Steel Products
SMU Comparison Price Indices: Split Develops
Written by John Packard
February 4, 2013
After speaking with Platts on Friday – Mr. Surma of US Steel was correct in his call with analysts, there is one index which has hot rolled coil (Midwest) at $630 this week. A split has developed amongst the indexes as various price points have been gathered over the past week to ten days (depending on the index) which have created reasons for each index to publish their numbers the way they did. In our case we still picked up offers out of two regions into the Midwest which did not allow us to move off the low end of our range ($580) while the upper end of our range was the same as that shown by Platts to their customers ($640). The CRU, which is the benchmark for the industry, came in $4 per ton below our $610 at $606. Steel Orbis did not provide SMU new numbers by the time we published on Sunday afternoon.

John Packard
Read more from John PackardLatest in Steel Products

Tariffs, ample domestic supply cause importers to shift or cancel HR import orders
Subdued demand is causing importers to cancel hot-rolled (HR) coil orders and renegotiate the terms of shipments currently enroute to the US, importers say. An executive for a large overseas mill said customers might find it difficult to justify making imports buys after US President Donald Trump doubled the 25% Section 232 tariff on imported steel […]

Drilling activity slows in the US, grows in Canada
Oil and gas drilling activity was mixed this week, according to Baker Hughes. US totals slipped for a sixth straight week, while Canada saw a slight bump in activity.

Commerce finds no Korean OCTG shipments below market value
US Department of Commerce (Commerce) review found no South Korean oil country tubular goods (OCTG) exporters or producers sold products below market value

Drilling activity slows further in US and Canada
Oil and gas drilling activity declined again this week in both the US and Canada, according to Baker Hughes.

SMU Community Chat: Zekelman calls for more support for steel consumers
“Unless the administration actually gets serious about levelling the playing field… for consumers of steel, then everything they've done on the steel side is useless."