Twice per month, Steel Market Update conducts a flat rolled steel market analysis which is done in the form of a survey. The survey is done through Survey Monkey online and then evaluated by SMU. Once we have crunched the numbers they are put into spread sheets and then a good portion of the data […]
We will be in Iowa next week for one of our Steel 101: Introduction to Steel Making & Market Fundamentals workshops. We are looking forward to working with SSAB again, as we did a workshop in Mobile, Alabama and toured their Alabama facility. This is our first trip to Iowa. We are working on ironing […]
Flat rolled steel prices have been dropping lately and Steel Market Update (SMU) can no longer ignore the direction of market prices at this time. We are, therefore, adjusting our Price Momentum Indicator to Lower from Neutral, meaning that our expectation is for prices to move lower over the next 30 days. There are a […]
Flat rolled steel buyers and sellers are less enthusiastic about their company’s ability to be successful in both the current and future (three to six months into the future) market conditions. The SMU Steel Buyers Sentiment Index (Current) is being reported as +47, down 6 points over one month ago and well below the +64 […]
Below is the latest release issued by the the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI) regarding residential and commercial heating and cooling equipment shipments through July 2015. You may read the press release on their website here. Residential Storage Water Heaters U.S. shipments of residential gas storage water heaters for July 2015 increased 3.5 percent, […]
The Steel Market Update (SMU) Price MoMo Index for hot rolled steel in the United States was negative (indicating lower prices) for the seventh consecutive week. MoMo, a trailing indicator, is measured as a percentage and shows the relation of the current U.S. hot rolled coil (HRC) price movements against the previous 12-week average spot price […]
The following press release came out late this afternoon and we caught it early this evening. The announcement is about the hot rolled trade cases and whether the US International Trade Commission (ITC) found enough evidence to determine that the probability exists that the U.S. steel industry was “materially damaged” by hot rolled exports from […]
“Steel will win out,” said Larry Kavanagh, president of the Steel Market Development Institute (SMDI) when asked about the use of aluminum in the automotive industry. SMU talked with Kavanagh about Ford’s announcement that it will increase the use of aluminum in the F-150, and potentially other vehicles, using Alcoa’s Micromill technology. The new Micromill […]
The UAW has released the details of the proposed 4-year agreement with Fiat Chrysler. Employee reaction to the tentative agreement was mixed at local unions. There were tough questions and criticisms to respond to at the informational meetings held by the leaders of the bargaining committee. UAW Vice President Norwood Jewell, who was instrumental in […]
In August, vehicle sales reached a new recovery high of 17.8 million units on a seasonally adjusted annualized basis. This was the highest pace since July 2005, when incentives caused sales to surge. The August sales figure was particularly driven by light trucks which increased from 9.7 to 10.1 million units annualized. Autos fell from […]
We finally got our Flat Rolled Steel Service Center Apparent Excess/Deficit Inventory forecast model back on track. As we mentioned last month, SMU had been operating under a much more optimistic frame of mind and this past month we pulled back on our expectations and by doing so we came very close to nailing both […]
Demand (or the lack thereof) seems to be the real culprit affecting the steel market and prices at this moment. I spoke with one of the larger service centers this afternoon and asked: would imports be reduced enough to impact U.S. supply and trigger a price spike? I asked what were the chances that the […]
Details about the UAW tentative agreement with Fiat Chrysler are beginning to come out thanks to a report published Wednesday by the Detroit Free Press. According to their information and comments during the UAW/FCA press conference, the Tier gap will be narrowed and eventually go away. Tier 2 entry workers will start at $17 per […]
Total housing starts in August were at an annual rate of 1,126,000 which was the third best since October 2007. In August, the three month moving average (3MMA) was 1,166,000 which was the best result since December 2007. Total starts are still on track to reach 1.6 million units annualized by the end of 2018 […]
As we have mentioned in a recent article, there has been an intentional change in the scope language associated with the cold rolled and hot rolled antidumping and countervailing duty suits. The change in the language appears to add parts that are not part of Chapter 72 of the Harmonized Code (iron and steel). Of […]
The Steel Market Update (SMU) Price MoMo Index for hot rolled steel in the United States was negative (indicating lower prices) for the fifth consecutive week. MoMo, a trailing indicator, is measured as a percentage and shows the relation of the current U.S. hot rolled coil (HRC) price movements against the previous 12-week average spot price […]
It appears that very slowly steel buyers are slowly starting to come to a realization that there may be a lockout at US Steel and possibly ArcelorMittal as well. As many of you know, these two mills are not huge players in the spot markets so the immediate impact may be slightly muted should one […]
UAW President Dennis Williams and FCA US LLC CEO Sergio Marchionne held a news conference Tuesday evening at the UAW-Chrysler NTC Building in Detroit to announce that they have reached a tentative agreement. No details of the agreement were given but Williams and Marchionne alluded to doing away with the two-tier system over time and […]
I am currently involved in selling our family home now that my kids are gone and we no longer need a large house. The process of dealing with listing agents and real estate sales people has sparked a number of articles about customers service and understanding who the customer really is within our newsletter/website. The […]
The following article was written by Mario Briccetti of Briccetti & Associates who is also one of our instructors for Steel 101 as well as our Sales Training Workshop. Today Mario discusses outstanding customer service and what it means from a purchasing perspective: What does it mean when a supplier has outstanding customer service? Does […]
My opinion (and many of the items discussed in my Final Thoughts articles are just that – my opinion) is that we are getting close to seeing a disruption of services at one mill and we probably are close to possibly seeing two mills (ArcelorMittal and US Steel) lockout the USW members at their mills. […]
Construction firms are finding it increasingly difficult to find qualified craft workers, according to a new report by the Associated General Contractors of America. More than 2 million construction workers were laid off in the 2008 recession with many of those never returning to the industry. In a survey of 1,358 construction firms, 86 percent […]
The Steel Market Update (SMU) Price MoMo Index for hot rolled steel in the United States was negative (indicating lower prices) for the fifth consecutive week. MoMo, a trailing indicator, is measured as a percentage and shows the relation of the current U.S. hot rolled coil (HRC) price movements against the previous 12-week average spot price […]
Planning for nonresidential construction increased in August according to the Dodge Momentum Index by Dodge Data & Analytics. The Index rose 2.8 percent from July to register 128.3. The Momentum Index is a monthly measure of the first (or initial) report for nonresidential building projects in planning, which have been shown to lead construction spending […]
Each month the Commerce Department issues its Construction Put in Place (CPIP) data, usually on the first working day covering activity two months earlier. July data was released on Tuesday September 1st. Construction Put in Place is based on spending work as it occurs, estimated for a given month from a sample of projects. In […]
Sentiment amongst most steel buyers is that the mills (USS & ArcelorMittal USA) will not lockout the union workers. It appears there is a bit of a stalemate right now as the mills feel they need to get something from the union and the union workers believe that what they have they earned and cannot […]
I continue to receive positive comments regarding last week’s Steel Summit Conference. What is especially gratifying is the number of speakers who have come back with comments as to how much they enjoyed the conference, the quality of the speakers and the interest of the attendees. Many of our speakers stayed for the entire conference, […]
Buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel continue to remain optimistic about their company’s ability to be successful in the current market conditions. However, we have seen a weakening of that position especially when we look at the numbers based on a 3-month moving average. The SMU Steel Buyers Sentiment Index measures how flat rolled […]
Domestic steel mill lead times continued to be relatively short based on the consolidated results of our most recent flat rolled steel market analysis just completed earlier today. It is our opinion the short lead times are influencing negotiations and most likely explain the weakness we saw in our flat rolled prices that were just […]
Steel mills in the United States are more willing to negotiate flat rolled steel prices on essentially all products than they have been over the past three or four months. This statement is based on the results of our most recent flat rolled steel market analysis which was just completed earlier today. Ninety-seven percent of […]