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    CRU: Inflation Pipeline Heats Up

    Written by Jumana Saleheen


    By CRU Chief Economist Jumana Saleheen and Principal Economist Alex Tuckett from CRU’s Global Economic Outlook

    This month has seen strong signs that the speed of the recovery in the global industrial sector is feeding through to costs throughout the supply chain. Although this does present a risk to our forecast, our baseline case remains that these pressures are temporary and will not dislocate the global recovery. News on the activity side has been limited this month, and we have changed our GDP and IP forecasts only marginally. Our forecast for growth in world GDP in 2021 remains at 5.8%, while we have revised up growth in Industrial Production (IP) from 7.7% to 7.8%.  We have further revised down our auto production forecasts for all major regions as the supply crisis in semi-conductors worsens and lengthens.

    Latest in CRU

    CRU: Futures contract reaches record open interest as prices rise

    Open interest on CME Group’s hot-rolled (HR) coil futures contract typically builds throughout the month before dropping at the end of the month alongside contract settlement. Analysis in this report is based on an early month view of this open interest as well as prices. Notably, open interest for the HR coil contract is currently at a record high of 849,240 short tons (st) or 42,462 contracts.  Open interest is up 13.8% m/m and 66% higher from the 511,480 st of open interest a year ago. We have found that open interest often rises alongside higher physical prices and that has proven true in this current market environment. Physical prices continue to rise, supported by not only rising demand and domestic production issues, but also on government-restricted imports.

    CRU: HR coil futures re-price 2027 forward curve

    CME Group’s hot-rolled coil futures have jumped higher as the loss of a reheating line at a large Southern mill have renewed domestic production issues. At market close on Oct. 12, the Q4'26 futures are now pricing in $1,295 per short ton (st) for HR coil, a month-over-month (m/m) increase of $63/st. For 2027, the forward curve is up $80 /st vs. September, at $1,207/st. For November 2026 through March 2027, prices are at an average just above $1,300/st.