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 […]
We had a great conference! Don’t take my word for it, go out and talk to the hundreds of people who attended this year and ask their opinion. We are well on the way to making this conference THE Steel Summit Conference of the year for those who are actively involved in the steel industry. […]
It’s been a long day for myself and my SMU team as we host our 5th Steel Summit Conference. The day began early for us with wake up calls around 5 AM after working most of the night on final presentation slides and networking with our attendees at the Marriott hotel where we are staying. […]
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. Please refer to Table 1 for the view of the present situation and the quantitative measure of trends. Readers should […]
Our Steel Buyers Sentiment Index dropped for the second month in a row, however, our 3-month-moving-average rose slightly. Our Sentiment Index has been trailing what we reported during 2014 as business growth has been tempered this year versus last. Flat rolled steel prices dropped slightly from the end of last month through the end of […]
I was reminded by an incident that recently happened to me outside of the steel industry that the hardest lesson for a salesperson to learn is humility. Most salespeople work very hard and understand that they exist within a very competitive industry. There are other salespeople out there competing for the same business and pitching […]
It’s showtime! Our 5th SMU Steel Summit Conference is locked, loaded and ready to go. We move into the sold out Marriott Gateway Hotel early tomorrow (Monday) afternoon where we will begin registration at 4 PM until 6 PM. We anticipate the bar area will be full of steel people on Monday evening so come […]
United Auto Workers negotiations are nearing the contract expiration date of Sept. 14. The biggest issue this year is closing the gap in the two-tier wage structure at Detroit’s Big Three automakers. The two-tier system was established in 2007 to help auto manufacturers remain competitive with foreign counterparts. Tier 1, or legacy workers earn about […]
The Steel Market Update (SMU) Price MoMo Index for hot rolled steel in the United States was negative (indicating lower prices) for the third 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 […]
We are in the “home stretch” as our 5th Steel Summit Conference is just over the horizon. We continue to work on the finishing touches, checking to make sure we have all the speaker presentations (a number of them are waiting until the last minute so the presentation is in sync with world and domestic […]
The flat rolled steel market appears to be in a wait and see mode. Flat rolled steel prices continue to be stable to slightly weaker than what we saw a few weeks ago. Nothing dramatic is moving market momentum in one direction or another. Here is how we are seeing the market at this time: […]