Turkish steel producers have filed new antidumping and countervailing duty petitions on hot-rolled coil imports from China, Russia and Ukraine. An AD investigation was previously initiated in January 2015 on HRC imports from China, Japan, France, Russia, Ukraine, Romania and Slovakia in January 2015 but was terminated by the Turkish Economy Ministry after petitioners withdrew […]
For those who have not been members for a long period of time or who may be new to Steel Market Update this section, my Final Thoughts, is the one area where I get to pontificate (provide my opinion) on subjects of interest to me. Today I want to briefly address the elephant in the […]
Steel Market Update asks our readers to interact with us anytime they need help finding information or if they have a question about the steel industry. During the process of responding to these requests many times we find ourselves doing research on a topic that would be of interest to a larger audience. On Friday […]
AIIS urges the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Bureau to use caution in responding to allegations of evasion of antidumping and countervailing duties. Interim measures can be devastating to alleged evaders who are later found to be innocent of charges, says AIIS. The press release outlining recommendations by AIIS follows: Falls Church, VA. October 14, […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) has been producing The Truth About Selling Steel and our Steel Buyers Basics series off and on since we officially started the company in August 2008. The purpose of these series of articles is to provide educational materials and articles for the flat rolled steel industry in the hopes that those […]
On Monday morning we will begin our mid-October flat rolled steel market survey. We expect to invite more than 550 people representing about 525 companies to participate in this market trends analysis. The invitations should be in your email inbox by 8 AM ET. We provide a power point presentation putting a good portion of […]
The Vietnam steel industry is between the proverbial rock and hard place. U.S. steel manufacturers claim that Vietnamese exporters are party to China’s circumvention of antidumping and countervailing duties on cold rolled steel and are calling for AD duties to match those on China products. Vietnam’s influx of Chinese steel is also a concern for […]
After our last issue of Steel Market Update was published we received an email “letter to the editor” from a steel trading company regarding circumvention and other issues facing the domestic steel industry. Here is what the letter said: “After reading your update tonight and having been on a conference call with our Washington DC […]
The Steel Market Update (SMU) Price Momentum Index (MoMo) for hot rolled steel in the United States remained negative this week for the 13th consecutive week, following a 28 week long positive streak. MoMo is a trailing indicator and shows the relationship between the current U.S. hot rolled coil price movements against the previous 12-week average […]
In David Feldstein’s article on the HRC Futures market he correctly points out one of the factors that steel buyers need to watch closely is the value of the dollar against the currency of the international steel trading nations. As the dollar increases in value those wanting to ship steel here also increases. As the […]
One of the key questions Steel Market Update is being asked is: what is the status of steel demand being seen by manufacturers and flat rolled steel service centers in the current market? This is an area we cover during our twice monthly trends analysis of flat rolled steel market. So, let’s take a moment […]
In this evening’s edition we have included a number of articles that would normally go to just our Premium level members. We thought that our Executive level members would like to get an idea of some of the articles and data they are missing. Included in that list is the Power Point presentation of our […]
Both manufacturing companies and flat rolled steel service centers are reporting more than 75 percent of the distributors as offering ever lower spot steel prices. The 75 percent level is important to Steel Market Update as we have pegged it as the level, when reached and maintained, as being the point of Capitulation. That point […]
The European Union, on Friday, placed provisional tariffs on imports of hot-rolled flat steel and heavy plate steel from China. Steel association Eurofer lodged the antidumping complaint with the European Commission in January on behalf of European steel producers representing 90 percent of the region’s hot-rolled flat rolled steel production. Eurofer alleged in its complaint […]
China’s Commerce Ministry criticized the European Union for antidumping duties imposed Friday on imports of hot rolled steel and plate. The Ministry called the investigation methods unfair. A spokesperson for the Ministry said Chinese steel imports cannot be affecting EUs steel prices because they only account for 5 percent of the European market. “Reckless trade […]
When we last left you Hurricane Matthew was just beginning to approach the east coast of Florida as a category 4 storm. I was a little concerned about our office building and our home. I am pleased to tell you that the storm took a little jog to the east as it left the Bahamas. […]
Buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel are becoming less enthusiastic about their company’s ability to be successful both now and into the near future. SMU Steel Buyers Sentiment Index has been steady decline since peaking with an all time high of +71 in early July 2016. Based on our latest market trends analysis Current […]
Lead times continue to be at, or slightly below year ago levels. Steel Market Update conducted our flat rolled steel market trends analysis over the course of this week. As part of our questionnaire, submitted to almost 550 companies, we ask questions regarding lead times for new orders out of the domestic steel mills by […]
With the short lead times we reported earlier in this issue, the buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel are almost unanimously reporting the steel mills as willing to negotiate hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized and Galvalume steel prices. We found 97 percent of those responding to our survey reporting mills as willing to negotiate […]
The Steel Market Update (SMU) Price Momentum Index (MoMo) for hot rolled steel in the United States remained negative this week for the 12th consecutive week, following a 28 week long positive streak. MoMo is a trailing indicator and shows the relationship between the current U.S. hot rolled coil price movements against the previous 12-week average […]
Our corporate office building and my home are in the path of Hurricane Matthew. We have evacuated and are in Bradenton, Florida for the next couple of days with hopes that our office, home and neighborhood will still be there when we return over the weekend. Our thoughts and prayers are with those who decided […]
The Department of Commerce announced adjustment to the antidumping duties assigned to Australia, Korea and Turkey in the hot rolled steel investigation. Regarding the Australia AD orders, Commerce agreed with the Petitioners that there were two ministerial errors. The Department failed to fully adjust BlueScope Steel’s normal value for processing revenue and freight revenue. It, […]
The following article was produced by SMU Steel 101 instructor and consultant, Mario Briccett of Briccett and Associates. This is one in a series of articles called “Steel Buyers Basics” which can be found in the Steel Market Update website. You can reach Mario by email at: MarioBriccetti@gmail.com. Almost every day last month the WSJ […]
An explanation of the Key Indicators concept is given at the end of this piece for those readers who are unfamiliar with it. This will explain the difference between our view of the present situation which is subjective and our analysis of trends which is based on the latest facts available. At the end of […]
It is anything but a normal working day here on the east coast of Florida. Hurricane Matthew is forecast to be within 65 miles of my doorstep come Thursday and Friday of this week so today has been spent preparing to evacuate. No sense playing with Mother Nature. SMU HQ will be closed on Wednesday, […]
When looking at hot rolled coil prices U.S. buyers need to remain aware of what is going on with the rest of the world. Prices in Europe are rising and as one trader put it to us on Friday of this past week, “The Turks aren’t idiots.” Prices for HRC in the Turkish market are […]
The Steel Market Update (SMU) Price Momentum Index (MoMo) for hot rolled steel in the United States remained negative this week for the eleventh consecutive week, following a 28 week long positive streak. MoMo is a trailing indicator and shows the relationship between the current U.S. hot rolled coil price movements against the previous 12-week average […]
The complaint filed by the domestic steel mills against China for circumvention of duties by converting Chinese substrate in Vietnam and then shipping it to the U.S. as Vietnamese products goes against trade rules that have been in place for many years. It has been understood that transforming hot rolled into cold rolled and/or galvanized […]
Steel Market Update spoke with two sources regarding the most recent complaint filed by the domestic mills against Vietnam and China for circumvention of duties (China) on cold rolled and CORE (corrosion resistant steels such as galvanized and Galvalume) products. One of the tenants behind the accusations made by the domestic steel mills is the […]
Steel Market Update spent a good portion of our day today talking with steel traders and end users who have exposure (orders on the books not yet delivered) to Vietnamese cold rolled and/or galvanized/Galvalume steels. We were trying to determine how the importers of record were handling any orders on the books. What we found […]