SMU Data and Models

Flat Rolled Steel Survey Says!

Written by John Packard


As a Premium level member (or free trial) Steel Market Update provides access to a large portion of the flat rolled steel market survey results we generate twice per month throughout the year.  We feel this is a key piece to your Premium membership and we want to make sure that you are taking advantage of the information being provided.

To access the survey results Power Point presentation, go to our website: www.SteelMarketUpdate.com, log into your account and then go to the Analysis tab. In the drop down screen go over to the Survey Results column and then click on Latest Survey results (Analysis-Survey Results-Latest Survey Results). You must be logged into the website in order to get to the Latest Survey Results page (when not logged in it says Full Survey Results Sample).

As many of you are well aware, John Packard, the founder and publisher of Steel Market Update spent 31 years actively buying, selling and at an executive level within the flat rolled steel industry. During his 31 years he created many relationships with steel buyers as well as knowledge about the industry.

We use both as we build each steel survey. First, those invited are qualified before being added to the list of invitees to participate in the survey process. The total number of invitees is just under 600 companies.

Second, we add specific questions regarding the trends that are affecting the industry right now to compliment those questions that are asked on a regular basis. We are building trend models that can be clearly tracked with the graphics provided to our Premium members and we are asking many of the questions that those involved in the industry are trying to figure out on a daily basis.

There are some very definitive trends which have been growing over the past few months. We are seeing demand as under stress, we are finding service centers as reducing spot prices in an effort to remove inventories and we are finding both service centers and manufacturing companies as less inclined to buy foreign steel right now. These are just a few examples of the data we provide to our Premium members and much of this data is not published in our newsletter or website.

We published this week’s steel survey results on our website earlier today and it is available for review by our Premium members (and free trials).

Latest in SMU Data and Models

Some SMU Key Market Indicators improve, others remain near historic lows

SMU’s Key Market Indicators include data on the economy, raw materials, manufacturing, construction, and steel sheet and long products. They offer a snapshot of current sentiment and the near-term expected trajectory of the economy. All told, nine key indicators point lower, 16 are neutral, and 13 point higher. One thing worth noting: The nine indicators pointing lower are all lagging indicators. Many of those pointing upward are leading indicators.