We are seeing a further firming in the hot rolled numbers with our sources advising that most offers are in the range of $460 per ton with a few offers higher and limited offers lower unless tied to specific tonnage and sizes that fit the producing mill’s sweet spot. Lead times have moved out, for […]
The US Department of Commerce released preliminary census import data today (Tuesday) for the month of April. Steel Market Update (SMU) has analyzed the data for April and we have also revised our Trend Analysis for foreign steel imports for the month of May based on license data received through today. April Preliminary Census data […]
For the week ending May 23, 2015, the American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) estimated the U.S. steel industry produced 1,732,000 net tons of raw steel, a 1.6 percent increase over the previous week but an 6.9 percent decrease over the same week one year ago. The estimated capacity utilization rate is 73.3 percent, up […]
This is the first time we have dedicated a piece specifically to raw materials prices. It combines our own data analysis with expert opinion published in the last couple of weeks that we find credible. Iron Ore As of this past weekend, the Platts IODEX of 62% Fe delivered North China recovered by $6.25/dmt in […]
We saw mixed results this past week as the various indexes attempt to find firm ground for flat rolled steel pricing. Of the three reporting indexes followed by Steel Market Update last week, one (Steel Market Update) saw two of the four products as being lower than the week before. Although, SMU advised that the […]
Canacero, the Mexican Iron and Steel Industry Chamber, is urging Latin American countries to take action against the flood of steel imports and derivatives from China. Latin America is the second largest international market for Chinese steel products, said Alonso Ancira Elizondo, president of Canacero. In 2014 shipments of rolled steel from China exceeded nine […]
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 Well, the last time we spoke […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) is picking up a small reduction in the daily steel import license data rate compared to prior months. As you can see from our table below, based on the third week of the month import license data as provided by the U.S. Department of Commerce, May is running at a 117,150 […]
This week we are seeing a “settling” of prices as buyers work with their suppliers. We are seeing a mixed market which was described to us by an executive with a large service center when he told us, “… it’s quite perplexing. The domestics certainly are seeing increased activity, slightly longer lead-times, and slightly higher spot […]
Global steel production in 12 months through April totaled 1.624 billion tonnes with a capacity of 2.2 billion tonnes which yields a utilization for the 12 month period of 73.8 percent. China accounted for 50.9 percent of global production in April. Asia as a whole, including India, accounted for 68.4 percent. Production in April on […]
For the week ending May 16, 2015, the American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) estimated the U.S. steel industry produced 1,705,000 net tons of raw steel, a 2.4 percent increase over the previous week but an 8.3 percent decrease over the same week one year ago. The estimated capacity utilization rate is 72.1 percent, up […]
First, a quick note to our readers that follow the Steel Market Update (SMU) indices closely, after speaking with dozens of steel buyers of hot rolled products at the Metal Industry Dinner (Boy Scout Dinner) in Chicago we adjusted the lower end of our range to $440 per ton. This resulted in our HRC average […]
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: We are last 2118 on the […]
The spread between world hot rolled export pricing and the price average of hot rolled coil here in the United States rose this week as the impact of the domestic price increases in the U.S. takes hold. This theoretical price spread analysis is based on our review of world export prices and the hot rolled […]
The European Commission has begun an anti-dumping investigation on imports of cold rolled coils from China and Russia. Eurofer, the EU steel association, lodged a complaint on April 1, 2015 on behalf of EU steel producers of CRC. According to the EU Official Journal, Eurofer presented evidence “alleging that imports of certain cold-rolled flat steel […]
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 March continue to be almost double that which existed before the […]
The market has continued to firm as steel buyers return to the market and lead times slowly begin to extend. We are also seeing a return to the more traditional spreads between hot rolled base prices and those of cold rolled and coated. The normal spread has been $100 to $120 per ton depending on […]
As we review steel import license data for the first time during the month of May we want to remind our readers not to read too much into the numbers. At this point in the month, we are trying to compare the second week of the month of May against the four previous months to […]
Earlier today Nucor announced a price increase of $25 per ton on carbon and alloy plate as well as heat treated plate products. The increase was to be effective “immediately.” Our sources are advising of at least one other plate mill that was telling their customers that they would be following the Nucor lead and […]
For the week ending May 9, 2015, the American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) estimated the U.S. steel industry produced 1,665,000 net tons of raw steel, a 2.7 percent decrease over the previous week and a 10.5 percent decrease over the same week one year ago. The estimated capacity utilization rate is 70.4 percent, down […]
In the twelve months of 2014, scrap exports totaled 15,308,000 tonnes, down by 17.1 percent from the same period in 2013. In the first three months of this year exports were 3,254,765 for an annual rate of 13,019,060 tonnes. The tonnages shown in Figure 1 are based on three month moving averages for 2015 and […]
Flat rolled prices have begun to climb out of the hole which has been almost a year in making. Steel Market Update and Platts both saw benchmark hot rolled prices as being up $10 per ton this past week while CRU had HRC up $1 per ton. The HRC average of the three reporting indexes […]
Will Domestic Price Increases Create Opportunities for Foreign Steel? Over the past few months domestic steel prices have become competitive against foreign steel imports. With the price announcements SMU wondered if the increases would widen the spread, thus creating an opportunity for more foreign steel to come to the U.S. During last week’s flat rolled […]
Perhaps the scrap market can best be described by those actively sourcing/selling ferrous scrap. Here is how one of the larger groups saw the market this week, “The scrap trade was quite tumultuous this week. Scrap demand, both export and domestic was robust, forcing the scrap processors to take a hard look at what sales […]
Iron ore was the topic for keynote speaker Lourenco Goncalves at the AISTech 2015 Presidents Award Breakfast in Cleveland on May 5. Goncalves, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Cliffs Natural Resources, received the AIST William T. Hogan, S.J. Lecture Award in recognition of individual outstanding leadership to the iron and steel industry. Goncalves […]
March steel exports totaled 896,027 net tons (812,863 metric tons), up 2.0 percent over February but down 13.8 percent from March 2014. Total March figures are below both the thee month moving average (3MMA, average of January 2015 through March 2015 figures) and the twelve month moving average (12MMA, average of April 2014 through March […]
Licensed data for April was updated on May 5th through the Steel Import Monitoring System of the US Commerce Department. The SMU publishes several import reports ranging from this very early look using licensed data to the very detailed analysis of final volumes by district of entry and source nation which is available to our […]
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 March 2015 is 9,575,903 net tons. Apparent steel supply is calculated by adding domestic steel shipments and finished US steel imports and subtracting total US steel exports. March supply […]
Late last week I asked the vice president of one of the steel mills which had announced price increases if they were indeed collecting higher prices and we received a one word response “Yep.” Earlier today we spoke with a conversion mill about the status of their pricing and they provided a more descriptive look […]
The U.S. Department of Commerce released Final Census Data for the month of March. The final total of foreign steel imported into the United States during the month was 3,615,960 net tons. This is a very small decrease from the 3.7 million tons received during the month of February but is well below the 3.9 […]