The news today (late today) is all about the antidumping Preliminary Determination announcement made by the U.S. Department of Commerce. China hit hard (they don’t participate as they think they are going to get hit no matter what), Taiwan nothing and the others (Korea, India and Italy) were hit with modest AD duties. The battle […]
On Friday, SMU was speaking with the CEO of a Midwest-based service center who was advising us that, in his opinion, based on the conversations he was having with his mill suppliers, we should expect more flat rolled steel price increases to come. The mills were already asking his company for more and the mills’ […]
The UAW has ratified a new contract with Nexteer Automotive after rejecting a first tentative agreement just two weeks ago. The ratification averted another possible strike by the membership. UAW Local 699, representing 3,200 workers at Nexteer, reported that 64.2 percent of voting members supported the new contract. Changes from the original agreement include increasing […]
The Steel Market Update (SMU) Price MoMo Index for hot rolled steel in the United States was negative (indicating lower prices) for the 17th 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 […]
This will be a busy week – at least the beginning of the week. We have the US Department of Commerce scheduled to release Preliminary Determinations on Heavy Walled Rectangular Welded Carbon Pipes and Tubes from Turkey on Monday. On Tuesday (vote will be on Monday) the US DOC is scheduled to release antidumping (AD) […]
Total housing starts in November were at an annual rate of 1,173,000 which was up from 1,062,000 in October. Since April total monthly starts annualized have ranged from 1,062,000 to 1,211,000 with the high month being June. In November the three month moving average (3MMA) was 1,147,000 which was up from 1,128,000 in October. August […]
The domestic steel mills began raising flat rolled steel prices late last week and into this week. We saw a mild rise in our hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized and Galvalume indices as the domestic mills began to collect at least a portion of the announced increases. As we canvass the buyers and sellers of […]
Flat rolled steel lead times, according to those responding to this week’s market analysis questionnaire, have begun to move. The question now becomes will they continue to move and will they move out far enough to force buyers back into the market? Our respondents reported hot rolled lead times as having extended slightly from the […]
There was a significant change in the willingness of the domestic steel mills to negotiate pricing with their customers after the price announcements were made. According to the results of this week’s flat rolled market analysis conducted by Steel Market Update all products saw the percentage of those reporting the mills as willing to negotiate […]
I hope that all of you will take a few moments to click on the links provided for the speakers and for the PGA National Resort & Spa to get a better feel for the quality of the program we will be putting on in March for a select few company executives. There is a […]
A thank you to Keith Gunter of McElroy for sharing his annual Christmas poem for the steel industry with us. If you have anything you would like to share (tastefully) with the industry please feel free to forward them to my attention: John@SteelMarketUpdate.com We just confirmed our last couple of speakers for our new Leadership […]
On Friday Steel Market Update (SMU) adjusted our Price Momentum Indicator from Neutral to Higher. With almost all of the major mills now walking in step with one another (at least regarding the direction of prices from here if not the exact rate of change from where they were a couple of weeks ago), we […]
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 October 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 October 2015 decreased 21.0 percent […]
We will conduct our mid-December flat rolled steel market analysis (survey) beginning on Monday of this week. If you are on the invite list, please take a few moments to click on the link (button) and respond to our online questionnaire. If you were on the invite list in the past and for some reason […]
The Nexteer Automotive strike was called off after just one day. A second tentative agreement was reached on Tuesday night, Dec. 8 and workers at UAW Local 699 were told to resume their scheduled shifts. The first tentative contract was rejected by an overwhelming majority of workers at the company which produces steering and driveline […]
The Steel Market Update (SMU) Price MoMo Index for hot rolled steel in the United States was negative (indicating lower prices) for the 17th 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 […]
I expect the other domestic mills to go along with price increases of their own – whether they choose to announce the move may depend on what they feel is in their best interest. I would anticipate that Nucor will come out with their own announcement. US Steel and ArcelorMittal are in the process of […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) has been analyzing service center spot pricing based on reports from manufacturing and distribution respondents to our flat rolled steel market questionnaire. SMU canvassed the market last week and we believe that the results suggests an uptick in spot pricing will come soon. Manufacturing companies responding to our survey had 90 […]
The following article was written by Mario Briccetti of Briccetti & Associates, a Supply Chain consulting firm, and is also one of our instructors for Steel 101 as well as our Sales Training Workshop. Recently, in my series of articles, I have written about the coating cost of galvanized and Galvalume on flat rolled steel. […]
The Dodge Momentum Index dropped 3.7 percent to 119.9 in the November report from Dodge Data and Analytics. The index spiked in July and September but lost construction planning momentum in October and November. The index is now more consistent with the “gentle upward trend in planning activity that began in 2012” says Dodge. Commercial […]
A strike is in effect for 3,200 UAW workers at Nexteer Automotive after 97 percent of the membership voted against a tentative agreement on Sunday. The union and Nexteer exchanged proposals on Monday but could not come to a compromise before the 11:59 p.m. deadline. Nexteer expressed frustration over the decision to strike after negotiating […]
I will have a detailed report regarding the HARDI annual conference in Thursday evening’s issue. However, the news is good for those involved in the construction industries with Alan Beaulieu, Chief Economist for HARDI and co-founder of the Institute for Trend Research, proclaiming 2016 will be better than 2015 and 2017 will be even better […]
On Friday of this past week Steel Market Update (SMU) adjusted our Price Momentum Indicator from Lower to Neutral. This move is being made as we are seeing more evidence of the domestic steel mills taking a stand and either raising spot prices (especially on coated steels) or refusing to go any lower. As one […]
This morning, Steel Market Update (SMU) adjusted our Price Momentum Indicator from Lower to Neutral. This move is being made as we are seeing more evidence of the domestic steel mills taking a stand and either raising spot prices (especially on coated steels) or are refusing to go any lower. As one steel buyer put […]
Each month the Commerce Department issues its Construction Put in Place (CPIP) data, usually on the first working day covering activity two months earlier. October data was released on Tuesday December 1st. Construction Put in Place is based on spending work as it occurs, estimated for a given month from a sample of projects. In […]
I am in Orlando attending the HARDI annual conference. I will be addressing their sheet metal committee a little later in the week. Also here is Alan Beaulieu of the Institute for Trend Research (ITR). I look forward to hearing Alan speak both here and at the end of August 2016 when he will once […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) Steel Buyers Sentiment Index continued its long slide as buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel are less optimistic this week regarding their company’s ability to be successful both in the existing (Current) market as well as three to six months into the future (Future). Respondents to our queries regarding Sentiment […]
The following lead times are averages generated out of the flat rolled steel market analysis we conducted beginning on Monday of this week. Actual mill lead times will vary from mill to mill and we always recommend that buyers speak to their mill representatives in order to obtain the most up to date lead times […]
Much like lead times, domestic mill spot price negotiations have been mired in the muck and not able to get any momentum going back to the spring of this year. Those responding to this week’s flat rolled steel market analysis are almost unanimous in their description of the willingness of the domestic mills to discuss […]
U.S. auto sales reached 1.32 million vehicles in November, a 1.4 percent increase. The seasonally adjusted annual rate according to WardsAuto, was 18.12 million vehicles, the third consecutive month above a SAAR of 18 million units. WardsAuto estimates that December sales will have to reach 1.7 million units to get a fourth consecutive month at […]