General Motors continues to ramp up production thanks to an increased supply of microchips, a company spokesman said. The Detroit-based automaker, the largest in the U.S, has also decided not to take typical summer downtime at some plants as it looks to make up for production lost earlier in the year because of a global chip […]
Housing starts picked up the pace in May, jumping 3.6% from April to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,572,000, according to the latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Single-family starts rose 4.2% and construction on homes of five units or more increased 4%. “Single-family starts […]
Easing pressure on construction costs and supply-chain bottlenecks is at a tipping point, the Associated General Contactors of America (AGC) said, urging the Biden administration to end tariffs and quotas on steel, aluminum, and lumber at once. The cost of goods and services used in construction climbed by a record-setting 4.3% in May and 24.3% […]
April heating and cooling equipment shipments declined 4.1% from March, now at 2.15 million units, according to recent data from the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI). This is the fourth-highest level in SMU’s history, with the record occuring in June 2020 at 2.28 million units, followed by June 2018 then March 2021. April levels are […]
The Art of Forecasting… This week I saw another milestone drop that I never thought I would live to see. Galvanized base pricing out of a domestic mill at $100.00/cwt (seems like there is an extra digit there for some reason). I go back far enough to remember galvanized steel prices around $10.00/cwt…. For the […]
Flat Rolled = 45.3 Shipping Days of Supply Plate = 45.2 Shipping Days of Supply Flat Rolled U.S. service center flat rolled inventories grew significantly in May as mills caught up on deliveries and intake increased. At the end of May, service centers carried 45.3 shipping days of supply on an adjusted basis, up from […]
SMU’s steel buyers’ sentiment index has hit its highest point ever – surpassing even the euphoria ahead of the unveiling of Section 232 tariffs and quotas in the first quarter of 2018. Stratospheric price gains, the potential for Section 232 to be removed from the EU by December, and a raft of new capacity coming online in North America […]
I thought it would be an interesting exercise to take a look at benchmark hot rolled pricing over the past 12 months. I thought I would compare the numbers on a month-over-month basis to give everyone an idea of how steep the price increases have been. At the same time, we can think about the […]
Flat rolled and plate steel mill lead times continue to extend, according to the results of this week’s flat rolled and plate steel analysis conducted by Steel Market Update. Hot rolled lead times have sustained 10 weeks or more for a month – the first time that has happened in the history of our records, […]
Steel buyers reported to Steel Market Update this week that the trend for steel mills to limit or totally remove any negotiations on spot steel prices continues. Steel pricing power is totally in the hands of the steel mills as supply continues to be less than the demand for mill products. Steel Market Update went […]
Infrastructure, Energy, Wind Farms, Tanners, Summit Conference, Imports. If you are watching the news, you are aware of the Biden administration’s push for a large (at least $1 trillion) infrastructure bill. There is a lot of discussion about what infrastructure entails in light of the current economy. It’s not your father’s economy. There is need […]
The Dodge Momentum Index soared 9.1% to register 178.0 in May due to a brisk increase in commercial planning activity. The May report marks the seventh consecutive gain for the index. Several large data center, office and warehouse projects entered the planning phase last month resulting in a 13-year high for the commercial component of […]
I want to thank the National Association of Steel Pipe Distributors for giving me a chance to open their summer conference in Denver last week. I spoke about – what else, these days – steel prices. During the Q&A afterward and on the sidelines of the event, it was clear people were worried about (a) […]
Construction employment fell for the third time in the past four months, according to an analysis of government data by the Associated General Contractors of America. Construction employment fell by 20,000 jobs from the downwardly revised April data to a seasonally adjusted employment total of 7,423,000. The total in May remained 225,000 less than in […]
U.S. auto sales were hot again in May with passenger cars adding to record sales for some brands. Honda and Hyundai saw sales jump over 50% year-over-year, while Toyota division sales leapt 47% and Lexus 49%. IHS Markit estimates U.S. auto sales were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 16.6 million to 17 million […]
The following article was reprinted with permission from John Burns Real Estate Consulting. True statements can lead to misleading conclusions, especially in a busy world full of sound bites and analysis limited to 280 characters. Thank you to one of our clients for several long exchanges that pushed me to clarify our thinking on numerous […]
The construction sector continues to gain momentum, but the effects of the COVID pandemic linger. Growth remains uneven as most sectors are still struggling to rebound from the doldrums seen last year. Total construction spending during April 2021, at a seasonally adjusted annual rate, was $1.524 trillion, up 0.2% from March’s revised estimate of $1.521 trillion, […]
Today, the domestic steel mills in Detroit began buying ferrous scrap for June up $60 per gross ton on prime grades (busheling and bundles) and up $50 per gross ton on cut grades and shred. It is anticipated the rest of the country will follow the Detroit lead. One of the questions we are constantly […]
Several automakers are resuming normal production – or levels closer to normal – even as others continue to grapple with the global microchip shortage. Case in point: Toyota has restarted production at its North American assembly plants. “We’ve resumed normal operations at all plants, but we are still experiencing periodic challenges,” a company spokeswoman told […]
It has been a busy day trying to condense two days of data collection into one as we produce our flat rolled and plate indices for this evening. It should come as no surprise our numbers did track higher this week, and our Price Momentum Indicator continues to point toward higher prices over the next […]
Nonresidential construction spending hit a two-year low in April, down for a fifth consecutive month due to supply-chain woes and soaring costs, according to the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC). Extended delivery and production times as well as fast-rising materials prices caused demand to wane across several public and private project categories. “Both public […]
General Motors (GM) is restarting production at assembly plants that had been idled – some since early February – because of the global semiconductor shortage. The restarts include not only plants in North America but also facilities in South Korea, a spokesman for the Detroit-based automaker said. U.S. steelmakers have said that auto companies would […]
A reminder to our readers – Steel Market Update will not publish a Sunday evening issue due to this weekend being a national holiday here in the United States (Memorial Day). We will publish as normal on Tuesday, June 1. Inventories are a key component when it comes to understanding the squeeze we have with […]
Except for a notable decline in the average Galvalume lead time, delivery times for spot orders of flat rolled and plate from the mills registered only small ups and downs in the data from Steel Market Update’s survey this week. Generally speaking, lead times remain two to three times longer than the historical averages and […]
Steel buyers’ sentiment remains firmly in bullish territory even as carbon steel prices are nearing levels more commonly associated with stainless steel or even aluminum. While some sources continue to fret about the steep downside risk of current high prices, most have gotten over their initial sticker shock and are busy trying to secure enough […]
Steel Market Update spot prices on flat rolled moved higher today and our Price Momentum Indicator continues to point toward higher prices on hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized, Galvalume and plate steel over the next 30 days. However, having said that, we spent a good portion of today in conversation with steel buyers around the […]
Home prices shot up 13.2% in March compared to the same month in 2020 and increased 12% from February. The S&P Core Logic Case-Shiller National Home Price Index reported double-digit gains for all 20 cities in the composite index except Chicago, which posted a 9% increase. Phoenix, San Diego and Seattle reported the highest year-over-year […]
New home sales sank 5.9% in April from downward revised data in March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 863,000, according to estimates by the U.S. Census Bureau and Dept. of Housing and Urban Development. Other than a weather-related dip in February, April’s annual rate was the lowest since June 2020. A new home […]
The thought is we could well see a pull-back of the Section 232 tariffs by the end of the year. Steel industry executives seem to be leaning in that direction (even though they are lobbying to keep the 232 tariffs) and talking about what is next for the industry. The topic most likely to be […]
A shortage of inventory resulted in a third straight month of decline for existing-home sales. Sales in April fell 2.7% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.85 million, reported the National Association of Realtors. “Home sales were down again in April from the prior month, as housing supply continues to fall short of demand,” […]