Buyers who read Steel Market Update may know all about the subject of conflict minerals and the large impact it has had on purchasing departments. However, many buyers may not be familiar with the requirements of the law in this matter. In 2010, the US Congress enacted the Dodd-Frank financial reform law. A little know […]
Steel 101: Introduction to Steelmaking & Market Fundamentals. Our next workshop will be held in Dearborn, Michigan on May 6-7, 2014. The workshop will include a tour of the Severstal Dearborn fully integrated steel mill. We think the program, our instructors and the mill tour are excellent. But don’t take my word for it. Here […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) began collecting responses earlier this week from the companies invited to participate in our twice monthly flat rolled steel market analysis. Even with weather related issues being felt around the country, our Buyers Sentiment Index was measured at a robust +39 this week. This result is one point lower than from […]
In 12 months through January 16,126,151 light vehicles and 440,473 medium and heavy trucks were assembled in the NAFTA. On a rolling 12 month basis year over year (y/y) light vehicle assemblies were up by 5.2 percent. In 3 months through January y/y the increase was 2.6 percent. Momentum is negative since the short term […]
Based on the most recent MSCI flat rolled steel data Steel Market Update has calculated that U.S. service centers grew their “Excess” inventories from +2,000 tons at the end of December to +150,000 ton at the end of January. The “Apparent Excess” is based on a proprietary model which projects future shipments and inventory levels […]
It’s hard to sell cars when they are covered by snow and customers are being warned to stay safe and snug at home. As a result, auto dealers watched sales freeze and inventory pile up in January. Total auto inventory increased to 3.61 million units at the end of January, the highest it’s been in […]
Total housing starts in January were down 16 percent from December and 20.1 percent from November with very little difference between single and multi-family construction. That is the news headline but on a closer analysis the situation is not so dire. On a three month moving average basis the recent results form only a slight […]
The Steel Market Update Price MoMo Index for flat rolled steel in the U.S remained negative this week for the 4th 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 […]
Gibraltar Industries is expecting 2014 growth to be driven mainly by the residential new construction and residential remodeling said the company in its earnings call on Feb. 20. “While we’re starting 2014 at a relatively slow pace given the cold and harsh weather in much of the country since the new year, we believe the […]
Tonight’s issue is a mouth full. There are times when events occur which need more than 300 words to address. And, in the steel industry, there can be many viewpoints on the same subject. OCTG is one of those subjects. I hope you found the three articles from David Phelps, Paul Lowrey and Peter Brebach. […]
It was a crazy day as all of the government data was not released until 5 PM ET or later – and there was a lot of it. Perhaps the most interesting is the US Department of Commerce “preliminary dumping margins” on oil country tubular goods. Maybe I should restate that – the most interesting […]
The move by the domestic mills to reach $700+ per ton hot rolled is nothing but a blur in the rear view mirror according to the various steel indexes followed by Steel Market Update. Flat rolled steel prices fell across the board on hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized and Galvalume steels this past week. The […]
The Volkswagen AG workers at the Chattanooga automotive assembly plant voted 712 to 626 against unionizing on Friday, Feb. 14. The defeat is a major setback for the UAW which has seen dwindling membership in the last several years. The UAW’s membership has fallen from a peak of 1.5 million in 1979 to just around […]
For the last couple of weeks we have been discussing various kinds of ethical issues that come up in the steel business. This week we will deal with the issue of when flat rolled steel is rejectable. Buyers and sellers often find that they disagree about the quality of the steel. Generally this problem is […]
U.S. shipments of residential gas storage water heaters for December 2013 increased 10.4 percent, to 398,059 units, up from 360,568 units shipped in December 2012. Residential electric storage water heater shipments increased 7.2 percent in December 2013, to 348,872 units, up from 325,435 units shipped in December 2012. For the year-to-date, U.S. shipments of residential […]
According to Baker Hughes data from February 14, 2014, the U.S rig count for this week is 1,764 rigs exploring for or developing oil or natural gas. This count is a decrease of 7 rigs when compared to last week, with oil rigs up 7 to 1,423 rigs, gas rigs down 14 to 337 rigs, […]
Steel Market Update will conduct our mid-February flat rolled steel market analysis beginning on Monday morning at 8 AM ET. We encourage those who receive an invitation to participate in our survey to click on the link and spend five minutes answering our inquiries about market conditions, demand, inventories, foreign steel and steel pricing. All […]
Lourenco Goncalves, former CEO of Metals USA, is being nominated by Casablanca Capital, an activist fund, to replace James Kirsch as CEO of Cliffs Natural Resources. Casablanca has called for Cliffs to spin off its international ore business to shareholders and convert its North American assets to a master limited partnership (MLP). Casablanca Capital announced […]
The Steel Market Update Price MoMo Index for flat rolled steel in the U.S remained negative this week for the 3rd 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 […]
We will hopefully have information and a date for a new workshop we have under development. The new workshop is tentatively being called: Managing Price Risk: Strategies & Execution. The workshop will be for those who already have some knowledge of hot rolled coil (HRC) and busheling (BUS) futures and options trading. Our intention is […]
On Monday, Steel Market Update revised our SMU Price Momentum Indicator from Neutral to Lower. The adjustment means we anticipate flat rolled steel prices will move lower over the next 30 to 60 days. At the time of the change, SMU benchmark hot rolled coil was published at $660 per ton. The last adjustment to […]
For those of you watching the weather you may be aware that Atlanta is suffering through another winter weather event. Since our offices are located north of Atlanta that means we are suffering as well. The good news for me personally is I decided to spend a few days in Florida after attending the Port […]
According to Baker Hughes data from February 7th, 2014, the U.S rig count for this week is 1,771 rigs exploring for or developing oil or natural gas. This count is a decrease of 14 rigs when compared to last week, with oil rigs down 6 to 1,416 rigs, gas rigs down 7 to 351 rigs, […]
Steel Market Update conducted our early February flat rolled steel market survey this week. We are pleased to provide our Premium Level members a Power Point presentation on the results which can be access on our website (when logged in) under the Analysis Tab (SMU Survey Results sub-menu). If you are already logged in you […]
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 […]
Total construction expenditures in December were $70.278 billion, up by 4.8 percent from December 2012. Fourth quarter expenditures were up by 4.2 percent year over year (y/y) and 2013, as a whole, was up by 6.3 percent from 2012. Private construction continues to be the driver, up by 6.4 percent in Q4 y/y but state […]
One of the interesting tidbits that came out of the ArcelorMittal conference call last week was their intention of taking down the #7 blast furnace at Indiana Harbor for two months beginning in May. They also discussed the purchase of ThyssenKrupp which they feel will be completed by the end of March (end of 1st […]
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 […]