On Friday, June 16th USS/POSCO Industries (UPI) in Pittsburgh, California increased flat rolled steel prices by $50 per ton ($2.50/cwt). The steel price increases were to be in effect “immediately.” Prices were raised on all products produced at UPI. This includes hot rolled pickled & oiled (HRPO), cold rolled (CR) and galvanized steels. In a […]
Two of the three steel indexes followed by Steel Market Update saw flat rolled prices as rising last week and steel plate prices sideways or down. The third index, SteelBenchmarker only produces their average steel prices twice per month and they saw the market as being lower on all products last week. Hot rolled averages […]
On Friday, June 16th SSAB Americas became the third U.S. plate-producing steel mill to announce a $30 per ton ($1.50/cwt) plate price increase. As with the announcements made by Nucor and ArcelorMittal earlier in the week SSAB made the increase effective immediately on transaction (spot) pricing. The SSAB increase applies to: as rolled mill plate, […]
This afternoon ArcelorMittal USA matched a previous mill plate price announcement taking plate price up by $30 per ton. In a emailed letter to their customers ArcelorMittal advised transaction pricing will be increasing by a minimum of $30 per ton. The increase applies to all non-contractual carbon, HSLA, alloy, heat-treated, and specialty plate products. SMU […]
“I bet the next increase happens later this week or at the latest next Monday,” one mill executive told Steel Market Update (SMU) earlier this week. Soon, we were hearing similar comments about new flat rolled steel prices coming from others (non-mill) in the industry. As you all are well aware by now, the U.S. […]
The steel industry has a way of surprising those who use its products. This may be especially true this year as it appears the industry is about to enter a phase not seen in decades. It is mid-June 2017 and the domestic flat rolled steel mills are raising steel prices as the U.S. Department of […]
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 […]
Uttam Galva North America, Inc. (UGNA), a supplier of cold rolled and galvanized steels, tells SMU it has temporarily suspended taking new orders in the United States for its mill in India in reaction to the Section 232 investigation. “For the last few weeks, we have stayed on the sidelines while 232 is being analyzed […]
The U.S. Department of Commerce reported foreign steel import data earlier this week. Based on license data through June 13, foreign steel imports are on track to once again top 3 million net tons. This would be the fourth consecutive month of imports reaching the 3 million ton mark. Steel Market Update (SMU) looks at […]
The following article on the hot rolled coil (HRC) futures markets was written by David Feldstein. As the Flack Global Metals director of risk management, Dave is an active participant in the hot rolled coil (HRC) futures market and we believe he will provide insightful commentary and trading ideas to our readers. Besides writing futures […]
Cliffs Natural Resources announced today that it has selected Toledo, Ohio, to be the site of its first hot briquetted iron production plant. Midrex Technologies will design, engineer and procure equipment for the new plant, which will produce at least 1.6 million tons of HBI per year. The project is expected to cost approximately $700 […]
Mesabi Metallics, the former Essar Steel Minnesota, emerged from 11 months of bankruptcy on Tuesday with a new owner, Chippewa Capital Partners. Chippewa Capital is a joint venture of London-based GFG Alliance and billionaire Tom Clarke. Clarke is also the owner of Magnetation and hopes to use the taconite ore from both facilities to produce […]
April 2017 steel exports totaled 857,582 net tons (777,986 metric tons), down 9.6 percent over March, but up 7.9 percent from April 2016. Last month, we saw the highest export level since November 2014. The total April export figure is below the three-month moving average (average of February 2017, March 2017 and April 2017), but […]
Apparent steel supply for the month of April totaled 9,132,068 net tons, according to the latest data released from the U.S. Department of Commerce and the American Iron and Steel Institute. Apparent steel supply is calculated by adding domestic steel shipments and finished U.S. steel imports, then subtracting total U.S. steel exports. While down over […]
Flat rolled steel prices moved higher this week as the effects of last week’s price increase announcements begun to take place. Prices on all but plate moved up by $15 to $20 per ton. As one mill pointed out to SMU earlier today many of the orders that are being placed this week are smaller […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) has been in contact with dozens of steel buyers and executives over the past 24 hours discussing the status of the flat rolled price increases, steel mill lead times and other items of interest to the steel community. Most steel buyers reported the flat rolled price increases as being in effect […]
Anxiety reigns supreme in the flat rolled steel industry as both buyers and sellers grapple with the unknowns brought on by the Section 232 investigation. One area of concern is how service centers are handling spot sales to their end user customers. In the flat rolled steel market trends analysis we performed last week, we […]
U.S. raw steel production totaled 1,718,000 net tons for the week ending June 10, a decline of 2.1 percent from the same period last year, and down 1.8 percent from the previous week. The mill capacity utilization rate was 73.7 percent, down from 75.0 percent a week ago, estimates the American Iron & Steel Institute […]
We believe that misinformation (or a lack of) about regional import volumes is often used to influence purchase decisions. Our intent with this analysis of tonnage by district of entry is to describe in detail what is going on in a company’s immediate neighborhood and thus provide a negotiating advantage for our premium subscribers. We […]
The final license data for May was reported by the Steel Import Monitoring and Analysis system of the U.S. Commerce Department on June 6. An explanation of the methodology that SMU uses to analyze the trade data is given at the end of this piece. All volumes in this analysis are reported in short tons. […]
About 65 percent of respondents to SMU’s June 5 Steel Buyers Sentiment Index questionnaire predict steel mills will not be able to collect the full $30 per ton flat rolled steel price increase announced last week, while just 35 percent believe the hike will stick. Nearly two out of three respondents, mostly service centers and […]
The slide in flat rolled steel prices was curtailed compared to previous weeks as prices on hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized, Galvalume moved sideways to slightly lower while plate was sideways to slightly higher. All of the major flat rolled steel mills in the United States announced flat rolled price increases on Monday and Tuesday […]
Ferrous scrap pricing has solidified in most regions of the United States east of the Rocky Mountains. Scrap prices traded sideways (remained the same as last month) on prime grades such as bundles and busheling. Otherwise, shredded and obsolete grades saw declines of $10 to $15 per gross ton, according to Steel Market Update (SMU) […]
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 This week we had a big reversal/correction week on week as HR futures curve prices traded higher as buyers reached for […]
All of the major flat rolled steel producers have approached their customers and advised them of their intention to increase hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized and Galvalume prices by a minimum of $30 per ton. As of this evening (Tuesday, June 6, 2017) we have seen price announcements out of California Steel Industries, USS Posco […]
Flat rolled prices were mixed this week as the domestic steel mills announced their $30 per ton price increase and steel buyers placed whatever orders they were allowed to under the existing pricing agreements. We saw a tightening of the range on hot rolled while cold rolled was unchanged, galvanized was down $5 per ton, […]
Over the course of the day today (Tuesday, June 6, 2017) Steel Market Update (SMU) spent time communicating with top executives at some of the largest flat rolled steel service centers in the United States about the steel price increase announcements and about the market as it exists right now. Four service center presidents responded […]
Total U.S. raw steel production for the first five months of the year increased by 2.8 percent, to 37,117,000 million tons, reports the American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) in Washington. The mill capacity utilization rate for the year averaged 74.4 percent, up from 72.1 percent in the year-ago period. For the week ending June […]
With the shuttering of up to 150 million tons of induction and EAF steelmaking capacity in China reducing its consumption of ferrous scrap, the Asian giant has actually begun exporting scrap material. Steel Market Update (SMU) has been following the progress of the Chinese as they attempt to enter the ferrous scrap export markets. They […]
The American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) recently reported final U.S. raw steel production estimates for the month of April 2017. The monthly estimates are different than the weekly estimates we report; the monthly estimates are based on over 75 percent of the domestic mills reporting vs. only 50 percent for the weekly estimates. Total […]