Data just released by the Metal Service Center Institute (MSCI) show flat rolled steel product shipments were at their highest levels since November 2008. The new data show flat rolled shipments of 80,300 tons per day which is a 23.5% improvement over the 61,500 tons shipped per day in December and the best shipment rate since November 2008 when 82,200 tons were being shipped per day Read more ...

Total steel imports (all products) declined in November 2009 compared to the prior month by 15.4% according to final data released by the U.S. Department of Commerce. When comparing November 2009 against November 2008 total steel imports declined by 1,030,246 short tons.

Taking preliminary license data for December into account, 2009 total steel imports is projected to be 16,185,980 short tons. December total tonnage imported was 31,927,000 short tons. Read more ...

Scrap dealers in the Midwest and Eastern United States have been telling Steel Market Update to expect another surge in scrap prices for the month of January. The reasons provided are demand at the integrated and flat rolled mini mills coupled with tight supply due to slow flows of inbound material. However, after January there is a feeling amongst dealers the market could begin to cool with stronger flows of inbound scrap (due to dealers offering to buy scrap at higher prices) and resistance to the higher prices in the export markets of Turkey and China. Dealers are telling SMU to anticipate January pricing to increase by $20-$50+ per long ton over the December numbers.

Many of you are aware SMU is trying to get better educated about the CME/NYMEX hot rolled futures contract. We have a number of members who are active participants in the futures market for various reasons – most related to hedging but there could be a speculator or two amongst them as well. One important difference between hot rolled futures and other “metals” is the CME/NYMEX is based on an index settlement and not on actual physical delivery of a hot rolled coil.

Steel Market Update conducts market surveys on a regular basis - approximately every other week with some adjustments for holidays. Our survey is by invitation only and approximately 700 companies are currently invited. They are essentially evenly split between manufacturing companies and service centers with a few mills, trading companies and toll processors thrown in to provide market balance. However, our focus is on the core customers - manufacturers and service centers. Read more ...

Steel Market Update conducts a Market Survey of the flat rolled steel industry approximately every other week. We invite 700 companies - equally split between manufacturing companies and service centers with a few trading companies, mills and toll processors thrown in to round out the field. Our survey is by invitation only as we try to utilize information from qualified buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel.

Our latest market survey, which Steel Market Update is conducting this week, is showing weak demand for flat rolled steel products as we approach the end of the year. However, our respondents are expecting a pick-up in demand as we move into 2010.

The latest SMU Market Survey results has 41% of those companies responding indicating demand will grow Read more ...

In their first conference call since the HARDI (Heating, Airconditoning, Refrigeration Distributors International) annual conference held in Orlando in early November, the steel committee discussed the current situation regarding steel price increases. The distributors on the call cover a large portion of the U.S. and Canadian markets.

SMU tends to breeze through or not read at all the other steel-related periodicals. We feel they do a good job for their niche and in some ways may be a compliment to our publication. We managed recently to skim an issue of the American Metal Market and came across the following “Letter to the Editor.” Normally, I wouldn’t dare print (or reprint) an AMM article without permission. However, this is an open letter to the steel community written by a steel analyst with some following and stature in the industry. Read more ...

Esmark, Inc. may be back in the steel business a little more than a year after selling their assets at the peak of the market to Russia's Severstal for $775 million.

The recession has dealt us wealth creating opportunities

Earlier this week SMU attended the HARDI conference in Orlando, Florida. HARDI members are the distributors who service the residential and commercial construction industry with HVAC related products. Read more ...

Steel Market Update conducts a market survey every other week. Our survey is by invitation only to active buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel products within North America. Our invitation is sent to close to 700 companies - both manufacturers and service centers with a smattering of mills, trading companies and toll processors to get the full flavor of the market.

Steel Market Trends...

Our intention is to track trends - market momentum, Buyers Sentiment, inventory trends, purchasing trends, pricing trends and the general overall mood of the market. We keep track of the results and publish many of the items in our newsletter and on our website.

This week our SMU Buyers Sentiment was measured and we are reporting it to be -47% which is essentially unmoved from two weeks ago when we found it to be -45%. Those involved in the flat rolled business continue to remain negative about their companies position and the state of the steel markets.

Any Buyers Sentiment reading below 0 indicates buyers and sellers are not confident in their companies ability to grow their business in the current environment. So far this year, Buyers Sentiment has not reached into positive territory and the worst readings were achieved back in March at -85.4%.

Pricing momentum continues to trend lower this week as prices have declined on all products SMU indexes - hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized and Galvalume. Read more ...

NCI Building Systems has completed a recapitalization which the company has been working toward for almost one year now. In an interview with Steel Market Update, Norman Chambers, CEO of NCI reported the immediate impact of the recapitalization will be to allow the company to return to their core strategy of organic growth and prudent acquisitions.

Over the past year NCI has shut down 25% of their plants and reduced their workforce by 40% in order for the company to return to profitability which it did during their 3rd Quarter. Read more ...

Every other week, Steel Market Update (SMU)conducts a market survey by invitation only. We invite slightly more than 700 active companies who either purchase, sell, produce, trade or toll process flat rolled steel products - hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized and Galvalume in sheet or coil form. Read more ...

The following article was published by Recycling Today after attending the ISRI commodity conference in Chicago this past week. Steel Market Update participated in the ferrous roundtable portion of the conference and here is what Recycling Today had to say about our discussion:

While American manufacturing and steelmaking activity remains sluggish, the rest of the world continues to place significant orders for ferrous scrap. Read more ...

MSCI - Flat Rolled Inventories at 1.8 Months

Total Steel Inventories Down 49% from 2008 peak

The Metal Service Center Institute (MSCI) reported total U.S. steel shipments increased in July to 113,800 tons per day (average) which is an increase of approximately 2% compared to June. However, compared to July 2008 shipments were almost 40% lower.

One of the key leaders of the "Buy American" push here in the United States has been Dan DiMicco and Nucor Steel. Nucor reported earnings earlier this week (another loss) and during the analyst conference call Mr. DiMicco was asked if there had been evidence of stimulus related spending - his response was "zero". Read more ...

The Metal Service Center Institute (MSCI) officially reported today shipments out of U.S. and Canadian service centers continued to decline during the month of June. Here is a copy of the MSCI press release:

I just read this article out of Australia regarding the Chinese iron ore negotiations. I want to remind everyone Steel Market Update's main Asia source predicted the failure of the Chinese in these negotiations. One of our analyst friends here in the United States told me recently it is not unusual for the government to get involved with negotiations (like the iron ore negotiations going on now) and ending up paying a premium over what they could have gotten. Read more ...

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I am confused and could use some guidance from those of you in the steel business who stumble across my website over the weekend - or early next week. Lead times have been extending at a number of mills. U.S. Steel and Nucor in particular have essentially told their customers they are not accepting new orders for the month of August.

I am in New York City for a few days attending Steel Survival Strategies conference. Many of the CEO's of the largest North American mills will be speaking - U.S. Steel,Nucor, AK Steel, ArcelorMittal and others. A number of analysts will be speaking as well. Read more ...