As the ISRI Convention and Expo this week in Nashville, Tenn., comes to a close, I’m sure everyone’s mind is on recycling. While green steel and sustainability have been buzzwords for some time now, evidence of change is growing. You may recall the announcement of an alliance between US Steel, Equinor, and Shell to establish a […]
Has the domestic hot band pricing rally run its course? Data and market sentiment seem to suggest as much, and prices could indeed be heading down. Hot-rolled coil just slipped for the first time since late November, according to SMU’s latest check of the market. I’m certainly not willing to speculate what will happen next, […]
Flat Rolled = 52.7 Shipping Days of Supply Plate = 41.0 Shipping Days of Supply Flat Rolled US service center flat-rolled steel inventories rose in March with a slowing daily shipping rate. At the end of March, service centers carried 52.7 shipping days of flat-rolled steel supply, according to SMU data, compared to 52.2 shipping […]
Not since World War II has North America been at the center of a metals manufacturing investment boom. Three new aluminum rolling mills are coming up out of the ground as testament to over $6 billion in new investments to secure domestic aluminum supply. It has been over 80 years since the last metals manufacturing […]
US heating and cooling equipment shipments were up in February, according to recently released data from the Air Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI). Total shipments in February were 1.69 million units, compared to 1.65 million in January. While shipments were up month-over-month (MoM), they were down 8% year-over-year (YoY). On a 12-month moving average (12MMA) […]
Russian mining and steel company Metalloinvest has been added to the US sanctions list. On April 12, the US Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control imposed the sanctions targeting the vast holdings of one of Russia’s wealthiest billionaires, Alisher Usmanov, including Moscow-based Metalloinvest and its parent company USM Holdings. The measures are meant […]
The Global Steel Climate Council (GSCC) has released a statement ahead of this month’s G7 climate meetings. GSCC said that the International Energy Association (IEA) has indicated that a concise carbon emissions measurement standard for the steel industry is imperative for achieving global climate goals. G7 leaders were encouraged by the IEA to focus on […]
The Dodge Momentum Index (DMI) dropped 8.6% in March to 183.7 from the revised February reading of 201.0, according to data and analytics from the Dodge Construction Network (DCN). Also last month, the commercial component of the DMI fell 6.6%, and the institutional component slumped 12.9% in the same comparison. “We are predicting the Dodge Momentum Index […]
Hot-rolled coil (HRC) imports remain attractive, even as US price gains have slowed, according to SMU’s latest foreign vs. domestic price analysis. And while domestic tags continue to inch higher, they remain well behind the targeted base price of $1,300 per ton ($65 per cwt) for HRC issued by Cleveland-Cliffs back on April 3. The price […]
Buyers of most sheet products are finding mills much more willing to talk price this week, while this number fell to 0% for plate buyers, according to SMU data. With mixed results across the products SMU surveys, galvanized products showed the biggest gain, increasing 24 percentage points to 57% of buyers saying mills were willing to […]
Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. this week provided an early look into its first-quarter earnings – which the company will disclose in full detail on April 23. Q1 steel shipments, revenues, and adjusted EBITDA are all expected to be higher than the prior quarter, the steelmaker said in a news release. At the same time, despite higher shipments, […]
Brazilian steelmaker Gerdau has confirmed a planned outage at its mill in Whitby, Ontario. “Gerdau confirms a planned outage in its Whitby, Ontario mill. Rolling operations will undergo routine annual maintenance, lasting two weeks. The melt shop will experience a longer outage, beginning in late April and lasting approximately six weeks,” a spokesperson for the […]
Turkish scrap import prices fell in the last week of March as buying activity remained low and domestic supply improved, according to analysis from the CRU Group. CRU’s assessed Turkish scrap price for HMS1/2 80:20 is $443 per metric ton CFR, down by $17 week-on-week (WoW) and $7 month-on-month (MoM). Turkish buyers are taking a […]
Fresh off another rate hike from the Fed, US macro data came in mixed during the month of March. The final update for GDP in Q4 2022 showed 2.6% growth, which was down slightly month over month and below expectations. Consumer spending has also been revised down consistently over each update on the Q4 figures. […]
Both SMU’s Steel Current and Future Buyers Sentiment Indices have increased from two weeks ago, according to SMU’s most recent survey data. The Steel Buyers Sentiment Indices measure how steel buyers feel about their company’s ability to be successful in the current market, as well as three to six months down the road. Every other […]
The latest SMU Market Survey results are now available on our website to all Premium members. After logging in at steelmarketupdate.com, visit the Analysis tab and look under the “Survey Results” section for “Latest Survey Results.” Historical survey results are also available in the Survey Results section under “Survey Results History.” If you need help […]
After working in the steel industry for nearly six years, I’m comfortable with my knowledge about flat-rolled products. I do enjoy talking about the market and furthering my steel education any chance I get. Back in October 2022, I attended the Steel 101 training in Corpus Christi, Texas. It was nice to chat with metallurgists […]
Teck Resources is now producing zinc with a low-carbon footprint. A new report independently reviewed by PricewaterhouseCoopers shows the extremely low-carbon footprint of refined zinc from Teck’s Trail Operations in British Columbia, Canada. The report shows that Trail Operations’ zinc generates far less CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalent) per ton than the global average: 0.93 metric […]
The appeal for imports of hot-rolled coil (HRC) remains strong even as US price gains have slowed, according to SMU’s latest foreign vs. domestic price analysis. And while we haven’t seen an official mill pricing notice in nearly three weeks, domestic tags continue to inch higher towards the targeted base price of $1,200 per ton […]
Nucor’s new plate mill in Brandenburg, Ky., reached another milestone earlier this month with the casting of its first slab on its new continuous caster. The SMS group, supplier of the single-strand caster, announced the milestone was reached on March 8. The caster, one of the largest in the world with an annual production capacity […]
The United Auto Workers (UAW) union has sworn in Shawn Fain as its new president. This completes the union’s first-ever direct election of top leadership, UAW said in a statement on March 26. Fain defeated former UAW president Ray Curry. Fain on Monday delivered a message to the delegates on day one of the 2023 UAW Special Bargaining Convention. […]
Raw steel production by US mills slipped 0.4% last week from the week prior, according to data released by the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) on Monday, March 27. Domestic production stood at 1,679,000 net tons in the week ended March 25 vs. 1,686,000 net tons the previous week. It was off 1.8% from 1,710,000 net tons […]
The LME aluminum three-month price steadied this week despite a whirlwind of upsetting news, finding its footing near $2,300 per metric ton. That’s below the $2,500-per-ton mark we saw as 2023 opened on a more optimistic tone. The recent news from across the geopolitical and macroeconomic scene has dampened demand sentiment in the near term. […]
Rig counts dropped in Canada but increased again in the US this week, according to data from oilfield services company Baker Hughes. The total US rig count was 758 for the week ended March 24, up four rigs from the week prior. The number of active oil rigs in the US increased to 593 from the prior week’s […]
The failure of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and acquisition of Credit Suisse are unlikely to cause severe financial disturbance on the scale of the global financial crisis (GFC). However, these events further amplify the probability of recession in the US and Europe, and they have certainly got the market talking about whether a new GFC […]
Commercial Metals Co.’s (CMC’s) net earnings slipped 53% in its fiscal 2023 second quarter compared with the same period a year earlier on weather issues and a planned outage. “CMC achieved strong financial results during the second quarter while managing a number of challenges, including weather-related shipment disruptions in our core geographies, costs associated with […]
I referred to the fast-paced mill price increase announcements for HR back on March 9. The HR spot index had just moved up over $100 per short ton (ST) from the prior week to set the monthly contract price at $1,017/ST. HR spot indexes have continued to move higher albeit at a slower pace. Hot Rolled […]
Voestalpine AG is set to commission the construction of two electric-arc furnaces (EAFs) in Austria. The Linz, Austria-based company said the approval stage has been reached allowing for the investment of around €1.5 billion ($1.62 bilion) to construct one EAF in Linz and another in Donawitz. As part of its “greentec steel” plan, the plant and […]
It’s not always easy to be a market disruptor, but when done right, it’s worth it. Reibus International is one of those companies hoping to bring change, increased efficiencies, and new ways of doing business to an older industry steeped in tradition. SMU sat down this week with John Armstrong, the founder and CEO of […]
US light-vehicle (LV) sales declined to an unadjusted 1.14 million units in February, the US Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) reported. Despite the month-on-month (MoM) decline, February’s total was still 8.7% higher year-on-year (YoY), and the seventh consecutive month to see a YoY increase in sales. On an annualized basis, LV sales were down 6.2% MoM in […]