The Coalition of American Metal Manufacturers and Users (CAMMU) wants the Biden administration to terminate Section 232 tariffs and quotas on imported steel and aluminum “at once.” The group–which claims to represent more than 30,000 companies and one million workers in downstream metals-consuming sectors–said doing so will save jobs at home and allow the U.S. […]
Some of you may have noticed that we have adjusted our language when it comes to the SMU Price Momentum Indicator. At this moment, the momentum indicators for hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized, Galvalume and plate steels are pointing toward higher prices over the near term (next 30 to possibly as far out as 60 […]
Steel Market Update released the final detailed report on service center inventories and shipments to our data providers on Friday. It will be released to our Premium level members tomorrow. I mentioned in Thursday’s Final Thoughts that watching this data is one of the keys to figuring out when the market may get to a […]
Section 232 tariffs on imported steel and aluminum netted the U.S. government nearly $2 billion in its 2020 fiscal year. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) collected $1.3 billion in Section 232 tariffs on imported steel in fiscal 2020 and $500 million in tariffs on imported aluminum, according to a recent report from the agency. […]
Steel buyers are feeling good about their prospects later this year, as this week’s Steel Market Update Future Sentiment Index saw its highest reading in more than two years at +66, a 13-point jump over the past two weeks. Current Sentiment, which saw a small, four-point bump to +68, is equally optimistic. Every two weeks, […]
Every other week Steel Market Update conducts a detailed analysis of the flat rolled and plate steel markets. We invite close to 600 individuals associated with manufacturing, distribution, steel mills, trading companies and suppliers to those industries. We intentionally weight the invitations toward end users and steel distribution companies since they are the largest buyers […]
The American Metals Supply Chain Institute (AMSCI) wants President Joe Biden to repeal Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum. The group, formerly known as the American Institute for International Steel (AIIS), said doing so was necessary for the health of the metals supply chain and the broader U.S. economy. The request: that the Biden […]
Stronger longer than many anticipated…. An interesting comment from a couple of service centers today, one in the South and another in the Midwest. These two companies agree that the last $100 to $150 per ton in price increases are from panicked buyers. Once those panic buyers are removed from the market…then what? I have […]
No steel mill earnings report is complete these days without the CEO touting his company’s environmental credentials. Cleveland-Cliffs CEO Lourenco Goncalves said this week that his company is committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions 25% by 2030. “We at Cleveland-Cliffs acknowledge that one of the most important issues impacting our planet is climate change. […]
Steel Market Update’s check of the market this week puts the current price for hot rolled at a new record high of $1,150 per ton ($57.50/cwt). But with increases of just $10 per ton in the last couple weeks, the upward momentum in pricing appears to be slowing. SMU keeps a close eye on the […]
Steel Market Update’s check of the market this week puts the benchmark price for hot rolled at $1,180 per net ton. The spot market continues to set new highs for the HR price, which in the second week of January topped the old record of $1,070 per ton reported by SMU in 2008. It has […]
The Biden administration’s cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline has prompted the United Steelworkers union in Canada to prod Ottawa to implement “Buy Canadian” policies in a bid to stem job losses. “Layoffs and plant closures seem to be the only orders on the books for many Canadian steel plants,” said USW Western Canada Director Stephen […]
It’s impossible to know what the future holds for the steel market in 2021, but our immediate prospects are less uncertain simply because we have a new president. At least we know who will be calling the shots for the next four years. That should help companies anticipate Biden’s major policy decisions—like them or not—so they […]
As prices soar to historical high levels, we are constantly probing, looking for signs of a crack in flat rolled or plate steel prices. Nucor announced higher plate base prices today with discrete plate being referenced at $51.00/cwt ($1,020 per ton). Here are some of the “interesting” comments we received from steel buyers this week: […]
President Joe Biden has signed an executive order aimed at more strictly enforcing laws stipulating that U.S.-made goods be used in federally funded projects. Key to steel: The order will further limit waivers to domestic-content requirements for products that are truly not made in the U.S., industry sources said. The move is important because the […]
If the market is getting anxious about a coming correction in steel prices, there are few signs of it yet in industry sentiment data, as measured by Steel Market Update. Current Sentiment remains at an optimistic level in the mid-60s where it has ranged since October. Future Sentiment is slightly less bullish but still above typical […]
I received a call from Cleveland-Cliffs in response to an inquiry I had made a couple of weeks back regarding the #6 blast furnace at their Cleveland steel mill. Cliffs wanted to make sure I understand as the #6 blast furnace comes back online that it is not to increase production, only to replace the […]
The average lead time on spot orders of hot rolled steel from the mill declined slightly for the second time in Steel Market Update’s biweekly survey and is now more than a half-week shorter than at this time last month. Lead times for other flat rolled products remained relatively unchanged, however, in SMU’s latest check […]
After registering a slight dip in Steel Market Update data two weeks ago, lead times for delivery of spot orders of hot rolled steel inched back out again this week to an average of nearly eight weeks. SMU and most in the market have been watching closely for signs that lead times are beginning to […]
There has been little to no price negotiations between spot buyers and the mills since September, and Steel Market Update data shows no sign that is changing. More than nine out of 10 buyers responding to SMU’s questionnaire this week (note the predominant blue bars) reported that the mills are almost always unwilling to negotiate […]
With one month of the new year in the record books, steel demand continues to outpace supplies, leaving the mills in a dominant negotiating position. Roughly nine out of 10 buyers responding to Steel Market Update’s questionnaire this week reported that their mill reps are unwilling to talk price on virtually all flat rolled and […]
Earlier this week I received a note from one of our readers regarding the plate price index and the changes we recently made to the index (FOB Mill vs. Delivered pricing). We were asked how we are accomplishing this, and how do our members reconcile the historical data that was based on delivered pricing versus […]
Flat Rolled = 51.3 Shipping Days of Supply Plate = 50.8 Shipping Days of Supply Flat Rolled Service center flat rolled steel inventories found their low point in November and bounced back up in December. Service centers carried 51.3 shipping days of supply at the end of December, up from 40 in November. The data […]
“It’s not how much it cost, it’s do I have steel to make my parts…?” That was one of the comments discussed this morning during our HARDI galvanized steel conference call. Some of the mechanical contractors have jobs to complete, and they need steel to finish. However, others are trying to hold back on buying […]
On Wednesday at noon the Biden administration will take over the Executive Branch of the U.S. government. President Biden is planning on hitting the ground running as he works to control the pandemic, put the U.S. back in the Paris Climate Accord, and (unfortunately) deal with a country fractured by Trump insurrectionists. Biden has made […]
I anticipate next week’s spot hot rolled and other flat rolled steel prices will be higher than what we reported on Tuesday evening (HRC = $1,080 per ton average). We received information from an end user today of hot rolled purchases of $1,140 per ton for end of March/early April production. An order for HR […]
Hot rolled steel prices are venturing into uncharted territory as an unprecedented combination of variables—idled capacity, short supplies, limited imports and an economy that’s surprisingly strong despite the pandemic—keep pushing them higher. Assuming that today’s record-high prices are unsustainable for the long-term, Steel Market Update asked in its survey last week: At what level do […]
The runup in steel prices continues unabated with benchmark hot rolled prices now averaging $1,080 per ton. The $1,080 number on hot rolled is the highest in our history (we reported $1,070 back in July 2008). Steel buyers should note that even as we bust through our past record high, we believe prices will still […]
Current Sentiment among steel buyers, as measured by Steel Market Update’s Jan. 4 questionnaire, saw a small increase, while Future Sentiment saw a small decrease, suggesting that service center and OEM executives feel more confident about their immediate prospects than they do about the uncertainty ahead. As one commented: “We ended 2020 struggling to get […]
After communicating with one of our readers over the weekend, I realize it is important for our readers, and those who interact with our website, to understand what the SMU Price Momentum Indicator means. The SMU Price Momentum Indicator definition on our website clearly states that this is meant to be a visual showing where […]