Buyers and sellers of steel are often exposed to ethical questions in their everyday activities. Some of the ethical issues which arise are fairly easy to discern as being ethical or unethical while others reside in a much tougher to distinguish gray area. Mario Briccetti and I were speaking about doing an ethics article and […]
According to Baker Hughes data from January 31st, 2014, the U.S rig count for this week is 1,785 rigs exploring for or developing oil or natural gas. This count is an increase of 8 rigs when compared to last week, with oil rigs up 6 to 1,422 rigs, gas rigs up 2 to 358 rigs, […]
The Steel Market Update Price MoMo Index for flat rolled steel in the U.S turned negative this week after being in positive territory for 15 consecutive weeks. MoMo, a trailing indicator, is measured as a percentage and shows the relation of the current hot rolled coil (HRC) price movements against the previous 12-week average spot […]
A good portion of the Steel Market Update team is bolting for Mobile on Monday to prepare for our next Steel 101 workshop. We are looking forward to having a spirited workshop and we are appreciative of the efforts of our host steel mill – SSAB – as they prepare for our workshop touring their […]
Severstal is celebrating 10 years of ownership of the former Rouge Steel plant in Dearborn, Michigan. The company purchased Rouge Steel for $290 million in 2004 and saved the mill from going out of business. Severstal has invested more than $1.7 billion and dramatically altered the face and the future of the mill. Steel Market […]
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 by Steel Market Update at present is thirty six. The present situation of twelve of the indicators based on historical standards was positive on January 28th […]
Late last week Steel Market Update concluded our mid-January market survey of the flat rolled steel market in Canada and the United States. The survey is conducted by invitation only and is sent to slightly less than 600 companies. The breakout of the respondents was: 48 percent manufacturing companies, 42 percent service centers/wholesalers, 5 percent […]
Caterpillar Inc. reported Q4 sales and revenues fell 10 percent year-over-year to $14.402 billion, impacted negatively by a goodwill impairment charge of $580 million and positively by a tax settlement of $300 million. Machinery & Power Systems (M&PS) revenue dropped 11 percent in Q4 while operating profit increased 37 percent to $1.27 billion but was […]
It snowed in Georgia and South Carolina today. Nucor Berkeley put out an announcement that their shipping and sales personnel had been sent home early. I thought it might be a good time to double check the forecast for Mobile for next Tuesday and Wednesday which is where we are holding our next Steel 101 […]
According to Baker Hughes data from January 24th, 2014, the U.S rig count for this week is 1,777 rigs exploring for or developing oil or natural gas. This count is unchanged when compared to last week, with oil rigs up 8 to 1,416 rigs, gas rigs down 9 to 356 rigs, and miscellaneous rigs up […]
The most straightforward way for a flat rolled steel buyer to fix the cost of steel out into the future is to simply buy steel now and hold it in inventory. The downside to this strategy is, of course, the inventory holding cost. A second way to fix the price of steel is to negotiate […]
The projected forecast for Mobile, Alabama during the first week of February is for temperatures to be in the low to mid 60’s. A far cry from the temperatures which have been well below freezing in the Upper Midwest and at, or below, in the rest of the states north of the Mason-Dixon Line. Steel […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) released ourr latest Steel Buyers Sentiment Index which measures how buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel feel about their company’s ability to be successful in the current business environment. The mid-January Sentiment Index was measured over the period January 20 through February 23, 2014 and is being reported at +44. […]
Mill lead times, according to those taking our SMU steel market survey this week, continue to be extended compared to where they were one year ago. However, we found (based on our survey results) that the mills have become more willing to negotiate on hot rolled, galvanized and Galvalume but not on cold rolled. Hot […]
Light vehicle production in NAFTA in 2013 totaled, 16,141,347 units, the best year since 2002 and an increase of 6.0 percent on 2012 (Source Wards Automotive.). In 3 months through December production was up by 6.9 percent year over year. Light trucks which include crossovers are surging faster than cars, the year over year growth […]
The Steel Market Update Price MoMo Index for flat rolled steel in the U.S remained positive this week and is currently in its 15th consecutive week of being in positive territory. MoMo, a trailing indicator, is based upon the current hot rolled coil (HRC) price weighed against the previous 12-week average spot price as recorded […]
For those of you who have not yet taken the time to go to our new website, log in for the very first time and kick the new tires, play with the steering wheel and take it for a spin – we highly recommend that you do so soon. We know technology can be a […]
Contractors are expecting a better year in 2014 said the Associated General Contractors of America in their latest report, Optimism Returns: The 2014 Construction Hiring and Business Outlook. In a survey of 800 AGCA members, firms reported stronger optimism for construction demand and employment than they have since the downturn in 2008. More than 40 […]
New York City must not want me to come visit. I have been trying to visit but, Mother Nature has not been cooperating. I guess it is Mother Nature that doesn’t want me to visit New York City. In December I was scheduled to attend the American Institute for International Steel (AIIS) dinner and my […]
Two of the indexes followed by Steel Market Update (three including our own indices) saw prices as beginning to drop for the first time in many weeks. The average hot rolled number dropped $3 per ton to $678. The cold rolled results were mixed with SMU and SteelBenchmarker (which is only published twice per month) […]
The Metal Service Center Institute (MSCI) produced their analysis of service center shipments and inventories as of the end of December 2013. According to the MSCI flat rolled inventories stood at 4,981,400 tons which represented a 2.6 month’s supply on a non-seasonally adjusted basis and 2.1 months supply based on seasonally adjusted data. Steel Market […]
The most significant observation about housing permits and starts in 2013 was how the growth rate of both single and multi-family slowed progressively during the year. The three month moving average (3MMA) of the year-over-year growth rate of single family declined from 29.6 percent in March to 10.8 percent in December as multi-family declined from […]
The following is a press release from the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI) on November 2013 shipments of heating and cooling equipment data: U.S. shipments of residential gas storage water heaters for November 2013 decreased 15.5 percent, to 348,542 units, down from 412,416 units shipped in November 2012. Residential electric storage water heater shipments […]
Many, perhaps most, steel buyers negotiate a new price for flat rolled steel each time they place a purchase order. Other buyers will negotiate a price for all their steel needs over a fixed period (as much as a year) and then, when they require steel, release purchase orders at this fixed price. However, there’s […]
According to Baker Hughes data from January 17th, 2014, the U.S rig count for this week is 1,777 rigs exploring for or developing oil or natural gas. This count is an increase of 23 rigs when compared to last week, with oil rigs up 15 to 1,408 rigs, gas rigs up 8 to 365 rigs, […]
I will be in my office on Monday, Thursday and Friday of this week. I will be traveling to New York City for the AHR Expo on Tuesday and Wednesday. If you are attending the AHR Expo and would like to seek me out you can do so by email: John@SteelMarketUpdate.com or by phone (or […]
I was reading the most recent economic forecast from the Institute for Trend Research (ITR) on the plane to Chicago this morning. Their analysts have an interesting take on the 2014 economy and we will share portions of their views with you beginning with Sunday evening’s newsletter. One item that caught my eye is their […]
The Steel Market Update Price MoMo Index for flat rolled steel in the U.S remained positive this week, but only slightly so, and is currently in its 14th consecutive week of being in positive territory. MoMo, a trailing indicator, is based upon the current hot rolled coil (HRC) price weighed against the previous 12-week average […]
The introduction of an aluminum F-150 pickup at the Detroit auto show has the steel industry looking hard at its advanced high strength steels (AHSS) and figuring out how to insure that AHSS is the preferred material of choice for the auto industry. SMU spoke with Ronald P. Krupitzer, vice president of automotive applications for […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) has adjusted our Price Momentum Indicator from Higher to Neutral. This means we see steel market pricing at this moment as either in transition or moving sideways over the next 30 days. With ferrous scrap prices now weakening, lead times shortening and all of the available capacity back in the market […]