The psychological barrier has been broken! Iron ore spot prices broke below $100 for the first time this year as 62% Fe fines were reported to be $97.5 per dry metric ton (dmt) today according to The Steel Index. The $97.5/dmt number is the 52-week low with the high being $142.8/dmt. The last time iron […]
For the week ending May 17, 2014, the American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) reported that the U.S. steel industry produced 1,838,000 net tons (NT) of raw steel, a 0.3 percent decrease over the previous week but a 0.3 percent increase over the same week one year ago. The estimated capacity utilization rate is 76.4 […]
The U.S. Department of Commerce released updated import license data through the 20th of May. If we remember, the license data through the 13th projected that we would see May imports surpass 4.0 million net tons and could go as high as 4.5 million tons. We discounted that number as we have seen previous month’s […]
Production in April on a tons/day basis was another all-time high at 4.574 million tonnes. The three month moving average (3MMA) of production in April was at an annual rate of 1.619 billion tonnes with a capacity utilization of 78.5 percent, also a 3MMA, (Figure 1). Capacity is now 2.076 billion tonnes. Table 1 shows […]
With the exception of plate, flat rolled steel prices either moved sideways or slightly lower based on the steel indexes followed by Steel Market Update. Prices appear to have peaked with benchmark hot rolled averaging $688 per ton, cold rolled $808 per ton, galvanized .060″ G90 $871 per ton and Galvalume .0142″ AZ50, Grade 80 […]
Steel Market Update was advised on Friday from one of our iron ore and steel trading sources in Asia that the Chinese export markets are in turmoil as spot iron ore prices drop, domestic (China) steel prices are dropping and export offers are being hit as well. On Friday of this past week The Steel […]
Steel Market Update published our special data on March steel imports which are produced by product (slabs, plate in coil, hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized and Galvalume), by port of entry and by the country of origin. The full data is available for review by our Premium Level subscribers. Below is a portion of the […]
Both Industrial Production (IP) and Manufacturing Capacity Utilization are reported in the Federal Reserve G17 data base. The IP index was reported as 102.744 for April, with a three month moving average (3MMA) of 102.83. This was the fifth consecutive month for the index to exceed the pre-recession peak of September 2007. The 3MMA has […]
The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) and the law firm of Stewart and Stewart recently released its publication “Surging Steel Imports Put Up to Half a Million U.S. Jobs at Risk.” The publication was released in support of the domestic steel industry and their unions and contends that unfairly traded imports are costing the U.S. jobs […]
Shipments of heating and cooling equipment, a benchmark for residential construction as well as the home improvement segments of the industry, have made significant improvements in the shipping rates compared to the same month one year ago. Below is the press release from the The Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute on heating and cooling equipment […]
U.S. and Canadian steel mills continue to keep a firm grip on pricing as supply (production) related problems keep lead times extended on most products. We are seeing the impact of foreign galvanized and Galvalume imports influencing at least one coated steel mill in the South. Domestic buyers appear to be accepting the higher prices […]
There will be a lot of news in the media today and tomorrow regarding foreign steel imports and their damage to the U.S. economy. We are seeing demonstrations across the country by union workers trying to influence policy and, particularly, the final determination of the OCTG dumping suits. Politicians are involved with Senator Sherrod Brown […]
The U.S. Department of Commerce released their latest imported steel license data for the month of May 2014. The early indication is for May steel imports to remain at, or above the projected April imports of 3.7 million tons. March final imports came in at 3.2 million which is also our 3 month moving average. […]
The supply of all steel products in Q1 2014 was up by 5.9 percent from Q1 last year. Flat rolled was up by 4.5 percent and longs were up by 9.8 percent. The sources of this analysis are the Commerce Department trade statistics and AISI steel shipment data.The bad news is that imports of all […]
Shipping delays of iron ore on the Great Lakes are finally over. Ice coverage on the Great Lakes is down to 9.1 percent with the remaining ice concentrated in Lake Superior. According to satellite imagery, about 22 percent of Superior is still covered. The US Coast Guard reports there are still small fields of ice […]
For the week ending May 10, 2014, the American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) reported that the U.S. steel industry produced 1,843,000 net tons (NT) of raw steel, a 1.5 percent increase over the previous week and a 0.5 percent increase over the same week one year ago. The estimated capacity utilization rate is 76.6 […]
Steel Market Update watches foreign steel imports as closely as humanly possible as we look for trends to see how imported steel tonnages relate to past historical averages. We use a monthly average as opposed to a specific monthly number in order to smooth out the numbers and provide a clearer picture. As you can […]
Steel Market Update was the big mover of hot rolled prices this week as we took our average to $685 per ton or $10 per ton higher than one week ago. CRU, Platts and SteelBenchmarker all held their numbers as is for the week. The hot rolled indexes average is up $5 per ton to […]
Apparent steel supply for March was 9,753,954 net tons, a 9.6 percent increase compared to the same month one year ago. This is due to an increase in domestic shipments and finished imports and a slight decrease in total US exports. The net trade balance between imports and exports was a surplus of 2,194,246 net […]
March ferrous scrap exports totaled 1,466,528 net tons (1,330,413 metric tons) with Turkey, Taiwan, Korea, Egypt, and Mexico the top five countries receiving U.S. scrap. These countries received 69.3 percent of all scrap exports. Total March ferrous scrap exports were 11.1 percent higher than previous month but 32.3 percent lower than the same month one […]
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 of the total tonnage of sheet and strip supply in the 1st quarter was 4,603,548 tons, up from 4,426,649 tons per month in Q4 […]
The following is reprinted from AIIS March Export Press Release: March Important Canadian and Mexican Markets Show Strong Gains U.S. steel exports expanded significantly in March, though they remained below the levels of a year earlier. Following a dip in February, when many parts of the United States were still suffering the impact of a […]
Iron ore smuggling has become a concern of the Mexican government with the diversification of the Knights Templar drug cartel into mining operations in the western state of Michoacán. Mexican authorities have seized nearly 200,000 tons of illegally mined and shipped iron ore headed for China so far this year. Last week a ship was […]
Pressure continues on flat rolled steel prices as we saw gains on hot rolled and cold rolled while galvanized and Galvalume remained the same as one week ago. The issue on the coated products and cold rolled to a lesser degree, has been imported steel which is impacting the southern states in two ways. First, […]
When Nucor announced their earnings on April 24th they held a conference call with analysts to discuss their business and to make statements about their company, the markets they serve and about the economy in general. John Ferriola, Nucor’s Chairman, CEO and President, provided an opening statement during which he made the following remarks regarding […]
For the week ending May 3, 2014, the American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) reported that the U.S. steel industry produced 1,815,000 net tons (NT) of raw steel, a 1.1 percent decrease over the previous week and a 1.1 percent decrease over the same week one year ago. The estimated capacity utilization rate is 75.5 […]
This past week three of the four flat rolled steel price indexes followed by Steel Market Update (SMU) reported only modest gains in benchmark hot rolled pricing with SMU being the most conservative holding our pricing at the same levels as we had reported the prior week. Platts was the one exception as their hot […]
Steel Market Update follows a number of price indices on a weekly basis. All of the indices saw double digit increases during the month of April. The average change on hot rolled was +$43 per ton, cold rolled +$47 per ton, galvanized +$66 per ton and Galvalume +65 per ton. Plate prices remained relatively stable […]
The following chart is based on price variances from the end of March until the most recent numbers produced at the end of April. All commodities saw price increases with the exception of iron ore which was down quite dramatically (China spot market).
Based on revised domestic and world export pricing on hot rolled coil (SteelBenchmarker), the price spread between the two continues to grow. As you can see by the graphic shown below, the spread has been widening ever since domestic steel production issues began impacting flat rolled steel pricing in the U.S. and Canada. The spread […]