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 […]
Steel buyers are reporting a weakening steel market in both our phone conversations as well as through our survey responses. SMU reported a drop in hot rolled coil prices last week of $5 per ton and we are reporting an additional $5 per ton move lower this week. We are seeing weakness in all products. […]
For the week ending August 15, 2015, the American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) estimated the U.S. steel industry produced 1,768,000 net tons of raw steel, a 0.7 percent increase over the previous week but a 8.4 percent decrease over the same week one year ago. The estimated capacity utilization rate is 73.9 percent, up […]
The negative numbers are starting to appear and SMU is hearing from steel buyers that weakness is creeping back into the markets, if only over the short term. However, not all of the indices followed by Steel Market Update saw the market as weakening at all. SteelBenchmarker, in particular, reported bullish results with all of […]
According to the latest data released from the US Department of Commerce and the American Iron and Steel Institute, apparent steel supply for the month of June 2015 was 9,373,498 net tons. Apparent steel supply is calculated by adding domestic steel shipments and finished US steel imports and subtracting total US steel exports. June supply […]
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 in June continue to be more than double that which existed before […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) continued to gather pricing information on the market after our publication of our flat rolled steel price ranges and indices on Tuesday evening. We have found an abundance of information which points to the low end of the range being $440 and not $450 as we published on Tuesday. We have, […]
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 is commentary from the American Institute for International Steel. As is the case with all important issues, there are two sides to every story. 13 August 2015. Falls Church, VA. The recent announcement of the filing of new trade cases on hot-rolled steel and other steel products reminds us that there are multiple […]
USW members at Cliffs Natural Resources are watching labor negotiations at ArcelorMittal and US Steel very carefully. The USW contracts with Cliffs will expire on October 1, 2015 and cover 2,600 employees at four local unions in Minnesota and Michigan. In a statement to the membership, union officials cautioned workers that negotiations at the two […]
Talking to steel buyers this week was like listening to a broken record, “It’s quiet, it’s quiet, it’s quiet….” There has been very little activity and nothing pushing the markets which is quite amazing when you consider the domestic mills have filed three trade cases and are coming up on the September 1st deadline for […]
The Department of Commerce announced on August 11 the initiation of an antidumping investigation into imports of heavy walled rectangular welded carbon steel pipe and tubes from Korea, Mexico and Turkey and a countervailing duty investigation of imports from Turkey. The petition for the investigation was brought forth by Atlas Tube (a division of JMC […]
For the week ending August 8, 2015, the American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) estimated the U.S. steel industry produced 1,756,000 net tons of raw steel, a 0.2 percent decrease over the previous week and a 9.0 percent decrease over the same week one year ago. The estimated capacity utilization rate is 73.4 percent, down […]
Over the past two months the U.S. steel industry has filed antidumping petitions on corrosion resistant (coated steels like galvanized and Galvalume) and cold rolled steels. The rumor mill has been flush with talk that a hot rolled suit will be announced as early as this week. What will the impact be on flat rolled […]