I want to thank everyone who has gone to the effort of registering early for our Steel Summit Conference. We are exceeding expectations having already registered three times as many people as we had at this time last year. If you have not yet registered we have provided a listing of the companies attending (so […]
We were a little surprised on Friday when the International Trade Commission (ITC) announced they had reached a unanimous decision on the CORE (corrosion resistant) trade case. This one is important because the first ITC ruling on cold rolled from Japan and China was a slam dunk. Neither country chose to defend themselves and basically […]
I am working on an article about the difficulties manufacturing companies face when trying to recoup a portion (or all) of the flat rolled steel price increases from their customers. This morning I spoke with a manufacturing entity in the building materials segment of the industry who reported their industry has taken prices up by […]
Two steel mills announced price increases today. This is the beginning of the 6th round of increases since the first announcement in early December 2015. However, unlike past announcements this one just doesn’t “feel” the same. We are not seeing a rush to buy (unless it was a special deal at much less than the […]
One of the articles in this evening’s issue of Steel Market Update is based on questions being asked during a conversation we had with a number of steel executives in New York City last week. About one quarter of our articles are prompted by questions or comments we receive from buyers and sellers of steel […]
To everyone who was in New York City for the Steel Success Strategies conference or other meetings surrounding the conference, welcome home. I was quite pleased to hear that our Steel Summit Conference was being discussed in the halls and streets of New York. If everyone who told me they (or their company) were coming […]
As most of you know, I am in New York City running with the steel crowd associated with the Steel Success Strategies and the surrounding steel “events” entertaining the industry over the first three days of this week. I have probably spoken to 60-70 individuals about many subjects of interest, pricing, lead times, potential for […]
A reminder that I will be in New York City beginning on Monday and will not return to my office until late on Wednesday afternoon. I will be attending a number of steel-related meetings and conferences that surround the World Steel Dynamics Steel Success Strategies Conference. I do have some time slots open on Tuesday […]
A reminder that I will be in New York City beginning on Monday, June 13th and Tuesday, June 14th. I have a number of commitments but, if you would like to get together with me please shoot me an email: John@SteelMarketUpdate.com or you can text me while in NYC at: 770-596-6268. I will be at […]
I spent a good portion of my day today talking to traders (importers of foreign steel) as well as steel buyers. A number of questions were raised about the amount of foreign steel actually being offered as well as the amount of orders that were actually being placed. From my perspective, I am not seeing […]
I received a couple of notes from trading companies thanking me for my article on Thursday evening (The Sky is NOT Falling… at least not yet) as I tried to put into context some of the pricing available for foreign steel, correct some misinformation and look at the bigger picture. Even as questions arise about […]
My understanding is most of the mills canceled any scrap not yet delivered by the end of May. They do this when they believe scrap negotiations for June will result in better prices for them. It is still very early in the negotiation process, especially considering that Monday was a holiday. One scrap expert told […]
To all of our U.S. readers, welcome back from the Memorial Day Holiday. Each holiday is a big deal to me as this past weekend was one of those rare occasions where I wasn’t writing or studying the market every day and was able to actually take a couple of days off and give my […]
There could be a further divergence between hot rolled base pricing and that of coated steels. With the combination of the corrosion resistant “final determination” ruling by the US Department of Commerce and the reduction of hot rolled price offers from offshore into the United States, well, things are a little out of whack. In […]
the U.S. Department of Commerce will release their Final Determination on the corrosion resistant antidumping and countervailing duty trade suit on Wednesday, May 25th (not today). We will have a full report once we receive the announcement on Wednesday. Steel Market Update will not publish our newsletter on Sunday, May 29th due to the Memorial […]
In this evening’s issue we have quite a bit of information about China and the debate regarding Chinese exports, over-capacity and perhaps implosion of steel prices by the end of June. We also have a letter from a manufacturing company who asked the question, why don’t we accept the transfer of wealth from China to […]
I saw a headline in another steel periodical stating that the USS/POSCO price increase was a reaction to the US DOC Final Determination on cold rolled. That doesn’t make sense to me. My understanding is UPI was behind in its pricing and needed to catch up. The new pricing is not outrageous when compared to […]
I am in Sylvania, Ohio at our Steel 101 workshop. I want to thank North Star BlueScope for working with us and coming to our workshop this afternoon to discuss their mill, what happened that caused them to cancel our tour and to discuss their mill with our attendees. By the way, it’s a little […]
I am in Ohio as we will be hosting another one of our Steel 101 workshops in Sylvania, Ohio. The accident at North Star BlueScope has resulted in the loss of our mill tour. However, I believe this program will be one of the strongest presented as we have been working overtime to fill the […]
Good evening (or Good Morning depending on when you read our newsletter) from Chicago. The mood is upbeat by most attending the Boy Scout Dinner due to the rising steel prices which have helped service centers and steel mills get healthier. A couple of secondary steel service centers told me that their business has also […]
My final thoughts are going to be short this evening. The word that keep going through my head today as I spoke with buyers and sellers of steel was “worry.” The number of people who worry about what is going to happen next seems to be growing by leap years on a daily basis. I […]
A quick note to those who will be attending the Chicago Metals Industry Boy Scout Dinner on Thursday of this week. I will be there as well. If you want to get a moment to chat send me an email or text. My email is John@SteelMarketUpdate.com. While communicating with a service center executive late on […]
I had a long conversation with a service center this afternoon regarding the steepness of the rise in flat rolled prices out of the domestic mills. This buyer was frustrated with the pace of the increases and the unnecessary (in his opinion) tension the increases have caused between their company and their customers. During the […]
The move by ArcelorMittal USA today was anticipated and the price levels noted in their increase email to their customers are in line with expectations. I expect the rest of the mills will follow along within $10-$20 per ton of the levels suggested by AMUSA. Some of the mills may wait for scrap prices to […]
Last year in conjunction with Steel Success Strategies I had a lunch with a number of steel buyers, executives and two derivatives traders (one being Andre Marshall of Crunch Risk, LLC). We all gave our opinions as to where we thought benchmark hot rolled coil would be by early June 2016 when we will return […]
I am going to start my Final Thoughts today with a question. I am working on an article as part of my The Truth About Selling Steel series and I want to learn more from buyers and sellers of steel as to what the term “Value-Added” means? We hear this term used a lot in […]
This evening I was talking with a large steel buyer about the fundamentals of the steel market and how long can prices continue to go higher. I told him that I had spoken with another large steel buyer earlier today who told me they could not understand how the fundamentals have changed in China. They […]
My focus over the next few days is going to be on demand and how demand will impact the flat rolled steel markets over the next couple of months. I began the process by looking at the Steel Dynamics earnings conference call transcript for hints as to how SDI sees the market progressing through 2nd […]
Steel buyers need to be aware that there has been a jump in iron ore spot pricing in China over the past 48 hours. The Steel Index (TSI) reported 62% Fe fines into the port of Tianjin, China at $64.3/dmt (dry metric ton) up 4 percent from the previous day. This same item is up […]
We should see the pace of the price increases slow down as most mills are getting the announced minimum price levels from their spot buyers ($25.00-$26.00/cwt HR, $35.00/cwt cold rolled and coated). The market needs a couple of weeks to absorb the increases and push them down to the end users and resale spot customers. […]