U.S. raw steel production dipped below 1.8 milllion tons for the first time in a month. Steel production for the week ending March 31 totaled 1,776,000 net tons, a 3.5 percent increase from the same period last year but down 1.5 percent from the previous week. The mill capability utilization rate for the March 31 […]
U.S. steel exports jumped by more than one-tenth to start the year, rising to 831,184 net tons in January, according to the American Institute for International Steel, which represents foreign steel producers. The monthly total, which was 10.5 percent higher than in December and 1.6 percent above the January 2017 level, included 429,384 net tons […]
The London Metal Exchange is planning to launch three regional futures contracts for hot rolled coil. The HRC contracts would be for North America, Northern Europe and FOB China. Timing and other details of the launch are not yet available, said an LME spokesperson. Metal Bulletin reported in a March 15 interview with LME CEO […]
Flat rolled and plate steel prices continued their march higher, albeit at a more subdued pace compared to the past few weeks. Today, we are going to compare the end of the week flat rolled steel indices provided by Steel Market Update and Platts. SteelBenchmarker did not produce steel prices this week as they only […]
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 […]
As importers rush to get steel into the United States, unloaded and customs released prior to the March 23 tariff deadline (tomorrow), the trend for March is for imports to exceed 3 million net tons. This would be a big month considering the tapering off we saw in January and February. With the deadline for […]
Flat rolled steel prices continue to March higher and are expected to continue to do so for weeks, if not months, due to the Section 232 tariffs on foreign steel and the tightening of supply. Most domestic steel mills are operating on an inquire or controlled order entry basis. Mills like California Steel and NLMK […]
Steel production in the United States continued at a high level last week. U.S. raw steel production for the week ending March 17 totaled 1,826,000 net tons, a 6.4 percent increase from the same period last year and up 0.7 percent from the previous week. This is the third week in a row that production […]
We saw another surge in flat rolled and plate steel prices last week as steel buyers deal with closed order books, allocation and uncertainty. With the Section 232 tariffs set to go into effect on Friday of this week (March 23) buyers are scrambling to make sure they are covered. This has allowed the steel […]
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 following calculation is used by Steel Market Update to identify the theoretical spread between foreign hot rolled steel import prices (delivered to USA ports) and domestic (USA) hot rolled coil prices (FOB Domestic mills). We want our readers to be aware that this is only a “theoretical” calculation as freight costs, trader margin and […]
Flat rolled sheet prices, as well as plate prices, surged this week as steel mills moved to allocation or totally withdraw from the market pending further examination of the Section 232 ruling and how it will impact each mill’s ability to produce sheet and plate products. SMU is hearing of offers on hot rolled as […]
U.S. raw steel production for the week ending March 10 totaled 1,813,000 net tons, a 5.7 percent increase from the same period last year. While down 1.1 percent from the prior week, this is the second week this year that production has topped 1.8 milllion tons. Prior to this month, the last time weekly production […]
We received a question from one of our readers today asking for clarification on import market share as presented in different articles. We look at imports from both a macro view (total imports = percentage of apparent supply) as well as a more focused view (such as how large is the share of pipe and […]
The U.S. Department of Commerce released the latest steel import license data for the months of February and March 2018. Based on licenses collected through the 13th of March, February 2018 steel imports are expected to total approximately 2.47 million tons, which would be down 400,000 tons from what was reported by the DOC for […]
Stronger domestic demand for steel products, combined with feedstock and transportation problems, sent ferrous scrap prices on divergent paths in various parts of the country this month, reports scrap guru Mike Marley of World Steel Exchange Marketing. Tight supplies of key obsolete grades produced pricing moves ranging from unchanged for industrial steel grades in several […]
With the final announcement of Section 232 steel tariffs, we saw steel prices spike (again) with double-digit gains on most products followed by Steel Market Update. The prices referenced in the table below are through the week ending March 10, 2018. Hot rolled prices surged with Platts recording their average as $850 per ton by […]
Apparent steel supply for the month of January 2018 rose month-over-month but fell year-over-year to 9,158,850 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. […]
Total rolled steel imports declined by 14.8 percent, and sheet products by 13.6 percent, in the three months through February compared to the prior three-month period, according to Steel Market Update’s analysis of federal Steel Import Monitoring and Analysis (SIMA) data. This is the second edition of our new and expanded import report that now […]
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 futures prices have moved up. POTUS has been keeping the HR futures market hopping this week. The plethora of news […]
Ferrous scrap prices have risen at a greater rate than expected by sources quoted in Steel Market Update last month. Scrap guru Mike Marley of World Steel Exchange Marketing reports that recent price increases have varied by region to region, and even within a few regions. In the North, shredded and cut grades are up […]
January foreign steel imports were finalized yesterday at 2,879,076 net tons (2,611,857 metric tons), according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. This is up 17.5 percent from December, and up 4.2 percent from November. It is also slightly greater than import levels seen in January 2017 (2,814,233 tons). Current February license data has imports down […]
U.S. steel exports in January totaled 831,184 net tons (754,038 metric tons), up 10.5 percent from the month before, and up 1.6 percent from January 2017. Total exports have averaged around 850,000 tons over the last few months after reaching a 2.5-year high in May 2017 (1,006,087 tons). The total January export figure is above […]
U.S. raw steel production for the week ending March 3 totaled 1,834,000 net tons at a mill capability utilization rate of 78.7 percent, reports the American Iron and Steel Institute in Washington. The last time production was this high was the week ending Jan. 10, 2015, when 1,899,000 tons were produced at a utilization rate […]
Last week, President Trump let it slip of his intention to place a 25 percent tariff on steel and a 10 percent tariff on aluminum coming from foreign sources, including our NAFTA partners. Over the weekend, countries around the world have pledged to respond to any tariffs on steel and aluminum with tariffs of their […]
Steel trading companies are advising Steel Market Update of their intention to pass along the 25 percent tariffs announced by President Trump last week, as well as any negative currency adjustments due to a falling dollar. One trader told us late Sunday, “Duties will be charged to customers. Directly or indirectly by being rolled into […]
Flat rolled steel prices surged this past week on all of the steel indexes followed by Steel Market Update. Benchmark hot rolled reached the $800 per ton mark ($40.00/cwt) on Platts with SMU’s HRC index close behind at $790 per ton. SteelBenchmarker, which only produces its index twice per month, was trailing way behind, raising […]
The following calculation is used by Steel Market Update to identify the theoretical spread between foreign hot rolled steel import prices (delivered to USA ports) and domestic (USA) hot rolled coil prices (FOB Domestic mills). We want our readers to be aware that this is only a “theoretical” calculation as freight costs, trader margin and […]
Total raw steel production for the month of January was 7,595,623 net tons, with 5,129,878 tons produced by electric arc furnaces (EAFs) and 2,465,745 tons produced by blast furnaces. This is the highest monthly production figure seen since August 2017 when 7,824,820 tons were produced. January raw steel production was 174,474 tons or 2.4 percent […]
Most service centers are raising spot prices to their end customers following President Trump’s announcement that he plans to impose a 25 percent tariff on steel imports this week. But some are taking a more wait-and-see approach to spot business. Following are some insightful comments from the marketplace: • “Absolutely we’re raising prices!” • “Inventory […]