The following information comes from our flat rolled steel market trends survey which began last Friday and concluded earlier today. Do not confuse our survey results with actual lead time sheets produced by individual steel mill locations. Based on what our respondents shared with SMU, lead times on hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized and Galvalume […]
With lead times shrinking on hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized and Galvalume steels it would be normal to collect data suggesting the domestic steel mills are becoming more negotiable on the spot pricing. The following information was gathered through our flat rolled steel market trends analysis over the past six days. We found that the […]
US Steel presented its arguments to the US International Trade Commission on why its Section 337 price fixing claim should not be terminated. Counsel for US Steel told Administrative Law Judge Dee Lord that the Respondents from China have presented a “flawed misapplication of law governing pricing fixing and Section 337 investigations.” “Accepting Respondents’ erroneous […]
The Steel Market Update (SMU) Price Momentum Index (MoMo) for hot rolled steel in the United States dropped this week for the eighth 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 price […]
Ferrous scrap prices drifting lower by as much as $30 per gross ton (Detroit) on primes and $20 (Detroit) on shred will put some pressure on flat rolled steel spot prices in the coming weeks. Not all of the regions have settled prices and the dealers are resisting going down as much as what was […]
The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) reported their Final Determinations in the antidumping and countervailing duty investigation on cold rolled steel from Brazil, India, Korea, United Kingdom and Russia. The ITC affirmed injury from all of the countries with the exception of Russia. Imports of cold rolled out of Russia were determined to be negligible […]
Boy was it nice to have a long weekend off. After the non-stop go, go, go of our Steel Summit Conference I needed a few days to just unwind and do essentially nothing. As of 6 PM this evening the weekly raw steel production report provided by the AISI had not been published. Too much […]
The Steel Market Update (SMU) Price Momentum Index (MoMo) for hot rolled steel in the United States remained negative this week for the seventh 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 […]
A final decision on the section 337 case brought against China by US Steel has been delayed until March 2, 2018 from the current target date of Oct. 2, 2017. Separate hearings have been scheduled for the allegations of theft of trade secrets and for the allegations of transshipment and price fixing. The trade secret […]
On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week Steel Market Update conducted our 6th Steel Summit Conference in Atlanta, Georgia. The conference was the largest for us with 428 steel executives participating. I will let a few of the comments I got this morning speak for themselves: “Great conference John. Very well put together…..best one […]
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 […]
Lewis Leibowitz opened the 6th Steel Summit in Atlanta, GA with a recap of what is happening in the trade regulation of steel imports. In a quick poll preceding the presentation, the audience by a 53 percent to 47 percent vote said they were in favor of dumping suits. An overwhelming 97 percent said they […]
Earlier this evening we concluded the second day of our three day Steel Summit Conference in Atlanta. The conference kicked off on Monday afternoon with trade attorney Lewis Leibowitz discussing antidumping/countervailing duty and other trade related items and remedies. Today we had a full day with speakers representing Steel Dynamics, Cliffs Natural Resources, Cargill, Bank […]
I had dinner with trade attorney Lewis Leibowitz this evening (Sunday). We discussed his presentation which will begin at 3:30 PM in Salon E at the Atlanta Airport Gateway Hotel. During dinner we spoke about the history of the steel industry and how the United States, after World War II intentionally helped build those countries […]
The Steel Market Update (SMU) Price Momentum Index (MoMo) for hot rolled steel in the United States remained negative this week for the sixth 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 […]
I am in Atlanta and if you see me walking aimlessly about town on Friday, Saturday and Sunday with a glassy look in my eyes it is because the kickoff of our 6th Steel Summit Conference is on Monday. We are essentially sold out, every seat in the house should be filled. We have an […]
The following article is normally shared with just our Premium level members. Steel Market Update (SMU) has a proprietary product whereby we analyze the Metal Service Center Institute (MSCI) carbon flat rolled shipments and inventories at the end of each month. Based on our model, we come up with a number indicating whether service center […]
As I wander around the industry talking to buyers and sellers of steel I am always asking and listening for the signs of change. These are “warnings” to my ears and I heard one earlier today that needs to be pursued further and I think we will have the opportunity to do so at our […]
Last week Steel Market Update conducted our mid-August flat rolled steel market trends analysis. For those new to our newsletter, we invite approximately 600 people representing about 550 companies to participate in our bi-monthly questionnaire. Our normal response rate is 100 to 150 people. Last week’s mix was 44 percent service centers, 43 percent manufacturing […]
The following Steel Buyers Basics article was originally written by Mario Briccetti, CEO of Briccetti and Associates and an instructor for Steel Market Update (Steel 101 & Custom Training). If you would like to learn more on this subject Mr. Briccetti will be at our Steel Summit Conference on the 29th through the 31st of […]
I expect the next seven days will be quite hectic in my life and those of our SMU team as we make final preparations for the 2016 Steel Summit Conference. I will actually be traveling to Georgia on Wednesday and will work from there until the conference has concluded. We do have a few spots […]
SMU Steel Buyers Sentiment Index Twice per month, Steel Market Update surveys the flat rolled steel industry. One of the proprietary products which is derived from that expansive survey is the SMU Steel Buyers Sentiment Index. Sentiment is defined as how buyers and sellers feel about their company’s ability to be successful both in the […]
In our last issue of Steel Market Update we wrote about lead times shrinking as being one of the reasons why we adjusted our Price Momentum Indicator. We cited published lead times by NLMK USA and Nucor Berkeley as examples of the changes we were seeing and discussing with steel buyers. This week we conducted […]
Based on the results of our flat rolled steel market trends survey that Steel Market Update (SMU) conducted all week, steel mills are receptive to negotiate steel prices on some products and less so on others. We are seeing the mills being fairly aggressive on hot rolled price negotiations with 83 percent of our survey […]
The USITC issued a final determination today that the U.S. industry is materially injured by the import of heavy walled rectangular welded carbon steel pipes and tubes from Korea, Mexico and Turkey and that the products from Turkey are sold in the U.S. at less than fair value and subsidized by the Turkish government. Antidumping […]
The Steel Market Update (SMU) Price Momentum Index (MoMo) for hot rolled steel in the United States remained negative this week for the fifth 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 […]
We are 10 days away from the start of our Steel Summit Conference in Atlanta. This will be our 6th conference and it will be the best attended conference by a wide margin. When we began the planning process my most optimistic goal was to get 400 attendees. We had 280 attendees at our 5th […]
For the past nine weeks, Steel Market Update (SMU) has had our Price Momentum Indicator at Neutral. A neutral rating means the market is either in transition or does not have enough momentum to push steel prices in one direction or another. Earlier today SMU adjusted our indicator to “Lower” from Neutral which is a […]
I heard this evening that Turkish hot rolled for September shipment was recently booked at an average price of $25.50/cwt CIF, Duty Paid ($510 per ton). Latest offer on Mexican hot rolled $26.50/cwt ($530 per ton) and cold rolled at $31.50/cwt ($630 per ton). The hot rolled numbers make sense and are reasonable against domestic […]
The Canadian International Trade Tribunal has renewed its dumping finding against China, Brazil and Ukraine and its subsidy finding against India in regards to the import of hot rolled steel sheet and strip. The CITT decision extends antidumping and subsidy duties another five years. In a press release from Essar Steel Algoma, applauding the decision, […]