Steel Products Prices North America
May Steel Import License Data Indicating Slowdown?
Written by John Packard
May 21, 2015
Steel Market Update (SMU) is picking up a small reduction in the daily steel import license data rate compared to prior months. As you can see from our table below, based on the third week of the month import license data as provided by the U.S. Department of Commerce, May is running at a 117,150 ton rate, down from 121,561 tons per day in April. What concerns us is the relative lack of movement lower on flat rolled products. Hot rolled, cold rolled and coated products (see below table).
One has to remember, however, that license data can only provide a trend as to how one month may compare to another. The Final Census Data can vary by as much as a few hundred thousand tons between what the license data was suggesting.
SMU believes that the month of May will be at, or slightly lower than, the month of April which is showing 3.3 million tons (based on license data through May 19th). The month of March was 3.6 million tons and the three month moving average is 3.9 million with the 12 month moving average at 3.8 million tons. At the moment, however, the data is suggesting that May may come in higher than April. We will have to wait and see.
John Packard
Read more from John PackardLatest in Steel Products Prices North America
Thin demand keeps plate prices hovering at lowest levels since February
Participants in the domestic plate market say spot prices appear to have hit the floor, and they continue to linger there. They say demand for steel remains thin, with plate products no exception.
SMU Price Ranges: HR crawls back to $800/ton
SMU’s HR price stands at $800/st on average, up $5/st from last week. The modest gain came as the low end of our range firmed, and despite the high end of our range declining slightly.
SMU successfully completes IOSCO review
SMU has successfully completed an external review of all our prices. The review has concluded that they algin with principles set by the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO).
Domestic plate prices could heat up despite so-so demand, market sources say
Some sources also speculated that plate could see further price increases thanks to modest but steady demand, lower imports, mill maintenance outages, and end markets less immediately affected by tariff-related disruptions.
SMU Price Ranges: HR holds, galv slips amid competing market narratives
SMU’s sheet and plate prices see-sawed this week as hot-rolled (HR) coil prices held their ground while prices for galvanized product slipped.