The International Monetary Fund, which updates its World Economic Outlook each April and October, has made a downward revision to its forecast for global GDP growth in 2018 and 2019. On Oct. 9, the IMF published the following: “The latest World Economic Outlook report projects that global growth will remain steady over 2018–19 at last […]
Economic indicators of manufacturing activity remain strong. This report summarizes 10 data sources that describe the state of manufacturing in the United States. We have reported on most of these separately and therefore will be brief in this summary. We don’t expect these data sources to all point in the same direction. Our intent in […]
Alro Steel has acquired two Missouri service centers, extending its reach further west. Alro has purchased the assets of Sedalia Steel Supply, Sedalia, Mo., and Camdenton Steel Supply, Camdenton, Mo. Established in 1976 by Wayne and Gayle Lamb, Sedalia Steel Supply distributes a complete line of steel products from a 107,000-square-foot facility in Sedalia and […]
Union Partners has acquired the assets of Xcel Steel’s pickling operations in Dearborn, Mich., effective Oct. 5. The division has joined Union Partners-owned Maksteel and will now operate under the name Maksteel Processing. As this transition occurs, there will be no interruption in service to customers, the company said. The Detroit location of Xcel Steel Processing will continue […]
We saw more erosion in hot rolled steel prices this week based on the responses we received from our data providers throughout the day today. Benchmark hot rolled dropped to an average of $835 per ton, while other flat rolled products saw mixed results. Cold rolled rose as the low-end numbers disappeared from last week. […]
Energy prices are up, but growth in the rig count has slowed, and bottlenecks in the nation’s oil fields will continue to constrain oil and gas production—and along with it demand for oil country tubular goods (OCTG), reports Rick Preckel, a principal at Preston Pipe, a Ballwin, Mo., market research and consulting firm. As of […]
We had a bit of a split regarding service center spot prices in the analysis we did of the flat rolled steel markets last week. Manufacturing companies overwhelmingly reported their steel service center suppliers as dropping flat rolled steel spot prices compared to what they were seeing just a couple of weeks ago. On the […]
Twice as many of the respondents to Steel Market Update’s latest market trends questionnaire expect flat rolled steel prices to remain the same or move higher. About 24 percent feel the downward price trend has bottomed, compared with 12 percent in last month’s returns. Steel Market Update’s current Price Momentum Indicator is pointing toward lower […]
Demand for steel products has been strong and improving for much of the year, but the findings of Steel Market Update’s latest flat rolled and plate steels market trends questionnaire show that more companies see demand for their products declining than increasing under the current market conditions. However, when you view the graph below, you […]
Prices for secondary steel have followed the downtrend with prime, but to a lesser degree, report distributors of nonprime material. Finding enough material to meet customers’ needs remains a challenge, they say. Secondary steel is nonprime or excess material that did not meet the specifications for its original intended use, but is acceptable to other […]
Net job creation in September totaled 134,000 positions. Construction and manufacturing gains were both strong. Table 1 breaks total employment down into service and goods-producing industries and then into private and government employees. Most of the goods-producing employees work in manufacturing and construction and the components of these two sectors of most relevance to steel […]
The employment situation in the United States is excellent and continues to improve. Rising employment and wages are the main contributors to GDP growth because personal consumption accounts for almost 70 percent of GDP. Steel consumption is related to GDP; therefore, this is one of the indicators that helps us understand the reality of the […]
Indicators of economic activity in the U.S. do not predict a recession any time soon, but the yield curve should be on your radar screen. Once every three months, the Steel Market Update staff tries to gain insight into the timing of the next recession. Economists consider recessions to be a necessary evil to clear […]
The attitudes of steel buyers and sellers, as measured by this week’s SMU Steel Buyers Sentiment Index questionnaire, are slightly more optimistic than they were last month. The goal of the index is to measure how buyers and sellers of steel feel about their company’s ability to be successful today (Current Index), as well as […]
Lead times for most flat rolled steel products continue to shrink, according to returns from Steel Market Update’s latest market trends questionnaire. Lead times for steel delivery are a measure of demand at the mill level—the shorter the lead time, the less busy the mill, and theoretically the more flexible the price. Lead times for […]
When it comes to haggling over steel prices with the mills, buyers retain a strong bargaining position. Steel Market Update tracks how buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel represent the mill negotiation position. More than eight out of 10 buyers report that mills are willing to negotiate spot prices on new orders placed this […]
As of August, the U.S. economy had grown for 112 months in a row, the second longest growth streak in history. How much longer can that trend possibly continue? Is a recession inevitable? Not any time soon, predicts Lisa Morrison, Principal Economist for the CRU Group. Speaking at the CRU North American Steel Conference this […]
In the cyclic environment of the steel industry, the best time to sell your company is when you are at the top of your game, said Vincent Pappalardo and Justin Wolfort of advisory firm Brown, Gibbons Lang & Co. Addressing service center executives at the Association of Steel Distributors regional meeting last week in Cleveland, […]
Manufacturing expanded in September, according to the latest Manufacturing ISM Report on Business. The headline PMI posted at 59.8 percent, well over the neutral point of 50.0, but fell 1.3 percent from August. “Export orders expanded, but four major industries are no longer contributing. Price pressure continues, but the index softened for the fourth straight […]
The slowdown for global manufacturing continued in September, according to the latest J.P. Morgan Global Manufacturing PMI. The headline PMI fell to a 22-month low at 52.2, down from 52.6 in August. The PMI has been above the 50.0 neutral mark since March 2016, but has declined in each of the past five months. Output […]
The Association of Women in the Metal Industries (AWMI) will host its annual conference Nov. 7-9 at the Don Cesar in St. Pete Beach, Fla. This year’s schedule of events includes an educational tour of Chromalloy Castings on Wednesday, leadership trainings on Thursday and a dinner cruise on Friday evening. Mary Lindsey, Senior Vice President […]
Despite moderating prices, the outlook for the U.S. steel market is generally favorable for 2019, reported Josh Spoores, CRU Principal Analyst for North America, during a CRU Webinar on Friday. The Trump administration’s Section 232 steel tariff has limited competition from steel imports this year. Steel sheet arrivals into the U.S. are down 12 percent […]
The month of September saw steel prices continue a steady decline that began in August. Steel Market Update data in the table below shows the benchmark hot rolled price slid from more than $900 per ton in the summer to the current price around $854. The same for cold rolled, which went from $1,000 a […]
The U.S. active rig count, an indicator of oil country tubular goods demand, increased this week, according to oilfield services company Baker Hughes. The number of active U.S. rigs rose by 1 to 1,054, with oil rigs down 3 to 863 rigs, gas rigs up 3 to 189 rigs, and miscellaneous rigs up 1 to […]
Members of the Precision Metalforming Association are expecting business conditions to remain steady for the rest of the year. A survey of 110 metalforming companies in the U.S. and Canada showed 28 percent of participants believe economic activity will improve, 62 percent expect no change (same as last month) and 10 percent expect a decline […]
The Chicago Business Barometer dropped to a five-month low in September, sliding down 3.2 points to 60.4. Production and new orders continued solid growth in September, but softened to a six-month low for production and a five-month low for orders. Output and weaker demand was noted by some firms, although many continue to outperform their […]
U.S. Steel is not opening eight new steel plants. No matter how many times President Trump claims that they are. In a wide-ranging press conference this week in advance of the hearing of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, President Trump commented on a number of issues including the economy and his steel tariffs. Once again, […]
Aircraft and defense drove a 4.5 percent increase in new orders for durable goods in August, exceeding economists’ expectations. Aircraft orders jumped 69.1 percent and defense orders surged 44.4 percent last month. Orders for autos and parts, however, fell 1.0 percent. When removing transportation from the mix, orders rose a much softer 0.1 percent. Core […]
PTC Alliance has reached a new four-year labor agreement with union workers at its Alliance, Ohio, plant. PTC Alliance manufactures welded and cold drawn mechanical steel tubing. The company employs about 220 workers covered by the Steelworkers contract, signed Sept. 23. Terms of the pact were not disclosed. The company’s relations with the union have […]
I am a new subscriber to your newsletter, but I’m not new to manufacturing. Most of my career was spent working at a medium-sized machining company located in the Southeast, which specialized in production machining mainly to support automotive companies and other assembly plants in the United States. Over the past three decades, I have […]