Steel 101: Introduction to Steelmaking & Market Fundamentals. Our next workshop will be held in Dearborn, Michigan on May 6-7, 2014. The workshop will include a tour of the Severstal Dearborn fully integrated steel mill. We think the program, our instructors and the mill tour are excellent. But don’t take my word for it. Here […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) began collecting responses earlier this week from the companies invited to participate in our twice monthly flat rolled steel market analysis. Even with weather related issues being felt around the country, our Buyers Sentiment Index was measured at a robust +39 this week. This result is one point lower than from […]
Based on the most recent MSCI flat rolled steel data Steel Market Update has calculated that U.S. service centers grew their “Excess” inventories from +2,000 tons at the end of December to +150,000 ton at the end of January. The “Apparent Excess” is based on a proprietary model which projects future shipments and inventory levels […]
The Steel Market Update Price MoMo Index for flat rolled steel in the U.S remained negative this week for the 4th consecutive week after being in positive territory for the prior 15 weeks. MoMo, a trailing indicator, is measured as a percentage and shows the relation of the current hot rolled coil (HRC) price movements […]
Tonight’s issue is a mouth full. There are times when events occur which need more than 300 words to address. And, in the steel industry, there can be many viewpoints on the same subject. OCTG is one of those subjects. I hope you found the three articles from David Phelps, Paul Lowrey and Peter Brebach. […]
It was a crazy day as all of the government data was not released until 5 PM ET or later – and there was a lot of it. Perhaps the most interesting is the US Department of Commerce “preliminary dumping margins” on oil country tubular goods. Maybe I should restate that – the most interesting […]
The move by the domestic mills to reach $700+ per ton hot rolled is nothing but a blur in the rear view mirror according to the various steel indexes followed by Steel Market Update. Flat rolled steel prices fell across the board on hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized and Galvalume steels this past week. The […]
For the last couple of weeks we have been discussing various kinds of ethical issues that come up in the steel business. This week we will deal with the issue of when flat rolled steel is rejectable. Buyers and sellers often find that they disagree about the quality of the steel. Generally this problem is […]
Steel Market Update will conduct our mid-February flat rolled steel market analysis beginning on Monday morning at 8 AM ET. We encourage those who receive an invitation to participate in our survey to click on the link and spend five minutes answering our inquiries about market conditions, demand, inventories, foreign steel and steel pricing. All […]
The Steel Market Update Price MoMo Index for flat rolled steel in the U.S remained negative this week for the 3rd consecutive week after being in positive territory for the prior 15 weeks. MoMo, a trailing indicator, is measured as a percentage and shows the relation of the current hot rolled coil (HRC) price movements […]
We will hopefully have information and a date for a new workshop we have under development. The new workshop is tentatively being called: Managing Price Risk: Strategies & Execution. The workshop will be for those who already have some knowledge of hot rolled coil (HRC) and busheling (BUS) futures and options trading. Our intention is […]
On Monday, Steel Market Update revised our SMU Price Momentum Indicator from Neutral to Lower. The adjustment means we anticipate flat rolled steel prices will move lower over the next 30 to 60 days. At the time of the change, SMU benchmark hot rolled coil was published at $660 per ton. The last adjustment to […]
For those of you watching the weather you may be aware that Atlanta is suffering through another winter weather event. Since our offices are located north of Atlanta that means we are suffering as well. The good news for me personally is I decided to spend a few days in Florida after attending the Port […]
Steel Market Update conducted our early February flat rolled steel market survey this week. We are pleased to provide our Premium Level members a Power Point presentation on the results which can be access on our website (when logged in) under the Analysis Tab (SMU Survey Results sub-menu). If you are already logged in you […]
Last week we started a discussion on the kinds of ethical issues that buyers and salespeople are exposed to in their everyday activities. The most difficult ethical issues arise because Buyers and Sellers have a fundamental tension in their relationship; they are counterparties negotiating deals where each wants the most for themselves while giving up […]
One of the interesting tidbits that came out of the ArcelorMittal conference call last week was their intention of taking down the #7 blast furnace at Indiana Harbor for two months beginning in May. They also discussed the purchase of ThyssenKrupp which they feel will be completed by the end of March (end of 1st […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) began collecting responses earlier this week from the just shy 600 companies invited to participate in our twice monthly flat rolled steel market analysis. The individuals responding to our questions this week – particularly those related to our SMU Steel Buyers Sentiment Index – were being influenced by weather related issues […]
Based on the results of our steel market survey which we just completed this afternoon, lead times out of the domestic mills remained relatively constant compared to what we reported during the middle of January. Hot rolled lead times slipped to 3.89 weeks (average) down from 4.09 weeks. Cold rolled remained over 6 weeks at […]
The Steel Market Update Price MoMo Index for flat rolled steel in the U.S remained negative this week for the 2nd consecutive week after being in positive territory for the prior 15 weeks. MoMo, a trailing indicator, is measured as a percentage and shows the relation of the current hot rolled coil (HRC) price movements […]
I want to take a moment to thank Mark Bush, General Manager Mobile Operations for SSAB Americas as well as Brent Major of SSAB Americas for their hospitality during our tour of the SSAB Mobile steel facilities as part of our most recent Steel 101 workshop. Our group was impressed with the steelmaking as well […]
On January 14, Steel Market Update (SMU) adjusted our Price Momentum Indicator from Higher to Neutral. This means we see steel market pricing at this moment as either in transition or moving sideways over the next 30 days. With ferrous scrap prices now weakening, lead times shortening and all of the available capacity back in […]
Essentially all of the domestic steel mills have finished maintenance on their blast furnaces. U.S. Steel is bringing back online their Fairfield furnace, Berkeley has completed the expansion of its hot strip mill and other domestic steel mill maintenance projects from 4th Quarter 2013 have been completed. Supply is available and now it is time […]
When Steel Market Update decided to do an article on steel business ethics we knew the subject would elicit an immediate response from a number of our readers – and it has. What is making this process of writing a new series of articles on the subject of ethics interesting, is having another set of […]
Most everyone is well aware that this week is one of those crazy weeks for me personally. I am teaching a portion of our Steel 101 workshop here in Mobile (weather is indeed warm), went on a marvelous mill tour of the SSAB steel mill and spent time networking with our attendees, instructors and SSAB […]
Steel Market Update follows a number of indexes and their average price points on hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized, Galvalume as well as plate. Steel Market Update (SMU) found prices slipping on three of the four products we currently index – hot rolled, galvanized and Galvalume. CRU also picked up some modestly weaker numbers as […]
Buyers and sellers of steel are often exposed to ethical questions in their everyday activities. Some of the ethical issues which arise are fairly easy to discern as being ethical or unethical while others reside in a much tougher to distinguish gray area. Mario Briccetti and I were speaking about doing an ethics article and […]
The Steel Market Update Price MoMo Index for flat rolled steel in the U.S turned negative this week after being in positive territory for 15 consecutive weeks. MoMo, a trailing indicator, is measured as a percentage and shows the relation of the current hot rolled coil (HRC) price movements against the previous 12-week average spot […]
A good portion of the Steel Market Update team is bolting for Mobile on Monday to prepare for our next Steel 101 workshop. We are looking forward to having a spirited workshop and we are appreciative of the efforts of our host steel mill – SSAB – as they prepare for our workshop touring their […]
Severstal is celebrating 10 years of ownership of the former Rouge Steel plant in Dearborn, Michigan. The company purchased Rouge Steel for $290 million in 2004 and saved the mill from going out of business. Severstal has invested more than $1.7 billion and dramatically altered the face and the future of the mill. Steel Market […]
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 by Steel Market Update at present is thirty six. The present situation of twelve of the indicators based on historical standards was positive on January 28th […]