Steel Market Update follows a number of flat rolled steel price indexes and all of the indexes that reported to SMU this week saw benchmark hot rolled prices declining this past week. Three indexes reported double digit reductions in their HRC averages (Steel Orbis did not supply prices for this past week) and the average […]
The U.S. Department of Commerce recently released updated import statistics including preliminary January figures. According to the latest data, total steel imports in January were 3,172,481 net tons (NT), up 26.6 percent compared to the 2,506,795 NT imported in December. Total February imports are projected to be 3,012,761 NT, a 5.0 percent decrease over January. […]
The American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) reported their final raw steel production numbers for the month of January 2014. This estimation is different than the weekly raw steel production as it is based on 75 percent of the domestic mills reporting vs. 50 percent for the weekly estimates. Total raw steel production for the […]
Financial Markets: Two weeks back on the 13th the S+P 500 was approx 1825, and, as I mentioned, headed to test 1846 again. We bounced of that 1846 on the 19th only to retest it again on the 24th with better results, reaching our 1858 all time high. Since then, we are essentially sideways in […]
A week ago the predictions regarding March scrap settlement prices were for prices to be down $20-$30 per gross ton (or more). However, as Steel Market Update got deeper into understanding the market we found, due to weather and other issues, flows into the scrap yards have been slow which has caused the scrap suppliers […]
A few weeks back Steel Market Update published an article on World Export Price vs. Domestic HRC Pricing. Here is an update with a comparison of current prices. The latest SMU HR price was at $635 per net ton (NT) average, and using the world export price as reported by SteelBenchmarker plus $70 per ton […]
Hot rolled prices continue to be the weakest of the flat rolled products with most buyers reporting $640 as readily available and we heard of only one mill (with limited to no spot tons available) holding firm at $660 (and we expect collecting few to no spot orders at that price level). Cold rolled continues […]
The following article on the status of the Asian ferrous scrap markets was written by Damon Sun of Daido International. Mr. Sun is a regular contributor to Steel Market Update and an active scrap trader into the Asian markets. Here is how he sees the ferrous scrap markets in Asia this week: Asian markets are […]
Steel Market Update has been in constant contact with one of our Asian trading sources who is a trader of iron ore to Chinese steel mills and exporter of finished steel out of China around the world. We have been discussing the iron ore “bubble” which continues to inflate and our source believes it will […]
This is the fourth week in February and our third forecast regarding foreign imports into the United States. What Steel Market Update does each week (except the first week of the month) is to review the U.S. Department of Commerce import license data and then, based on the most recent numbers, project import levels by […]
For the week ending February 22, 2014, the American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) reported that the U.S. steel industry produced 1,831,000 net tons (NT) of raw steel, a 0.8 percent decrease over the previous week and a 2.3 percent decrease over the same week one year ago. The estimated capacity utilization rate is 76.3 […]
Iron ore inventories in China are bloated with 100.91 million metric tons of ore now sitting at the 40 major ports in China. This number has grown since the 86 million metric tons reported prior to the beginning of the Chinese New Year in January. This growth continues despite a slowdown in the Chinese steel […]
The hot rolled coil futures market took a leg down this week as offers down the curve became more aggressive. After weeks and months of a fairly static forward curve, this renewed downward pressure of the past few days has shaken up the market. The Q2 traded today as low as $623, the Q3-4 at […]
The following article was written by David Phelps, the recently retired director of the American Institute for International Steel and now a contributing writer for Steel Market Update. You can find more information about Mr. Phelps in the About Us section of our website. On February 18th, the Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration shocked […]
The following article was written by steel industry consultant and contributor to Steel Market Update, Paul Lowrey. Mr. Lowrey owns a consulting company called Steel Research Associated, LLC which works with steel mills and large distributors or manufacturing companies involved with steel and steel products. More information about Mr. Lowrey can be found in the […]
The following article was written by Peter Brebach who is the owner of Iron Angels of Colorado a company which specializes in imports of pipe and tube and other steel products. You can find more information on Mr. Brebach on our website in the About Us section. Everybody I talked to was surprised by the […]
A Nebraska court ruled Wednesday that a law passed in 2011 improperly allowed Gov. Dave Heineman to give TransCanada eminent domain power to advance the Keystone XL pipeline project in Nebraska. The decision regarding eminent domain should have been made by the Nebraska Public Service Commission, ruled Lancaster Judge Stephanie Stacy. The 2011 law was […]
For the week ending February 15, 2014, the American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) reported that the U.S. steel industry produced 1,845,000 net tons (NT) of raw steel, a 0.3 percent increase over the previous week but a 1.6 percent decrease over the same week one year ago. The estimated capacity utilization rate is 77.0 […]
Flat rolled steel prices were mixed compared to this time last week. The combination of our survey coupled with direct channel checks found hot rolled and galvanized prices slightly weaker while cold rolled and Galvalume prices remained the same as last week. The SMU Price Momentum Indicator continues to reference prices as moving lower over […]
As we mentioned last week, Steel Market Update will provide our members weekly steel import forecasts based on license data provided by the U.S. Department of Commerce (beginning with the second week of the month). We advise our members to spend a few minutes and read David Phelps article about the import license data and […]
Galvanized steel buyers need to be aware that zinc prices have been rising since the beginning of February. The metal is close to its one year high but still has a ways to go before reaching the level at which the domestic mills last raised coating extras on galvanized steels. Zinc has been trading around […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) received an email from one of our readers regarding his concerns as the iron ore spot prices drop in China and ore inventories rise. The writers belief is that United States flat rolled steel prices will be impacted eventually. This service center executive wondered what our Asian iron ore and steel […]
Scrap exports closed out the year of 2103 at 18,470,000 tons, down by 2,888,702 tonnes or 13.5 percent from 2012. Turkey alone was down by 1,169,000 and the Far East as a whole was down by 942,000 tonnes or 9.9 percent. Figure 1 shows the three month moving average of total exports and of the […]
We have posted the latest imports by product, port and country in the Premium section of the website. The most recent data is through the end of 2013. Some of the highlights include totals for hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized and “other metallic coated” which is primarily Galvalume. This report provided information which can help […]
When I last wrote I mentioned we would test the S & P 1720-1750 zone before attempting a rebound. We reached a 1737 low and we are now in rebound mode these last two weeks with the market last at 1829 zone. We are headed back to test the highs at 1850 to see if […]
During the month of January, Steel Market Update provided steel import forecasts for the month of January based on the weekly license data provided by the U.S. Department of Commerce. As we have explained previously, license data can be quite misleading compared to the final Census numbers. However, we did receive a number of emails […]
One of the questions Steel Market Update is asked, is can we compare domestic hot rolled pricing vs. world export price? The spread, which we have seen referenced as high as $150 per ton in other publications, can be somewhat deceiving if not evaluated properly. The world export prices on hot rolled coil (HRC) as […]
Prepainted flat rolled imports were mixed in December over November, with imports increasing for prepainted galvanized and electro-galvanized but decreasing for prepainted cold rolled and Galvalume. Overall, the four prepainted products tracked by SMU fell a combined 1,216 net tons (NT) or 5.5 percent over the previous month. Compared to the same month one year […]
Andre Marshall of Crunch Risk, LLC shared the following information about iron ore and busheling futures trading for the past week. Iron Ore: As always traders make a big deal about the Chinese post New Year’s holiday making a big buying push upon their return, but it appears whatever buying has been done hasn’t been […]
The US Department of Commerce said it will maintain anti-dumping and countervailing duties on oil country tubular goods (OCTG) imported from China, in announcement made earlier this week. The recent decision closed loopholes in the 2009 AD/CV duties imposed by the International Trade Commission, which allowed pipe made in China but finished in other countries […]