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 From 7/11/2018 up to this Wednesday, 6/26/2019, the HR index that the CME uses to settle the HR futures contract has dropped […]
Flat rolled and plate steel prices tumbled again this week. The question now: Is this the last drop we will see as the domestic steel mills have stepped forward and announced price increases to the tune of $40 per ton? Base prices for benchmark hot rolled were beginning to pass through the psychological $500 per […]
Hoping to put an end to declining flat rolled prices, a handful of steelmakers announced $40 per ton increases today, effective immediately on unconfirmed orders. The Nucor Sheet Mill Group was the first to announce that it is increasing base prices on new orders of hot rolled, cold rolled and galvanized steel by a minimum […]
As I expected, Nucor came out with a $40 per ton ($2.00/cwt) price increase on flat rolled this afternoon. This is the first Nucor price increase since Feb. 20, 2019. Shortly after the Nucor announcement, USS/POSCO followed with an increase letter of their own and then NLMK USA put out a letter identifying the minimum […]
The market is keeping a close watch on capacity utilization by domestic steelmakers for signs the mills may be dialing back on their high production rates to better match supply with demand. While there was a small dip, mill utilization remained above the 80 percent level last week. The American Iron and Steel Institute reports […]
Steel Market Update is pleased to share this Premium content with Executive level members. For more information on upgrading to a Premium-level subscription, email Info@SteelMarketUpdate.com. The price of iron ore has surged as scrap has declined benefiting the EAF producers in the U.S. over the integrated mills. Table 1 summarizes the price changes through June […]
By CRU Analysts Kevin Bai and Ruilin Wang Chinese economic stimulus in 2018 and 2019 will add a total of 21 Mt to Chinese domestic steel demand, most of which is expected to manifest in 2019. Including this, total Chinese domestic steel demand is now expected to grow at around 3 percent this year. Other […]
By Chris Houlden, CRU Research Manager CRU held its annual Steel Briefing in New York City on June 17. This Insight summarizes the key takeaways from papers presented by CRU North America market specialists Josh Spoores and Ryan McKinley. • Up to 20 Mt of new hot-rolling and over 8 Mt of steelmaking capacity could come […]
With steel prices at such surprisingly low levels, it’s only a matter of time before the domestic mills announce a price increase. The only point of debate is when. There’s clearly some disagreement over whether the market has found a bottom yet. Slightly more than half of the service center and OEM executives responding to […]
This analysis breaks down the imported tonnage of hot rolled coil into the district of entry and the source nation. We believe that misinformation (or lack of) about local 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 company’s […]
The following calculation is used by Steel Market Update to identify the theoretical spread between foreign hot rolled steel prices (delivered to U.S. ports) and domestic 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 other costs […]
The construction segment of the market is booming. This is what we heard from the HARDI steel conference call we participated in last week, and it is what we heard from many companies over the two days SMU was in New York City earlier this week. Whenever we travel, one of the things we always […]
SMU contributor Gaurav Chhibbar is a partner at Metal Edge Partners, a firm engaged in Risk Management and Strategic Advisory. In this role, he and his firm design and execute risk management strategies for clients along with providing process and analytical support. In Gaurav’s previous role, he was a trader at Cargill spending time in […]
By CRU Senior Analyst Helen O’Cleary All eyes are on this month’s G20 summit in Osaka for a resolution to ongoing trade tensions between the USA and China, and markets are braced for U.S. tariffs on a further $300 billion of Chinese goods if negotiations do not progress to the USA’s satisfaction. News that Trump […]
After a few weeks of dynamic price drops on all flat rolled and plate products, we saw prices moderate this week. Maybe a better way to put it is prices were flat to down slightly compared to one week ago when we saw major reductions in the spot numbers. Here is how we see prices […]
By CRU Senior Analyst Erik Hedborg Iron ore prices have continued ascending in the past week as low port inventories in China have forced steelmakers to turn to seaborne cargoes. On Tuesday, June 18, CRU assessed the 62% Fe fines price at $108.00 /t, a $7.60 /t increase w/w. Seaborne supply has been particularly strong […]
Halfway through the month, imports of foreign steel into the United States are trending considerably higher in June, based on license data from the Commerce Department. If import licenses continue at the current rate, June steel imports could approach 3 million tons—up from an estimated 2.6 million tons in May and the 12-month average of […]
U.S. steel mill utilization inched up a half percent after four weeks of small declines to 81.1 percent in the week ending June 15. Raw steel production for the week totaled 1,887,000 net tons, a 4.0 percent increase from the same period last year, reported the American Iron and Steel Institute. Adjusted year-to-date production through June […]
SMU now offers a comprehensive series of import reports ranging from the first look at Commerce Department license data to the very detailed look at volume by district of entry and source nation. The report you are reading now is designed to plug the gap between these two. Our intention is to report regional imports […]
SMU now offers a comprehensive series of import reports ranging from the first look at Commerce Department license data to the very detailed look at volume by district of entry and source nation. The report you are reading now is designed to plug the gap between these two. Our intention is to report regional imports […]
SMU now offers a comprehensive series of import reports ranging from the first look at Commerce Department license data to the very detailed look at volume by district of entry and source nation. The report you are reading now is designed to plug the gap between these two. Our intention is to report regional imports […]
SMU now offers a comprehensive series of import reports ranging from the first look at Commerce Department license data to the very detailed look at volume by district of entry and source nation. The report you are reading now is designed to plug the gap between these two. Our intention is to report regional imports […]
SMU now offers a comprehensive series of import reports ranging from the first look at licensed data to the very detailed look at volume by district of entry and source nation. The report you are reading now is designed to plug the gap between these two. Our intention is to report regional imports for six […]
This report examines the import share of sheet, plate, long and tubular products and 16 subcategories. Table 1 shows total supply to the market in three months through April and in 12 months through April for the four product groups and the 16 subcategories. Supply to the market is the total of domestic mill shipments […]
By CRU Principal Analyst Chris Asgill Scrap supply has continued to outpace demand in most of the key scrap supply markets and CRU’s metallics price indicator (CRUmpi) has fallen a further 4.2 percent m/m to 231.2 (see chart). This is the lowest level for the indicator since June 2017. The depth of U.S. scrap price weakness surprised the […]
Total U.S. raw steel production in the month of April declined 4.3 percent to 8,109,241 net tons, reports the American Iron and Steel Institute in Washington. Although down over the prior month, the April production level remains strong in comparison to recent months. Also remember that the March production level was the highest seen in […]
U.S. steel exports in April totaled 602,652 net tons (546,717 metric tons), up 2.3 percent from March, but down 30.0 percent from levels one year ago. This is the fifth lowest monthly export level seen in Steel Market Update’s 10-year history, behind December 2018 at 519,099 tons, September 2018 at 584,858 tons, March 2019 at […]
April apparent steel supply was calculated at 9,662,760 net tons, according to data released earlier this week. Apparent steel supply is determined by adding domestic steel shipments and finished U.S. steel imports, then subtracting total U.S. steel exports. April apparent steel supply saw a 166,538 ton or 1.7 percent decrease compared to the same month […]
The following article discussing the global ferrous derivatives markets was written by David Feldstein. As an independent steel market analyst, advisor and trader, we believe he provides insightful commentary and trading ideas to our readers. Note that Steel Market Update does not take any positions on HRC or scrap trading, and any recommendations made by […]
By CRU Senior Analyst Christine Meilton This month we’re looking at mine profitability and the tonnage at risk from lower metals prices and higher treatment charges, both for operating mines and new projects. Recent weeks have seen both zinc and lead prices tumble, and CRU believes that both metals have now passed a cyclical peak […]