We thought we would take one last stab at the subject of Anti-Dumping (AD) and Countervailing Duties (CVD) since we received more detailed information from attorney Lewis Leibowitz: The question of time lines for AD/CVD cases can fill many pages. There are rules, exceptions and discretion (mostly Commerce) that can alter the time lines. Your […]
As we ended the last article about the possibility of Anti-Dumping (AD) or Countervailing Duty (CVD) trade cases against flat rolled steel (cold rolled, galvanized and possibly Galvalume) in Tuesday evening’s issue we presented a number of questions posed by one of our readers. He wanted to know: I have a timeline question for you […]
The quick slide to the bottom slowed over the last 7 days with cold rolled and Galvalume steel prices unchanged, galvanized is down $5 per ton and hot rolled is down $10 per ton compared to last Tuesday evening. Hot rolled is now within the range predicted by Timna Tanners of Bank of America Merrill […]
The most recent weekly raw steel production data is showing a continuation of the slowing of production at the domestic steel mills. For the week ending March 14, 2015, the American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) estimated the U.S. steel industry produced 1,623,000 net tons of raw steel, a 1.3 percent decrease over the previous […]
Chinese steel exports to the U.S. in January 2015 were 40 percent higher than in January 2014, according to World Steel Association data. As Chinese domestic demand weakens, exports have flooded not only the U.S. but nations across the globe. The resulting depressed prices and undercutting of domestic steel production has led to increased government […]
Every week the US Department of Commerce (US DOC) releases steel import license data for those months that have not had Preliminary Census or Final Census data announced. The latest license data was released this afternoon (Tuesday) covering the month of March through today (March 17, 2015). Steel Market Update (SMU) takes the license data […]
Countervailing duties have been imposed on welded line pipe from Turkey but not South Korea, according to a preliminary determination by the Department of Commerce. On March 17, the Department of Commerce affirmed subsidization in a countervailing duty (CVD) investigation of imports of welded line pipe from Turkey. A negative preliminary determination was returned on […]
Flat rolled steel prices plummeted again this past week according to the steel indexes followed by Steel Market Update. All four indexes reported pricing this week. The range from low to high on benchmark hot rolled coil was $480 to $495 per ton with SMU at the low end of the range and SteelBenchmarker at […]
A tentative settlement has been reached between USW refinery workers and Shell Oil said the USW in a statement released Thursday afternoon. The press release is as follows: (Pittsburgh) – The United Steelworkers (USW) announced today that it has reached a tentative agreement on a new four-year contract with Shell Oil as a pattern agreement […]
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 January were almost double that which existed before the recession. The […]
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 single month of January 2015 exports were 1,148,422 which is an annual rate of 13,781,062 tons. Figure 1 shows that the monthly average declined for three consecutive years, 2012 through 2014 and […]
Last week the pace of the decline in flat rolled steel prices was relatively modest, most being in the single digits and in some cases there was no decline in our averages at all. There was some talk about “the bottom” of the market around the industry but, the inventory over-hang was just there and […]
There seemed to be three subjects on the minds of the steel buyers and executives with whom Steel Market Update spoke with over the past twenty-four hours: steel prices, demand for steel products and foreign steel (both offers and threats of dumping suits). Since it is Tuesday and we publish our flat rolled steel price […]
Apparent steel supply for the month of January 2015 was 10,378,392 net tons (9,415,130 metric tons). Apparent steel supply is calculated by adding domestic steel shipments and finished US steel imports and subtracting total US steel exports. January supply represents a 992,133 ton or 10.6 percent increase compared to the same month one year ago. […]
January steel exports totaled 925,428 net tons (839,535 metric tons), down 0.4 percent over December and down 3.9 percent from January 2014. Total January figures are below both the thee month moving average (3MMA) and the twelve month moving average (12MMA). Here is a breakdown of flat rolled and plate exports: Cut plate exports declined […]
Steel Market Update has received a number of inquiries recently asking questions about the potential for a trade case or anti-dumping filing by the domestic mills against foreign steel imports. In particular, the imports in question are cold rolled and coated steels and, the country mentioned the most is China, although if there is a […]
The most recent weekly raw steel production data is showing a slowing in production by the U.S. steelmakers. For the week ending March 7, 2015, the American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) estimated that the U.S. steel industry produced 1,645,000 net tons of raw steel, a 0.7 percent decrease over the previous week and a […]
The pace of the drop in flat rolled steel prices slowed this past week. From our perspective, we saw hot rolled prices as down $5 per ton, cold rolled and galvanized as flat and Galvalume up $5 per ton compared to the previous week. All of the reporting steel indexes (SMU, CRU & Platts) followed […]
The U.S. Department of Commerce (US DOC) released final foreign steel import census data late last week, showing final January tonnage at 4.39 million net tons (3.99 million metric tons). This is a 20.8 percent increase over December 2014 imports and 37.1 percent higher than January 2014 levels. Total January imports were the highest seen […]
Licensed data for February was updated on March 3rd through the Steel Import Monitoring System of the US Commerce Department. Steel Market Update 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 published in […]
The Russians are coming! The Russians are coming! Well, at least that is what the rest of the world is seeing when it comes to steel. The Russian steel mills have become the benefactors of the drop in the value of the Russian currency (the ruble). Steel Market Update has learned the Russian ruble lost […]
Steel Market Update hot rolled average pricing broke through $500 this week as we saw HRC prices as being $5 per ton lower than one week ago. When looking at the market as a whole we are seeing a slowdown or flattening of the downward price movement. Cold rolled saw the spread between the high […]
Every week the US Department of Commerce (US DOC) releases steel import license data for those months that have not had Preliminary Census or Final Census data announced. The latest license data was released this afternoon covering the month of February through today. Since we are so early into the month of March SIMA did […]
The most recent weekly raw steel production data is showing a collapse in production by the U.S. steelmakers. For the week ending February 28, 2015, the American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) estimated that the U.S. steel industry produced 1,657,000 net tons of raw steel, a 3.4 percent decrease over the previous week and a […]
The USW reported that U.S. refinery negotiations will resume on March 4. Talks stalled on Feb 20 prompting the USW to enlarge the strike, adding three refineries co-owned by Shell Oil to the walkout. Currently 6,550 workers are now on strike at 15 plants. “We can confirm that Shell and USW have agreed to speak […]
Virtually all flat rolled steel products indexed by the steel indices followed by Steel Market Update saw steel pricing decline by double digits and, in most cases, the erosion in pricing on hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized and coated was at least $20 per ton ($1.00/cwt). First an observation, as we watch the weekly price […]
The American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) recently reported final raw steel production estimates for the month of January 2015. The monthly estimates are different than those produced showing the weekly raw steel production. The monthly estimates are based on 75 percent of the domestic mills reporting vs. 50 percent for the weekly estimates. Total […]
We made a mistake in our most recent issue when we referenced $440 as being the low for hot rolled back in June 2009. That was actually the low for the galvanized base price (noted in the HARDI article in that same issue). The low for hot rolled in June 2009 was $380 per ton […]
The U.S. Department of Commerce released the latest steel import licensing data for February as well as the Preliminary Census Data for the month of January 2015. January imports are being reported as being 4,250,041 net tons (3.9 million metric tons). This is up 32.6 percent compared to one year ago. Hot rolled imports, even […]
Global steel production in 2014 totaled 1.627 billion tonnes with a capacity of 2.2 billion tonnes which yields an average utilization for the year of 74 percent. China accounted for 51 percent of global production in 2014. Asia as a whole, including India, accounted for almost 70 percent of global production. Production in January on […]