I want to take a moment to thank the Association of Steel Distributors (ASD) and their new organization president, Brian Robbins, for the opportunity to speak to the organization at their annual meeting held in Orlando over the past few days. The conference covered a wide variety of topics including the award for Steel Man […]
Hello from Orlando where the weather is sunny with temperatures in the low 80’s… Come to think of it I believe today is the first day of spring – and it couldn’t have come at a better time. One of the complaints being picked up in this week’s steel survey has been the impact the […]
A busy past 24 hours in the steel industry as the steel mills begin to make moves to stop the downward spiral in prices. As is our norm, Steel Market Update adjusted our SMU Price Momentum Indicator from Lower to Neutral. This is something we have done when the steel mills as a group go […]
Tomorrow is St. Patrick’s Day – it is also the beginning of the Steel Market Update flat rolled steel market analysis for mid-March. Invitations should be out around 8 AM ET. If you receive one please take a few minutes to click on the link contained in the email and respond to our questionnaire. John […]
One of our readers sent me an article produced by another steel-related publication about the state of Kentucky offering financial incentives to AK Steel. The Kentucky Industrial Revitalization Act is being extended with one of the hopes that AK Steel will use the incentives to help reline the Ashland blast furnace. The question asked by […]
For our Premium Level members – we should have a special Premium Supplemental newsletter for you by Wednesday afternoon. In it will be an article on currency values and changes and their impact on the market as well as our imports by product, port and country. We will be including slabs in our import by […]
We haven’t given up on our goal to broaden the perspectives of our readers through the use of our website. The most effective way to understand and expand ones knowledge of the industry is to interact with the news, trends and issues of the industry as they happen. This cannot be done effectively through the […]
Scrap prices in Detroit, Carolinas and Alabama have settled lower for March delivery according to SMU sources. Detroit ferrous scrap prices were reported to be down $20 per gross ton while the Carolinas were down $15-$20 and Alabama down $15 per gross ton. The main issue continues to be the lack of a firm scrap […]
While attending the FMA Toll Processing Conference I ran across someone associated with Feralloy Processing Company who spoke to me about the upgrades they had made to one of their levelers. I requested more information and learned that the company had recently purchased and installed a Butech Bliss patent pending Synergy hydraulic operated roller leveler […]
Based on local news reports as well as information from Steel Market Update flat rolled sheet sources, the blast furnace issue at AK Steel Ashland was due to a break out at the bottom of the vessel. A break out is when molten pig iron penetrates the outer wall of the blast furnace. Since the […]
I have to admit I am very impressed with the quality of the speakers and the program that has been put on by the FMA Toll Processors Conference. One of the reasons why I am attending this particular conference was due to the agenda which included a couple of programs about Advanced High Strength Steels […]
We have to do a better job of learning military time. By mistake tonight’s newsletter was sent out at 20:00 hours not 22:00 hours as originally planned. Since I have a habit of working into the evening on publishing nights all of a sudden we published before the newsletter was complete. So, throw away your […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
It snowed in Georgia and South Carolina today. Nucor Berkeley put out an announcement that their shipping and sales personnel had been sent home early. I thought it might be a good time to double check the forecast for Mobile for next Tuesday and Wednesday which is where we are holding our next Steel 101 […]
The projected forecast for Mobile, Alabama during the first week of February is for temperatures to be in the low to mid 60’s. A far cry from the temperatures which have been well below freezing in the Upper Midwest and at, or below, in the rest of the states north of the Mason-Dixon Line. Steel […]
For those of you who have not yet taken the time to go to our new website, log in for the very first time and kick the new tires, play with the steering wheel and take it for a spin – we highly recommend that you do so soon. We know technology can be a […]
New York City must not want me to come visit. I have been trying to visit but, Mother Nature has not been cooperating. I guess it is Mother Nature that doesn’t want me to visit New York City. In December I was scheduled to attend the American Institute for International Steel (AIIS) dinner and my […]
I will be in my office on Monday, Thursday and Friday of this week. I will be traveling to New York City for the AHR Expo on Tuesday and Wednesday. If you are attending the AHR Expo and would like to seek me out you can do so by email: John@SteelMarketUpdate.com or by phone (or […]
I was reading the most recent economic forecast from the Institute for Trend Research (ITR) on the plane to Chicago this morning. Their analysts have an interesting take on the 2014 economy and we will share portions of their views with you beginning with Sunday evening’s newsletter. One item that caught my eye is their […]
By the way – I think Sandy Williams did an excellent job of following the Ford F-150 aluminum story and providing some balance and depth to her article. We are going to put the article on our Blog and make it available for you to send out on social media to your contacts and friends. […]