Soaring prices and delivery delays for steel, lumber and other materials are squeezing the finances of construction firms already burdened by the pandemic, said the Associated General Contractors of America. The trade group called on the Biden administration to review and rescind a range of trade tariffs, which it claims are contributing to unmanageable price […]
Steel Market Update data shows no significant change in the negotiating position of steel buyers, who remain largely at the mercy of the mills. More than nine out of 10 buyers responding to SMU’s questionnaire this week reported the mills unwilling to discuss price concessions—which has been the mills’ attitude for the past five months. […]
All but a tiny 3% of respondents to Steel Market Update’s questionnaire this week reported that the flat rolled mills remain unwilling to negotiate steel prices. Plate negotiations are only slightly more open, with 17% of buyers saying there is some wiggle room in price talks with the plate producers. As long as steel demand […]
Severe winter weather across North America has forced automakers to reduce shifts or temporarily halt production from Michigan to Mexico. But the impact–not only of the weather but also of natural gas shortages and power outages–appears to be more fleeting than the problems posed by a microchip shortage, which has caused some plants to shut […]
Housing starts slowed in January as contractors struggle to build affordable homes amidst rising construction costs. Housing starts slid 6.0% in January to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.58 million, according to the latest report from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Census Bureau. “The weakness in housing starts […]
Good news for NLMK USA customers as the mill has worked out a tentative agreement with the union at their Farrell, Pa., facility, which will end the strike that goes back to late August. Once back in production, this will help (slightly) with some of the supply issues we have been seeing in the market. […]
Black Swan Events One of the areas I cover when I am teaching my segment of our Steel 101 workshop is Black Swan Events and how they can impact the steel market – especially steel prices. Most of the United States appear to be having a Black Swan Event in the form of unusually cold […]
December heating and cooling equipment shipments totaled just over 1.8 million units, up 8.9% from November and up 12.2% from levels one year prior, according to recent data from the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI). Total shipments for 2020 reached 22.2 million units, up 6.8% over both 2019 and 2018. As seen in the […]
Flat Rolled = 40 Shipping Days of Supply Plate = 46.5 Shipping Days of Supply Flat Rolled End-of-January service center flat rolled steel inventories fell back to levels seen in November 2020. At the end of January, service centers carried 40 shipping days of supply – tied with November for the lowest inventory level in […]
The Biden administration plans to address the semiconductor shortage that has hobbled North American automotive production as it reviews “potential choke points” in industrial supply chains. The semiconductor shortage is also “one of the central motivations for the executive order the president will sign in the coming weeks to undertake a comprehensive review of supply […]
General Motors warned that high steel and metals prices combined with a global chip shortage could cost it billions. “We expect commodity prices to be a significant headwind as platinum group metals and steel prices have seen major increases in recent weeks and months,” GM Chief Financial Officer Paul Jacobson said in a recent earnings […]
Total construction expenditures rose further in January to about $1.52 trillion, up 1.7% from December’s revised estimate of $1.50 trillion, reported the U.S. Census Bureau. The year-on-year comparison is rather remarkable, as the January figure is 5.8% above the year-ago, pre-pandemic estimate of $1.44 trillion. Although the economy is still in recovery mode, the construction sector continues to […]
Some of you may have noticed that we have adjusted our language when it comes to the SMU Price Momentum Indicator. At this moment, the momentum indicators for hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized, Galvalume and plate steels are pointing toward higher prices over the near term (next 30 to possibly as far out as 60 […]
Steel Market Update released the final detailed report on service center inventories and shipments to our data providers on Friday. It will be released to our Premium level members tomorrow. I mentioned in Thursday’s Final Thoughts that watching this data is one of the keys to figuring out when the market may get to a […]
General Motors has extended production shutdowns stemming from a microchip shortage at three North American plants through at least mid-March. The move impacts GM’s Fairfax assembly plant in Kansas, its CAMI assembly plant in Ingersoll, Ontario, and its San Luis Potosi plant in Mexico, the company said on Tuesday, Feb. 9. GM had already effectively stopped […]
Losses in construction employment continue to worry the industry, said the Associated General Contractors of America in their January analysis of government data. January’s unemployment rate was 9.4 percent, compared to 5.4 percent in January 2020, with 3,000 jobs lost last month. AGC estimated 938,000 former construction workers were unemployed in January, compared to 515,000 […]
Adoption of electrical vehicles is beginning to accelerate as consumer fears of “range anxiety” are quelled by longer range batteries and more charging stations that are appearing in the public domain. It’s a bit of a “field of dreams” scenario for the EV market—if you build it (the infrastructure), they (drivers) will come. A webinar […]
A global semiconductor shortage continues to hobble automotive production in North America with Ford and Stellantis poised to cut production at assembly plants making some of the most popular vehicles in the U.S. Ford’s Dearborn, Mich., truck plant will run one of three production shifts the week of Feb. 8. And its Kansas City, Mo., assembly […]
Steel buyers are feeling good about their prospects later this year, as this week’s Steel Market Update Future Sentiment Index saw its highest reading in more than two years at +66, a 13-point jump over the past two weeks. Current Sentiment, which saw a small, four-point bump to +68, is equally optimistic. Every two weeks, […]
The Dodge Momentum Index, a measure of the first report for nonresidential construction projects in planning, gained 3.1% in January to register 139.4 The commercial component of the index jumped 9.9% offsetting an 11.7% decrease in the institutional component. “January’s increase marked the highest level in the Momentum Index since the COVID-19 pandemic began,” said […]
Every other week Steel Market Update conducts a detailed analysis of the flat rolled and plate steel markets. We invite close to 600 individuals associated with manufacturing, distribution, steel mills, trading companies and suppliers to those industries. We intentionally weight the invitations toward end users and steel distribution companies since they are the largest buyers […]
Multiple major North American automakers have or will temporarily halt production because of a semiconductor shortage, something that could have an impact on steel and scrap prices. General Motors will effectively stop production at three assembly plants–one each in the United States, Canada and Mexico–next week because of a semiconductor shortage, the company confirmed. GM […]
Auto assemblies in North America bounced back robustly and surpassed pre-pandemic levels to close out 2020. Despite a production shutdown in March to stop the spread of COVID-19, U.S. auto sales ended the year just slightly below the initial 16.7 million forecast at 16.4 million units, according to LMC Automotive (LMCA). U.S. Vehicle Sales Figure […]
The U.S. is experiencing a housing construction boom, but nonresidential construction projects are dwindling as pre-pandemic starts are completed and new projects are put on hold, said the Associated General Contractors of America. As a result, more than half of metro areas reported a decline in construction employment from December 2019 to December 2020. “A […]
Total construction expenditures rose further in December 2020 to $1,490.4 billion, a 1.0 percent gain on the revised November estimate of $1,475.6 billion, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Despite a health crisis that marred most of 2020, year on year the figure is 5.7 percent above the December 2019 estimate of $1,410.3 billion. The report goes […]
Stronger longer than many anticipated…. An interesting comment from a couple of service centers today, one in the South and another in the Midwest. These two companies agree that the last $100 to $150 per ton in price increases are from panicked buyers. Once those panic buyers are removed from the market…then what? I have […]
A global microchip shortage could prove more disruptive to North American auto assembly plants than initially expected, according to some market participants. Nissan’s truck assembly plant in Canton, Miss., has had to slow production because of the microchip shortage, the company confirmed. General Motors–the largest automaker in the U.S.–has not been impacted “as of now,” […]
No steel mill earnings report is complete these days without the CEO touting his company’s environmental credentials. Cleveland-Cliffs CEO Lourenco Goncalves said this week that his company is committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions 25% by 2030. “We at Cleveland-Cliffs acknowledge that one of the most important issues impacting our planet is climate change. […]
Steel Market Update’s check of the market this week puts the current price for hot rolled at a new record high of $1,150 per ton ($57.50/cwt). But with increases of just $10 per ton in the last couple weeks, the upward momentum in pricing appears to be slowing. SMU keeps a close eye on the […]
Steel Market Update’s check of the market this week puts the benchmark price for hot rolled at $1,180 per net ton. The spot market continues to set new highs for the HR price, which in the second week of January topped the old record of $1,070 per ton reported by SMU in 2008. It has […]