We hosted the greatest conference we have ever held over the past few days. This year’s SMU Steel Summit Conference smashed attendance records with 1,291 registered attendees. This does not include the dozens who networked in the lobbies of the four hotels surrounding the Georgia International Convention Center. It was a wonderful and emotional experience […]
We’ve concluded the second day of our Steel Summit conference in Atlanta, and I thought I’d leave you with five things I learned today. So here they are in no particular order: Say Hello to ADI, Say Goodbye to Section 232 (as we know it) It’s not official yet. But Steel Dynamics Inc. (SDI) president […]
This is bittersweet. With the 2022 SMU Steel Summit Conference to begin on Monday morning at 9 a.m. and our “official” opening slated for 1 p.m. Monday afternoon, it is time for me to reflect on the conference, and for that matter, my history within the steel industry. For those who are unaware, this will be […]
The House of Representatives on Friday approved the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) on a party-line vote. This legislation, with only Democratic support, passed the Senate 51-50 last weekend. The bill now goes to President Joe Biden, who will sign it into law. This is by any measure a major piece of legislation. On the surface, […]
Steel Market Update is pleased to share this new Premium content—an index comparing lead time and demand data—with Executive members. For information on upgrading to a Premium-level subscription, email Info@SteelMarketUpdate.com. Apparent demand for flat-rolled steel in the US was sideways in our mid-August reading. The lack of change in the index highlights the current state of […]
Steel Market Update’s Steel Buyers Sentiment Index eased from it’s early-August blip, as did our Future Steel Buyers Sentiment Index. The latest Sentiment Index is tied with the early-June reading for the third lowest level recorded this year. Future Sentiment is now at the fourth lowest level of the year. Recall that one month ago, […]
We’ll kick off our Steel Summit conference in Atlanta in just a few short days. I’m looking forward to learning from executives across the supply chain – from steel mills and service centers to automakers and trucking companies. I’m also looking forward to getting the mood of the room when we do our annual poll […]
The percentage of buyers reporting that mills’ prices are negotiable contracted this week, following more than two consecutive months of rising negotiation rates. Four out of five steel executives polled this week reported that mills are willing to talk price to secure an order. According to our steel market surveys, a high willingness to negotiate […]
Steel mill lead times were relatively flat this week compared to our previous market check, with some products slightly up and others down. Hot rolled, cold rolled and plate lead times slightly declined compared to levels seen two weeks ago, while coated lead times increased. On average this week, lead times increased by 0.2 weeks […]
Steel mill lead times were mixed this week, with the processing time for some ordered products extending, shrinking for one, and another holding steady. Cold rolled and coated lead times increased compared to our previous market check, while plate lead times slightly declined and hot rolled lead times remained flat. On average this week, lead […]
The US Department of Commerce recently recalculated the dumping margins for hot-rolled steel flat imports from Japan’s Nippon Steel. And while Nippon supports the remand results, it has also filed comments with the US Court of International Trade (CIT) regarding two additional complaints. On the remand order of the CIT, Commerce recalculated Nippon’s dumping rate […]
This will be my last article prior to the SMU Steel Summit Conference which begins on Monday morning of this coming week. We are now six days away from the start of the conference. As you can imagine, this is a hectic time for the SMU and CRU events teams. Some of the event’s staff […]
Flat Rolled = 54.7 Shipping Days of Supply Plate = 63.8 Shipping Days of Supply Flat Rolled US service center flat rolled inventories declined slightly in July as service centers worked to align inventories with slowing demand. At the end of July, service centers carried 54.7 shipping days of supply, down from 55 shipping days […]
We had a big development this week with London-listed Russian steelmaker Evraz Plc announcing plans to sell its North American operations. A move like this has been rumored for some time. We’ve heard versions of it going back to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in late February. Still, it was something of a shock to […]
Steel Market Update is pleased to share this new Premium content – an index comparing lead time and demand data – with Executive members. For information on upgrading to a Premium-level subscription, email Info@SteelMarketUpdate.com. Apparent demand for flat-rolled steel in the US turned in our early August reading, though it’s too early to note if […]
The House of Representatives on Friday approved the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) on a party-line vote. This legislation, with only Democratic support, passed the Senate 51-50 last weekend. The bill now goes to President Joe Biden, who will sign it into law. This is by any measure a major piece of legislation. On the surface, […]
We are now 11 days away from the start of the 2022 SMU Steel Summit Conference at the Georgia International Convention Center in Atlanta. As of Wednesday, we had 1,174 registered attendees from all over the world. This year’s conference will be the largest one ever conducted by Steel Market Update, and it will be […]
Nucor announced a price hike on Monday, and our HRC price is up modestly for the first time since mid-April. It’s too early to say whether those two trends are related. Our HRC price went up $15 per ton. Nucor’s price increase was $50 per ton, and the jury is still out on whether it […]
I mentioned in my last Final Thoughts that I’d been surprised to see hot-rolled coil lead times inch up, even if only modestly so. I cautioned at the time not to make too much of just one data point or to call a trend based on just one survey. That big caveat aside, as we […]
Everguard.ai CEO Sandeep Pandya will be the featured speaker on the next SMU Community Chat webinar on Wednesday, Sept. 21, at 11 a.m. ET. The live webinar is free. A recording will be free to SMU members. You can register here. Sandeep will explain some of the most innovative safety technology advancements —including not only […]
The US International Trade Commission (ITC) recently conducted hearings on the future of the Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum as well as on the Section 301 tariffs on imports from China. Congress mandated the ITC investigation in response to calls for the tariffs to be reduced or eliminated to fight inflation. Unlike the […]
Steel Market Update’s Steel Buyers Sentiment Index bounced back from its mid-July dip and is now at the highest level since early June. Our Future Sentiment Index also significantly recovered compared to our previous survey and is now at an eight-week high. SMU surveys steel buyers every other week, asking how they view their chances of […]
At the request of US pipe and tube producers, the US Department of Commerce has begun inquiries into the alleged circumvention of antidumping and countervailing duties (AD/CVD) on a variety of products from a host of Asian countries. The request came from Atlas Tube Inc., Bull Moose Tube Co., Maruichi American Corp., Nucor Tubular Products […]
Additional antidumping and countervailing duty rates on imports of corrosion-resistant steel flat products have been updated by the US Department of Commerce. In the preliminary results of an administrative review looking at the period July 1, 2020, through June 30, 2021, Commerce updated the weighted-average dumping margins for three Taiwanese companies. Preliminary rates were set […]
We’ve got a full issue tonight, so I’ll keep my final thoughts brief. If you’re looking for reasons to be bearish, there are still plenty out there. When it comes to sheet prices, nearly all respondents to our survey report that mills are willing to negotiate lower. When it comes to geopolitics, the war in […]
The US Department of Commerce has issued the preliminary results of administrative reviews of the antidumping duties on corrosion-resistant steel flat products from China and South Korea, setting new import duty rates for the period July 1, 2020, through June 30, 2021. In China’s review, Metalco was the sole company subject to the review. Because […]
The US International Trade Commission is not afraid to air out dirty laundry. On August 3, the USITC ruled to maintain the existing antidumping duties on imports of large residential washing machines from China. The duties have been in place since 2016. Under the current order, a large residential washing machine is considered to be any […]
As has been the case for six weeks now, nearly nine out of ten steel executives polled this week reported that mills are willing to talk price to secure an order. According to our steel market surveys, a high willingness to negotiate has been evident in each of our checks since early May. SMU polls […]
Steel mill lead times were mixed this week, with some products slightly up and others down, according to SMU’s latest market check. Hot rolled and plate lead times rose compared to what we saw two weeks ago, while cold rolled and coated lead times inched further downward. Is this just a blip or the start […]
Flat-rolled steel prices fell again this week as they have just about every week since late April. But there were a couple of new trends of note this time, even if they don’t change the overall narrative of a continued correction in flat-rolled steel prices. For starters, plate prices took a big tumble – down […]