Sentiment among steel buyers, as measured by Steel Market Update’s Dec. 21 questionnaire, saw a small dip as the year comes to a close on concerns about tight steel supplies. As one respondent said, “We need supply in order to be successful. I am not able to line that all up so far for 2021.” […]
Steel Market Update’s check of the market a few days before Christmas shows no let-up in steel demand, as prices continue to rise and lead times continue to extend. With steel supplies remaining extremely tight, lead times for deliveries of hot rolled have stretched to more than eight weeks and coated steel orders to around […]
Based on Steel Market Update’s check of the market this week, hot rolled steel prices are nearing $1,000 per ton, within sight of a record high. With service centers and OEMs willing to pay such high prices in order to secure inventory in a tight market, it’s no surprise the buyers report little willingness among […]
I received a call earlier today from one of our readers who is also a consultant to companies who purchase flat rolled steel. He mentioned to me that there is some confusion with companies who think our index is the same as CRU, since we are owned by CRU. That belief is ill-advised and flat […]
Tomorrow (Monday, Dec. 21) will be the winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, the shortest day of the year (darkest day of the year). With the pandemic raging, and the government breaking out two vaccines to treat COVID-19, the hope is that as the daylight gets longer the pandemic will begin to fade away. For […]
Flat Rolled = 40.0 Shipping Days of Supply Plate = 45.7 Shipping Days of Supply Flat Rolled Service center flat rolled steel inventories continue to reach new lows. At the end of November, service centers carried 40 shipping days of supply, down from 43.1 days in October. November had 19 shipping days, compared to October’s […]
With hot rolled steel fast approaching $1,000 a ton, it’s only a matter of time before prices begin to cut into demand. Some SMU sources already report early signs of a demand shift. Others are less concerned about the volume of orders than about where they will get the steel to fill them if supplies […]
We are quickly moving to the end of 2020, and I am sure many of you cannot wait to put this year in the rearview mirror. I think we all want our lives back. I was texting with someone in the steel industry who had a different perspective, and maybe now is a good time […]
Let’s play “fun facts.” Last week Steel Market Update published our average hot rolled spot price as $885 per ton ($44.25/cwt). With the domestic steel mills asking $900-$960 per ton for new orders of spot (if they are offering at all, which is a separate issue all by itself) SMU expects HRC spot prices to […]
Steel supplies are so tight these days that $1,000 hot rolled is not out of the question. Which makes predictions of a coming “Steelmageddon” seem that much harder to believe. In fact, 60 percent of the service center and manufacturing executives who responded to Steel Market Update’s questionnaire this week do not view Steelmageddon as […]
The Commerce Department released a number of findings in antidumping and countervailing investigations this week. Of particular note were decisions on seamless pipe and steel wire strand. Commerce announced affirmative preliminary determinations in the countervailing duty investigations of seamless carbon and alloy steel standard, line, and pressure pipe from Russia and South Korea. Subsidy rates […]
No one anticipated in August how quickly prices would go up, said CRU Principal Analyst Josh Spoores during this week’s SMU Community Chat Webinar. As four criteria lined up—steel-intensive industrial demand, low supply chain inventories, low imports, and domestic prices below global levels—steel prices in the U.S. surged at the fastest rate in 41 years, […]
On Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, I will be an instructor at our Steel 101: Introduction to Steel Making and Market Fundamentals Workshop. We have a full class with a mixture of steel service centers, manufacturing companies, steel mills, traders, analysts, and suppliers to the industry. I am looking forwarding to discussing supply, demand, […]
Yesterday (Wednesday, Dec. 2) we hosted one of our SMU Community Chat Webinars. The guest speaker was Josh Spoores, Principal Analyst and editor of the Sheet Monitor for CRU. I thought it was one of the best presentations and discussions we have ever had at one of our webinars. You can see a recording and […]
Industry sentiment inched even higher in the past two weeks now that the presidential election is in the rearview mirror and a COVID vaccine is in sight in the months ahead. The COVID pandemic remains a weight on Future Sentiment, however. Every two weeks, SMU asks steel buyers how they view their company’s chances for […]
Steel buyers continue to feel solidly optimistic about their prospects in the weeks and months ahead, though the limited availability of steel is causing widespread concern. As one service center exec commented this week: “The tightness in supply is what will hinder us from being successful. We can’t make a sale if we can’t get […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: The transition to a new administration is now strongly under way. Tomorrow, the president-elect is set to name additional members of his economic team, including the roster of international trade officials. The time for speculation is over since […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: It’s nearing the end of the year—in this particular year, it’s hard to be sorry that we’ll soon turn the page—and time for some reflections. I read and study a lot of history and I find it helps […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: As the 2020 election approaches its final chapters, the legal system has been front-page news. No less important is the rule of law in international trade matters. The Trump campaign and its allies have approached the courts to […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: At the end of 2020, rather than looking back I’d like to look forward. Anyone care to join me? We can anticipate some major changes in government and the economy. The Biden-Harris administration takes over in exactly one […]
On Wednesday, Dec. 2, Steel Market Update will host another in our series of free webinars featuring CRU Principal Analyst and Editor of the CRU Sheet Monitor – Josh Spoores. Spoores and SMU President and Publisher John Packard will chat for about 30 minutes on CRU’s steel sheet forecast for 2020-2021. We will discuss demand, […]
It is Tuesday, Dec, 1, 2020, and the U.S. has just returned from Thanksgiving. I hope everyone enjoyed their long weekend and did what was necessary to remain safe as we wait for the COVID-19 vaccines to be distributed around the world. There is a light at the end of this long journey we have […]
How much further can lead times extend? We’ll let you know. But there is no sign yet that they have peaked. Lead times for delivery of spot orders continue to stretch with hot rolled now averaging nearly seven weeks and coated steel orders nearly nine and a half weeks. Lead times are an indicator of […]
Lead times for spot orders of hot rolled steel have extended by another half-week as demand persistently outpaces supplies. Lead times for steel deliveries continue to stretch with hot rolled now averaging nearly seven and a half weeks and coated steel orders around nine and a half weeks. Lead times are an indicator of steel demand—longer […]
In a market where supplies of various products are so tight that some buyers say they would be willing to pay almost any price just to get material, there is very little negotiation going on between the mills and their spot market customers. The mills have no reason to bargain when demand is so far […]
There is very little negotiation going on between the mills and their spot market customers as supplies remain extremely tight and buyers are happy just to find available material, even if they have to pay a substantial premium. It has been a seller’s market since September, with the mills enjoying most of the leverage, and […]
“Market’s great if you have supply.” I was speaking with a service center this afternoon who told me on Monday of this week they were selling spot hot rolled out of inventory at $840 per ton. Then Nucor raised their spot HRC number for February to $840 per ton. Today, all items through this service […]
The thought of a possible steel shortage gained new ground this past week as news of spreading coronavirus infections at ArcelorMittal Burns Harbor, the breakout at the No. 2 caster at Dofasco, the slow return of production at Stelco due to a hack of their computer systems, and the continued strike at the NLMK USA […]
I am hearing the U.S. Steel Gary Works #4 blast furnace will be coming back up by the end of this year. According to AIST, the #4 furnace is rated at 1,390,000 tons of pig iron annually. So, this means we will have more supply added from USS and from Big River Steel as they […]
Flat Rolled = 43.1 Shipping Days of Supply Plate = 45.9 Shipping Days of Supply Flat Rolled Service center flat roll inventories fell to a new low in October, amid extending mill lead times and shipment delays. Service centers carried 43.1 shipping days of supply at the end of October, which is a 3.8 percent […]