We’ll kick off our Steel Summit conference in Atlanta in just a few short days. I’m looking forward to learning from executives across the supply chain – from steel mills and service centers to automakers and trucking companies. I’m also looking forward to getting the mood of the room when we do our annual poll […]
The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) recently released the results of its Multifamily Market Survey (MMS) and there seem to be some mixed emotions. There are two separate indices the MMS utilizes to determine market conditions: the Multifamily Production Index (MPI) and the Multifamily Occupancy Index (MOI). According to NAHB, the second quarter MPI, […]
The percentage of buyers reporting that mills’ prices are negotiable contracted this week, following more than two consecutive months of rising negotiation rates. Four out of five steel executives polled this week reported that mills are willing to talk price to secure an order. According to our steel market surveys, a high willingness to negotiate […]
The number of open construction jobs shrank to 334,000 in June, down from 405,000 in May and declining repeatedly from the record-high and top measure in the data series’ history of 449,000 unfilled positions in April, said the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). According to the latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey data […]
Steel mill lead times were relatively flat this week compared to our previous market check, with some products slightly up and others down. Hot rolled, cold rolled and plate lead times slightly declined compared to levels seen two weeks ago, while coated lead times increased. On average this week, lead times increased by 0.2 weeks […]
Steel mill lead times were mixed this week, with the processing time for some ordered products extending, shrinking for one, and another holding steady. Cold rolled and coated lead times increased compared to our previous market check, while plate lead times slightly declined and hot rolled lead times remained flat. On average this week, lead […]
North American auto assemblies declined by 17.3% in July after expanding repeatedly in the prior two months. Though the market remains supply constrained due to ongoing parts and supply shortages, production in July was largely impacted by scheduled downtime for summer breaks and model-year changeovers. July’s results were ahead of the same year-ago period. Disruptions […]
Steel Market Update is pleased to share this Premium content with Executive members. For information on upgrading to a Premium-level subscription, email Info@SteelMarketUpdate.com. US light vehicle (LV) sales were largely unchanged in July, coming in at 1.13 million units, unadjusted. But last month’s total was an 11.6% decline year-on-year (YoY), the US Bureau of Economic Analysis […]
This will be my last article prior to the SMU Steel Summit Conference which begins on Monday morning of this coming week. We are now six days away from the start of the conference. As you can imagine, this is a hectic time for the SMU and CRU events teams. Some of the event’s staff […]
Builder confidence hit a two-year low, tumbling for the eighth straight month in August and bringing the housing market to a crawl. The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) said that elevated interest rates, ongoing supply chain problems and high home prices continue to exacerbate housing affordability challenges. August’s HMI reading—the […]
Flat Rolled = 54.7 Shipping Days of Supply Plate = 63.8 Shipping Days of Supply Flat Rolled US service center flat rolled inventories declined slightly in July as service centers worked to align inventories with slowing demand. At the end of July, service centers carried 54.7 shipping days of supply, down from 55 shipping days […]
We had a big development this week with London-listed Russian steelmaker Evraz Plc announcing plans to sell its North American operations. A move like this has been rumored for some time. We’ve heard versions of it going back to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in late February. Still, it was something of a shock to […]
Steel Market Update is pleased to share this new Premium content – an index comparing lead time and demand data – with Executive members. For information on upgrading to a Premium-level subscription, email Info@SteelMarketUpdate.com. Apparent demand for flat-rolled steel in the US turned in our early August reading, though it’s too early to note if […]
The prices contractors pay for construction materials and services – chiefly for new nonresidential construction – fell 1.3% month-on-month (MoM) in July, while contractors’ bid prices rose 5.4%, the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) reported in its latest analysis of government data. AGC noted that despite the MoM decline, materials prices remain high and […]
US heating and cooling equipment shipments increased 7% from May to 2.24 million units in June, according to data from the Air Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI). June represents the fifth highest monthly shipment rate in our 14+ year history. (Note that June tends to be the month with the highest shipment levels, as […]
We are now 11 days away from the start of the 2022 SMU Steel Summit Conference at the Georgia International Convention Center in Atlanta. As of Wednesday, we had 1,174 registered attendees from all over the world. This year’s conference will be the largest one ever conducted by Steel Market Update, and it will be […]
Nucor announced a price hike on Monday, and our HRC price is up modestly for the first time since mid-April. It’s too early to say whether those two trends are related. Our HRC price went up $15 per ton. Nucor’s price increase was $50 per ton, and the jury is still out on whether it […]
The Dodge Momentum Index moved 2.9% higher in July, gaining ground on the upwardly revised reading for the month prior, according to data and analytics from the Dodge Construction Network. The index registered 178.7 last month, up from 173.6 in June. The leading index for commercial real estate measures data about planned nonresidential building projects […]
US construction spending in June totaled $1.762 trillion at a seasonally adjusted annual rate, 1.1% below May’s upwardly revised estimate of $1.782 trillion. Though down for the second straight month, this is only the second drop since September 2021, according to data from the Commerce Department. The decline came as outlays on single-family homebuilding declined […]
I mentioned in my last Final Thoughts that I’d been surprised to see hot-rolled coil lead times inch up, even if only modestly so. I cautioned at the time not to make too much of just one data point or to call a trend based on just one survey. That big caveat aside, as we […]
Steel Market Update’s Steel Buyers Sentiment Index bounced back from its mid-July dip and is now at the highest level since early June. Our Future Sentiment Index also significantly recovered compared to our previous survey and is now at an eight-week high. SMU surveys steel buyers every other week, asking how they view their chances of […]
We’ve got a full issue tonight, so I’ll keep my final thoughts brief. If you’re looking for reasons to be bearish, there are still plenty out there. When it comes to sheet prices, nearly all respondents to our survey report that mills are willing to negotiate lower. When it comes to geopolitics, the war in […]
As has been the case for six weeks now, nearly nine out of ten steel executives polled this week reported that mills are willing to talk price to secure an order. According to our steel market surveys, a high willingness to negotiate has been evident in each of our checks since early May. SMU polls […]
Steel mill lead times were mixed this week, with some products slightly up and others down, according to SMU’s latest market check. Hot rolled and plate lead times rose compared to what we saw two weeks ago, while cold rolled and coated lead times inched further downward. Is this just a blip or the start […]
Flat-rolled steel prices fell again this week as they have just about every week since late April. But there were a couple of new trends of note this time, even if they don’t change the overall narrative of a continued correction in flat-rolled steel prices. For starters, plate prices took a big tumble – down […]
Today we are celebrating our 14th year of being in business. What began as an attempt to keep my steel-buying customers aware of the dynamics effecting steel prices and their mill orders morphed over the years into the Steel Market Update newsletter. I stopped selling steel during the first half 2008, and by early August Steel […]
Monthly Key Market Indicators (KMI) fell through June and into July, while steel buyer sentiment tumbled to a two-year low, according to the latest analysis by Steel Market Update. Negative and neutral indicators have increased, while positive indicators have collapsed. Present headwinds are notable. Consumers and businesses have pulled back on spending, and rising inflation […]
There’s plenty of doom and gloom these days in steel. Our recent Community Chat with Associated General Contractors of America chief economist Ken Simonson provided a welcome respite from the dreary mood among some steel buyers. But let’s not get carried away. Simonson didn’t say prices weren’t falling. In fact, it’s not just steel prices […]
American Honda Motor Co., Honda’s North American subsidiary, has paused some production at three assembly plants this week because of the ongoing parts and microchip shortages, a company spokesperson told Steel Market Update (SMU). Honda’s Greensburg, Ind., assembly plant, Marysville Auto Plant Line 1 in Ohio, and Honda Canada Manufacturing Plant Line 2 in Alliston, […]
We’ve updated our prices, and it’s another week of declines for hot-rolled, cold-rolled, and galvanized flat-rolled steel. That’s not new. But this might be: Hot-rolled prices had been falling at a modestly faster pace than galvanized prices base prices. That was not the case this week. HR is down $35 per ton ($1.75 per cwt) […]