Net imports equals imports minus exports. We regard this as an important look at the overall trade picture and its effect on demand at the mill level. Figure 1 shows that net sheet product imports on a three month moving average, (3MMA) basis at 718,000 tons in July continue to be more than double that […]
In the first seven months of this year bulk scrap exports were 7,809,000 tonnes for an annual rate of 13,387,000 tonnes, down by 11.6 percent from the first seven months of last year. The tonnages shown in Figure 1 are based on three month moving averages for 2015 and on the twelve month monthly average […]
Manufacturing expanded at its slowest pace in two years, according to August data from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM). On the domestic front, consumer spending remains strong bolstered by low gas prices and job growth but manufacturing for export has suffered from ailing global economies and the strength of the US dollar. The export […]
The U.S. Department of Commerce (US DOC) released final July Census Data which means they have announced the final steel import numbers for the month. Total steel imports for the month of July 2015 were 3,285,600 net tons (SMU converts the USDOC metric ton data into net tons for our readers). The July totals were […]
SMU adjusted our flat rolled price indices on Thursday of last week due to information we gathered after the conclusion of our Steel Summit Conference. We noted then that the market has been very slowly leaking, with the bottom of our hot rolled range hitting $420 per ton. One of the mills with which we […]
SMU is seeing ferrous scrap prices in the Chicago area trading down $10-$15 per gross ton with HMS at $200-$210 per gross ton, shredded at $230-$235 per gross ton and busheling at $240-$245 per gross ton. We received a note from one of our main ferrous scrap sources late last week that we thought would […]
This data is normally reserved for our Premium members, but we wanted to give our Executive readers a view of what a Premium subscription includes. This is one of many additional data points available to our Premium level members. Licensed data for August was updated on September 4th through the Steel Import Monitoring System of […]
Due to the Labor Day Holiday in the United States, Steel Market Update did not produce our Comparison Price Indices article on Sunday evening. Since many of our readers look forward to this information we are publishing last week’s numbers this evening. Hot rolled coil was dropped below $450 per ton on two indexes – […]
Last week Steel Market Update conducted our early September flat rolled steel market analysis. One of the areas we watch very closely is how are distributors handling spot flat rolled steel purchase prices to their manufacturing customers? We have found that as service center spot prices weaken, so do mill prices until they reach the […]
For the week ending September 5, 2015, the American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) estimated the U.S. steel industry produced 1,741,000 net tons of raw steel, a 2.2 percent increase over the previous week but a 8.0 percent decrease over the same week one year ago. The estimated capacity utilization rate is 72.8 percent, up […]
After leaving our Steel Summit Conference, SMU began canvassing our flat rolled steel sources to see if there had been any further changes in prices of flat rolled steels (hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized and Galvalume). We found three of the items dropped (hot rolled, cold rolled and galvanized) while Galvalume rose slightly. Here is […]
The following article on the futures markets was written by Andre Marshall, CEO of Crunch Risk LLC and our instructor for our Managing Price Risk I and Managing Price Risk II workshops. Andre attended the SMU Steel Summit Conference on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week in Atlanta. Here are his comments about both the […]
Ferrous scrap markets are trading lower this week. The domestic mills canceled any outstanding tonnage that was due in August under the belief that they would be able to push scrap prices lower for September delivery. That is indeed what is happening according to SMU scrap sources. One of our larger scrap sources told us: […]
This week’s averages are heavily influenced (more than normal) by our on-going survey since all of our SMU team is involved in the Steel Summit Conference. We are being careful while at the conference not to discuss specific pricing or competitive situations. We will continue to evaluate market prices as the week progresses and advise […]
Earlier today the U. S. Department of Commerce released the latest license data through the 1st of September. Based on license data August total steel imports will be 3.0 million net tons. If confirmed when the Final Census data is released August will be the lowest tonnage so far this year. When looking at flat […]
For the week ending August 29, 2015, the American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) estimated the U.S. steel industry produced 1,703,000 net tons of raw steel, a 2.2 percent decrease over the previous week and a 11.8 percent decrease over the same week one year ago. The estimated capacity utilization rate is 71.2 percent, down […]
Virtually all of the indexes followed by Steel Market Update have begun to note the falling prices on flat rolled steels in North America. Benchmark hot rolled continues to be the most volatile product, dropping by as much as $16 per ton according to SteelBenchmarker (who only reports prices twice per month) and even Platts, […]
The following article is written by Spencer Johnson of FC Stone LLC. With six years of experience, Spencer provides his customers strategic and tactical advice on protecting themselves against commodity price volatility in the steel markets. Spencer will rotate weekly futures articles with Andre Marshall of Crunch Risk, LLC. Spencer can be reached at spencer.johnson@intlfcstone.com. […]
Earlier this month the consensus of opinion among our ferrous scrap sources was that we had seen the bottom for scrap prices and, more than likely, prices would rise as we entered September negotiations. However, that was then, this is now. As we enter the negotiation period for September ferrous scrap buys by the domestic […]
The following article on the Asian ferrous scrap markets was written by contributing writer, Damon Sun of Daido International: Over the past 3 weeks, there has been an uptick on prices of HMS (heavy melt scrap) containerized from a low of $165/metric ton CFR to this Monday at $185/metric ton CFR basis Taiwan. In the […]
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 […]
Recently Steel Market Update produced information related to the changes in the LME spot price for zinc and the costs associated with applying the Zinc to steel substrate in order to make galvanized product. It has been normal for the domestic steel mills to react to significant adjustments in the cost of zinc by adjusting […]
Steel buyers continue to report flat rolled steel prices as being stagnate (or stable) and our steel ranges remained the same on all but galvanized (which was influenced by data coming from light gauge construction products market segments). Our Price Momentum Indicator continues to be pointing to a sideways pricing trend with a slight “negative” […]
The U.S. Department of Commerce released July Preliminary Census Data and updated the license data for the month of August. In the table below we have provided the details to the July numbers which indicates imports at 3,242,501 net tons or slightly higher than the 3.1 million net tons received during the month of June. […]
In early May 2015 zinc spot price on the LME was trading at, or close to, $1.10 per pound. In early April 2015 US Steel adjusted their coating extras while the rest of the mills remained at the levels they set in early 4th Quarter 2014 when zinc was trading in the range of $1.00-$1.10 […]
For the week ending August 22, 2015, the American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) estimated the U.S. steel industry produced 1,742,000 net tons of raw steel, a 1.5 percent decrease over the previous week and a 9.7 percent decrease over the same week one year ago. The estimated capacity utilization rate is 72.9 percent, down […]
With the exception of Platts, all of the other indexes reporting (and followed by SMU) saw flat rolled products as losing ground this past week. Steel Market Update (SMU) is leading the way with their benchmark hot rolled coil (HRC) average dropping by $10 per ton to $450 per ton. This is $5 higher than […]
Global steel production in 12 months through July totaled 1.619 billion tonnes with a capacity of 2.3 billion tonnes. Capacity utilization in July was 68.4 percent with a three month moving average (3MMA) of 70.4 percent, down from 71.6 percent in three months through June. China accounted for 49.4 percent of global production in July. […]
The following article on the hot rolled coil (HRC), busheling scrap (BUS), iron ore and financial futures markets was written by Andre Marshall, CEO of Crunch Risk LLC and our Managing Price Risk I & II instructor. Here is how Andre saw trading over the past week: Financial Markets: Oh boy we had a 48 […]
On Wednesday of this week the U.S. Department of Commerce updated license data for foreign steel imports for the months of July and August. Based on only 18 days worth of data, August imports are trending toward another 3.0 million net ton month. The current trend line is for total steel imports for August to […]