Manufacturing technology orders in May rose 7.3 percent from April to $378.4 million. The Association for Manufacturing Technology reported orders for metal cutting technologies increased 4.5 percent from the previous month while orders for forming and fabricating jumped 64.8 percent. Total orders fell almost 22 percent from May 2018. Orders for the first five months […]
A new tariff on fabricated structural steel from Mexico adds another complication to U.S./Mexico relations, but is not expected to threaten ratification of the USMCA. The U.S. Department of Commerce issued a preliminary ruling in a countervailing investigation that U.S. producers are being harmed by imports of fabricated structural steel from Mexico and China. Canada […]
Over 800 executives are registered with just seven weeks to go before the start of the 2019 SMU Steel Summit Conference. We continue to see strong interest in this year’s event, which will be held in Atlanta, Ga., on Aug. 26-28. Once again, the Georgia International Convention Center will be the home of this, our […]
Over 800 executives are registered with just seven weeks to go before the start of the 2019 SMU Steel Summit Conference. We continue to see strong interest in this year’s event, which will be held in Atlanta, Ga., on Aug. 26-28. Once again, the Georgia International Convention Center will be the home of this, our […]
It has been some time since we shared comments from one of our trading friends located in China. There have been significant changes in the Chinese steel industry, and the U.S. tariffs on China are having an impact, according to our source. Here is what he had to say: “The Chinese market has not flexed […]
Steel prices dominated the industry headlines in June, falling between $60 and $85 per ton depending on the product, or roughly 10 percent. Steel Market Update received reports of deals on hot rolled steel below $500 per ton. The mills also made headlines late in the month with their announcement of a $40 per ton […]
The Canadian Parliament passed an act on June 21 that will amend the Customers Tariff and the Canadian International Trade Tribunal Act regarding safeguard measures. The House of Commons and Senates pushed through an amendment that temporarily repeals a two-year waiting period before government authorities can reinstate safeguard measures on the same products. Canada recently […]
The ISM Manufacturing Index slipped to 51.7 percent in June from 52.1 percent in May, its lowest reading since October 2016. The headline PMI has been softening since September 2018, noted Timothy R. Fiore, chairman of the Institute for Supply Management Manufacturing Business Survey Committee. “Softening this month was primarily due to demand and inputs […]
Global manufacturing contracted in June with manufacturing indices falling as trade tensions and tariffs impacted business conditions. At 49.4, the J.P. Morgan Global Manufacturing PMI contracted to its lowest rate in six-and-a-half years. International trade continued to weaken with export orders falling for the tenth consecutive month. The majority of countries in the June survey […]
Canada’s Stelco, Hamilton, Ontario, has begun shipping fully processed, annealed cold-rolled sheet after investing more than $30 million in a new batch annealing facility. With completion of this project, Stelco will now be able to offer these high-quality products to the automotive, appliance, service center and pre-painted steel markets. These products have historically commanded higher […]
Consumer confidence as reported by The Conference Board decline sharply in June following a downward revision of the May data. The Conference Board measure of consumer confidence is quite a volatile indicator; therefore, we prefer to smooth the data with a moving average to reduce monthly variability. The composite value of consumer confidence in June […]
Global steel production hit an all-time high in April and that record was smashed in May. Global steel production in April achieved a new high annual rate of 1.880 billion metric tons (Mt). Production surged in May to an annual rate of 1.953 billion Mt. Capacity is calculated to be 2.4 billion Mt and capacity […]
The third estimate of U.S. GDP growth in Q1 2019 was 3.1 percent, but the mix of components gives cause for concern. This SMU report is very similar to the one we published for the first estimate on April 27. The first estimate for Q2 2019 will be published on July 26. After the worst […]
By CRU Principal Analyst Josh Spoores Sheet prices in the U.S. have continued to fall with HR coil making a significant decline. For HR coil, CRU’s price assessment fell $34 /s.ton w/w to $505 /s.ton, the lowest price recorded since mid-November 2016. North America Our index is a volume-weighted average of actual transactions from last […]
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 […]
The Precision Metalforming Association says metalforming companies continue to be concerned about future business conditions. The May report, sampling 100 metalforming companies, shows little change in their confidence that orders and general business activity will increase. “PMA’s monthly Business Conditions Report reveals that metalforming manufacturers continue to show concern about business activity,” said PMA President […]
Manufactured durable goods orders declined in May by 1.3 percent to $243.4 billion, reported the U.S. Census Bureau. Orders have fallen in three of the last four months and the decline was steeper than expected in May. Civilian aircraft orders were to blame for much of the decline, plummeting 28.2 percent on difficulties at Boeing […]
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 […]
In this report, we examine the change in currency values of the 16 preeminent global steel trading and iron ore trading nations. The currencies of these 16 don’t necessarily follow the Broad Index value of the U.S. dollar. In fact, at any given time, some are always moving in the opposite direction. The latest value […]
The U.S. dollar has strengthened against 13 of the 16 steel trading nation currencies in the last month. In this report we examine the change in currency values of the 16 preeminent global steel and iron ore trading nations. The currencies of these 16 don’t necessarily follow the Broad Index value of the U.S, dollar. […]
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 […]
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 Prices Analyst Estelle Tran Hundreds of steel executives from around the world gathered in New York City this week to hold meetings and learn about what will drive the steel markets in the second half of the year. The CRU Steel Briefing on Monday, June 17, provided attendees with our views on sheet […]
Mexico voted to ratify the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement on Wednesday, paving the path for Canada and the U.S, to follow suit. The vote by the Mexican senate was nearly unanimous at 114 to 4 with three senators abstaining. Although some senators expressed concern about capricious tariff threats from the U.S. president, the sentiment was generally […]
More than 700 executives are registered with slightly more than two months to go before the start of the 2019 SMU Steel Summit Conference. We continue to see strong interest in this year’s event, which will be held in Atlanta, Ga., on Aug. 26-28. Once again, the Georgia International Convention Center (www.gicc.com) will be the […]
More than 700 executives are registered with slightly more than two months to go before the start of the 2019 SMU Steel Summit Conference. We continue to see strong interest in this year’s event, which will be held in Atlanta, Ga., on Aug. 26-28. Once again, the Georgia International Convention Center (www.gicc.com) will be the […]
Last night, Steel Market Update participated in the annual Bank of America Merrill Lynch dinner hosted by metals and mining analyst Timna Tanners. We also spoke at the CRU Steel Briefing a little earlier in the day. Here are some of the key takeaways from those meetings. Mill Lead Times Short Flat rolled steel mill […]
Producing, processing and transporting steel are all hazardous undertakings—arguably made even more hazardous by the widespread legalization of marijuana. Trade associations and steel companies seem reluctant to comment on this subject. Some may see it as a minor issue as marijuana use is already so commonplace and relatively benign compared to other drugs. For others, […]
Most indicators of manufacturing activity are still positive, but if trends continue growth could become negative by late summer, according to Steel Market Update’s latest analysis. This report summarizes 11 data streams that describe the state of U.S. manufacturing in general and the steel industry in particular. We have reported on most of these separately […]
The Empire State Manufacturing Index plunged 26 points in June to register -8.6 for its first negative reading in two years. Manufacturing growth in New York did an about face from May’s six-month high with the new orders index plummeting 22 points and shipments 7 points. The employment index fell to -3.5, while the average […]