The S+P has stumbled in the last week, if you can call retracing 1.5% off the highs in a 175 percent 6 year rally stumbling! As I mentioned two weeks back, we were likely to test resistance at 1800 for a bit before retracing slightly. Since this market doesn’t even recognize retracements anymore, we didn’t […]
Based on our early December steel market analysis we found some weakening in the coated steel indices. Hot rolled and cold rolled managed to maintain their averages but we did collect a few lower numbers on those products as well. There was enough data on coated to drop both galvanized and Galvalume averages from what […]
For CME Group hot rolled coil (HRC) volume – November 2013 volume 3,869 contracts traded (77,380 short tons) compared to November 2012 volume 2,198 contracts traded (43,960 ST) – a 37.1 percent increase year over year. HRC 2013 YTD volume 51,163 contracts traded versus 2012 YTD volume 41,455 contracts traded – a 23.4 percent increase […]
Commodities are one of the key cost drivers for the domestic steel mills. Scrap, which is used by all mills but is the critical ingredient for the mini-mills and their electric arc furnaces, rose between $28 and $35 per ton. This was the reason that two mills announced price increases at the beginning of the […]
Flat rolled steel prices moved modestly higher during the month of November according to the indexes followed by Steel Market Update. Benchmark hot rolled ranged from a low of $668 to a high of $680 although all of the indexes except Platts were indicating HRC pricing about $670 per ton ($33.50/cwt). Most items increased by […]
As mentioned in an earlier article, prices increased during the month of November as two mills officially raised prices by $20 and $30 per ton. The AK Steel announcement called for hot rolled base prices to be a minimum of $35.50/cwt and Severstal placed their base price levels for HRC at $35.00/cwt. When the month […]
For the week ending November 30, 2013, the American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) reported that the U.S. steel industry produced 1,812,000 net tons of raw steel, a 2.1 percent decrease over the previous week but a 3.9 increase over the same week one year ago. The estimated capacity utilization rate is 75.6 percent, down […]
The American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) reported their final raw steel production numbers for the month of October 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 […]
According to Baker Hughes data from November 27th, 2013, the U.S rig count for this week is 1,763 rigs exploring for or developing oil or natural gas. This count is an increase of 2 rigs when compared to last week, with oil rigs up 4 to 1,391 rigs, gas rigs down 2 to 367 rigs, […]
As we move closer to the Thanksgiving Holiday we are finding flat rolled steel prices as being essentially “firm” compared to this time last week. Steel buyers have been consistently referencing prices as the same as one week ago to maybe $10 per ton higher or lower depending on the mill and product being quoted. […]
The U.S. Department of Commerce released preliminary October import figures earlier today, estimating total imports of 3,059,358 net tons (NT). This tonnage is the highest monthly figure since May 2012 when total imports were 3,064,008 NT. With the exception of hot rolled products, imports increased month-over-month (MOM) in October for all products in the table […]
For the week ending November 23, 2013, the American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) reported that the U.S. steel industry produced 1,850,000 net tons of raw steel, a 0.3 percent decrease over the previous week but a 6.1 increase over the same week one year ago. The estimated capacity utilization rate is 77.2 percent, down […]
The recent resurgence of the steel industry in Japan has resulted in a scrap shortage in the Far East, despite lackluster finished steel sales. Japan’s resurgence is a partial result of Abenomics due to the weakening yen (currently at 101). Automobile sales, appliances and public infrastructure spending/reconstruction has resulted in very healthy steel demand in […]
Once per month Steel Market Update publishes reports on flat rolled imports into the United States by product, port and country of origin. The result is a fairly massive report which is difficult to reproduce in our newsletter but is in our new website. The totals in the report are accurate. However, we have removed countries […]
One of the questions we hear on a continuous basis is, how much foreign flat rolled steel import is really coming and what impact will it have on domestic steel prices (and when)? Steel Market Update conducted our most recent analysis of the flat rolled steel market over this past week. Based on the responses […]
Manufacturing companies are reporting the prices being offered by service centers are essentially only moving in one direction – higher. End users, responding to the most recent flat rolled steel market analysis conducted by Steel Market Update this past week, reported prices as rising as compared to remaining the same by a 73 percent to […]
SMU Sources Forecast Scrap to Rise by $40 by the Beginning of the New Year Steel Market Update (SMU) scrap sources are forecasting ferrous scrap prices to rise by approximately $40 per ton by early January. December scrap prices are projected to be flat (sideways) to up slightly from November scrap pricing levels. However, scrap […]
September ferrous scrap exports totaled 1,548,020 metric tons (1,706,398 net tons) with Turkey, Korea, Taiwan, China, Mexico, and Canada being the top five recipients of U.S. collected scrap. Of the higher ranking countries in the table below, there was month-over-month increase in exports going to Korea and Mexico over the August figures, but a decrease […]
According to Baker Hughes data from November 22nd, 2013, the U.S rig count for this week is 1,761 rigs exploring for or developing oil or natural gas. This count is a decrease of 1 rig when compared to last week, with oil rigs up 2 to 1,387 rigs, gas rigs down 1 to 369 rigs, […]
There is a lot of interest in what direction spot flat rolled prices will move from here. It appears there is a split between some of the domestic steel mills regarding the most recent price announcements made by AK Steel and Severstal NA. We understand that spot prices on hot rolled are hitting a bit […]
Total steel mill product exports in September were 1,022,050 net tons, a 10.93 percent decrease from October tonnage of 1,147,411 NT. September exports are reported to be at their lowest levels since December 2012. Semi-finished exports were reported to be 2,678 NT, down 93.55 percent from August tonnage of 86,065 NT, but this is most […]
Residential Storage Water Heaters U.S. shipments of residential gas storage water heaters for September 2013 increased 18.1 percent, to 333,392 units, up from 282,335 units shipped in September 2012. Residential electric storage water heater shipments increased 10.6 percent in September 2013, to 304,310 units, up from 275,092 units shipped in September 2012. For the year-to-date, […]
After weeks of ascending prices, the hot rolled coil (HRC) futures market has taken a breather in the last couple of days. Prices have retreated by about $5-10/ton down the curve as a weaker than expected Wednesday brought in several new sellers to the market. November and December periods remain well bid around $660 but, […]
Flat rolled steel prices rose modestly this past week with averages adjusting higher by anywhere from $5 to $15 per ton. We are seeing a slightly larger spread between the highs and the lows. We are also seeing a larger spread in lead times out of the domestic steel mills based on our survey results […]
Apparent steel supply for September was 9,043,000 net tons, a 10.38 percent increase compared to the same month one year ago. This is due to an 8 to 9 percent increase in domestic shipments and all imports, and was slightly offset by a decrease in exports, down 3.38 percent. The net trade balance from the […]
Apparent supply is defined as domestic mill shipments to domestic locations plus imports. Sources are the American Iron and Steel Institute and the Department of Commerce. The three month moving average (3MMA) of the total tonnage of flat rolled sheet and strip supply was 4,469,473 tons per month in the period July through September. This […]
For the week ending November 16, 2013, the American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) reported that the U.S. steel industry produced 1,856,000 net tons of raw steel, a 1.5 percent increase over the previous week and a 6.4 increase over the same week one year ago. The estimated capacity utilization rate is 77.5 percent, up […]
Hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized and Galvalume spot prices continued to remain firm this past week – even as many of the domestic mills have not “officially” announced support for the price increases made by AK Steel and Severstal NA on the 7th of November. According to Steel Market Update (SMU) sources in both the […]
According to Baker Hughes data from November 15th, 2013, the U.S rig count for this week is 1,762 rigs exploring for or developing oil or natural gas. This count is an increase of 8 rigs when compared to last week, with oil rigs up 2 to 1,385 rigs, gas rigs up 5 to 370 rigs, […]
The U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) released Final Census Data on steel imports for the month of September. Total imports (all products) were reported to be 2,818,675 net tons which is down slightly from the 2,878,367 net tons received during the month of August. Compared to last September (2012) there were 215,624 more tons received […]