Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
December 7, 2015
I will have a detailed report regarding the HARDI annual conference in Thursday evening’s issue. However, the news is good for those involved in the construction industries with Alan Beaulieu, Chief Economist for HARDI and co-founder of the Institute for Trend Research, proclaiming 2016 will be better than 2015 and 2017 will be even better than 2016.
There are rumors that Nucor will be the first to announce a price increase. This makes sense to me based on a quick analysis I did on mill lead times and found that Nucor mills were the furthest out. Part of the stretch may be due to the holidays and maintenance schedules but mills like Berkeley were reporting galvanized lead times as being as far out as the first week of March. Others, like AK Steel, are reporting lead times as still being in January. So, we have a mixed bag and that may be one of the reasons why the mills are still holding back from making any “official” announcements.
Scrap for December is sideways (worst case) to up as much as $15-$20 per gross ton depending on the region. Scrap dealers are telling us they expect January prices to be higher once again and the early prognostications are $20 to $40 per ton. This may change in the coming weeks but it is a bullish sign for the steel industry and the psychology of the market.
However, we still need lead times to begin to extend and inventories to get to a point where service centers do not need to dump inventory. We will be watching these two keys closely in the coming weeks.
As always your business is truly appreciated by all of us here at Steel Market Update.
John Packard, Publisher
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.)