Blue is the color of the sky and that may be the limit when it comes to domestic steel mills need to negotiate flat rolled steel pricing. Based on the results from this week’s flat rolled market trends analysis produced by Steel Market Update, steel buyers and sellers are reporting, almost unanimously, that all of […]
On June 1, 2016, the Department of Commerce announced its affirmative preliminary determinations in the antidumping (AD) investigations of imports of circular welded carbon-quality steel pipe from Pakistan, Oman, United Arab Emirates, and Vietnam. The investigations cover welded carbon-quality steel pipe and tube, of circular cross-section, with an outside diameter not more than 16 inches, […]
The Steel Market Update (SMU) Price Momentum Index (MoMo) for hot rolled steel in the United States indicated prices continue to rise, albeit at a slightly slower pace than what we measured last week. MoMo has been positive (indicating higher prices) for the last 22 weeks, following a 21 week negative streak. MoMo is a trailing […]
My understanding is most of the mills canceled any scrap not yet delivered by the end of May. They do this when they believe scrap negotiations for June will result in better prices for them. It is still very early in the negotiation process, especially considering that Monday was a holiday. One scrap expert told […]
China steelmakers are denouncing charges of wrong doing levied by US Steel in its Section 337 filing. The ITC said last week that it will pursue the investigation that charges Chinese steel producers stole trade secrets, engaged in price fixing and participated in transshipment and duties evasion. One of the respondents in the investigation, Wuhan […]
U.S. flat rolled steel service centers were able to reduce their excess inventories by 222,000 tons, according to our proprietary analysis of the MSCI data released earlier this month. Our Apparent Excess/Deficit model has the distributors carrying a 46,000 ton excess as of the end of April. This is the first time we have seen […]
To all of our U.S. readers, welcome back from the Memorial Day Holiday. Each holiday is a big deal to me as this past weekend was one of those rare occasions where I wasn’t writing or studying the market every day and was able to actually take a couple of days off and give my […]
The Department of Commerce announced on Wednesday affirmative final determinations in AD and CVD investigations of imports of corrosion-resistant steel products (CORE) from China, India, Italy, Korea; an affirmative final determination in the AD investigation of imports of CORE from Taiwan; and a negative final determination in the CVD investigation of imports of CORE from […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) does not anticipate the spread between hot rolled base prices and those of domestic galvanized/Galvalume will be reduced any time soon. The U.S. Department of Commerce latest ruling on corrosion resistant steels will put new wind in the steel mills sails. The DOC final determinations on antidumping (AD) and countervailing duties […]
According to a report by Platts, Eurofer has petitioned the European Commission to expand its AD investigation into imports of HRC from China to include HRC from Turkey, Russia, Brazil, Iran and the Ukraine. Charles de Lusignan, Communications Manager for Eurofer, said he could not confirm or deny that report. It is Eurofer’s policy not […]
The American Manufacturing and Competitiveness Act of 2016 was passed by Congress and signed into law on May 20, 2016. The bill H.R. 4923 creates a transparent process for businesses to request duty suspensions and reductions on imported products for which there is no, or insufficient, domestic availability. The bill calls for regular updates to […]
The Steel Market Update (SMU) Price Momentum Index (MoMo) for hot rolled steel in the United States indicated prices continue to rise albeit at a slightly slower pace than what we measured last week. MoMo has been positive (indicating higher prices) for the 21st consecutive week, following a 21 week negative streak. MoMo is a trailing […]
There could be a further divergence between hot rolled base pricing and that of coated steels. With the combination of the corrosion resistant “final determination” ruling by the US Department of Commerce and the reduction of hot rolled price offers from offshore into the United States, well, things are a little out of whack. In […]
The International Trade Commission is expected to make a decision May 26 on whether the Section 337 filing by US Steel will move forward. The complaint contends China stole trade secrets, fixed prices and participated in transshipping and mislabeling of steel products to evade duties. If the trade action is successful, the US International Trade […]
the U.S. Department of Commerce will release their Final Determination on the corrosion resistant antidumping and countervailing duty trade suit on Wednesday, May 25th (not today). We will have a full report once we receive the announcement on Wednesday. Steel Market Update will not publish our newsletter on Sunday, May 29th due to the Memorial […]
Steel Market Update received a note from trade attorney Lewis E. Leibowitz regarding an “ex parte” memorandum from former Michigan Governor and current President of the Business Rountable, John Engler, about the AD investigation of imports of cold rolled steel from Japan. Mr. Engler was intervening on behalf of Steelcase and their subsidiary PolyVision which […]
Twice per month Steel Market Update (SMU) conducts our flat rolled steel market trends analysis. During the process we find out how buyers and sellers are feeling about their company’s ability to be successful in the current steel environment (SMU Steel Buyers Sentiment Index) and we probe many other areas of interest to those manufacturing, […]
In this evening’s issue we have quite a bit of information about China and the debate regarding Chinese exports, over-capacity and perhaps implosion of steel prices by the end of June. We also have a letter from a manufacturing company who asked the question, why don’t we accept the transfer of wealth from China to […]
Buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel continue to remain optimistic about their company’s ability to be successful in the current market environment (our Current Sentiment Index). On a single data point our Current Sentiment Index was down -1 point from the beginning of May. However, we prefer to use the three month moving average […]
On Monday of this week, Steel Market Update began canvassing the flat rolled steel market as part of our mid-May flat rolled steel market trends analysis. One of the areas we probe is that of mill lead times, the amount of time it takes to get an order produced for new orders placed this week. […]
As the thunderstorms erupt around our offices one of our indices is quite calm. The calming blue color of our bar graph depicts what buyers and sellers are telling us is happening during the negotiation process between mills and their customers: take it or leave it. Respondents to our mid-May flat rolled steel market trends […]
The Steel Market Update (SMU) Price Momentum Index (MoMo) for hot rolled steel in the United States remained positive this week for the 20th consecutive week, following a 21 week negative streak. MoMo, a trailing indicator, is measured as a percentage and shows the relation of the current U.S. hot rolled coil price movements against the […]
I saw a headline in another steel periodical stating that the USS/POSCO price increase was a reaction to the US DOC Final Determination on cold rolled. That doesn’t make sense to me. My understanding is UPI was behind in its pricing and needed to catch up. The new pricing is not outrageous when compared to […]
Today, the Department of Commerce announced its affirmative final determinations in the AD investigations of imports of certain cold-rolled steel flat products (cold-rolled steel) from China and Japan, and CVD investigation of imports of cold-rolled steel from China. Commerce determined imports of cold-rolled steel from China and Japan have been sold in the U.S. at […]
I am in Sylvania, Ohio at our Steel 101 workshop. I want to thank North Star BlueScope for working with us and coming to our workshop this afternoon to discuss their mill, what happened that caused them to cancel our tour and to discuss their mill with our attendees. By the way, it’s a little […]
US Steel has spearheaded an attempt to exclude all Chinese steel products from the U.S. market. But as is usually the case with drastic actions, there are a number of opponents to the move. Companies that use foreign steel in their products have asked the U.S. International Trade Commission to throw the complaint out. Steel […]
On May 17, 2016, the Department of Commerce is scheduled to announce its final determinations in the AD investigations of imports of certain cold-rolled steel flat products from China and Japan and CVD investigation of imports of certain cold-rolled steel flat products from China. The investigations cover certain cold-rolled, flat-rolled, steel products, neither clad, plated, […]
I am in Ohio as we will be hosting another one of our Steel 101 workshops in Sylvania, Ohio. The accident at North Star BlueScope has resulted in the loss of our mill tour. However, I believe this program will be one of the strongest presented as we have been working overtime to fill the […]
On the 24th of May the US Department of Commerce is scheduled to announce their Final Determinations regarding the corrosion resistant trade suits against China, Korea, India, Taiwan and Italy. There is an expectation that the announcement may actually be more supportive of the domestic mill position than what was seen in the Preliminary Determinations. […]
The Steel Market Update (SMU) Price Momentum Index (MoMo) for hot rolled steel in the United States remained positive this week for the 19th consecutive week, following a 21 week negative streak. MoMo, a trailing indicator, is measured as a percentage and shows the relation of the current U.S. hot rolled coil price movements against the […]