General Motors wants to bring electric cars to the masses not just the “elite.” GM CEO Mary Barra, in an interview with LinkedIn’s executive editor Daniel Roth, said the all-electric Chevy Bolt (with a “B”) will be offered to the public at $30,000 compared to Tesla’s $75,000 vehicle. Electrification is for everyone, “not just the […]
In past years, Steel Market Update would take a week off over the 4th of July holiday. This year, with the 4th falling on a Saturday and the industry dealing with a number of “hot” issues such as price increase announcements, coated trade case and the new Level the Playing Field law, well, we decided […]
A steel buyer is required to make buying decisions – often worth millions of dollars – on current market conditions and expectations of future market conditions. How does anyone do that well in an environment of uncertainty and constant change? One way to get an advantage is to be a “Learning Machine”. Here’s what Charlie […]
Take the time to read the article in tonight’s issue about what the new trade legislation will mean to how injury or material injury is determined. I spoke with one of my sources last week who told me that this legislation will be a “game changer” for those who import foreign steel. No longer will […]
Before the ink had dried on last month’s service center flat rolled inventory “Apparent Excess/Deficit” report and forecast we knew our forecast was being a bit too optimistic. This was pointed out to us in an email from a large service center who has been following our Apparent Excess since the beginning. “I read with […]
The Steel Market Update (SMU) Price MoMo Index for flat rolled steel in the United States was positive for the fifth consecutive week indicating that prices have been rising. This follows a 39 week negative streak (falling prices). MoMo, a trailing indicator, is measured as a percentage and shows the relation of the current U.S. […]
A quick note to those of you who have signed up, or will be registering for our 5th Steel Summit Conference in Atlanta on September 1 & 2nd. We found a little bug in the way our system looks at our members as they register for the conference. If you are logged into the website […]
New home sales were at a seven year high in May, climbing 2.2 percent from April to an a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 546,000, according to estimates released jointly by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Sales outpaced the Bloomberg forecast of 523,000 and were 19.5 percent above […]
I was advised by the US Department of Commerce that they will announce tomorrow (Wednesday, June 24) whether they will “…initiate AD and CVD investigations of imports of corrosion-resistant steel products from China, India, Italy, Korea and Taiwan.” We will have a fact sheet from them outlining their decision and we will provide it to […]
Light vehicle sales in the US skyrocketed in May to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 17.8 million units. This is the strongest pace in almost 10 years. Auto sales were 7.4 million in April and rose to 8.1 million in May. Light trucks rose from 9.1 to 9.7 million. Imports in May were 3.8 […]
I will be in my office all week (yea!) this week. This is probably the first time I have spent a full week behind my desk in the last couple of months. If you have any questions for me this is a good week to track me down and ask away…. I would like to […]
SMU Sentiment Index Jumps Since our last flat rolled steel market analysis and evaluation of how buyers and sellers of steel feel about their company’s ability to be successful both three to six months from now (Future) as well as in today’s economic environment (Current), we have had a second price increase and a dumping […]
Steel Market Update reported in the Tuesday issue of our newsletter that negotiations have started between the USW (United Steelworkers Union) and ArcelorMittal. The issue was raised at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch dinner where SMU publisher, John Packard, spoke last night. We have been anticipating that the posturing by the union and AM, […]
Lead times moved out slightly on three of the four flat rolled products: hot rolled, cold rolled and galvanized. The only product which essentially remained the same was Galvalume. Hot rolled lead times averaged 4 weeks, according to the results of this week’s flat rolled steel market analysis (survey). This is up from 3.66 weeks […]
As with lead times, our survey respondents are reporting steel mills as slowly regressing and moving away from negotiating flat rolled steel prices. Although we are seeing movement, the percentage of respondents reporting the mills as still willing to negotiate hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized and Galvalume continues to be more than 50 percent. Hot […]
The steel industry has been preparing for a trade suit for well over a year. Those who buy steel, manufacturers, fabricators and steel service centers have had ample time to prepare for what many had been predicting as inevitable, a light flat rolled coated steel anti-dumping (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) suit. As we speak […]
The Steel Market Update (SMU) Price MoMo Index for flat rolled steel in the United States was positive for the fourth consecutive week, following a 39 week negative streak. 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 […]
The surprisingly strong housing starts result for April was not repeated in May but the three month moving average did increase. Total starts were 1,036,000 down from 1,165,000 in April. This is an example of why we always focus on three month moving averages (3MMA) at SMU and don’t get too excited or depressed by […]
On Thursday evening I attended an Association of Steel Distributors (ASD) regional meeting in Chicago. Although the program had been set a couple of months ago, the timing was spot on as they had Larry Friedman, trade attorney with Barnes, Richardson & Colburn, LLP. He did an excellent job of positioning where the idea of […]
I was speaking with someone associated with one of the Korean trading companies earlier today. I was told that the Koreans will continue to quote and ship coated steels as they do not believe their mill(s) were involved in any dumping. I was also told by the same trader that they were placing business with […]
Steel Market Update was analyzing data from our last flat rolled market survey just as the domestic mills began announcing price increases. We thought our readers might be interested in looking at the data with us and then guess as to whether the new price increases will “stick” or falter over time. In our opinion, […]
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 April 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 April 2015 decreased 8.8 percent, […]
I am back in my office for the first time in about three weeks. Of course, I am only here on Monday and Tuesday before taking a quick trip to Chicago where I will be speaking to a Bank of America group and then the following day I will attend the Association of Steel Distributors […]
Just a quick note to let our Premium level members know that earlier this week we put the latest imports by product, port and country on our website. You can review the data by clicking here. We received notification from the MSCI that their data will be released on Monday of next week. We will […]
The Steel Market Update (SMU) Price MoMo Index for flat rolled steel in the United States was positive for the third consecutive week, following a 39 week negative streak. 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 […]
I was able to pick up a number of sponsors for our Steel Summit Conference. We now have commitments from: Magic Coil Products, Pacesetter Steel, Alliance Steel and Cargill. We thank those who support our efforts to produce quality steel workshops and conferences. Sponsors, such as the ones named above, help us keep our conference […]
Hello from New York City, the Big Apple, the friendly city (oh, that’s somewhere else…). If you have $20 for a drink (bar brand) and $50 for breakfast (for 2) it’s a great place to be, even better if you are on an expense plan with your company. Darn, I own this one… I’ve managed […]
Lead times have not shot out since the price increase announcements were made in early May. Hot rolled lead times were reported as being 3.5 weeks at the beginning of May and one month later HRC lead times averaged 3.66 weeks according to the results of our most recent flat rolled steel survey. Lead times […]
Our respondents to last week’s flat rolled steel market survey continue to report prices as being negotiable, maybe not to the degree we have been seeing since the beginning of the year, but negotiable non-the-less. However, we need to remember that the vast majority of our responses were made prior to the anti-dumping trade suit […]
The Dodge Momentum Index was unchanged in May at 122.3. The Index, a monthly measure of the initial report for nonresidential building projects in planning, has been flat so far in 2015 after growing in 2014. Although, May activity was at a standstill, the Index was still 6.1 percent higher compared to a year ago. […]