Starts in November declined to an annual rate 1,028,000, the same as the number for September but down from 1,045,000 in October. The three month moving average, (3MMA) rose to 1,034,000, (Figure 1). This was the third consecutive month that the 3MMA of starts exceeded a million units. The year over year growth rate of […]
Below is the latest data issued by the the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI) regarding residential and commercial heating and cooling equipment shipments through October 2014. You may read the press release on their website here. Residential Storage Water Heaters U.S. shipments of residential gas storage water heaters for October 2014 increased 5.2 percent, […]
There has been a lot of information floating about the marketplace regarding the Chinese steel rebates and especially those represented as special alloy through the addition of boron to the steel. We wrote about this subject in early November and we remind our readers to go back and review the article entitled: Chinese Boron Added […]
According to Baker Hughes data from December 12th, 2014, the U.S rig count for this week is 1,893 rigs exploring for or developing oil or natural gas. This count is a decrease of 27 rigs when compared to last week, with oil rigs down 29 to 1,546 rigs, gas rigs up 2 to 346 rigs, […]
A quick note to advise our readers of our Holiday publishing and office schedule. We will continue to publish as normal through Tuesday, December 23rd. We will not publish our newsletter on Thursday, December 25th and Sunday, December 28th unless there is important breaking news that we feel must be shared with our readers. We […]
The Steel Market Update Price MoMo Index for flat rolled steel in the U.S. indicates hot rolled coil price momentum continued its downward trend for the 16th week in a row. MoMo, a trailing indicator, is measured as a percentage and shows the relation of the current hot rolled coil (HRC) price movements against the […]
I always learn new things every time I attend an industry related conference. I find being exposed to industry experts, active steel buyers in one location (with very few to no suppliers around), business owners who feel comfortable in their surroundings, and a few cocktails thrown into the mix, makes for interesting times. I highly […]
According to Baker Hughes data from December 5th, 2014, the U.S rig count for this week is 1,920 rigs exploring for or developing oil or natural gas. This count is an increase of 3 rigs when compared to last week, with oil rigs up 3 to 1,575 rigs, gas rigs unchanged at 344 rigs, and […]
Part of my talk at the 2014 HARDI conference was regarding galvanized imports which reached 325,000 net tons in October and appear will be approximately 300,000 tons when the November Census Data numbers are released later this month. To put this into perspective, at this point last year the U.S. received 150,000 net tons and […]
SMU Steel Buyers Sentiment Index came in at +52 this week. This is the same reading we got back in the middle of November 2014 The +52, which is within the optimistic range for our index, was 10 points less enthusiastic than what we measured at the beginning of November. One year ago our current […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) conducted our early December flat rolled steel market analysis this week. As part of the survey process, SMU asks those responding questions about flat rolled steel mill lead times. From their responses we create our average lead time for the industry by product. This allows us the ability to evaluate whether […]
Based strictly on the results from our Steel Market Update flat rolled market survey results, domestic steel mills are willing to negotiate prices on hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized and Galvalume products. This is something that we see on a regular basis as lead times slip and the need for orders increases at the domestic […]
The Steel Market Update Price MoMo Index for flat rolled steel in the U.S. indicates hot rolled coil price momentum continued its downward trend for the 15th week in a row. MoMo, a trailing indicator, is measured as a percentage and shows the relation of the current hot rolled coil (HRC) price movements against the […]
An explanation of the Key Indicators concept is given at the end of this piece for those readers who are unfamiliar with it. The total number of indicators considered in this analysis is currently 36. The Chicago Fed Mid-West Manufacturing Index which was suspended earlier this year was expected to be re-instituted this month but […]
Each month the Commerce Department issues its construction put in place (CPIP) data, usually on the first working day covering activity two months earlier. October data was released on December 2nd. Construction put in place is based on spending work as it occurs, estimated for a given month from a sample of projects. In effect […]
There has been a fair amount of interest being generated regarding our next Steel 101: Introduction to Steel Making & Market Fundamentals workshop which will be held in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina on January 20 & 21, 2015. If you go to our website: www.SteelMarketUpdate.com and click on the Steel 101 link in the Events […]
It has now been five weeks (October 28th) since AK Steel became the first domestic steel mill to announce a price increase on flat rolled steel. The relatively modest $20 per ton move was, in many steel buyers’ opinions, meant to stem the decline in steel prices. At that point in time benchmark hot rolled […]
A member of the financial community contacted me earlier today asking about rumors of a new price increase by the domestic steel mills as we move into January 2015. He stated that another steel-related publication had quoted a service center as believing price announcements would be coming soon. First, I have not heard directly from […]
The Steel Market Update Price MoMo Index for flat rolled steel in the U.S. indicates hot rolled coil price momentum continued its downward trend for the 14th week in a row. MoMo, which is a trailing indicator, is measured as a percentage and shows the relation of the current hot rolled coil (HRC) price movements […]
With crude oil prices breaking through $80 per barrel, all eyes are on the Baker Hughes rig count data. The question is will the lower oil prices affect the number of wells being drilled? Most assume there will be an impact, however, it could have a lag effect and take time before there is a […]
Monday is December 1st. This means we will begin our early December flat rolled steel market survey first thing Monday morning. Look for your invitation around 8 AM ET on Monday. If you receive an invitation please take a few minutes to click on the link and respond to our questionnaire which is housed on […]
First, I want to wish everyone in the United States a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday with family and friends. Steel Market Update will not publish on Thursday but will return to our normal schedule on Sunday evening. Our offices will be open both on Wednesday and Friday of this week but will be closed on Thanksgiving […]
Last week Steel Market Update (SMU) conducted our mid-November flat rolled steel market survey. We invited approximately 600 companies to participate representing manufacturing, steel service centers, trading companies, steel mills, toll processors and suppliers to the steel industry. Last week’s participation mix was very similar to what we see on a regular basis with 46 […]
This is part of a series of articles for those associated with the steel industry who are interested in steel sales or steel purchasing. Steel Market Update “Truth About Selling Steel” as well as our “Steel Buyers Basics” articles can be found on our website and are available to the public. Steel Market Update (SMU) […]
With crude oil prices breaking through $80 per barrel, all eyes are on the Baker Hughes rig count data. The question is will the lower oil prices affect the number of wells being drilled? Most assume there will be an impact, however, it could have a lag effect and take time before there is a […]
The Steel Market Update Price MoMo Index for flat rolled steel in the U.S. indicates hot rolled coil price momentum continued its downward trend for the 13th week in a row. MoMo, which is a trailing indicator, is measured as a percentage and shows the relation of the current hot rolled coil (HRC) price movements […]
We understand from press reports in the Baltimore, Maryland area that the new owners of Sparrows Point will announce on Monday, November 24th when the “L” blast furnace will be demolished. It is expected that the furnace, which is one of the tallest structures for miles around, will be taken down sometime in December. The […]
Buyers and sellers of steel are beginning to feel the strain of reduced demand (whether seasonal or otherwise), stable to falling steel prices and a very competitive service center spot market which impacts distributors margins. The bottom line is those actively involved in the flat rolled steel industry in the United States and Canada are […]
Last year at this time hot rolled steel prices averaged $670 per ton and were close to the peak for the year which was $680 per ton (SMU index HRC average). Lead times peaked the first week in December on all flat rolled with the exception of Galvalume. From mid-December 2013 until the middle of […]
The vast majority of our SMU steel survey respondents reported the domestic steel mills as willing to negotiate flat rolled steel prices this week. Those reporting the mills as willing to negotiate hot rolled prices increase by 2 percent to 70 percent of the respondents. Cold rolled jumped by an even greater margin from 52 […]