The iron ore mining operations at Magnetation could restart this summer, according to new owner Tom Clarke. The Grand Rapids, Minn., Plant No. 4 has been idle for more than a year and requires about $2 million to get equipment up to speed. ERP Iron Ore purchased Magnetation out of bankruptcy a year ago, but […]
Imports of rolled steel into the United States have been on the decline since peaking in July, based on a three-month moving average of government import data through the end of 2017. In three months through December compared to three months through September, total rolled steel imports declined by 16.8 percent, while sheet products dropped […]
In Q1 2018, long product imports increased by 9.5 percent compared to Q4 2017. Total long product imports were down by 150,000 tons per month year over year on a three-month moving average (3MMA) basis, but there was a turn for the worse in the first quarter, according to Steel Market Update’s analysis of federal […]
In Q1 2018, tubular product imports increased by 3.8 percent compared to Q4 2017. Total rolled steel imports increased by 3.6 percent, and tubular products by 3.8 percent, in the three months through March compared to three months through December 2017, but on a year-over-year basis tubulars were up by 20.2 percent, according to Steel […]
This analysis breaks down the imported tonnage of six flat rolled products into the district of entry and the source country. We believe that misinformation (or lack of) about regional import volumes is often used to influence purchase decisions. Our intent with this analysis is to describe in detail what is going on in a […]
As we collected hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized, Galvalume and plate prices earlier this week, we asked a number of questions trying to get reactions from the steel buyers. We asked how high steel prices could go (using hot rolled as the benchmark) and what were the key drivers affecting prices right now. Here are […]
Last week, Steel Market Update conducted our first flat rolled steel market trends analysis of the New Year. We invited comment from 640 individuals associated with the flat rolled steel industry in manufacturing, steel distribution, steel mills, trading companies and others who service the industry. One of the key areas we research during the survey […]
The following calculation is used by Steel Market Update to identify the theoretical spread between foreign hot rolled steel import prices (delivered to USA ports) and domestic (USA) hot rolled coil prices (FOB Domestic mills). We want our readers to be aware that this is only a “theoretical” calculation as freight costs, trader margin and […]
U.S. steel exports declined 1.5 percent from October to November, but were higher than the same month in 2016, according to data from the American Institute for International Steel. Exports of 882,665 net tons jumped 21 percent year-over-year. Nearly half of those November exports – 431,980 net tons, essentially unchanged from October but 17.7 percent […]
The following article on the hot rolled coil (HRC) futures market was written by David Feldstein. As the Flack Global Metals Director of Risk Management, Dave is an active participant in the hot rolled futures market, and we believe he provides insightful commentary and trading ideas to our readers. Besides writing futures articles for Steel […]
Cyclone Joyce is intensifying off Australia’s western coast, prompting the Pilbara Ports Authority to take emergency precautions. The storm is expected to reach Category 3 by Friday or Saturday with possible wind gusts of 102-139 miles per hour. Port Hedland, used as an iron ore export terminal by major ore producers Fortescue, BHP and Hancock […]
A handful of carbon steel plate mills have followed Nucor’s lead and announced price increases of $50 per ton today, effective immediately on all new or unconfirmed orders. All extras will remain unchanged. Evraz North America increased transactional prices on all carbon, HSLA, Hot Rolled Coil, Normalized, and all Quenched & Tempered products including Armor […]
The January buy period saw ferrous scrap prices move significantly higher, lending support to recent mill price increases. While February is historically a down month for scrap, sources predict that February prices will be as high or even higher than January’s. January ferrous markets ended higher by $30 per gross ton for obsolete grades and […]
U.S. raw steel production for the week ending Jan. 6 totaled 1,649,000 net tons, a 5.0 percent decrease from the same period last year, but up 0.7 percent from the prior week. The mill capability utilization rate for the week averaged 70.7 percent, up from 70.2 percent the prior week but down from 74.5 percent […]
On Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2018, Nucor announced a $40 per ton price increase on all spot flat rolled products produced at their steel mills. Their announcement was quickly followed by similar announcements on hot rolled, cold rolled and coated steels (galvanized and Galvalume) by U.S. Steel, NLMK USA and AK Steel. On Friday of this […]
The Nucor Plate Group has increased transaction prices on all new orders for carbon, alloy and heat-treated plate by $50 per ton, effective immediately on any new or unconfirmed orders. Nucor’s Jan. 5 price hike follows on a $50 per ton increase announced Dec. 6 and a $40 per ton increase announced Nov. 15 on […]
During the middle of this past week, a number of the domestic mills, led by Nucor in the east and California Steel in the west, raised flat rolled steel prices. With steel buyers just returning from the extended Christmas and New Years holidays, we found price offers were up, but the actual placement of orders […]
Zinc reached a 10-year high on Thursday, closing at $3,364 per metric ton on the London Metal Exchange. Zinc, used for galvanizing metals, has nearly doubled in price over the past two years as supplies have tightened. At the same time, demand has increased. Chinese demand grew by 2.1 percent last year, and U.S. demand […]
Foreign steel imports into the United States were almost five million net tons greater during 2017 than what was reported for 2016. The 13 percent rise in imports was primarily due to higher semi-finished (slabs/billets) being shipped to the domestic steel mills (+1,773,805 net tons). In addition, oil country tubular goods (OCTG) rose by 2,267,574 […]
Nucor led the charge of the East Coast flat rolled steel mills in an effort to keep prices moving higher. On Wednesday, Nucor, followed by U.S. Steel, put out announcements advising customers of their intention to raise spot flat rolled prices by $40 per ton. Soon after, NLMK USA and AK Steel followed Nucor’s lead […]
The following article on the hot rolled coil (HRC) steel and financial futures markets was written by Jack Marshall of Crunch Risk LLC. Here is how Jack saw trading over the past week: Steel Since the end of last week, which was very quiet due to year end, the Futures markets have been relatively muted […]
Earlier today, Steel Market Update provided our “Flash Report” on flat rolled steel service center inventories to those distributors who are actively providing months of supply data to SMU. Our first Flash Report prompted three comments from the group that we would like to share with our readers: Service Center One: “This market is the […]
All four raw materials tracked by Steel Market Update— iron ore, scrap, coking coal and zinc—increased in price in December. From Australia News Digest on Dec.18: “Steelmaking raw materials made strong gains on Monday as Chinese mills, responsible for half the world’s steel output, restock ahead of the resumption of full production at the end […]
Flat rolled steel prices barely budged over the past couple of weeks as steel buyers and sellers took a break for the Holidays culminating in the calendar flipping over to 2018. When we asked one commercial manager of a steel mill to comment about pricing earlier today we were told, “Gotta let the market percolate […]
After treading water through the Christmas and New Year Holidays, and then pushed by the most recent price increase announcements (+$40 on flat rolled and +$50 on plate), we are seeing steel prices moving higher by an average of $10 to $20 per ton. The expectation by most steel buyers (not all) is for higher […]
Flat rolled steel prices moved higher over the past week. Hot rolled offers are reaching (or exceeding) $700 per ton, while cold rolled and coated offers are moving into the low to mid $800s (base pricing, before extras). Steel buyers seemed resigned to paying higher numbers with many waiting to see what will happen with […]
The fire at AK Steel helped some buyers to accept the price levels being suggested by the domestic mills. Steel Market Update heard from a number of sources that offer prices were in many cases close to the levels suggested by ArcelorMittal USA in their most recent price announcement: $720 per ton hot rolled ($36.00/cwt) […]
Starting the New Year with a new price, California Steel Industries (CSI) and USS-POSCO Industries (UPI) announced $30 per ton price increases today, Jan. 2. In a letter to customers, CSI stated it is increasing transaction prices on hot rolled, hot rolled pickled and oiled, cold rolled and galvanized flat roll by $30 per ton, […]
The week prior to the Christmas holiday, Steel Market Update conducted a review of the flat rolled steel market and the trends impacting supply, demand and pricing trends. The steel survey, sent to 640 individuals involved in the flat rolled and plate industries, found service centers as more supportive of higher spot prices than they […]
U.S. raw steel production for the week ending Dec. 30 totaled 1,637,000 net tons, a 1.9 percent increase from the same period last year, but down 4.7 percent from the prior week. The mill capability utilization rate for the week averaged 70.2 percent, down from 73.7 percent the prior week but up from 67.8 percent […]