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 […]
Perhaps one of my steel sources described the current environment surrounding the flat rolled steel industry best when they said, “Welcome to the Charles Dickens version of the steel industry – ‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. It was the season of hope, it was the winter of despair…’ […]
Scrap prices for February deliveries to the domestic mills have settled in most areas of the country. In Chicago and the Upper Midwest we are seeing prices down from the previous month as #1 HMS (heavy melt scrap) is at $390 per gross ton, shredded scrap ranges from $400-$410 per gross ton (average $405) and […]
Apparent steel supply for December was 8,662,212 net tons (NT), a 4.14 percent increase compared to the same month one year ago. This was due to a slight increase in domestic shipments and a decrease in exports. The net trade balance from the difference between imports and exports was a surplus of 1,635,411 net tons […]
December 2013 U.S. exports for all steel products fell 7.2 percent over November to 871,384 net tons (NT). Compared to December of the previous year when total exports were 969,783 NT, December 2014 exports were down over 10.1 percent. December tonnage was below both the 3 and 12 month moving average (MMA). The primary countries […]
Shipments of sheet and strip products in 2013 as a whole were 49,608,408 tons, a decrease of 1.7 percent from the total for 2012. Shipments in Q4 averaged 4,100,162 tons / month, a decrease of 2 percent from Q3 but an increase of 3.7 percent from Q4 last year. Comparing YTD shipments for 2013 to […]
For the week ending February 8, 2014, the American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) reported that the U.S. steel industry produced 1,839,000 net tons (NT) of raw steel, a 1.9 percent increase over the previous week but a 1.9 percent decrease over the same week one year ago. The estimated capacity utilization rate is 76.8 […]
The various indexes we follow on a regular basis all had prices on benchmark hot rolled moving lower this past week. Platts took the biggest leap moving from $675 to $660 in one week. SMU dropped $5 per ton to $660. Plate prices rose at Platts but dropped with CRU. The result is we are […]
The futures market has traded in a tight range over the past few weeks as the lack of volatility in the spot market has provided little direction for futures traders. The physical market remains stable, albeit a touch softer, while the looming threat of increased imports has continues to cast a long shadow over the […]
Transactions in the ferrous scrap market are beginning to become clearer and what scrap dealers are seeing is not making them happy. Prices in the Detroit market, which tends to be one of the first markets to settle, saw an across the board decrease of $30 per ton on all grades. Busheling and shredded prices […]
The busheling market started to take shape this week as buyers and dealers came into the market, with early indications to be in the mills favor. Initial reports are for scrap in the Midwest to be down $30-40 / ton depending on grade and location. It seems that weather constraints have had a more negative […]
Our market survey captured lower prices in hot rolled and cold rolled this week compared to last. Galvanized and Galvalume prices were unchanged. Here is how we are seeing prices this week: Hot Rolled Coil: SMU Range is $640-$680 per ton ($32.00/cwt- $34.00/cwt) with an average of $660 per ton ($33.00/cwt) FOB mill, east of […]
Imports of total flat rolled products increased in January to 990,803 tons from 852,840 in December. Total long products increased from 412,848 to 552,093 tons. Total sheet products as a sub set of flat rolled increased from 677,510 to 775,337 tons. Semi finished declined from 604,558 to 532.813 tons. An analysis of the 3 month […]
Using December license data, total 2013 imports are projected to have been 32,146,101 net tons (NT). This is a decrease of 4.0 percent from the 33,474,544 NT imported in 2012, however when compared to 2011 figures, 2013 total imports were up 12.7 percent. Looking back to 2007, prior to the recessionary period and where trade […]
The American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) reported their final raw steel production numbers for the month of December 2013. 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 […]
During the month of January we saw scrap prices rise $5 to $16 per gross ton compared to December 2013 pricing. Iron ore prices dropped on both 62% Fe and 58% Fe (spot prices are based on Chinese spot sales). Zinc and aluminum prices used to coat galvanized, Galvalume, Galfan, aluminized, ZAM both dropped by […]
The two strongest products during the month of January were cold rolled (fully annealed) and plate. Both of these products saw spot price appreciation during the month. Hot rolled was a mixed bag with SMU now holding the lowest average at $665 per ton as of last week. At one point during the month every […]
According to scrap experts, most of the domestic mills canceled their January orders at the close of business this past Friday when shipment of the past due scrap had not already been made. Cancellations are standard operating procedure by the domestic mills when they believe scrap prices will drop once the new month’s negotiations are […]
January 24th 2014. The Turkish Lira is in freefall. What does this mean for the US ferrous scrap industry? This is a hard question to answer because we don’t know what we don’t know. What we do know is that the Turkish Lira has declined by 20.1% against the US $ in the last 12 […]
For the week ending February 1, 2014, the American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) reported that the U.S. steel industry produced 1,804,000 net tons (NT) of raw steel, a 1.1 percent decrease over the previous week and a 1.9 percent decrease over the same week one year ago. The estimated capacity utilization rate is 75.3 […]
According to scrap experts, most of the domestic mills canceled their January orders at the close of business this past Friday when shipment of the past due scrap had not already been made. Cancellations are standard operating procedure by the domestic mills when they believe scrap prices will drop once the new month’s negotiations are […]
The following HRC futures article is written by Andre Marshall, CEO of Crunchrisk, LLC and the instructor of our new Managing Price Risk 2 – Strategies & Execution workshop. Well the S+P 500 took a turn down starting Thursday and Friday of last week, dropping from 1850 down to a 1770 low yesterday. We have […]
Using December license data, total 2013 imports are projected to have been 32,146,101 net tons (NT). This is a decrease of 4.0 percent from the 33,474,544 NT imported in 2012, however when compared to 2011 figures, 2013 total imports were up 12.7 percent. Looking back to 2007, prior to the recessionary period and where trade […]
As we approach the end of January the expectation is for the domestic steel mills to cancel any remaining ferrous scrap orders that the yards have been unable to ship due to the weather, shortage of trucks or rail cars or just due to the dealer(s) being unable to complete the order on time. The […]
Steel buyers reported a mixed bag this week with some mills quoting extremely long lead times (hot rolled at 6-8 weeks) while others were still willing to discuss pricing in early February if a reasonable order was connected to the competitive quotation. One service center executive told us about mill lead times, “USS is in […]
David Phelps warned our readers not to put too much stock in the U.S. Department of Commerce license data, which he felt could be very misleading. Our initial forecast for January steel imports produced through the aid of the import license data from the 14th and again on the 21st of January indicated a possible […]
The American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) reported their final raw steel production numbers for the month of December 2013. 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 […]