The U.S. International Trade Commission determined on Tuesday that unfair imports of steel racks from China are causing material injury to domestic producers and should be subject to duties. The final decision follows the Department of Commerce AD/CVD determination that the racks are subsidized and sold in the U.S. at less than fair value. As […]
I have been traveling all day, so I have had limited exposure to the market today. For that matter, as I have mentioned on a couple of recent occasions, I have been almost entirely focused on the 2019 SMU Steel Summit Conference. So, here are a few comments about the conference for those of you […]
Using U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) data, SMU has taken the import tonnage of cold rolled sheet and broken it down into coil and leveled, then into four thickness ranges, and then identifies how much was full hard, annealed and high strength. Through June 2019, of the total cold rolled sheet and strip imports into […]
The official economic statistics out of China showed a decline in industrial production in July. But in June, China’s share of global steel production was 55.1 percent. Once each quarter we publish the official statistics for Chinese GDP, industrial production, consumer price inflation and fixed asset investment. We don’t know the accuracy of these numbers, […]
Six days to go… Today, I had a long conversation with Ryan Smith who is the Global Costing Analyst for CRU. Ryan is based out of Australia and will be joining us in Atlanta next week when he will speak about the advantages and disadvantages the domestic steel industry has, and domestic steel buyers need […]
The trucking industry won a major victory in securing a promise from the U.S. Trade Representative’s office that it will not impose tariffs on imports of Chinese-made 53-foot domestic intermodal containers. The 10 percent tariff scheduled for imports of the intermodal containers would have cost the logistics sector an additional $63 million in the first […]
As mentioned above, it is crunch time for me and my team as we prepare for the conference, now one week away. I want to emphasize SMU will have a major announcement at the conference on Monday as we roll out our Service Center Inventories on Hand, on Order, Shipments and an analysis of what […]
The upturn in steel prices appears to have some staying power as both service centers and their manufacturer customers reported rising prices in the first half of July, according to findings from Steel Market Update’s latest market trends questionnaire. As seen in the chart below, the majority of service centers (54 percent) said they are […]
Noting that “strict enforcement of U.S. trade law is a primary focus of the Trump administration,” the Commerce Department announced its 21st anticircumvention inquiry Wednesday, notable as the first self-initiated by the government without a complaint from the domestic industry. Commerce will be looking into possible circumvention involving exports of certain corrosion-resistant steel products (CORE) […]
The following editorial is by Allan Golombek, a Senior Director at the White House Writers Group, and was published on Aug. 12, 2019 by RealClearMarkets. The steel industry should have listened to the founder of Nucor. In 1986, Ken Iverson pointed out that protectionist measures to save the American steel industry had not had the desired […]
I received a call from the Congressional Quarterly today asking my opinion on steel prices, trade cases, capacity being added to the marketplace, etc. I did answer his questions as accurately as I could, which in many cases are subject to the decisions being made at various steel mills around North America, and whether those […]
Tariffs on some of the $300 billion in Chinese goods due to take effect on Sept. 1 have been pushed back until Dec. 15, and some items are likely to be removed from the tariff list entirely, as the Trump administration faces opposition from U.S. companies that claim the duties are hurting their businesses, The […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: The U.S. Trade Representative’s Office announced new effective dates on billions of dollars of imports from China today. Goods that, according to an analysis from the advocacy group Tariffs Hurt the Heartland, amounted to $28 billion in trade […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: Last week, the Department of Commerce, for the first time, initiated an investigation into “circumvention” of antidumping and countervailing duty orders (AD/CVD) on corrosion-resistant steel (CORE) from Taiwan and China. This follows determinations on CORE from Korea, Taiwan […]
I sold steel for 31 years. The last 10, I represented a domestic steel mill and a couple of trading companies. One thing I learned, the steel buyers determine the market, not steel mills. We had been hearing rumors of the move U.S. Steel made today regarding moving toward no-index contracts for their 2020 order […]
Steel prices are up, but the same cannot be said for industry optimism. Following a brief uptick shortly after the mill price increases were announced last month, Steel Market Update’s Steel Buyers Sentiment Index has ticked back down. Steel buyers’ comments suggest that concerns about the economy, steel demand and the staying power of the higher […]
The mills may have the momentum today, but three out of four buyers responding to Steel Market Update’s market trends questionnaire this week expect that pricing push to be short-lived. About 73 percent said they expect steel prices to drop in the fourth quarter. Another 11 percent said they are not paying higher spot prices […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: JSW Steel USA, an affiliate of a major Indian steel producer, is the first company to challenge the Section 232 steel product exclusion procedure. The company filed a lawsuit July 30 naming the Department of Commerce as the principal […]
For the past three days, I have been studying the nominations of 21 young individuals who were nominated by their companies for the 2019 SMU NexGen Leadership Award, which this year is being sponsored by the Steel Manufacturers Association. The process has been exhilarating to say the least. I decided many years ago that as […]
For a steel industry that is hoping to collect higher prices on flat rolled and plate products, the mills seem surprisingly willing to negotiate, according to the findings from Steel Market Update’s latest market trends questionnaire. Well, then again, when you announce $120 per ton of base price increases (or more, depending on what your […]
Lead times for steel delivery are slightly longer for hot rolled, galvanized and plate steels following price increases announced by the major mills. The average lead time for hot rolled is now approaching four and a half weeks, cold rolled nearly six weeks, and coated steels around six and a half weeks. Plate lead times […]
The trade war with China escalated on Monday as China allowed its currency to weaken in retaliation for a new round of tariffs imposed by President Trump. The yuan fell to 7 per U.S. dollar, the lowest it has been in 11 years, making exports from China cheaper and more competitive versus the United States. […]
I have to apologize to those who are looking for insightful steel comments from me today. I’ve been busy with the final details of the 2019 SMU Steel Summit Conference, reviewing the SMU NexGen Leadership Award nominations and planning for the next few Steel 101 workshop locations and dates. My focus has been a little […]
By CRU Analyst Alexander Ordosch On Friday, Aug. 2, the U.S. government announced 10 percent tariffs on an additional $300 billion in Chinese imports that are not already covered by Section 301 (S301) tariffs. About 50 percent of the new tariffs cover steel-bearing machinery, while the rest are non-steel-containing items such as food, clothing, base metals […]
I got a note from one of our readers today about the removal of the U.S. Steel blast furnace(s) and why the capacity utilization rates don’t reflect the change. The answer to that question is that as long as the furnace is still capable of producing (i.e. hot idle vs. being totally shut down cold) […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: On Wednesday, President Trump tweeted that new tariffs would be imposed on U.S. imports from China, an escalation of the trade war that was launched in July 2018. The new tariffs, on most of the products not already […]
Steel Market Update’s analysis of Key Market Indicators shows the present market situation was basically unchanged in the last month, based on data released in July, but half the 36 indicators trended positive and half negative. This report is designed to be a big picture summary of data on which we have reported in detail […]
I was pleased that we got 21 quality nominations for our first SMU NexGen Leadership Award, sponsored by the Steel Manufacturers Association. I mention each of the canidates in an article earlier in tonight’s newsletter. I hope we are able to double the canidates next year as we strive as an industry to bring new […]
Price momentum has shifted dramatically in the steel spot market since mid-June following three price increase announcements by the major mills. Both service centers and their customers report rising prices in today’s marketplace. As seen in the chart below, 81 percent of the service centers polled by Steel Market Update just six weeks ago said […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: In a tweet today, President Trump announced new tariffs on essentially all the $300 billion in imports from China not already covered by the Section 301 tariffs. The tariff of 10 percent will take effect Sept. 1. I […]