The following article on the hot rolled coil (HRC) steel and financial futures markets was written by Jack Marshall of Crunch Risk LLC. Here is how Jack saw trading over the past week: Steel Shifting sentiment in HR futures this week. Indexes bounced back up after falling the previous week. Tariffs kick in beginning in […]
“Too many plates spinning right now to try and peg a price direction. The wrong tweet at the wrong time could throw all your planning out the window,” said one manufacturing company to Steel Market Update earlier today, explaining his take on the market. Steel buyers are seeing stability in most products with the possible […]
As a group, flat rolled steel buyers are of the opinion that prices on hot rolled, cold rolled and coated products have plateaued over the near term. However, to a person, the buyers are waiting for May 1st to arrive and then see how President Trump, USTR Robert Lighthizer and the Department of Commerce handle […]
U.S. raw steel production last week was an improvement on the same period last year, but mill capacity utilization remains short of the 80 percent mark desired by the industry. Steel production for the week ending April 21 totaled 1,788,000 net tons, a 3.9 percent increase from the same period last year, and up 0.2 […]
The prices of scrap and iron ore advanced in April, but coking coal and zinc declined. To put the raw materials analysis into perspective, Figure 1 shows the spread between Chicago #1 busheling and hot rolled coil ex works Indiana through April 13, both in dollars per net ton. The spread at $538.50 is now […]
Flat rolled steel prices were once again “mixed” for this past week. Platts reported hot rolled coil prices as being lower, while their cold rolled, galvanized rose and plate remained the same. Steel Market Update saw HRC prices as being up $10 as was our plate pricing. Cold rolled remained the same, while coated products […]
Cleveland Cliffs reported an outstanding performance by its U.S. iron ore segment in first-quarter 2018. Restocking of customer inventory and an early break in the weather favoring vessel shipments drove sales of 1.6 million long tons of pellets. Shipping is expected to increase dramatically to 5.5 million long tons for the second quarter. As a […]
The following article on the hot rolled coil (HRC) futures market was written by David Feldstein. As the Flack Global Metals Director of Risk Management, Dave is an active participant in the hot rolled futures market, and we believe he provides insightful commentary and trading ideas to our readers. Besides writing futures articles for Steel […]
The U.S. Department of Commerce updated their license data for the months of March and April, and we now have data through April 17. Based on the data just released, both March and April appear poised to come in around 3.5 million net tons. The largest importers continue to be the domestic steel mills as […]
Flat rolled steel prices appear to have reached a plateau, at least on a temporary basis, according to steel buyers who reported mill spot pricing to Steel Market Update this week. Don’t let our headline fool you or lull you into complacency–steel mills are firm with their steel price offers and there has been very […]
U.S. raw steel production has leveled off in a range slightly above or below the 1.8 milllion ton level for the past several weeks. Mill capacity utilization remains stubbornly in the mid to upper 70s, despite domestic producers’ desire to top the 80 percent mark. Steel production for the week ending April 14 totaled 1,784,000 […]
U.S. steel exports in February totaled 805,353 net tons (730,605 metric tons), down 3.1 percent from the month before, and down 2.7 percent from February 2017. Total exports have averaged around 820,000-840,000 tons over the last few months. The total February export figure is above the three-month moving average (average of December 2017, January 2018 […]
Flat rolled and plate steel prices were mixed this past week. Benchmark hot rolled price averages ranged from a low of $854 per ton (SteelBenchmarker) to a high of $882 per ton (Platts) with Steel Market Update reporting our average last week as $870 per ton, unchanged from the week prior. Cold rolled averages ranged […]
U.S. steel mills shipped 7,525,590 net tons in February, a 1.5 percent decrease from the previous month. The total was a 4.1 percent increase from the 7,232,341 net tons shipped in February 2017, however, reports the American Iron and Steel Institute in Washington. Steel shipments year-to-date in 2018 total 15,161,931 net tons, a 1.5 percent […]
This should come as no surprise to our readers, the theoretical spread between foreign steel export prices and the SMU hot rolled coil index average is quite large. However, when looking at foreign steel offers on hot rolled (and there are precious few) which range from $840-$880 per ton, according to SMU sources, the spread […]
The following article on the hot rolled coil (HRC) steel and financial futures markets was written by Jack Marshall of Crunch Risk LLC. Here is how Jack saw trading over the past week: Steel HR spot prices continued higher this past week with prices reportedly trading in the mid $860’s. Meanwhile, in April thus far, […]
This Steel Market Update analysis breaks down the imported tonnage of six flat rolled products into the district of entry and the source country. We believe that misinformation (or lack of) about regional import volumes are often used to influence purchase decisions. Our intent with this analysis is to describe in detail what is going […]
February apparent steel supply declined over January to 8,773,912 net tons, according to the latest data from the U.S. Department of Commerce and the American Iron and Steel Institute. Apparent steel supply is calculated by adding domestic steel shipments and finished U.S. steel imports, then subtracting total U.S. steel exports. February apparent steel supply saw […]
Flat rolled steel prices appear to have hit a lull as prices have remained relatively range-bound compared to last week. Steel Market Update spent the past two days canvassing steel buyers at manufacturing companies, distributors, wholesalers and steel mills. We report on what steel buyers had to say to us in a separate article in […]
Have flat rolled and plate steel prices peaked? Opinions vary widely among Steel Market Update’s sources. We spent all day today working on gathering flat rolled and plate pricing information. In the process, we also collected comments from steel buyers as to whether they felt steel prices have “peaked” or if there is more room […]
The U.S. Department of Commerce reported foreign steel import license data late this afternoon for the months of March and April 2018. They also reported final census data for February, which came in at 2,477,969 net tons. The March trend is imports were up 1 million tons above February at 3.5 million net tons. Through […]
U.S. raw steel production moved back above the 1.8 milllion ton mark last week. Steel production for the week ending April 7 totaled 1,805,000 net tons, a 4.9 percent increase from the same period last year, and up 1.6 percent from the previous week. The mill capability utilization rate for the April 7 week averaged […]
The pace of flat rolled steel price expansion slowed this past week with hot rolled and cold rolled barely budging off the levels reported for the week ending March 30. Galvanized average pricing rose slightly (+$5) on SMU’s index to $1,106 per ton for .060” G90. Platts took their average up $33 per ton and […]
Cleveland Cliffs says it will exit its Australian iron ore operations by June 30, 2018. The company said in an April 6 SEC filing that increasingly discounted prices for lower-iron-content ore, the quality of the remaining iron ore reserves at APIO, and the lack of a legitimate offer from a qualified buyer, were factors in […]
Steel Market Update’s sources report that ferrous scrap prices have increased by $5 to $15 per gross ton in April, depending on the type and region. Some predict scrap prices are likely to decline in May. Strong domestic demand is the key driver of rising scrap prices, said one dealer in the North. “With few […]
Cleveland Cliffs broke ground on its new $700 million hot-briquetted iron facility in Toledo, Ohio, on Thursday. “Today we are launching a new era for the iron and steel industry in the United States,” said CEO Lourenco Goncalves. “For several decades, Cleveland-Cliffs has been supplying the American steelmakers in the Great Lakes with customized pellets […]
In Q1 2018, steel sheet product imports increased and plate products decreased compared to Q4 2017. Total rolled steel imports increased by 3.6 percent, and sheet products by 0.5 percent, in the three months through March compared to three months through December 2017. Plate products decreased by 9.7 percent on the same basis, according to […]
The following article on the hot rolled coil (HRC) futures market was written by David Feldstein. As the Flack Global Metals Director of Risk Management, Dave is an active participant in the hot rolled futures market, and we believe he provides insightful commentary and trading ideas to our readers. Besides writing futures articles for Steel […]
Earlier this week, the U.S. Department of Commerce released steel import license data for the months of February and March 2018. There is a considerable difference between the two months, which SMU believes is partially due to the March 23 deadline before Section 232 tariffs went into effect. February license data suggests the month will […]
China will control the global ferrous scrap market, it’s just a matter of time, says scrap expert John Harris of Aaristic Services, Inc. China produces about half the world’s steel every year and has accumulated a scrap reservoir more than sufficient to meet its domestic steelmaking needs. There is little reason for China to import […]