Residential Storage Water Heaters U.S. shipments of residential gas storage water heaters for June 2013 decreased 6.5 percent, to 330,948 units, down from 354,140 units shipped in June 2012. Residential electric storage water heater shipments decreased 9.5 percent in June 2013, to 307,959 units, down from 340,402 units shipped in June 2012. For the year-to-date, […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) received a question related to the most recent “Steel Buyers Basics” article published in Sunday evening’s issue of Steel Market Update. The article was about “spread” in flat rolled steel pricing and how it is measured. On Monday one of the transportation companies which recently joined SMU as a member provided […]
For the week ending August 17, 2013, the American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) reported that the U.S. steel industry produced 1,878,000 net tons of raw steel, a 0.9 percent increase over the previous week but a 1.0 decrease over the same week one year ago. The estimated capacity utilization rate is 78.4 percent, up […]
Chinese imports of iron ore in July were 73,140,000 metric tons, an increase of 17.4 percent from the previous month and an increase of 26.4 percent from July 2012. Year to date iron ore imports are at 457,230,000 MT through June. July imports of steel scrap were 280,000 MT, down 26.3 percent from June and […]
Steel Market Update had a couple of questions arise concerning our article about ultra light gauge galvanized (lighter than .015”) in Sunday evening’s Steel Market Update newsletter. In that article we referenced prices being offered as between $39.50/cwt-$41.50/cwt CIF, Duty Paid, USA Port (coating weight is G30 which we did not do a good job […]
The three month moving average of global production in July was unchanged from June at an annual rate of 1.596 billion tons. Capacity utilization was 77.5 percent (Figure 1). For the July data, the World Steel Association increased the global capacity to 2.06 billion tons which reduced the capacity utilization value back to Q3 last […]
Australian company BlueScope Steel announced EBIT of $66.7 million for its 50 percent ownership of U.S. based North Star BlueScope Steel for FY 2013 ending on June 30, 2013. Earnings for the fiscal year improved by 7 percent over FY 2012 due to improved cost control and decreased depreciation charges that offset slightly weaker spreads. […]
Surma to Step Aside on September 1st US Steel’s Board of Directors has elected Mario Longhi as chief executive officer effective Sept. 1. Longhi will succeed John Surma who will retain the position of executive chairman until his retirement from the company December 31. “In the tradition of the U. S. Steel CEOs who have […]
A Game Changer for the Domestic Steel Industry? The OCTG trade injury cases filed against nine countries will go forward said the US International Trade Commission on Friday. The ITC found there is “reasonable indication that a U.S. industry is materially injured by imports of certain oil country tubular goods.” The preliminary countervailing duty determinations […]
Platts continues to lead the other steel indexes on both benchmark hot rolled as well as cold rolled pricing. Platts has hot rolled coil priices at $665 per ton this past week, while the rest of the indexes SMU reviews on a continuous basis have the product ranging from $645 to $653 per ton. A […]
You will hear the term “spread” quite often when discussing the differences between flat rolled steel prices from one source to another. The term can be used when discussing domestic steel mills and their differences in pricing on the same product. It can also be used when discussing the differences between foreign steel imports and […]
Cold rolled sheet imports June 2013 and YTD by source and port of entry. This is one of an expanded series of analyses, exclusive to the Steel Market Update that is designed to provide a much more comprehensive view of actual volume by product. In the future, this data will be available to our Premium […]
Ultra light gauge galvanized (thicknesses less than .015”) have traditionally been associated with foreign steel suppliers as opposed to domestic mills. The U.S. mills have, over time, relegated the ultra light gauge markets as ones of the least interest due to the amount of line time it takes to produce these products versus running a […]
As reported by Sandy Williams here in the Steel Market Update on Friday, the National Association of Home Builders index reached its highest level in almost eight years in July but the Census Bureau construction starts data is not so encouraging. On a year over year basis the 3-month moving average (3MMA) of both permits […]
Iron ore prices continue to rise this month despite forecasts for a sharp correction in the last half of the year. The Steel Index reported 62% iron ore fines at Tianjin Port on August 14 was at a five month high of $142.8—a meteoric rise of more than 28 percent from $110.9/dry tonne on June […]
NLMK reported USA revenue of $314 million in the second quarter down from $362 million in Q1. The company noted lower demand from the US construction sector and general deterioration of market conditions in Europe and the USA along with industry oversupply. North American steel sales dropped to 432,000 tonnes (476,190 tons) from 473,000 tonnes […]
According to Baker Hughes data from August 16th, 2013, the U.S rig count for this week is 1,791 rigs exploring for or developing oil or natural gas. This number represents an increase of 13 rigs compared to last week, with oil rigs up 12 to 1,397 rigs, gas rigs up 2 to 388 rigs, and […]
From time to time SMU gets emails from our readers that we think others might find interesting. Here are a couple examples: In an email with the title “Bingo” we received the following comments from a large galvanized service center: “The bet is the first sign of weakness will come out of the conversion mills […]
Service Center Deficit Will Help Keep Mill Prices Firm Flat rolled inventories are at a 466,000 ton deficit according to Steel Market Update proprietary analysis of the recently released MSCI service center inventory data. The 466,000 ton deficit is the largest one we have measured since August 2009 when it was measured at 604,000 tons. […]
According to just released Metal Service Center Institute (MSCI) data, total steel inventories at the distributors as of the end of July were 7,642,600 tons. This is 12.2 percent below the 8,953,900 tons held by service centers at the end of July 2012. The daily shipment rate dropped to 157,500 tons per day (22 day […]
Canadian shipments for all steel products in the month of July were 459,400 net tons, an increase of 1.3 percent from the month before but a decrease of 2.5 percent from July 2012. Inventory at the end of the month stood at 1,462,600 tons, a decrease of 1.5 percent from last month and a decrease […]
It seems that the August month has brought with it a true summer lull. Trading volumes have been very low in the HRC futures market the past couple of weeks as many traders seem happy to sit on the sideline and await what the Autumn has to bring. The forward curve has risen ever so […]
U.S. Midwest #1 Busheling Ferrous Scrap (AMM) Typically Quiet Mid-Month Market While the HRC futures market is experiencing a summer lull, the AMM Busheling contract has been virtually non-existent the past few weeks. After the physical market for busheling priced sideways this month the futures market has not reacted. It seems that the usual pattern […]
This is one of an expanded series of analyses, exclusive to the Steel Market Update that is designed to provide a much more comprehensive view of actual volume by product. This will enable a steel buyer or manager to see exactly what came into his immediate vicinity and where it came from. This series of […]
Prepainted flat rolled imports declined on a month-over-month basis on all products with the exception of prepainted cold-rolled sheet and strip. Compared to the same month one year ago, prepainted imports increased for galvanized and electro-galvanized, but decreased for cold rolled sheet and strip. As you can see by our table below – prepainted cold […]
The Steel Market Update Price MoMo Index for flat rolled steel in the U.S. remained in positive territory this week for the 11th consecutive week. MoMo, a trailing indicator, is based upon the current hot rolled coil price weighed against the previous 12 week average spot price as recorded by Steel Market Update. MoMo was […]
Essar Steel Algoma reported a net loss of 28.7 million for the first quarter of its fiscal year 2014 ending on June 30, 2013, an improvement over its net loss of 92.7 million at the end of the fourth quarter in March. Sales of $464 million showed an improvement of 4 percent over the previous […]
Industrial production and manufacturing capacity utilization for July 2013 – Both these data points are reported in the Federal Reserve G17 data base. The IP index was reported as 98.95 for July, up from 98.91 in June this was 1.8 percent below the peak of September 2007. Manufacturing is still making progress. The three month […]
Metal fabricators are reporting stable business conditions according to the Fabricators & Manufacturers Association’s inaugural survey of small to mid-sized metal fabricating companies. No significant growth or shrinkage was noted in new order activity by most respondents. Commodities and logistic prices were also seen as fairly stable. New trucking rules have some respondents expecting higher […]
Manufacturing continued to expand in the Philadelphia region in August but with slightly less optimism for the current pace of growth. The general economic index of The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia’s Business Outlook Survey fell to 9.3 this month from 19.8 in July (its highest reading since March 2011) and has been in the […]