Last week we started a discussion on the kinds of ethical issues that buyers and salespeople are exposed to in their everyday activities. The most difficult ethical issues arise because Buyers and Sellers have a fundamental tension in their relationship; they are counterparties negotiating deals where each wants the most for themselves while giving up […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) began collecting responses earlier this week from the just shy 600 companies invited to participate in our twice monthly flat rolled steel market analysis. The individuals responding to our questions this week – particularly those related to our SMU Steel Buyers Sentiment Index – were being influenced by weather related issues […]
Based on the results of our steel market survey which we just completed this afternoon, lead times out of the domestic mills remained relatively constant compared to what we reported during the middle of January. Hot rolled lead times slipped to 3.89 weeks (average) down from 4.09 weeks. Cold rolled remained over 6 weeks at […]
The Steel Market Update Price MoMo Index for flat rolled steel in the U.S remained negative this week for the 2nd consecutive week after being in positive territory for the prior 15 weeks. MoMo, a trailing indicator, is measured as a percentage and shows the relation of the current hot rolled coil (HRC) price movements […]
On January 14, Steel Market Update (SMU) adjusted our Price Momentum Indicator from Higher to Neutral. This means we see steel market pricing at this moment as either in transition or moving sideways over the next 30 days. With ferrous scrap prices now weakening, lead times shortening and all of the available capacity back in […]
Essentially all of the domestic steel mills have finished maintenance on their blast furnaces. U.S. Steel is bringing back online their Fairfield furnace, Berkeley has completed the expansion of its hot strip mill and other domestic steel mill maintenance projects from 4th Quarter 2013 have been completed. Supply is available and now it is time […]
When Steel Market Update decided to do an article on steel business ethics we knew the subject would elicit an immediate response from a number of our readers – and it has. What is making this process of writing a new series of articles on the subject of ethics interesting, is having another set of […]
Steel Market Update follows a number of indexes and their average price points on hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized, Galvalume as well as plate. Steel Market Update (SMU) found prices slipping on three of the four products we currently index – hot rolled, galvanized and Galvalume. CRU also picked up some modestly weaker numbers as […]
Buyers and sellers of steel are often exposed to ethical questions in their everyday activities. Some of the ethical issues which arise are fairly easy to discern as being ethical or unethical while others reside in a much tougher to distinguish gray area. Mario Briccetti and I were speaking about doing an ethics article and […]
The Steel Market Update Price MoMo Index for flat rolled steel in the U.S turned negative this week after being in positive territory for 15 consecutive weeks. MoMo, a trailing indicator, is measured as a percentage and shows the relation of the current hot rolled coil (HRC) price movements against the previous 12-week average spot […]
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 by Steel Market Update at present is thirty six. The present situation of twelve of the indicators based on historical standards was positive on January 28th […]
Late last week Steel Market Update concluded our mid-January market survey of the flat rolled steel market in Canada and the United States. The survey is conducted by invitation only and is sent to slightly less than 600 companies. The breakout of the respondents was: 48 percent manufacturing companies, 42 percent service centers/wholesalers, 5 percent […]
The most straightforward way for a flat rolled steel buyer to fix the cost of steel out into the future is to simply buy steel now and hold it in inventory. The downside to this strategy is, of course, the inventory holding cost. A second way to fix the price of steel is to negotiate […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) released ourr latest Steel Buyers Sentiment Index which measures how buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel feel about their company’s ability to be successful in the current business environment. The mid-January Sentiment Index was measured over the period January 20 through February 23, 2014 and is being reported at +44. […]
Mill lead times, according to those taking our SMU steel market survey this week, continue to be extended compared to where they were one year ago. However, we found (based on our survey results) that the mills have become more willing to negotiate on hot rolled, galvanized and Galvalume but not on cold rolled. Hot […]
The Steel Market Update Price MoMo Index for flat rolled steel in the U.S remained positive this week and is currently in its 15th consecutive week of being in positive territory. MoMo, a trailing indicator, is based upon the current hot rolled coil (HRC) price weighed against the previous 12-week average spot price as recorded […]
Two of the indexes followed by Steel Market Update (three including our own indices) saw prices as beginning to drop for the first time in many weeks. The average hot rolled number dropped $3 per ton to $678. The cold rolled results were mixed with SMU and SteelBenchmarker (which is only published twice per month) […]
The Metal Service Center Institute (MSCI) produced their analysis of service center shipments and inventories as of the end of December 2013. According to the MSCI flat rolled inventories stood at 4,981,400 tons which represented a 2.6 month’s supply on a non-seasonally adjusted basis and 2.1 months supply based on seasonally adjusted data. Steel Market […]
Many, perhaps most, steel buyers negotiate a new price for flat rolled steel each time they place a purchase order. Other buyers will negotiate a price for all their steel needs over a fixed period (as much as a year) and then, when they require steel, release purchase orders at this fixed price. However, there’s […]
The Steel Market Update Price MoMo Index for flat rolled steel in the U.S remained positive this week, but only slightly so, and is currently in its 14th consecutive week of being in positive territory. MoMo, a trailing indicator, is based upon the current hot rolled coil (HRC) price weighed against the previous 12-week average […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) has adjusted our Price Momentum Indicator from Higher to Neutral. This means we see steel market pricing at this moment as either in transition or moving sideways over the next 30 days. With ferrous scrap prices now weakening, lead times shortening and all of the available capacity back in the market […]
Last week Steel Market Update conducted our first flat rolled steel market analysis (survey). Invitations were sent by email to approximately 600 companies. We received responses from 120 companies out of which 45 percent were service centers, 42 percent were manufacturing companies, 5 percent trading companies, 5 percent steel mills, 2 percent toll processors and […]
Flat rolled steel prices began to rise this past week according to the steel indices releasing data for the week. Benchmark hot rolled now averages $681 per ton with the range being $675 to $685 per ton (although the $675 is from SteelBenchmarker who did not report new numbers last week). Cold rolled is approaching […]
The majority of flat rolled steel buyers and sellers taking our most recent Steel Market Update (SMU) survey are reporting that they expect that domestic steel mills will be able to collect their most recent price increase within the first two full weeks of January. According to our survey results, 54 percent of those responding […]
Essentially all of the domestic steel mills have finished maintenance on their blast furnaces. U.S. Steel is bringing back online their Fairfield furnace, Berkeley has completed the expansion of its hot strip mill and other domestic steel mill maintenance projects from 4th Quarter 2013 have been completed. Supply is available and now it is time […]
The following article is a continuation of our Steel Buyers Basics series. Today’s article was written by Mario Briccetti. There is a hidden risk in the cost of sheet steel that many buyers do not consider. Most cold rolled and coated steel sheet applications require coverage of an area at a minimum steel thickness – […]
Buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel entered the New Year in very high spirits. Our Steel Market Update (SMU) Steel Buyers Sentiment Index was measured at +42 which is the most optimistic level recorded since March 1, 2012 (+45). The rolling three month moving average (3MMA) came in at +38.33 which is a one […]
Based on the results of our first steel market survey of the New Year, lead times at the domestic steel mills remained at moderately higher than normal. Benchmark hot rolled lead times remained above 4.0 weeks (average). Based on the average of the responses received during the survey process HRC lead times were measured at […]
The Steel Market Update Price MoMo Index for flat rolled steel in the U.S. remained positive this week for the 13th week in a row after 4 consecutive weeks of being in negative territory. MoMo, a trailing indicator, is based upon the current hot rolled coil (HRC) price weighed against the previous 12-week average spot […]
One of our readers asked us last week if we had ever done an analysis of steel prices and lead times. The answer (now) is yes, we have… So the question we posed to ourselves – is there are relationship between mill lead times (as captured in our SMU steel market survey) and flat rolled […]