Chinese finished steel exports surged for monthly increase of 16 percent in June to 10.94 million tonnes and were 23 percent higher than a year-over-year. The June exports were among the highest monthly totals to date, exceeded only by the 11.25 million tonnes recorded in September 2015. Key Banc attributes the rise to the competitiveness […]
Flat rolled steel buyers reported steel prices as being essentially unchanged from this time last week. Here is how we see prices this week: Hot Rolled Coil: SMU Range is $600-$640 per ton ($30.00/cwt- $32.00/cwt) with an average of $620 per ton ($31.00/cwt) FOB mill, east of the Rockies. Both the lower and upper end […]
Steel buyers believe that we have reached the top of the flat rolled steel price cycle and that all of the risk is downside from here. Even so, most of the buyers with whom SMU spoke over the past couple of days are not believers in the idea that steel prices will collapse in the […]
For the week ending July 8, 2016, the American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) estimated the U.S. steel industry produced 1,712,000 net tons of raw steel, a 1.4 percent decrease over the previous week and a 2.2 percent decrease over the same week one year ago. The estimated capacity utilization rate is 73.2 percent, down […]
As reported last week, obsolete grades of ferrous scrap came under price pressure as negotiations concluded for July deliveries. Prime grades, however, saw prices move sideways as the spread between shredded scrap and primes increased. The product that saw the most movement was shredded due to excessive inventories and little movement on the export front […]
Essar Steel Minnesota entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Friday after the state of Minnesota revoked the company’s mining leases. Essar Steel Minnesota was given an extension to July 1 after missing a May 1 deadline to pay off its creditors and prove it could finance a plan to complete its promised taconite operation. Essar […]
Flat rolled steel prices continued to trade within a relatively narrow range this past week according to the steel indexes followed by Steel Market Update. Benchmark hot rolled coil was reported as being down $8 per ton by our own index while Platts has kept the product stable for yet another week. SMU HRC average […]
According to the latest data released from the U.S. Department of Commerce and the American Iron and Steel Institute, apparent steel supply for the month of May 2016 was 8,957,525 net tons. Apparent steel supply is calculated by adding domestic steel shipments and finished US steel imports, then subtracting total US steel exports. May apparent […]
The American Institute for International Steel reports that steel exports from the U.S. rose 1.1 percent from April to May, but are still lower than a year ago. The press release from AIIS follows: Falls Church, VA. July 8, 2016. Steel exports inched up in May, reaching 803,464 net tons. The May total was 1.1 percent higher […]
Galvanized steels continue to see strong bookings at the domestic steel mills with August sold out at all but SDI, The Techs and Wheeling Nisshin according to SMU sources. One of the domestic mills told Steel Market Update earlier this week that coated products were on “autopilot” as bookings remain strong and they were not […]
The following article on the hot rolled coil (HRC), busheling scrap (BUS), and financial futures markets was written by Dave Feldstein. As Flack Steel’s director of risk management, Dave is an active participant in the hot rolled coil (HRC) futures market and we believe he will provide insightful commentary and trading ideas to our readers. […]
Licensed data for June was reported by the Steel Import Monitoring System of the US Commerce Department on July 5th. An explanation of the methodology that we at SMU use to analyze the trade data is given at the end of this piece. Total rolled product licensed imports in the single month of June were 2,169,434 […]
Licensed data for July was reported by the Steel Import Monitoring System of the US Commerce Department on August 2nd. An explanation of the methodology that we at SMU use to analyze the trade data is given at the end of this piece. Total rolled product licensed imports in the single month of July were […]
Flat rolled prices were relatively flat for yet another week as the 4th of July holiday kept buyers and sellers thinking of something other than buying and selling steel. Steel Market Update is picking up signs of slowing order books at a number of mills as the number of “inquire only” products begins to dwindle […]
For the week ending July 1, 2016, the American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) estimated the U.S. steel industry produced 1,737,000 net tons of raw steel, a 1.1 percent decrease over the previous week and a 1.2 percent decrease over the same week one year ago. The estimated capacity utilization rate is 74.3 percent, down […]
Flat rolled steel prices seem to have stabilized, even if there was some see-sawing among the indexes followed by Steel Market Update this past week. Benchmark hot rolled prices are hovering close to $630 per ton with SMU ($627.50 per ton), SteelBenchmarker ($627) and Platts ($630) all within $3 per ton of each other. Last […]
The following article on the hot rolled coil (HRC), busheling scrap (BUS), and financial futures markets was written by Andre Marshall and Jack Marshall of Crunch Risk LLC. Here is how they saw trading over the past week: Financial Markets Brexit serves in some people’s minds as the beginning of the end, the unraveling of […]
The following calculation is used by Steel Market Update to identify the spread between world hot rolled export prices as determined by SteelBenchmarker and domestic (US) hot rolled prices as published by SMU. Steel Market Update compares the world hot rolled export price to which dollars are added for freight, handling, trader margin, etc. The number […]
The following article is by contributing writer Damon Sun of Daido International. Several key elements has happened in the last few weeks in the ferrous markets in Asia: 1) China Customs Bureau has started inspections for alloy content in the export of billets (square bars). The export tax rebate (9%) is applicable only to alloy […]
The flat rolled markets are trying to find where, and what direction, prices should be moving. After being down slightly last week, this week prices are up slightly. There is no clear-cut focus to the market at this moment. As one service center purchasing director put it to us this afternoon, “[Pricing] is all need […]
For the week ending June 25, 2016, the American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) estimated the U.S. steel industry produced 1,757,000 net tons of raw steel, a 0.4 percent increase over the previous week but a 0.2 percent decrease over the same week one year ago. The estimated capacity utilization rate is 75.1 percent, up […]
The American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) recently reported final U.S. raw steel production estimates for the month of May 2016. The monthly estimates are different than the weekly estimates we report in our Tuesday issues; the AISI bases the monthly estimates on over 75 percent of the domestic mills reporting vs. only 50 percent […]
Both Platts and Steel Market Update saw flat rolled steel prices as dropping this past week. The question now is this the beginning of a correction or just a bump in the road? From the perspective of ArcelorMittal USA and NLMK USA this is just a bump. If the drop in steel prices continue this […]
The following is the monthly report on exports by the American Institute for International Steel (AIIS): Falls Church, VA. June 24, 2016. Steel exports increased 2.5 percent from March to April, as both Mexico and Canada increased their purchases from the United States. The 794,537 net tons of exports were almost 6 percent lower than […]
We purposely did not begin this article on where our sources are seeing ferrous scrap prices with an attention grabbing headline as we think readers would be confused. The confusion comes from the pressure the domestic steel mills are expected to put on obsolete grades, like shredded scrap and HMS (heavy melt scrap). Those of […]
The following article on the hot rolled coil (HRC), busheling scrap (BUS), and financial futures markets was written by Jack Marshall of Crunch Risk LLC. Here is how they saw trading over the past week: Hot Rolled Coil (HRC) With spot hot rolled (HR) hovering around the $630 per short ton (ST), HR futures interests […]
Today two mills began advising their customers of their intention to raise flat rolled steel prices. ArcelorMittal USA and NLMK USA both came out with increases. ArcelorMittal provided specific base price “minimums” while NLMK USA advised their customers of a flat $30 per ton increase. If all of the other mills follow, this would be […]
Flat rolled steel prices slipped this week even as ArcelorMittal USA announced new spot pricing for the month of August. Steel Market Update (SMU) has been noticing a “topping” of the market over the past few weeks and our expectation is for the market to be a little “sloppy” in the coming weeks. We do […]
Manufacturing companies reported steel service center spot prices as continuing to rise this past week. Seventy-eight percent of the manufacturing companies responding to our mid-June flat rolled steel market trends questionnaire said distributors were continuing to raise spot prices on flat rolled steel. The service centers themselves were less optimistic with only 51 percent of […]
For the week ending June 18, 2016, the American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) estimated the U.S. steel industry produced 1,750,000 net tons of raw steel, a 1.6 percent decrease over the previous week and a 0.6 percent decrease over the same week one year ago. The estimated capacity utilization rate is 74.8 percent, down […]