U.S. and Canadian steel mills are more willing to negotiate this week than they were during the first week of December, according to the respondents of our latest SMU flat rolled steel market survey. We found 93 percent of the respondents to our survey reporting hot rolled mills as willing to negotiate hot rolled pricing. […]
Last month, Steel Market Update forecast carbon flat rolled shipments out of the U.S. steel service centers would total 2,100,000 tons. Earlier this week the Metal Service Center Institute (MSCI) reported distributors shipped 2,051,600 tons. We over-forecast shipments by 48,400 tons. Our forecast was based on shipments being 4.0 percent higher than November 2013 and […]
The Steel Market Update Price MoMo Index for flat rolled steel in the U.S. indicates hot rolled coil price momentum continued its downward trend for the 17th week in a row. MoMo, a trailing indicator, is measured as a percentage and shows the relation of the current hot rolled coil (HRC) price movements against the […]
The Steel Market Update Price MoMo Index for flat rolled steel in the U.S. indicates hot rolled coil price momentum continued its downward trend for the 16th week in a row. MoMo, a trailing indicator, is measured as a percentage and shows the relation of the current hot rolled coil (HRC) price movements against the […]
SMU Steel Buyers Sentiment Index came in at +52 this week. This is the same reading we got back in the middle of November 2014 The +52, which is within the optimistic range for our index, was 10 points less enthusiastic than what we measured at the beginning of November. One year ago our current […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) conducted our early December flat rolled steel market analysis this week. As part of the survey process, SMU asks those responding questions about flat rolled steel mill lead times. From their responses we create our average lead time for the industry by product. This allows us the ability to evaluate whether […]
Based strictly on the results from our Steel Market Update flat rolled market survey results, domestic steel mills are willing to negotiate prices on hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized and Galvalume products. This is something that we see on a regular basis as lead times slip and the need for orders increases at the domestic […]
The Steel Market Update Price MoMo Index for flat rolled steel in the U.S. indicates hot rolled coil price momentum continued its downward trend for the 15th week in a row. MoMo, a trailing indicator, is measured as a percentage and shows the relation of the current hot rolled coil (HRC) price movements against the […]
An explanation of the Key Indicators concept is given at the end of this piece for those readers who are unfamiliar with it. The total number of indicators considered in this analysis is currently 36. The Chicago Fed Mid-West Manufacturing Index which was suspended earlier this year was expected to be re-instituted this month but […]
It has now been five weeks (October 28th) since AK Steel became the first domestic steel mill to announce a price increase on flat rolled steel. The relatively modest $20 per ton move was, in many steel buyers’ opinions, meant to stem the decline in steel prices. At that point in time benchmark hot rolled […]
The Steel Market Update Price MoMo Index for flat rolled steel in the U.S. indicates hot rolled coil price momentum continued its downward trend for the 14th week in a row. MoMo, which is a trailing indicator, is measured as a percentage and shows the relation of the current hot rolled coil (HRC) price movements […]
Last week Steel Market Update (SMU) conducted our mid-November flat rolled steel market survey. We invited approximately 600 companies to participate representing manufacturing, steel service centers, trading companies, steel mills, toll processors and suppliers to the steel industry. Last week’s participation mix was very similar to what we see on a regular basis with 46 […]
This is part of a series of articles for those associated with the steel industry who are interested in steel sales or steel purchasing. Steel Market Update “Truth About Selling Steel” as well as our “Steel Buyers Basics” articles can be found on our website and are available to the public. Steel Market Update (SMU) […]
The Steel Market Update Price MoMo Index for flat rolled steel in the U.S. indicates hot rolled coil price momentum continued its downward trend for the 13th week in a row. MoMo, which is a trailing indicator, is measured as a percentage and shows the relation of the current hot rolled coil (HRC) price movements […]
Buyers and sellers of steel are beginning to feel the strain of reduced demand (whether seasonal or otherwise), stable to falling steel prices and a very competitive service center spot market which impacts distributors margins. The bottom line is those actively involved in the flat rolled steel industry in the United States and Canada are […]
Last year at this time hot rolled steel prices averaged $670 per ton and were close to the peak for the year which was $680 per ton (SMU index HRC average). Lead times peaked the first week in December on all flat rolled with the exception of Galvalume. From mid-December 2013 until the middle of […]
The vast majority of our SMU steel survey respondents reported the domestic steel mills as willing to negotiate flat rolled steel prices this week. Those reporting the mills as willing to negotiate hot rolled prices increase by 2 percent to 70 percent of the respondents. Cold rolled jumped by an even greater margin from 52 […]
The Metal Service Center Institute (MSCI) reported flat rolled steel inventories earlier this week. Steel Market Update then reviews the data and incorporates the information into a proprietary model which assists us in determining whether inventories are short (deficit) or long (excess) based on what our model is telling us. When September ended we were […]
The Steel Market Update Price MoMo Index for flat rolled steel in the U.S. indicates hot rolled coil price momentum continued its downward trend for the twelfth week in a row. MoMo, which is a trailing indicator, is measured as a percentage and shows the relation of the current hot rolled coil (HRC) price movements […]
One of the items Steel Market Update is watching closely is steel mill lead times. This is especially true after price increases have been announced. Typically, we see lead times move out (extend) after a price announcement has been made. This is due to the rush to get orders quoted prior to the increase announcement […]
Based on the responses from last week’s Steel Market Update survey of the flat rolled steel market, buyers and sellers of steel reported the domestic steel mills as less willing to negotiate steel prices than what we saw during the middle of October. However, even though the percentages were smaller, the majority of buyers and […]
The Truth About Selling Steel is a series of articles written by John Packard (with help from some of his friends), founder and publisher of Steel Market Update. You can find a number of the previous articles about the sales process under the resources tab in our website. Steel Market Update is in the middle […]
It may be a different day but buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel are still singing the same optimistic song regarding their company’s chances of being successful in the current (and future) steel environment. Steel Market Update has been conducting our early November flat rolled steel market survey all week and this afternoon we […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) conducted our early November flat rolled steel market survey this week. We invited approximately 600 companies to participate in the process. Of those participating 44 percent were manufacturing companies and 44 percent were steel service centers. The balance of the respondents was comprised of 6 percent trading companies, 5 percent steel […]
The Steel Market Update Price MoMo Index for flat rolled steel in the U.S. indicates hot rolled coil price momentum continued its downward trend for the eleventh week in a row. MoMo, which is a trailing indicator, is measured as a percentage and shows the relation of the current hot rolled coil (HRC) price movements […]
For the majority of the month of October, the SMU Steel Price Momentum Indicator was referencing lower prices for the next 30 to 60 day period. At the end of the month, we revised our Indicator to Neutral due to AK Steel, US Steel and Nucor having made $20 per ton price increase announcements. It […]
There are a number of ways to connect with new potential customers (prospects). The most effective is when customers come to you either through a marketing effort you and your company or, better yet came from a recommendation from one of your customers. Another way you can also reach new potential customers is by conducting […]
An explanation of the Key Indicators concept is given at the end of this piece for those readers who are unfamiliar with it. The total number of indicators considered has been increased by one this month to thirty six. We have added the price of coking coal FOB the Australian East Coast to the raw […]
The Steel Market Update Price MoMo Index for flat rolled steel in the U.S. indicates hot rolled coil price momentum continued its downward trend for the tenth week in a row. MoMo, which is a trailing indicator, is measured as a percentage and shows the relation of the current hot rolled coil (HRC) price movements […]
Steel buyers and sellers continue to be optimistic about their company’s ability to be successful in the current market conditions. However, there are some signs of strain growing, either due to seasonal pressures or margin squeezes, that may be giving pause to some within the industry. Even so, the results from the mid-October flat rolled […]