The introduction of an aluminum F-150 pickup at the Detroit auto show has the steel industry looking hard at its advanced high strength steels (AHSS) and figuring out how to insure that AHSS is the preferred material of choice for the auto industry. SMU spoke with Ronald P. Krupitzer, vice president of automotive applications for […]
According to Baker Hughes data from January 10, 2014, the U.S rig count for this week is 1,754 rigs exploring for or developing oil or natural gas. This count is an increase of 3 rigs when compared to last week, with oil rigs up 15 to 1,393 rigs, gas rigs down 15 to 357 rigs, […]
Total light vehicle inventories fell 192,000 units from the end of November to the end of December 2013. Total automotive inventories stood at 3.4 million units at the end of December, for a day’s supply of 68 based on SAAR sales of 15.5 million units. The day’s supply at 68 is about 10 percent higher […]
Genzink Steel, located in Holland, Mich., has promoted John Maxson to chief executive officer. Maxson has served as chief operating officer of the Genzink family-owned company for the past ten years. The announcement was made by Board Chairman Ken Genzink, son of founder Donald Genzink. Maxson said the company will focus on developing more rigorous […]
The Commerce Department compiles their information based on the source of financing. These categories are, private, state + local and federal. There are a huge number of sub categories in the private and state + local construction expenditure categories, not so many in federal where expenditures are minimal. At Steel Market Update we combine these […]
Finally the first data on housing starts since August! Total starts in November shot up to 1,091,000, (annualized), the highest since February 2008. Both single and multi family starts were the strongest since H1 2008. The three month moving average of starts was also very encouraging. At the present rate of increase, single family could […]
In a rolling 12 months through November, light vehicle production (automotive) in NAFTA reached 16,093,000 units, a level not seen since May 2003. In three months through November production was up by 9.4 percent year over year. Light trucks, which include crossovers, are surging faster than cars, the year over year growth rates were 15.4 […]
Detroit automaker GM and Ford are going into an expansion mode that will add nearly 6000 new US auto industry jobs in 2014. GM plans to invest $1.3 billion at five US plants in 2014 that will create or retain about 1000 jobs said retiring GM CEO Dan Akerson in his remarks on Monday to […]
Commerce Department data through October 2013. Focus on private construction. The Commerce Department compiles their information based on the source of financing. These categories are, private, state + local and federal. There are a huge number of sub categories in the private and state + local construction expenditure categories, not so many in federal where […]
Each month Steel market Update publishes a table of 38 indicators that we believe captures the essence of the steel market and its drivers. Six of these indicators deal with construction which we believe consumes about 22 percent of all steel products in the US at present. Table 1 shows the construction section of the […]
Light vehicle (autos + light trucks) production surged in October, up 13.5 percent, the rolling 3 months production was up by 13.1 percent. Year over year production was up by 8.3 percent in total and the Detroit 3 made up some ground being up 10.1 percent. Light vehicle production has now exceeded the pre-recession level […]
The Department of Commerce economic data is running late and in the case of CPIP the September data will be released along with October on December 2nd. We now have August data released almost a month late. Normally, this would be a Premium Level analysis only. Since the reports are running behind we decided to […]
U.S. automakers sales were up by 10.4 percent in October to 1.2 million vehicles. Early October sales slowed during the government shutdown as customers waited to see how the fiscal standoff resolved, but auto sales picked up later in the month. The seasonally adjusted annualized rate fell slightly to 15.22 million, down from 15.26 million […]
The S&P/Case-Shiller Index reported existing home prices accelerated in August as indicated by a 12.8 percent year-over-year increase and 1.3 percent monthly increase. Both the 10-city and 20-city composites were at their highest annual increase since February 2006. “The monthly percentage changes for the 20-City composite show the peak rate of gain in home prices […]
Residential Storage Water Heaters U.S. shipments of residential gas storage water heaters for August 2013 increased 22.7 percent, to 335,909 units, up from 273,759 units shipped in August 2012. Residential electric storage water heater shipments increased 16.6 percent in August 2013, to 326,805 units, up from 280,177 units shipped in August 2012. For the year-to-date, […]
Ford Motor produced about 1.5 million units during the 3rd Quarter. This was 187,000 more vehicles than they produced during the 3rd Quarter 2012. In the 4th Quarter total production will be 1.6 million units which is 102,000 units higher than a year ago. However, this includes a reduction of 15,000 units from the company’s […]
Caterpillar Inc. third quarter sales and revenues dropped to $13.423 billion from $16.445 billion in the third quarter of 2012. As a result, Caterpillar has revised its 2013 outlook downward and now expects sales and revenue of about $55 billion from the previous range of $56 to $58 billion. “This year has proven to […]
Automotive production, sales and inventory in NAFTA through September 2013 Based on Ward’s automotive reports, total light vehicle, (LV) production was 1,390,175 units in September, down by 3.3 percent from August. Autos were down by 5.1 percent and light trucks by 1.8 percent. A better measure of direction is the three month rolling average of […]
The partial federal government shutdown prevented the Bureau of Labor Statistics from publishing the September data which was scheduled for last Friday. We have therefore decided to take a more in depth look at manufacturing and construction employment through August. The graph below shows the change in total employment for these two sectors since January […]
The Commerce Department data for construction expenditures in August should have been released on October 1st but due to the government shutdown is not available. We therefore decided to use our existing data and to take a more detailed look at non residential construction which is by far the largest sector of total construction expenditures. […]
For the past three days, Steel Market Update has been canvassing those attending the Metalcon show in downtown Atlanta. We spoke with manufacturers associated with the metal building, architectural panel and various construction products as well as their service center, steel mill, trading company, paint and toll processors. We heard mixed results regarding 2013 versus […]
US auto sales slipped to 1.14 million new vehicles compared to 1.19 million in the same month last year. It was the first time sales failed to increase on a month-over-month basis in 27 months. Sales at a seasonally adjusted annual rate were 15.4 million–still strong enough to show a 37th consecutive increase on a […]
New home sales rose by 7.9 percent in August to a seasonally adjusted rate of 421,000 from the revised July rate of 390,000 (from an earlier estimate of 394,000) according to the U.S Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Sales were slightly below expectations of 425,000 for August, showing weakness compared […]
NAFTA Automotive production in August rebounded to 1.436 million units after the summer shut down. The annual rate in August was 17.243 million units. On a rolling 12 month basis production was 15.719 million units, up 5.9 percent from the 12 months through August a year ago. Growth has been slowing as production approached then […]
A group of construction industry trade associations have formed the Construction Industry Safety Coalition in response to a proposed OSHA rule on crystalline silica exposure. In an August 23 website posting, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration recommended a reduction of the permissible exposure limit for breathable silica. “Exposure to silica can be deadly, and […]
Residential Storage Water Heaters U.S. shipments of residential gas storage water heaters for July 2013 increased 14.1 percent, to 296,623 units, up from 260,065 units shipped in July 2012. Residential electric storage water heater shipments increased 11.2 percent in July 2013, to 286,013 units, up from 257,290 units shipped in July 2012. For the […]
Steel Market Update got the following from a steel trading company located in Canada: China has had 3 months of increases on galvanized, Galvalume and cold rolled coil. They expect another $15.00/MT increase with offers for Nov. rolling. (These will be announced 18-20 Sept). Taiwan is sticking to achieving higher than market price. Buyers are […]
WASHINGTON, D.C., September 11, 2013 – Four key trade associations representing the steel stud industry have joined together to promote the use of cold-formed steel framing in construction. Representatives from the Steel Stud Manufacturers Association (SSMA); the Steel Framing Industry Association (SFIA); the Certified Steel Stud Association (CSSA); and the Steel Market Development Institute (SMDI), […]
Construction in Canada continues to trend upward according to figures released September 9 by Statistics Canada. Total construction permit values rose 20.7 percent to $8 billion in July. Canadian housing permit values for single and multifamily housing in July rose by 4.1 percent and 4.2 percent, respectively. Gains for single family homes failed to […]
According to Baker Hughes data from September 6th, 2013, the U.S rig count for this week is 1,767 rigs exploring for or developing oil or natural gas. This count is a decrease of 9 rigs when compared to last week, with oil rigs down 23 to 1,365 rigs, gas rigs up 14 to 394 rigs, […]