We are in the “home stretch” as our 5th Steel Summit Conference is just over the horizon. We continue to work on the finishing touches, checking to make sure we have all the speaker presentations (a number of them are waiting until the last minute so the presentation is in sync with world and domestic […]
The flat rolled steel market appears to be in a wait and see mode. Flat rolled steel prices continue to be stable to slightly weaker than what we saw a few weeks ago. Nothing dramatic is moving market momentum in one direction or another. Here is how we are seeing the market at this time: […]
Our office is overwhelmed with the response we have had to our 5th Steel Summit Conference which is only our 2nd two day conference. As of this afternoon we had 272 people registered. The facility we have can comfortably seat 292 people… We will have a full house. Thank you. For those coming to the […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) produces for our Premium level members a number of articles/analysis related to the Metal Service Center Institute (MSCI) data which is released on a monthly basis. One of the articles is our Service Center Inventories Apparent Excess/Deficit analysis. Our Apparent Excess/Deficit is the number of tons either over or under what […]
Following the exceptional rate of vehicle sales in the US in May the June rate fell from 17.8 million annualized to 17.2 million then bounced back to 17.5 million in July. This was the second best month of the year. Light trucks continued to pull ahead of automobiles. In July LT sales which includes crossovers […]
We are now one week away from our 5th Steel Summit Conference. As I have mentioned before, we will set a new record for attendance this year, potentially breaking last year’s record by 80 to 100 people. Our Steel Summit Conference continues to get accolades from those in the industry for the quality of our […]
The people who buy and sell flat rolled steel for a living continue to be optimistic about their company’s ability to be successful both now and three to six months into the future. However, the year over year weakening (or less optimistic) trend that we have seen for most, if not all of this calendar […]
Lead times for hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized and Galvalume steels continue to remain moderately short at most of the domestic steel mills according to the results of this week’s flat rolled steel market analysis. Hot rolled lead times averaged 3.38 weeks which is essentially unchanged over the past month and below the 4 week […]
Based on the results of our latest flat rolled steel market analysis (survey) the U.S. and Canadian steel mills continue to be willing to negotiate prices of hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized and Galvalume steels. Benchmark hot rolled, which has been hit especially hard by the drought in orders from the energy markets, had 80 […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) conducted our mid-August flat rolled steel market review this week. We received our final responses this afternoon and we are ready to report on a number of the subjects covered this week. Buyers and sellers of steel are of the opinion that the trade suits on hot rolled, cold rolled and […]
Existing home sales increased for the third consecutive month in July. The seasonally adjusted annual rate for July was at 5.59 million, up 2 percent from a downwardly revised 5.48 million in June. Sales were at their highest pace since February 2007, said the National Association of Realtors, but first time buyer sales dropped to […]
The Steel Market Update (SMU) Price MoMo Index for hot rolled steel in the United States has now dropped down into negative territory after bouncing around zero percent for the last four weeks. MoMo, a trailing indicator, is measured as a percentage and shows the relation of the current U.S. hot rolled coil (HRC) price […]
You may have noticed that I haven’t been pushing the Steel Summit Conference quite as much as in the past. This is due to the fact that we are coming close to filling the space allotted. We are expecting a full house and a tremendous program. If you would like to attend we have not […]
Sales of new single-family houses in June 2015 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 482,000, according to estimates released jointly by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. This is 6.8 percent below the revised May rate of 517,000, but is 18.1 percent above the June 2014 estimate […]
It was very sad to hear of the passing of John Correnti earlier today. Mr. Correnti at 68 years old still had much to give to the steel industry and his Big River Steel mill will only be but one part of his legacy. The steel industry is buzzing on the news and I have […]
Below is the latest release issued by the the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI) regarding residential and commercial heating and cooling equipment shipments through June 2015. You may read the press release on their website here. Residential Storage Water Heaters U.S. shipments of residential gas storage water heaters for June 2015 increased 17.9 percent, […]
I was speaking with the owner of a manufacturing company late last week. He told me his company had a number of union plants and he has negotiated a number of union contracts over the past few years. “People don’t strike anymore,” he said, “unless someone puts a line in the sand and forces the […]
The Steel Market Update (SMU) Price MoMo Index for hot rolled steel in the United States has been bouncing between positive and negative territory for the last four weeks. MoMo, a trailing indicator, is measured as a percentage and shows the relation of the current U.S. hot rolled coil (HRC) price movements against the previous […]
Building planning increased in July according to the Dodge Momentum Index published by Dodge Data & Analytics. The Index, which is a monthly measure of the initial report for nonresidential building projects in planning, rose 5.4 percent to a reading of 125.3 from 118.9 in June. After see-sawing in the first half of the year, […]
There are so many dumping suits being filed at the same time that it is difficult to keep track of the various dates as to when actions will be taken either by the US Department of Commerce of the US International Trade Commission (ITC). There are 5 major groups of suits which affect the flat […]
With the filing of the hot rolled trade case (which was expected by almost everyone in the industry and the date had been leaked long ago) we now have all flat rolled products followed by Steel Market Update involved. It will take time to sort through all of the data and for the process to […]
Last year I (Mario Briccetti) wrote an article in Steel Market Update on the subject of Conflict Materials. On August 4, the Wall Street Journal published a story on this subject, which started out by stating, “Hundreds of US Public companies are coming up short as they face a deadline to reveal whether their supply […]
The first thing we need to talk about is the rumor that we have heard from multiple sources that there will be a trade case announced on hot rolled coil this week. Our sources are telling us the information is a couple of weeks old and may change but the date being suggested in August […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) reported their Steel Buyers Sentiment Index (current situation) to be unchanged from the last measurement made during the middle of July. The +56 being reported is down 2 points from the beginning of July and 12 points from the +68 reported at the beginning of August 2014. The Steel Buyers Sentiment […]
With the exception of Galvalume, steel mill lead times were reported as being essentially unchanged from what was reported during the middle of July by those who responded to this week’s SMU flat rolled survey. Hot rolled lead times continue to be one week shorter than what we measured one year ago and essentially unchanged […]
With the exception of Galvalume, all of the other flat rolled steels followed by Steel Market Update saw at least two-thirds of our survey respondents reporting the mills as willing to negotiate spot pricing. Eighty percent of those responding to our inquiries about hot rolled pricing termed the mills as willing to negotiate. Cold rolled […]
The Steel Market Update (SMU) Price MoMo Index for hot rolled steel in the United States reverted back into positive territory following a negative dip last week. MoMo, a trailing indicator, is measured as a percentage and shows the relation of the current U.S. hot rolled coil (HRC) price movements against the previous 12-week average […]
We released our Steel Summit Conference App this morning to all of our attendees. Almost immediately I got my first comment from the president of a manufacturing company who downloaded the App. “John, the app is excellent. Clean look and easy to navigate. Looking forward to seeing you next month.” The comment was made on […]
Each month the Commerce Department issues its Construction Put in Place (CPIP) data, usually on the first working day covering activity two months earlier. June data was released on Monday August 2nd. Construction Put in Place is based on spending work as it occurs, estimated for a given month from a sample of projects. In […]
US automotive sales had another stellar month in July beating analyst expectations as consumers continued to buy trucks and SUVs. Sales for July rose 5.3 percent year over year to 1.51 million vehicles. The seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) for July light vehicle sales rose to 17.5 million beating Bloomberg’s expectation of 17.2 million WardsAuto’s […]