SMU was told this afternoon that AK Steel has finally “caught up” on their hot rolled and cold rolled orders and, as our source put it today, “was out looking for orders.” There was no reference to AK dropping pricing at this time. We were told the mill was still sold out on coated products. […]
Welcome back to those who have returned to your offices for the next big summer push. I spent a portion of my day today trying to get a sense of how business conditions are for those with whom I was speaking. With the exception of one service center located on the East Coast who told […]
Records seem to be breaking just about every time we measure how flat rolled steel buyers and sellers feel about their company’s ability to be successful in the current market environment. There has been a growing optimism within the steel community as business conditions improve for most market segments. This optimism is reported in our […]
Steel mill lead times remained extended (or from a mill perspective, at reasonable levels) on all products. Benchmark hot rolled lead times averaged 4.91 weeks which is essentially unchanged from the 5.00 weeks reported at the beginning of May. Last year at this time HRC lead times averaged 3.03 weeks. We are running approximately 2 […]
Lead times are reported as being relatively stable compared to two weeks ago, but down slightly from the cycle highs which were achieved within the past two months. Our manufacturing and service center respondents reported the domestic steel mills as becoming more flexible in their flat rolled steel price negotiations. Fifty percent of the manufacturing […]
Lead times are reported as being relatively stable compared to two weeks ago, but down slightly from the cycle highs which were achieved within the past two months. Our manufacturing and service center respondents reported the domestic steel mills as becoming more flexible in their flat rolled steel price negotiations. Fifty percent of the manufacturing […]
Demand is continuing to improve according to participants in our Steel Market Update (SMU) mid-May Steel Market Survey. Just over half of our respondents, 50.49 percent, said steel demand is improving, up from 47 percent in mid-April and less than one quarter in mid-March. This month we polled a group consisting mainly of manufacturing companies […]
The Steel Market Update Price MoMo Index for flat rolled steel in the U.S was positive this week for the 7th week in a row after being in negative territory for the prior 10 weeks. However, the Index dropped 2.06 percent in one week after dropping 0.54 percent the week prior. MoMo, a trailing indicator, […]
A reminder that Steel Market Update will not publish this Sunday evening due to the Memorial Day Weekend Holiday here in the United States. We will publish our next steel newsletter on Tuesday. We wish everyone in the United States a safe, healthy and happy holiday weekend. Our September 3 & 4th Forecasting & Steel […]
It has been a very busy last 24 hours for Steel Market Update as we try to stay on top of all of the important news items, pricing, conduct our mid-May flat rolled market analysis and work on completing arrangements for our September Steel Conference. We learned that US Steel Gary Works has all of […]
On Monday we will begin our next flat rolled steel market analysis. We will be sending out approximately 600 invitations to participate in our survey. If you receive an invitation please click on the link contained in the message and spend a few minutes responding to our inquiries. The ArcelorMittal Cleveland C-5 blast furnace is […]
On Wednesday, Steel Market Update adjusted our SMU Price Momentum Indicator to Neutral from Higher. Our Price Momentum Indicator had been pointing toward Higher prices ever since March 25, 2014. Over the past seven weeks, hot rolled coil prices advanced from $630 to a high of $685 per ton based on the Steel Market Update […]
The Steel Market Update Price MoMo Index for flat rolled steel in the U.S was positive this week for the 6th week in a row after being in negative territory for the prior 10 weeks. MoMo, a trailing indicator, is measured as a percentage and shows the relation of the current hot rolled coil (HRC) […]
SMU sources advised us on Wednesday that the steelmaking operations at U.S. Steel Great Lakes (Ecorse) in Michigan had begun. This afternoon, US Steel confirmed that the start-up process was underway with no further elaboration or comment. We anticipate that the mill will begin making prime steel within a few days to a week. Our […]
Flat rolled steel buyers and sellers of steel have split personalities–believing the domestic steel mills will officially raise prices to the $700 level on hot rolled while at the same time believing that prices will essentially trend sideways from here between now and the first of June. Last week Steel Market Update conducted our early […]
I am getting excited by the progress we are making on our September Steel Summit conference. I have been talking to as many manufacturing companies, service centers, steel mills and trading companies as we strive to put on an exceptional program with quality speakers who will provide valuable content. Easy to say, not so easy […]
For the first time since Steel Market Update began surveying the flat rolled steel industry, a majority of our respondents are reporting demand as “improving.” As you can see by the timeline shown in the graphic below, the optimistic trend for demand growth began to pick up steam during late 1st Quarter 2014 and momentum […]
Last week was a busy week with scrap prices for May coming into focus, our beginning of May flat rolled steel survey having been completed and getting more information about the possible sale of the Severstal NA assets made for an interesting week. On top of that SMU conducted one of our Steel 101 workshops. […]
Buyers and sellers of steel continue to grow in their belief that their company will be successful in both the existing market as well as out into the future. A new record high for our Index was achieved this week as our Steel Market Update (SMU) Steel Buyers Sentiment Index was measured at +59. This […]
Steel Market Update conducted our early May flat rolled steel market survey this week and the results are raising some questions as to whether the tightness in supply is beginning to abate. We found hot rolled lead times as shrinking half a week and cold rolled a little more than what we had reported from […]
The domestic steel mills continue to be united in their approach to negotiating flat rolled steel pricing. Based on data collected this week from our flat rolled steel market survey, we found that only 30 percent of the respondents were reporting the domestic mills as willing to negotiate hot rolled steel pricing. This is up […]
The Steel Market Update Price MoMo Index for flat rolled steel in the U.S was positive this week for the 5th week in a row after being in negative territory for the prior 10 weeks. MoMo, a trailing indicator, is measured as a percentage and shows the relation of the current hot rolled coil (HRC) […]
You can expect to begin to read a lot of articles calling for prices “peaking” or about the subject of where do prices go from here. The expectation is that prices will move lower and everyone will have an opinion or theory as to why this will happen. Others will make the case for sideways […]
Our Steel 101 workshop spent the afternoon touring Severstal Dearborn. As the class climbed catwalks and peaked at molten steel I spent most of the afternoon in the executive offices meeting with the mill’s CEO Saikat Dey.This was my first opportunity to meet with Mr. Dey and I found him to be intelligent, charming and […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) flat rolled steel price indices all saw very large double digit increases from the beginning to the conclusion of April 2014. Steel Market Update provides a range for our readers from low to high with the average being our indexed number for the product. We saw benchmark hot rolled prices increasing […]
The following article is a continuation of our Steel Buyers Basics series written by Mario Briccetti. Mario is Principal of Briccetti & Associates, a Supply Chain consulting firm, and can be reached at Mario@mbriccetti.com In my series of articles, I have stressed that buyers should have the best information possible in order to effectively negotiate pricing […]
We will begin our beginning of May steel market survey early on Monday morning and will keep it open until Thursday afternoon of this week. If you receive an invitation, please take a moment to click on the link which will take you to SurveyMonkey.com which hosts our questionnaire. Those who participate in our survey […]
Flat rolled steel mills have become less willing to negotiate flat rolled steel spot prices with their customers. During the analysis of the flat rolled steel market conducted by Steel Market Update earlier this week, we found large adjustments in negotiations on hot rolled pricing as well as spot galvanized steel pricing. Cold rolled actually […]
The Steel Market Update Price MoMo Index for flat rolled steel in the U.S was positive this week for the 4th week in a row after being in negative territory for the prior 10 weeks. MoMo, a trailing indicator, is measured as a percentage and shows the relation of the current hot rolled coil (HRC) […]
A quick Final Thoughts this evening as I am in Chicago for the Metals Industry Boy Scout Dinner. For those of you who have interesting sales stories from your steel career or otherwise, I am interested in collecting sales related stories/advice, etc. Please send your comments or stories to me at: John@SteelMarketUpdate.com. A reminder that […]