All the indexes followed by Steel Market Update have breached the $600 per ton ($30.00/cwt) average level on benchmark hot rolled steel prices in North America (one exception being SteelBenchmarker who has not yet reported any pricing for the month of January). The average of SMU, CRU and Platts for this past week was $590.67 […]
In the first eleven months of 2014, scrap exports totaled 14,251,000 tonnes (metric tons), down by 15.7 percent from the same period in 2013. In the single month of November exports were 1,347,000 tonnes, almost unchanged from October. Figure 1 shows that the three month moving average has been declining slightly for the last seven […]
With the higher value of the U.S. dollar versus other steel trading nation’s currencies, we are seeing exports of steel in November as down slightly over October. November steel exports totaled 953,828 net tons (865,299 metric tons), down 5.6 percent over October but up 1.6 percent from November 2013 (all products). Here is a breakdown […]
Apparent steel supply for the month of November 2014 is 9,637,349 net tons. Apparent steel supply is calculated by adding domestic steel shipments and finished US steel imports and subtracting total US steel exports. November supply represents a 1,044,666 ton or 12.2 percent increase compared to the same month one year ago. This is primarily […]
Steel Market Update understands that a number of the steel buyers have recognized zinc spot prices have fallen below $1.00/pound and there are ongoing conversations with the domestic mills to review the extras put into place late last year. In August 2014 the domestic steel mills announced new coating extras due to the run up […]
Steel Market Update did not rush to break through the $600 barrier for hot rolled coil. We made a conscious decision that due to the Holidays we wanted to wait until this week to make sure we had as many data points as possible before breaking through $600. We are aware that some of our […]
Today we are producing two foreign steel import reports. This one is our normal report and we have a second one following which will look at imports from a different view point. The second report also addresses both long and flat rolled products and is normally available only to our Premium level members. The U.S. […]
This is our second article about foreign steel imports where we look deeper into imports from a three month moving average perspective. We also look at the complete picture by analyzing both long and flat rolled steel products. License data for December was updated on January 6th through the Steel Import Monitoring System of the […]
For the week ending January 2, 2015, the American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) estimated that the U.S. steel industry produced 1,857,000 net tons (NT) of raw steel, a 6.4 percent increase over the previous week and a 3.9 percent increase over the same week one year ago. The estimated capacity utilization rate is 77.2 […]
All was quiet this past week as steel buyers dreamed of Sugar Plum Ferries, lower prices and better times for the New Year. Mill sales people attended to their families and toasted higher prices and better times in the New Year. All of this means not much happened last week as SMU and Platts kept […]
After Steel Market Update (SMU) produced our 11 month analysis of flat rolled steel imports into the United States, we received a number of comments about reality versus the perception behind the numbers. Calendar year 2014 should go down in history as the second largest number of foreign steel tonnage shipped to the U.S. by […]
The U.S. Department of Commerce updated the December 2014 steel import license data. As suspected the volume of requests dropped dramatically from the 4.0 million net ton pace we were seeing earlier in the month to 3.0+ million tons as of December 30th. December total steel imports (alloy and carbon) should be approximately 500,000 tons […]
As we move into the month of January all eyes will be on the December steel import data which will determine if 2014 goes down in history as the largest or second largest year for total steel imports in U.S. history. Prior to 2014 the record for the year with the most foreign steel imports […]
There is one word that comes to mind when trying to write about the status of steel prices: quiet. All is quiet as the few buyers that remain in their offices are spending precious little time buying new steel. With limited information available we have chosen to keep our price ranges and indices the same […]
All of the flat rolled price indices followed by Steel Market Update saw steel prices as continuing their decline but in larger increments than what we have been seeing over the past few weeks. Benchmark hot rolled coil pricing dropped by an average of $11 per ton. Two steel indexes, Steel Market Update and CRU, […]
For the week ending December 27, 2014, the American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) estimated that the U.S. steel industry produced 1,746,000 net tons (NT) of raw steel, a 5.5 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 72.6 […]
The American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) recently reported final raw steel production estimates for the month of November 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 […]
Essar Steel Minnesota is asking the Minnesota legislature to extend the October 2014 repayment deadline for a $67 million state subsidy the company received in 2007, according to a report by the Duluth News Tribune. The extension would give Essar another seven years before repayment would be required. The funding was provided for building infrastructure […]
Steel buyers were few and far between this week as everyone prepares for Christmas and Hanukkah holiday celebrations. Even so, those who were working this week and responding to our queries reported aggressive steel mills on all flat rolled products. We have seen erosion at the upper end of our range on all products and […]
South Korea has filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO) over the U.S. decision to impose countervailing and antidumping on tariffs on steel pipe from South Korea. In 2013, South Korea exported 894,300 tons of OCTG products to the U.S., which U.S. steelmakers said were sold in the U.S. at artificially low prices. […]
Russia says removing the U.S. suspension agreement on flat rolled steel from Russia is “inconsistent with WTO rules.” The fifteen year old suspension that protected Russian manufacturers from antidumping duties on hot-rolled, flat rolled and carbon quality steel was lifted on Dec. 19. Russian steel manufacturers are now subject to antidumping duties ranging from 74 […]
For the week ending December 20, 2014, the American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) estimated that the U.S. steel industry produced 1,848,000 net tons (NT) of raw steel, a 1.7 percent decrease over the previous week but a 3.4 percent increase over the same week one year ago. The estimated capacity utilization rate is 76.8 […]
All of the flat rolled steel indexes which reported pricing this past week saw benchmark hot rolled prices as being down and another step closer to touching $600 per ton. From Steel Market Update’s vantage point, the lower end of our range has broken down to $580 per ton ($29.00/cwt). Our HRC average for the […]
Figure 1 shows historical gas and oil prices since January 2000. The daily spot price of West Texas Intermediate fell below $100 in August and by December 15th was down to $55.96, the latest daily figure available from the Energy Information Administration, (EIA.) Brent closed at $61.09 on the same day. Natural gas delivered to […]
Jawad Mian wrote, “The precipitous decline in the price of oil is perhaps one of the most bearish macro developments this year. We believe we are entering a “new oil normal,” where oil prices stay lower for longer. The reason oil prices started sliding in June can be explained by record growth in US production, […]
Production in November on a tons per day basis was 4.351 million tonnes, down from 4.411 in October. November had one fewer production day than October and the month’s total decreased from 136.363 million to 130.525 tons. Since January 2008 on average, November monthly production has decreased by 5.36 percent, this year November decreased by […]
We saw prices slipping in hot rolled and cold rolled steels over the past seven days. We are seeing offers on benchmark hot rolled below the $600 per ton level. One service center who is usually a coated only buyer told SMU that they purchased a small amount of hot rolled and they had offers […]
Peter Wright wrote an article in our last issue about the accuracy of the steel import license data. What Peter was referring to was the license data reported at the conclusion of the month and before the preliminary and final census data are reported. Steel Market Update begins to analyze the data beginning in the […]
Iron ore shipments on the Great Lakes totaled 5.9 million tons in November, an increase of 5.8 percent year-over-year. November’s shipment pushes the year-to-date total to 53.2 million tons, surpassing the same period in 2013 by 86,721 tons. The Lake Carriers Association called the slight increase “a huge achievement” when considering the brutal ice conditions […]
For the week ending December 13, 2014, the American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) estimated that the U.S. steel industry produced 1,880,000 net tons (NT) of raw steel, a 0.2 percent increase over the previous week and a 5.1 percent increase over the same week one year ago. The estimated capacity utilization rate is 78.2 […]