• Skip to main content

    Prices

    March Apparent Steel Supply Down 1.8% YOY, Up 6.8% Over February

    Written by Brett Linton


    According to the latest data released from the US Department of Commerce and the American Iron and Steel Institute, apparent steel supply for the month of March 2015 is 9,575,903 net tons. Apparent steel supply is calculated by adding domestic steel shipments and finished US steel imports and subtracting total US steel exports.

    March supply represents a 178,051 ton or 1.8 percent decrease compared to the same month one year ago. Although finished imports increased 745,005 tons (30.3 percent) and exports declined 143,729 tons (13.8 percent) during this period, it was all negated by a 1,066,785 ton (12.8 percent) drop in domestic shipments. The net trade balance between imports and exports was a surplus of 2,719,933 tons in March, an increase of 24.0 percent from March 2014 data.

    Brett Linton

    Read more from Brett Linton

    Latest in Prices

    Mills seek more scrap after lower prices fail to attract tons

    Several mills that bought October scrap early last week are still asking for additional supplies, scrap market participants said. The reason: the mills' initial prices did not attract enough of the raw material, they said. A trading source based in northern Ohio said three mills have contacted his firm seeking offers for additional tons. He said the mills asked for offers even if prices were higher than their original buys last week.

    Nucor increases spot HR to $1,240/ton

    Nucor said on Monday, Oct. 12, that its consumer spot price (CSP) for hot-rolled (HR) coil will be $1,240 per short ton (st) this week, a $10/st increase from a week earlier. The CSP for HR coil from California Steel Industries (CSI) on the West Coast will be $1,305/st, up $15/st from the prior week. Nucor is still offering lead times of three to five weeks, according to the letter to customers. You can track mill price announcements on our website. Steel Market Update (SMU) published a weekly price assessment on Tuesday, Oct. 6, showing HR coil prices averaging $1,270/st, up $10/st from the previous week. We will update our prices on the evening of Tuesday, Oct. 13.