Steel Products Prices North America

Foreign Steel License Data Shows Imports Trending Up
Written by John Packard
June 15, 2017
The U.S. Department of Commerce reported foreign steel import data earlier this week. Based on license data through June 13, foreign steel imports are on track to once again top 3 million net tons. This would be the fourth consecutive month of imports reaching the 3 million ton mark.
Steel Market Update (SMU) looks at the license data in two ways. We project an end-of-month total based on the daily license rate (now through 13 days only), and we look at how the license totals to date compare against previous months (see table below).
Right now steel imports are trending higher on a number of products even though we are coming off of three months of 3.4 million tons or greater. This has to be concerning to the domestic steel mills and the U.S. Department of Commerce, which is just about to make a recommendation on the Section 232 investigation (national security – see other article in tonight’s issue).
The next table depicts what the license data is suggesting for total imports based on 13 days worth of data. In SMU’s opinion, the 3.9 million net ton level is an over-reach. At this point, we are more comfortable stating that the month will be above 3.0 million tons and continue the high import rate we’ve seen over the past four months.
SMU has updated our table on imported steel. You will notice that we have added a line item for “Finished” steels. To make the table more useful we have done the math for you, subtracting semi-finished steels (slabs and billets that are going to the steel mills) and totaling the finished steels that are dedicated to the end users and service centers.
You can review the anticipated, albeit aggressive, totals based on the first 13 days of license data to give you some idea of the trend. We will update imports again after Tuesday at 5 p.m. when license data will be provided by the Department of Commerce.

John Packard
Read more from John PackardLatest in Steel Products Prices North America

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.

Nucor carries $875/ton HR list price into week seven
Nucor is keeping hot-rolled (HR) coil prices unchanged again this week, according to its latest consumer spot price (CSP) notice issued on Monday, Oct. 6

SMU Price Ranges: A newsy week sees modest price gains despite a quiet spot market
Market participants predicted that prices should be at or near a bottom. But while most seemed to agree on that point, many also said they saw little upside given a quiet spot market and ongoing concerns about demand.

Nucor increases plate prices by $60/ton
Nucor aims to increase prices for steel plate by $60 per short ton with the opening of its November order book.

Nucor’s $875/ton HR spot price spills into week six
Nucor is keeping hot-rolled (HR) coil prices unchanged again this week, according to its latest consumer spot price (CSP) notice issued on Monday, Sept. 29.