Final steel imports totaled 3,698,435 net tons (3,355,168 metric tons) for the month of August, down 4.2 percent from 3,858,692 tons in July but up 28.5 percent from 2,878,367 tons August of last year. On a 12 month moving average (12MMA) basis, total steel imports through August are at the highest level recorded in our […]
Below is a press release issued by The American Institute for International Steel (AIIS) titled “Steel Exports Show Monthly Increase, Yearly Decline” Falls Church, VA. October 7, 2014. Steel exports from the United States bounced back in August following a late spring-early summer dip. August exports increased 4.1 percent from their July level to total […]
For the week ending October 4, 2014, the American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) estimated that the U.S. steel industry produced 1,825,000 net tons (NT) of raw steel, a 1.1 percent decrease over the previous week and a 1.4 percent decrease over the same week one year ago. The estimated capacity utilization rate is 75.9 […]
As of Friday of this past week, SMU, CRU and Platts had hot rolled price averages as $655, $656 and $655 per ton. SteelBenchmarker did not report prices last week and remains stuck at $668 per ton. Our average dropped to $659 per ton as all three of the reporting indexes saw HRC down $5 […]
Steel Market Update spent the last two days canvassing end users and service centers to see where flat rolled steel prices are at the moment and where they might be heading from here. We heard from many service centers and end users that business conditions and demand for their products are doing quite well. We […]
Barge availability is becoming an issue on U.S. waterways. According to the MID-SHIP Report, demand for barges to move record grain production is putting upward pressure on shipping costs. MID-SHIP also reports berth congestion for some breakbulk facilities along the Mississippi River due to strong steel shipments. Availability constraints in trucking and rail are adding […]
As we try to point out on regular basis, import license data is an imperfect program and can only suggest what ballpark the final number will be in. Last week the import license data was suggesting September would meet or exceed 4.0 million net tons (all products). Based on license data updated on September 30th, […]
According to The Steel Index iron ore spot prices have dropped to $77.50 per dry metric tonne (dmt) for 62% Fe fines CFR Tianjin Port, China. This is the 52-week low for ore trading which is suffering from a slowdown in the Chinese economy. Iron ore has been on a steady decline since the beginning […]
Raw steel production is reported on a weekly basis and then on a monthly basis by the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI). The weekly report, like the one we have published in today’s newsletter, is based on a response rate of approximately 50 percent of the producing steel mills. The weekly report is then […]
For the week ending September 27, 2014, the American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) estimated that the U.S. steel industry produced 1,846,000 net tons (NT) of raw steel, a 2.4 percent decrease over the previous week and a 1.5 percent decrease over the same week one year ago. The estimated capacity utilization rate is 76.7 […]
Hot rolled dropped $4 per ton based on the averages of the four indexes followed by Steel Market Update. Three of the indexes had hot rolled at $660 per ton (SMU, Platts) or $661 per ton (CRU) with SteelBenchmarker the highest at $668 per ton. For cold rolled, SteelBenchmarker was the lowest index at $774 […]
From the years 1997 through 2007 Steel Market Update’s founder and publisher, John Packard, was representing Winner Steel, a domestic conversion mill operating out of Sharon, Pennsylvania and now part of the NLMK USA group. He shares some of his old notes on galvanized pricing which ultimately lead to the beginnings of Steel Market Update […]
Foreign steel imports accounted for 27 percent of the August 2014 monthly usage and a like percentage for annual steel usage according to data just released by the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI). Foreign imported steel tonnage was lower in August than the prior month but is way ahead of the tonnage received in […]
Steel buyers think the domestic mills are riding high at today’s prices. Iron ore prices are dropping, coking coal is down and scrap has been treading water and the word is it may dip a bit as we enter the month of October. Steel buyers think the mills are floating on the top of the […]
Through the 23rd of September foreign steel import licenses continue to suggest that September imports could exceed the 4.0 million net tons reported in the final census numbers for May 2014. The license data suggests that the biggest surge in imports will move through the domestic steel mills as semi-finished import licenses are trending toward […]
Zinc prices hit a three year high in September at $2390/t, escalating quickly from the mid $1900s in March. Although the prices have moderated in the last few weeks zinc, as of September 18, zinc was at $2247/metric ton on the LME index. The soaring prices are due to production shortfalls and higher demand. The […]
The Canadian International Trade Tribune (the Tribunal) determined last Friday that there is reasonable indication that dumping and subsidization of OCTG products from nine countries have caused or may cause injury to the domestic market. The countries named in the investigation are Chinese Taipei, the Republic of India, the Republic of Indonesia, the Republic of […]
For the week ending September 20, 2014, the American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) reported that the U.S. steel industry produced 1,891,000 net tons (NT) of raw steel, a 0.5 percent increase over the previous week and a 0.9 percent increase over the same week one year ago. The estimated capacity utilization rate is 78.6 […]
One of our readers asked us earlier this week what the average price for hot rolled has been so far this calendar year according to the Steel Market Update HRC index. The answer to that question is $665.30 per ton through this current week. The average of all of the hot rolled indexes followed on […]
Production in August on a tons per day basis was 4.342 million tonnes, down from 4.424 in July. This was the second month since February when production was <4.5 million metric tons per day. This is a seasonal effect, since January 2008 on average, August production has declined by 1.76 percent from July. This year […]
In the week ending September 13, 2014, domestic raw steel production was 1,882,000 net tons while the capability utilization rate was 78.2 percent. Production was 1,875,000 net tons in the week ending September 13, 2013, while the capability utilization then was 78.3 percent. The current week production represents a 0.4 percent increase from the same […]
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 with analysis by SMU. The three month moving average (3MMA) of the total tonnage of sheet and strip supply in the period May through July was 4,942,917 tons, up […]
Flat rolled steel prices moved lower this past week according to the various steel price indexes followed by Steel Market Update. The largest movement was seen in cold rolled prices but hot rolled prices and Galvalume prices also fell during the past week. The one item which did not see erosion was galvanized prices which […]
For months there have been rumors circulating in the marketplace that the domestic steel industry was contemplating filing dumping suits against the Chinese on cold rolled and potentially a number of Asian countries on galvanized and/or Galvalume products. To date there have not been suits filed and the foreign steel continues to arrive at ever-greater […]
The supply of sheet products had strong positive growth in the 3 months period May – July year over year (y/y) led by cold rolled which was up by 19.4 percent, (Table 1). In total on this basis sheet products were up by 14.8 percent. The sources of this analysis are the Commerce Department trade […]
In the first seven months of 2014, total ferrous steel scrap exports totaled 8,828,815 metric tons, down by 20.6 percent from the same period in 2013. In the single month of July exports were 1,248,330 tons, down from June’s volume of 1,270,041 tons. May had by far the highest tonnage of the year, the July […]
As we look at our price indices for the week of September 8th we want to take a moment to advise our galvanized customers that we are revising our .060 G90 benchmark index to account for the change in zinc coating extras. After reviewing the changes made by the domestic steel mills we have decided […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) decided to show you an analysis of the various galvanized steel coating extras in a slightly different way. We wanted to show you the mills who extras vary from one another and those who are using extras which are produced by another mill (such as USS or Nucor). We want to […]
Apparent steel supply for July was 10,588,648 net tons, the highest figure Steel Market Update has in its recorded history back to January 2010. Steel Market Update calculates apparent steel supply by adding domestic shipments and finished US imports and subtracting total US exports. July supply represents a 1,383,999 ton or 15.0 percent increase compared […]
For the week ending September 6, 2014, the American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) reported that the U.S. steel industry produced 1,885,000 net tons (NT) of raw steel, a 1.5 percent decrease over the previous week but a 0.5 percent increase over the same week one year ago. The estimated capacity utilization rate is 78.4 […]