After treading water through the Christmas and New Year Holidays, and then pushed by the most recent price increase announcements (+$40 on flat rolled and +$50 on plate), we are seeing steel prices moving higher by an average of $10 to $20 per ton. The expectation by most steel buyers (not all) is for higher […]
Flat rolled steel prices moved higher over the past week. Hot rolled offers are reaching (or exceeding) $700 per ton, while cold rolled and coated offers are moving into the low to mid $800s (base pricing, before extras). Steel buyers seemed resigned to paying higher numbers with many waiting to see what will happen with […]
The fire at AK Steel helped some buyers to accept the price levels being suggested by the domestic mills. Steel Market Update heard from a number of sources that offer prices were in many cases close to the levels suggested by ArcelorMittal USA in their most recent price announcement: $720 per ton hot rolled ($36.00/cwt) […]
Starting the New Year with a new price, California Steel Industries (CSI) and USS-POSCO Industries (UPI) announced $30 per ton price increases today, Jan. 2. In a letter to customers, CSI stated it is increasing transaction prices on hot rolled, hot rolled pickled and oiled, cold rolled and galvanized flat roll by $30 per ton, […]
The week prior to the Christmas holiday, Steel Market Update conducted a review of the flat rolled steel market and the trends impacting supply, demand and pricing trends. The steel survey, sent to 640 individuals involved in the flat rolled and plate industries, found service centers as more supportive of higher spot prices than they […]
U.S. raw steel production for the week ending Dec. 30 totaled 1,637,000 net tons, a 1.9 percent increase from the same period last year, but down 4.7 percent from the prior week. The mill capability utilization rate for the week averaged 70.2 percent, down from 73.7 percent the prior week but up from 67.8 percent […]
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 steel prices were essentially unchanged last week (week ending Dec. 29, 2017) due to the Christmas and New Year’s Holidays. The only exception being SteelBenchmarker, which only produces their indices twice per month with last week being one of those weeks. Hot rolled spot prices are hovering at, or near, $640 per ton […]
The following article on the hot rolled coil (HRC) futures markets 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 […]
Eight out of 10 respondents to this week’s SMU market trends questionnaire believe the fundamentals are pointing toward higher steel prices in the first quarter. As one service center executive commented, “it’s only a question of how high and for how long.” But so far, the price increases announced by the major mills this month […]
Domestic steel orders are strong and flat roll prices are on the rise, which means demand from the mills is likely to push ferrous scrap prices higher in January. “All things are pointing up for ferrous scrap,” said a dealer in the Northeast. Obsolete grades should rise in higher proportions than primes, but all grades will […]
The U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) released updated import license data this evening. November license data continues to hover around 2.86 million net tons. Steel Market Update sees December license data trending toward 2.53 million net tons, down from our previous analysis of 2.64 million tons last week. Semi-finished imports were previously trending about 200,000 […]
U.S. raw steel production for the week ending Dec. 16 totaled 1,698,000 net tons, a 5.7 percent increase from the same period last year, but up 1.6 percent from the prior week. The mill capability utilization rate for the week averaged 72.8 percent, up from 71.7 percent the prior week and 67.8 percent the prior […]
Flat rolled and plate steel prices moved higher this past week, according to all of the steel indexes followed by Steel Market Update. Benchmark hot rolled jumped to $640 per ton on both Steel Market Update (SMU) and Platts indexes. SteelBenchmarker did report prices and their HRC average was $626 per ton, up $8 per […]
U.S. steel exports in October totaled 895,879 net tons (812,729 metric tons), down 0.8 percent over September, but up 17.0 percent from October 2016. Total exports have averaged around 880,000 tons over the last few months after reaching a 2.5-year high in May (1,006,087 tons). The total October export figure is below the three-month moving […]
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 […]
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 had a bit of a flurry early this week following the price increase announcements by a number of mills. […]
Flat rolled steel prices jumped this week as buyers and sellers of steel react to the latest round of price increase announcements. Last week, there was a $50 per ton increase announced on steel plate and then later in the week the sheet mills announced a $30 per ton price increase on hot rolled, cold […]
Steel Market Update recently adjusted our Price Momentum Indicator to “Higher” as, in our opinion, steel buyers should anticipate flat rolled steel prices to move up over the next 30 to 60 days. During last week’s analysis of the flat rolled steel market, 78 percent of the respondents agreed with SMU, sensing that pricing momentum […]
The U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) released new import license data this evening. Steel Market Update has done a quick analysis of the data and foreign steel imports for the month of December are trending toward a 2.6 million net ton month (November license data was very similar at this time of the month yet […]
With mill order books extending into February on some products, most domestic steel producers have announced price increases. Steel Market Update sees steel prices moving higher for the next 30-60 days. The steel plate mills were the first to go last week, adding $50 per ton ($2.50/cwt) to the base price of plate steel. SSAB […]
Apparent steel supply for the month of October totaled 9,355,621 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. October apparent steel supply […]
U.S. raw steel production for the week ending Dec. 9 totaled 1,672,000 net tons, a 4.0 percent increase from the same period last year, but down 2.8 percent from the prior week. The mill capability utilization rate for the week averaged 71.7 percent, down from 73.8 percent the prior week and 67.8 percent the prior […]
Demand for sheet products improved in the three months through October by 3.2 percent year over year, led by hot rolled and other metallic coated. Demand for Galvalume is surging at the expense of galvanized sheet, according to Steel Market Update’s latest analysis of American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) and U.S. Department of Commerce […]
This 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 is often used to influence purchase decisions. Our intent with this analysis is to describe in detail what is going on in a […]
Cleveland Cliffs has acquired 553 acres and the lease to 3,215 additional acres from Glacier Park Iron Ore Properties, LLC. The real estate includes mineral and surface leases in the Biwabik Iron Formation. The iron ore reserves are west of Nashwauk and were formerly leased by Essar Steel Minnesota, now called Mesabi Metallics. “We are […]
On the heels of its $50 per ton increase on carbon plate prices on Wednesday, Nucor announced an additional $30 per ton increase on hot rolled, cold rolled and galvanized steel products on Friday, effective immediately. U.S. Steel, NLMK USA and California Steel matched the Nucor sheet price increase of $30 per ton. ArcelorMittal USA, […]
Last week, Steel Market Update (SMU) conducted our early December 2018 flat rolled steel market trends survey. Invitations were sent to 640 people representing about 625 companies located in the United States and Canada. We invite manufacturing companies, service centers, steel mills, trading companies and toll processors/suppliers in the industry and ask them questions about […]
Flat rolled prices moved higher as the domestic mills announced yet another price increase this past week. There is now a large division between Platts and Steel Market Update (SMU) steel indexes as we prefer to wait a few days to let the dust settle after an increase has been announced. Benchmark hot rolled, prior […]
In separate notices to customers today, SSAB Americas, Nucor and ArcelorMittal USA announced their intentions to raise steel plate transaction prices by $50 per ton. This new announcement means the domestic plate producers have raised prices by $130 per ton ($6.50/cwt) over the past 30 days. SSAB Americas said it is raising transaction prices by […]