Nucor followed up their verbal price increase of $20 per ton last week with specific base prices yesterday (Wednesday, November 5, 2014). In a letter from the Nucor Sheet Mill Group, the mill advised their customers that their minimum base price levels on spot flat rolled are now: $33.00/cwt ($660 per ton) and $39.00/cwt ($780 […]
We didn’t get the transcript of the AK Steel earnings conference call until this evening. A little late to do a full blown article. However, there were a few items that I wanted to point out to our readers. AK Steel reported that approximately 50 percent of their business is related to automotive. They reported […]
For the majority of the month of October, the SMU Steel Price Momentum Indicator was referencing lower prices for the next 30 to 60 day period. At the end of the month, we revised our Indicator to Neutral due to AK Steel, US Steel and Nucor having made $20 per ton price increase announcements. It […]
There are a number of ways to connect with new potential customers (prospects). The most effective is when customers come to you either through a marketing effort you and your company or, better yet came from a recommendation from one of your customers. Another way you can also reach new potential customers is by conducting […]
An explanation of the Key Indicators concept is given at the end of this piece for those readers who are unfamiliar with it. The total number of indicators considered has been increased by one this month to thirty six. We have added the price of coking coal FOB the Australian East Coast to the raw […]
So, the question of the week is – will the $20 per ton price increase announced by most of the mills, first, be followed by those who have not yet announced, and second, will the mills even attempt to make it stick. A $20 per ton increase does not represent strong, confident steel producers. Usually […]
The Steel Market Update Price MoMo Index for flat rolled steel in the U.S. indicates hot rolled coil price momentum continued its downward trend for the tenth week in a row. MoMo, which is a trailing indicator, is measured as a percentage and shows the relation of the current hot rolled coil (HRC) price movements […]
I adjusted the SMU Price Momentum Indicator from Lower to Neutral in recognition of the attempt by the domestic steel mills to reverse the price trend and move prices higher. A Neutral indicator means prices could move in either direction (or remain stable) over the next 30 days. I understand two mills have made very […]
This is good. There is a debate going on within the industry regarding the need for a price increase and whether the customers (tail) are wagging the dog (mill). One buyers ask SMU, “Knowing their history of lacking price discipline…taking advantage of their fear and uncertainty of not filling mill and talking the market down […]
Steel Market Update is beginning to see weakness in demand based on the results of our last two flat rolled steel market surveys. The manufacturing companies are the first to report the weakness and service centers are beginning to follow. Our Premium (and free trial) level members can review the Power Point presentation that we […]
Steel buyers and sellers continue to be optimistic about their company’s ability to be successful in the current market conditions. However, there are some signs of strain growing, either due to seasonal pressures or margin squeezes, that may be giving pause to some within the industry. Even so, the results from the mid-October flat rolled […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) conducted our mid-October flat rolled steel market survey this week. Based on the results of that survey, we found lead times essentially unchanged from one week ago and basically the same as one year ago. Hot rolled averages 4.2 weeks, cold rolled 6.09 weeks, galvanized 6.11 weeks and Galvalume 6.58 weeks. […]
The Steel Market Update Price MoMo Index for flat rolled steel in the U.S. indicates hot rolled coil price momentum continued its downward trend for the ninth week in a row. MoMo, which is a trailing indicator, is measured as a percentage and shows the relation of the current hot rolled coil (HRC) price movements […]
I spent a good portion of this week either in Louisiana or traveling to and from the state. I attended an energy conference at Louisiana State University (LSU) which I found to be fascinating. I found out how little I knew about the various drilling operations for oil and natural gas and how far the […]
We have selected the hotel we will be using for our next Steel 101 workshop (January 20-21, 2014). The hotel will be the Charleston Harbor Resort & Marina and we have a great off-season rate. We should have more details on the hotel and have the reservations system set up by the middle of this […]
The Steel Market Update Price MoMo Index for flat rolled steel in the U.S. indicates hot rolled coil price momentum continued its downward trend for the eighth week in a row. MoMo, which is a trailing indicator, is measured as a percentage and shows the relation of the current hot rolled coil (HRC) price movements […]
Besides working on flat rolled steel pricing for most of the week, I have also been interviewing companies by email and over the phone to learn more about demand and how demand is holding up as we get deeper into 4th Quarter 2014. This becomes an even more important topic when considering rising inventories at […]
It was nice to see that US Steel was able to get a contract with their USW Local 1005 at Hamilton Works in Canada. Their contract was set to expire tomorrow (October 15th). For our Premium level members, we should have the Imports by Product, Port and Country for August on our website by sometime […]
Steel Market Update conducted our early October flat rolled steel market survey this past week and the results are available in a power point format for our Premium level members on our website. The power point is also shared with those who completed the survey. As with past surveys, SMU invited just over 600 people […]
We are in a very interesting market as many factors are influencing domestic scrap and steel prices. We discuss currency issues in tonight’s issue as the appreciating dollar means less competitive exports out of the United States but it also makes foreign steel imports more attractive to buyers. We have falling iron ore (which is […]
Buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel continue to be optimistic regarding their company’s ability to be successful in the current market environment as well as out three to six months into the future. Steel Market Update reported their Sentiment Index as +64 on Thursday, October 9th. The + 64 reading is unchanged from their […]
On Monday of this week, SMU began our early October flat rolled steel market survey. Invitations were sent to approximately 600 companies across the United States and Canada. The survey was concluded earlier today (Thursday). One of the key focus areas for the survey is to discover if there are any changes in lead times […]
Based on the responses received from our SMU flat rolled steel survey conducted this week, we have learned that the domestic steel mills have become more willing to negotiate flat rolled steel prices than they were in mid-September. We also learned the mills are more willing to discuss pricing than they have been going back […]
The Steel Market Update Price MoMo Index for flat rolled steel in the U.S. indicates hot rolled coil price momentum fell this week for the seventh week in a row. MoMo, which is a trailing indicator, is measured as a percentage and shows the relation of the current hot rolled coil (HRC) price movements against […]
I noticed that one of our Steel Summit speakers, Timna Tanners of Bank of America Merrill Lynch Research, has been named to the All-America Research Team as the Number 1 Metals & Mining Analyst by Institutional Investor. This is the second number one ranking for Tanners in as many years. Timna is a fan of […]
On Tuesday (today) Steel Market Update (SMU) adjusted our Price Momentum Indicator from Neutral to Lower. I explain our reasoning in the first article above regarding our price indices. I will do a more detailed explanation as to why we are making a change at this point in time in the coming days. Today Steel […]
The following article was written by John Packard, founder and publisher of Steel Market Update and an active steel salesperson for 31 years within the flat rolled steel industry. Packard’s experiences include 20 years of service center sales and management experience, 10 years of domestic steel mill sales experience (as an agent) and 6 years […]
I will take a moment to recommend the Armada Corporate Intelligence report and the Armada website as something those in the marketing sections of your company may want to subscribe to. The cost is negligible and the value is quite high in my opinion. A good example is on their website on Saturday, October 4th […]
Our Price Momentum Indicator has been stuck in “Neutral” since the last day of June 2014. We are now entering our 4th month and hot rolled steel prices have barely budged from the center line (OK, there have been some mild gyrations but no clear cut path up or down during the past three months). […]
One of the first things that we noticed when looking at the graph below is all of the “neutral” arrows (yellow arrows in SMU Pricing Momentum) going across the full spectrum of the table shown. We went back to see at what point did we move our Momentum to Neutral and found we made the […]