Ken Neumann, United Steelworkers National Director for Canada, will retire at the end of his term on March 1, 2022, after serving 18 years as director. “I am very proud of the work we have been able to accomplish as Steelworkers – we have improved the work lives, safety and well-being of hundreds of thousands […]
U.S. industrial production, manufacturing and durable goods orders continued to show improvement from the coronavirus pandemic downturn through March and April data. The health of the manufacturing economy has a direct bearing on the health of the steel industry. The Industrial Production Index The IP index is a gauge of output from factories, mines and […]
Canadian flat-rolled steelmaker Stelco swung to a profit in the first quarter and expects high steel prices and sales volumes to galvanize results for the balance of the year. “All signs point to continued robust demand and strong pricing in the near term,” Stelco Executive Chairman and CEO Alan Kestenbaum said in a statement released […]
Tata Steel Europe confirmed that it’s implementing a carbon surcharge on all new steel across Europe, effective July 2021. This new initiative by the India-based steelmaker will essentially pass on the cost of carbon emissions allowances to the buyer. “We recognise the challenges of climate change,” said a Tata Steel Europe spokesperson. “Tata Steel’s strategy […]
Global manufacturing accelerated in April, strengthening to its best reading since April 2010 for the J.P. Morgan Global Manufacturing PMI. The PMI rose to 55.8 from 55.0 in March. Of the 24 nations covered by the index as of April 23, only the Philippines, Mexico and Myanmar remained in contraction. “The latest PMI surveys show […]
Join us for CRU’s Annual New York Steel Seminar featuring the outlook for steel and key considerations for navigating price volatility alongside the low carbon transition. Date: Wednesday, June 16, 2021 Time: 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. EDT Despite the pandemic’s impact now easing on the steel industry, domestic and global steel markets continue to face […]
Join us for CRU’s Annual New York Steel Seminar featuring the outlook for steel and key considerations for navigating price volatility alongside the low carbon transition. Date: Wednesday, June 16, 2021 Time: 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. EDT Despite the pandemic’s impact now easing on the steel industry, domestic and global steel markets continue to face uncertainty […]
Join us for CRU’s Annual New York Steel Seminar featuring the outlook for steel and key considerations for navigating price volatility alongside the low carbon transition. Date: Wednesday, June 16, 2021 Time: 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. EDT Despite the pandemic’s impact now easing on the steel industry, domestic and global steel markets continue to face uncertainty […]
Join us for CRU’s Annual New York Steel Seminar featuring the outlook for steel and key considerations for navigating price volatility alongside the low carbon transition. Date: Wednesday, June 16, 2021 Time: 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. EDT Despite the pandemic’s impact now easing on the steel industry, domestic and global steel markets continue to face uncertainty […]
Join us for CRU’s Annual New York Steel Seminar featuring the outlook for steel and key considerations for navigating price volatility alongside the low carbon transition. Date: Wednesday, June 16, 2021 Time: 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. EDT Despite the pandemic’s impact now easing on the steel industry, domestic and global steel markets continue to face uncertainty […]
Join us for CRU’s Annual New York Steel Seminar featuring the outlook for steel and key considerations for navigating price volatility alongside the low carbon transition. Date: Wednesday, June 16, 2021 Time: 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. EDT Despite the pandemic’s impact now easing on the steel industry, domestic and global steel markets continue to face uncertainty […]
Limited supply and strong demand continued to push steel prices higher throughout April, now the eighth consecutive month in which prices have increased. Hot rolled steel prices increased an average of $25 per ton each week, reaching $1,440 per ton by the end of April, exceeding any historical price by far. The SMU Price Momentum […]
The ISM Manufacturing Report on Business came in lower than expected in April. The PMI dipped four points to a reading of 60.7% as both the new orders and production indexes edged downward to 64.3% and 62.5%, respectively. A score above 50, however, indicates expansion, which means demand continued to improve in April. Fabricated metal […]
The Chicago Business Barometer reached its highest level since December 1983 with a PMI reading of 72.1, according to MNI Indicators. The April PMI rose 5.7 points from March, refuting economists’ expectations of a dip to 65. Demand was robust in April with the new orders index jumping 9.9 points to a near seven-year high. […]
U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) rose by 6.4% in the first quarter of 2021 on an annualized basis, according to the advanced estimate from the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). The gain marks the second-fastest pace of growth since Q2 2003 and was exceeded only by the pandemic-reopening-fueled burst of Q3 in 2020. This growth […]
By CRU Principal Economist Alex Tuckett and Chief Economist Jumana Saleheen, from CRU’s Global Economic Outlook Our forecast for global growth in 2021 remains unchanged, with downward revisions to Europe, India and China being offset by upward revisions to other countries, principally the U.S. Although risks remain, we remain confident that the world will see […]
By CRU Chief Economist Jumana Saleheen and Principal Economist Alex Tuckett from CRU’s Global Economic Outlook This month has seen strong signs that the speed of the recovery in the global industrial sector is feeding through to costs throughout the supply chain. Although this does present a risk to our forecast, our baseline case remains […]
By CRU Chief Economist Jumana Saleheen and CRU Head of Fertilizers Chris Lawson, from CRU’s Steel Monitor Commodity prices have continued an upwards tear in 2021. Steel and its raw materials have seen the sharpest gains, but less well-known commodities such as fertilizers are also attracting attention. With such steep price rises, calls for a […]
By CRU Consulting CEO Rebecca Gordon and Principal Consultant Alex Laugharne The increasing momentum behind transportation electrification is driving new supply chains to evolve rapidly. Historically, long and lean automotive supply chains led to cost efficiencies. The challenges of developing entirely new suppliers and embedding sustainability objectives mean: working with many completely new suppliers who […]
By CRU Research Manager Charlie Durant and Peter Ghilchik, CRU Head of Multi-Commodity Analysis 2021 is shaping up to be a year of economic recovery. CRU is forecasting the fastest annual growth in the world economy for 40 years, underpinned by successful vaccination programs and supportive fiscal and monetary policy. 3+1 Macro Themes In January, we […]
By CRU Analyst George Pearson from CRU’s Steel Monitor Chinese prices have rebounded this week after three consecutive weeks of decline. However, trading in markets outside of China was lower last week as buyers waited for further developments in Chinese prices and this fed through to lower w/w gains in Europe and the U.S. U.S. […]
By CRU’s Economics Team The Biden administration has recently announced a $2.2 trillion American Jobs Plan (AJP) spending package, which includes around $1 trillion of spending on infrastructure. In this slidepack, we set out what this could mean for metals demand and the wider U.S. economy. Our analysis suggests that the AJP could boost demand […]
Foreign hot rolled steel prices remain attractive compared to steel sourced domestically, albeit at a lesser potential discount than 1-2 months ago, as foreign import prices are now increasing at a greater rate than domestic prices. U.S. buyers continue to place orders for foreign material despite long lead times for delivery. Foreign prices still hold potential […]
Ternium has strong confidence in the growth potential for the Mexican steel industry. Despite a poor performance by the government in helping the economy recover from the impact of the pandemic, CEO Maximo Vedoya expects the industrial base will continue to grow. One of the drivers will be reshoring of the supply base, which will […]
Orders for durable goods—products expected to last three years or more—recovered partially in March, increasing 0.5% after dipping 0.9% in February, said the Commerce Department on Monday. Orders for the month totaled $256.3 billion, increasing for the 10th time in the last 11 months, but at a much lower rate than the 2%-plus uplift expected by […]
Metalforming companies are optimistic about business conditions for the next three months, but are concerned about longer lead times for steel and other materials. In the April 2021 Business Conditions Report by the Precision Metalforming Association, 56% of participants expect improvement in economic activity in the next three months compared to 50% in March. Only […]
The number of active oil and gas drill rigs declined slightly this past week for both the United States and Canada, according to data released by oilfield services company Baker Hughes. The rig count is important to the steel industry because it is a leading indicator of oil country tubular goods demand. The number of […]
Ternium remains on track to start up its new hot strip mill in Pesquería, outside of Monterrey, Mexico, on time, according to industry sources. The Latin American steelmaker has indicated that it expects to start up by early June and has already filled its June and July order books, market participants said. Ternium did not […]
Ford has extended downtime at assembly plants in the U.S. and Canada into May because of an ongoing microchip supply squeeze. “The global semiconductor shortage continues, presenting challenges to a number of industries – including automakers worldwide,” a Ford spokeswoman said. The Dearborn, Mich.-based automaker will take outages the weeks of May 3 and May […]
U.S. steel product shipments slipped in February by 1.7%, the first decrease since bottoming out in April 2020 when COVID nearly brought the economy to a standstill. Despite the decrease month on month, which may be due to seasonal factors, steel shipments have recovered to pre-pandemic volumes and posted an increase of 5.5% compared to February […]