By CRU Analysis Advisor Greg Wittbecker Environmental, social and governance (ESG) is now core to most major corporations. Companies that don’t put strong emphasis on this do so at their peril. Many companies are using ESG as an opportunity to create competitive advantage. These advantages are coming through several approaches. Sustainable Production Sustainability can be […]
By Greg Wittbecker, Advisor, CRU Analysis The grounding of the MV Ever Given in the Suez Canal has multiple repercussions on the global maritime supply chain, but it is especially acute for the aluminum market. Gulf Region Production is Important The Gulf Region in terms of aluminum production comprises Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and […]
By Greg Wittbecker, Advisor, CRU Analysis China has staked out ambitious goals to decarbonize its overall economy. President Xi has said that CO2 emissions will peak before 2030 and that China will be carbon neutral by 2060. The Macro-economic Perspective China generates 28% of global CO2 emissions. Its energy-related emissions are 15% of the world’s […]
By Greg Wittbecker, Advisor, CRU Analysis U.S. Midwest primary aluminum expressed over LME cash is 26-27 cents per pound, touted at “record levels.” In October 2014, Midwest traded premiums reached 23 cents per pound, so on paper we have set a new high….or have we? 2014: the Era of the LME Warehouse Queues We don’t […]
By Greg Wittbecker, Advisor, CRU Analysis The EU continues to move ahead on its plan to decrease greenhouse gases (GHGs). Here’s some historical context on emissions management in the EU. The EU has been on a long journey to its current condition. Phase 1 of its decarbonization plan took place between 2005-2017. The Emissions Trading […]
By Greg Wittbecker, Advisor, CRU Analysis Welcome to inflation after a 40-year absence. I spoke at the 2021 Aluminum Extruders Council Annual Meeting in March and said to the audience that if you were under the age of 55, you probably have never seen real inflation. The last time the U.S. experienced high, persistent inflation […]
By CRU Principal Analyst Erik Hedborg, from CRU’s Steelmaking Raw Materials Monitor The iron ore market has experienced one of the most volatile weeks on record. Prices have traded within a $40 /dmt range within the past week due to demand uncertainty in China. On Tuesday, May 18, CRU assessed the 62% Fe fines price […]
By CRU Research Manager, Aluminum, Eoin Dinsmore Utilizing the powerful CarbonFlow feature in CRU’s Emissions Analysis Tool, we explain why Rusal is proposing a demerger of its higher-carbon aluminum assets. UC Rusal, the largest aluminum producer outside China, announced on May 18 that it plans to split into two companies. “AL+” will house the company’s […]
By Greg Wittbecker, Advisor, CRU Analysis Whenever prices for key commodities such as aluminum, steel, wood or rubber start to really rise, there is a natural tendency for Procurement Officers to say, “let’s look at alternatives.” That’s their job, and if they weren’t looking at options to compensate for cost increases, they would be fired. […]
By CRU Research Analyst Yusu Mao, from CRU’s Global Steel Trade Service Last week, Turkish scrap import prices fell for the first time since September 2020. CRU recorded two deals and assessed HMS 1/2 80:20 at $446 /t CFR (- $34 /t w/w, -$27 /t m/m). The enlarged spread between HMS 1/2 80:20 and shredded […]
By CRU Senior Analyst Ryan McKinley, from CRU’s Steel Metallics Monitor The CRU metallics price indicator (CRUmpi) fell by 11.5% m/m in February to 309.8. Scrap prices in western markets came under pressure as supply increased substantially, while those in eastern markets faced additional pressure from waning demand. Although supply, especially obsolete grade scrap, has […]
By CRU Prices Analyst George Pearson, from CRU’s Steel Sheet Products Monitor U.S. sheet prices have continued to increase, but this week is the lowest w/w rise since the uptrend started. In Europe, HR prices have fallen, albeit marginally, for the first time since October last year. Although we believe prices are at or near […]
By CRU Chief Economist Jumana Saleheen and CRU Research Director Lavan Mahadeva, from CRU’s Global Economic Outlook Editor’s note: This article was originally published by the Financial Times on Feb. 19. The sharp rise in commodity prices from the depths of the COVID-19 lockdown is fueling talk of a commodities “supercycle” with the greening of the global economy replacing […]
By Senior Analyst Ryan McKinley, from CRU’s Steelmaking Raw Materials Monitor The CRU metallics price indicator (CRUmpi) increased by 8.3% m/m in May to 370.7. Following China’s removal of a VAT rebate for steel exports, scrap markets in Asia surged. This momentum carried over to Turkey, where scrap import prices rose substantially m/m, although upward […]
Tex-Isle Inc. plans to build a new electric-resistance welded (ERW) pipe mill with annual capacity of 350,000 tons per year near Steel Dynamics Inc.’s (SDI’s) new flat-rolled mill in Sinton, Texas. The new pipe mill is scheduled to open in Robstown, Texas, in the third quarter of this year and will be adjacent to Tex-Isle’s […]
By Greg Wittbecker, Advisor, CRU Analysis Primary aluminum prices are on a roll in China and the World ex China. The Shanghai Metal Exchange (SHFE) spot price is 18,425 RMB or $2,825 per metric ton. Even adjusting out the 13% Value-Added-Tax (VAT) embedded in that price, it’s still a 10-year high of $2,500 per metric […]
Plate prices usually carry a premium to hot-rolled coil tags – but that typical relationship has been turned upside down since early October. The question now: Could price hikes of at least $140 per ton announced by some North American plate mills last week help narrow the gap? The Numbers SMU’s hot-rolled coil price currently […]
U.S. steel exports slipped 8 percent in November to 668,000 tons, according to recent U.S. Department of Commerce data. Although down over the prior month, November shows improvement compared to earlier this year; exports are up 79 percent compared to May, when we saw the lowest level in SMU’s 24-year data history. Total November exports […]
The laws of economics state that rising prices eventually cut into demand. With hot rolled steel prices at a record high of $1,080 per ton, has steel demand begun to suffer? Comments from the service center and OEM executives responding to Steel Market Update’s questionnaire this week were evenly divided. “No, the high steel prices […]
The benchmark price for hot rolled steel reached a new record high of $1,080 per ton this week, according to Steel Market Update’s latest check of the market, surpassing the previous high of $1,070 per ton recorded by SMU in 2008. Prices for flat rolled and plate steel products jumped by another $40-80 per ton […]
November steel import figures were finalized at 1.37 million net tons, down 9 percent from one month prior, but up 9 percent over September’s 11-year low of 1.26 million tons. December import licenses are now at 2.10 million tons, the highest monthly level seen since July. January import licenses are currently at 1.03 million tons, […]
Weekly raw steel production by U.S. mills totaled 1,709,000 net tons in the week ending Jan. 9, up 3.6 percent from the week before when the total was 1,650,000 net tons. The mill utilization rate was 75.4 percent, up from 74.6 percent the week prior; however, down by 10.3 percent compared to the same week […]
U.S. steel lobbying groups and the United Steelworkers union want the administration of President-elect Joseph Biden to keep Section 232 tariffs and quotas in place. The steel groups and the union think the protections are necessary because of global steel overcapacity and because of the economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a recent […]
U.S. raw steel production inched up 1.3 percent in November to 6,947,000 net tons, as reported by the American Iron and Steel Institute. This was the highest monthly production figure seen since March 2020 when 7,710,000 tons were produced in a single month. AISI’s monthly raw steel production estimates are different than the weekly estimates […]
This report examines the import share of sheet, plate, long and tubular products. As of October 2020, imports’ share of total sheet products was 11.8 percent, down from 16.6 percent in May and from a recent high of 22.9 percent in 2015. The import share of HRC has been below 10 percent since January 2019, […]
By CRU Research Analyst Eduardo Tinti, from CRU’s Steelmaking Raw Materials Monitor Iron ore prices continued to rise over the past week. Due to offloading constraints at Chinese ports, iron ore port inventories declined, contributing to the recent price hike. On Tuesday, Jan. 12, CRU assessed the 62% Fe fines price at $172.0 /dmt, $5.0 […]
By CRU Principal Analyst Josh Spoores, from CRU’s Steel Sheet Products Monitor Sheet prices in the U.S. Midwest market have not only continued to rise, but the m/m gains have come so fast that our second Wednesday price assessment completely skipped the $900 /s.ton level. Our Jan. 12 price assessment for HR coil is $1,044 […]
By CRU Senior Analyst Ryan McKinley, from CRU’s Steel Metallics Monitor The CRU metallics price indicator (CRUmpi) rose by 27.1% m/m in January to 349.9 after metallics prices rose notably in every market we cover. As this is the second month of large price increases, many markets are now at, or nearly at, record highs. […]
By CRU Senior Analyst Erik Hedborg, from CRU’s Steelmaking Raw Materials Monitor Iron ore prices have held steady in the past week as restocking activities in China have continued and iron ore inventories at mills have been built up. At the same time, further disruptions in the supply chain have renewed supply fears in the […]
By CRU Prices Analyst Estelle Tran, from CRU’s Global Steel Trade Service U.S. steel service center inventories continue to remain low in terms of material in stock, as many buyers reported that they cannot secure all the sheet steel they require. Steel Market Update, which is owned by CRU, reported service centers carried 51.3 shipping […]