Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
September 5, 2013
I read two articles recently regarding the impact of the devaluation of the India rupee against the U.S. dollar. One article (IHS Global Insight) discussed the metallurgical coal markets as the Indian steel mills have pulled back from the market as their costs spiral out of control. According to IHS Global the Indian currency lost 17 percent of its value in the South African coal markets during the month of August alone.
The Economic Times out of India reported JSW Steel (Jindal) plans on exporting 3 million metric tons (3.3 million net tons) during this fiscal year. The reason is tied to the drop in the value of the rupee against the dollar and how that has made Indian produced steel less expensive in the world market. Last year, JSW exported 1.9 million tons last year (2.09 million net tons). The article mentioned the U.S. as one of the target markets.
The Economic Times article also mentioned that JSW Steel is a bidder for the Stemcor iron ore assets in India. Bids are to be submitted by September 10th.
More trade cases were filed in the past 24 hours. This time it was for “dumping” rebar from Turkey and our NAFTA trade partner – Mexico. There were also countervailing duty case filed against Turkey. We put a press release from the AIIS about the cases on our existing website for anyone who is interested.
As always we appreciate your loyalty and your business as both keep us going.
John Packard
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Final thoughts
SMU had the pleasure of attending the American Iron and Steel Institute's (AISI's) annual general meeting in Washington this week. It was a slow week in our nation's capital, so we were able to take a leisurely stroll around the National Mall and take in the sights. Just kidding. In fact, the meeting coincided with significant trade actions announced by the Biden administration. It included, among other things, additional tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminum.
Final thoughts
Our spot price is little changed this week after moving sharply lower last week on the heels of Nucor’s unexpected price cut. Here’s one thought on that trend: Nucor's weekly HR price (aka, its “Consumer Spot Price” or CSP) has to date functioned almost more like a monthly price.
Final thoughts
What's the tea in the steel industry this week? Here's the latest SMU gossip column! Just kidding... kind of. Yes, some of the comments we receive in our weekly flat-rolled market steel buyers' survey are honestly too much to put into print. Some make us laugh. Some make us cringe. Some are cryptic. Most are serious. We appreciate them all. Below are some highlights from our survey results this week. Some of the comments that we can share with you are also included, in italics, in the buyers' own words, with minimal editing on our part.
Final thoughts
Last week we wrote about a brief lull in price movement, labeling it a period of wait and see. It did, in fact, turn out to be pretty brief. This week... things are little bit different. Perhaps right now we are more in a period of "hope and pray" or "Here we go, hold on to your hats."
Final thoughts
Unless you've been under a rock, you know by know that Nucor's published HR price for this week is $760 per short ton, down $65/st from the company’s $825/st a week ago. I could use more colorful words. But I think it’s safe to say that most of the market was not expecting this. For starters, US sheet mills never announce price decreases. (OK, not never. It has come to my attention that Severstal North America rescinded a price increase back on Feb. 14, 2012. And it caused quite the ruckus.)