all five districts and boroughs for sorting into high-quality commodities for onward sale into the recycling markets, Viridor reports in a news release about the contract.

The recyclables from Eastbourne and Hastings Borough, Lewes, Rother and Wealden District Councils will be sorted at Viridor’s Crayford Materials Recycling Facility with the plastics collected continuing its onward processing journey to the company’s specialist recycling plants, including Rochester Polymers Recycling Facility in Kent and Skelmersdale Polymers Reprocessing Facility in Lancashire.

“Our internal Bid and   Development Team’s submitted a high-quality bid and we are delighted to be awarded the contract to continue our work with East Sussex directly,” says Simon Prior, Viridor’s head of local authority development. “Processing the county’s high-quality recyclables provide high-quality resources to support the growing circular economy. In addition, our social value proposition provides the opportunity for local environmental-based projects to apply for grants from a new joint East Sussex-Viridor board.”

“We’re pleased to be joining forces with a company that has a proven track record of working with local authorities to process recyclables,” says Rupert Clubb, East Sussex County’s council director of communities, economy. “Along with our colleagues in local district and borough councils, we look forward to a long and fruitful relationship with Viridor, working to continue to ensure as much of the county’s waste as possible is recycled.”

The council will receive regular reporting on the quality performance of collected recyclables, which is vital information for the company to gauge and improve community recycling rates, Viridor reports in a news release. The contract runs through to June 2022 with an option to extend for two further periods of 24 months.

Schnitzer Steel Industries Inc., Portland, Oregon, has announced its financial results for the third quarter of fiscal 2019 ended May 31. The company’s Auto and Metals Recycling (AMR) Division achieved operating income of $29 million, or $31 per ferrous ton, compared with operating income of $22 million, or $25 per ferrous ton, in the second quarter of fiscal 2019, Schnitzer Steel reports in a news release. 

AMR’s sequential  improvement of $6 per ferrous ton was primarily driven by higher ferrous and nonferrous sales volumes, which were up 9 percent, seasonally improved supply flows and retail sales, higher nonferrous average net selling prices, which were up 7 percent, and continuing benefits from productivity initiatives, partially offset by higher selling, general and administrative (SG&A) expense, the company reports in a news release. 

Ferrous sales volumes grew as a result of seasonally improved supply flows following unusually severe weather conditions in the second quarter and higher car purchase volumes. However, ferrous sales volumes decreased about 5 percent compared with the prior year third quarter. 

Nonferrous sales volumes in the third quarter were also 9 percent higher sequentially, due primarily to the impact of higher purchase volumes. Nonferrous sales volumes were about 5 percent higher compared with the prior year third quarter, Schnitzer Steel reports. 

AMR’s export customers accounted for about 67 percent of the total ferrous sales volumes. Ferrous and nonferrous products were shipped to 22 countries in the third quarter, with Bangladesh, South Korea and Turkey representing the top export destinations for ferrous shipments. 

Average ferrous net selling prices increased $6 per ton, or 2 percent, sequentially and decreased $44 per ton, or 13 percent, compared with the prior year third quarter. Average nonferrous net selling prices increased 7 percent sequentially and decreased 16 percent compared with the prior year third quarter.

Cascade Steel and Scrap (CSS) achieved operating income of $8 million, compared with operating income in the second quarter of fiscal 2019 of $6 million. The $2 million improvement in CSS’ performance was primarily driven by the benefits of higher finished steel sales volumes which were up 38 percent and increased utilization, partially offset by the impact of lower average net selling prices which were down 5 percent and high beginning inventory costs resulting from lower production in the second quarter.

Finished steel sales volumes in the third quarter were 38 percent higher sequentially, primarily due to seasonality, including from the impact of weather-related construction delays in the company’s West Coast markets that occurred in the prior quarter and were 7 percent lower year-over-year. Recycling revenues were about 51 percent higher sequentially primarily as a result of improved supply flows and the timing of shipments and down 6 percent compared with the prior year third quarter, Schnitzer Steel reports in a news release. 

Additionally, average net selling prices for finished steel products declined about 5 percent sequentially and were consistent with the prior year third quarter, reflecting low levels of steel imports. 

“Our team delivered another quarter of strong operating performance with both segments achieving higher volumes while navigating a volatile price environment,” says Tamara Lundgren, president and CEO of Schnitzer Steel Industries Inc. “AMR’s sequentially improved results reflect the team’s ability to continue to optimize purchase volumes and diversify sales, while CSS delivered sequentially higher performance on significantly increased sales volumes and utilization. 

“We also generated strong cash flow and decreased our debt in the quarter,” she continues. “Looking forward, we remain focused on the continued implementation of our productivity initiatives, volume growth and capital investment strategy to support our objectives of increasing our efficiency and operating leverage, expanding our products and broadening our customer reach.”