For the week ending January 18, 2014, the American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) reported that the U.S. steel industry produced 1,836,000 net tons (NT) of raw steel, a 0.3 percent increase over the previous week and a 0.2 percent increase over the same week one year ago. The estimated capacity utilization rate is 76.6 […]
Industrial production and manufacturing capacity utilization, December 2013. Both these data points are reported in the Federal Reserve G17 data base. The IP index was reported as 101.76 for December; this was the first month for the index to exceed the pre-recession peak of September 2007. The three month moving average (3MMA) at 101.21 was […]
There has been much written and said about the projected “surge” of imported steel expected to hit the United States over the next few months. Many of the steel analysts believe the incoming foreign steel will help dampened flat rolled steel prices which peaked during the first week of January at $680 per ton ($34.00/cwt) […]
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 was 4,436,772 tons per month in the period September through November. This was up by […]
Scrap exports continued their lack luster performance in November declining for the third straight month to 1,236,000 tonnes. Total exports YTD through November 16,904,000 tonnes down from 19,753,000 tonnes in the first 11 months of last year, a decline of 14.4 percent. The largest decline in November was shipments to Turkey, down by 72,000 tonnes […]
Flat rolled steel prices began to slip this week as some short term weakness was seen in domestic mill order books and lead times. Benchmark hot rolled is perhaps the weakest product based on our discussions with buyers around the eastern half of the United States and into Canada. The biggest reason behind the slippage […]
November prepainted flat rolled imports decreased over October, especially on galvanized and Galvalume products. The four prepainted products tracked by SMU fell a combined 21,941 net tons (NT) or 49.7 percent over the previous month. Compared to the same month one year ago, prepainted imports were down 30.2 percent on average for select products. As […]
For the week ending January 11, 2014, the American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) reported that the U.S. steel industry produced 1,830,000 net tons (NT) of raw steel, a 0.4 percent increase over the previous week but a 0.1 percent decrease over the same week one year ago. The estimated capacity utilization rate is 76.4 […]
Apparent steel supply for November was 8,592,683 net tons (NT), a 1.46 percent increase compared to the same month one year ago. This was due to a slight increase in domestic shipments and a minor decrease in exports. The net trade balance from the difference between imports and exports was a surplus of 1,653,365 net […]
In the 12 months through November the US imported 29,129,427 tons of all steel products including semi finished, exported 11,594,574 tons for a net steel trade deficit of 17,534,853 tons. The major net importer was Brazil with 3,591,401 tons. Canada and Mexico both imported more from the US than they exported to the US resulting […]
November steel export data indicates total US steel exports were 939,185 net tons (NT) for the month of November 2013, the lowest levels seen since December 2010 when exports were 934,471 NT. Total November steel trade to countries outside of the United States is down 17.1 percent compared to October levels and down 6.0 percent […]
At the end of 2013, David Phelps retired as president of the American Institute for International Steel (AIIS) and has just joined Steel Market Update as a contributing writer. Mr. Phelps will be writing about topics concerning the steel industry – particularly in the area of imports and foreign steel. Steel Market Update had a […]
Final November trade data shows that the United States received a total of 2,592,549 net tons of steel for the month. This is a decrease of 16.4 percent compared to the 3,101,063 NT imported in October. It is also a decrease from November 2012 tonnage by 4.8 percent. December license data figures are estimated at […]
This is the first “official” week of the New Year and all eyes are on the domestic mills to see if they can continue to hold the line – take that back – if they can break the stalemate we saw during the month of December and push flat rolled steel prices higher from here. […]
The American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) released data earlier this week for net shipments of steel mill products for the month of November. Total shipments for the month were reported to be 7,604,428 net tons (NT), down 8.2 percent from October tonnage but up 2.8 percent from November 2012. YTD tonnage through November was […]
On Wednesday, January 2, 2014, ArcelorMittal Dofasco out of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada advised their customers through the use of an internal memo that their flat rolled steel prices would change. The company noted the changes were being made, “Due to recent changes in the exchange rates and market conditions for Flat Rolled products…” The company […]
In the United States approximately 60 percent of the steel produced is through electric arc furnaces (EAF) used by so-called “mini-mills.” Electric arc furnaces use primarily scrap along with pig iron or DRI (direct reduced iron) to charge the furnaces. All of the long products (rebar, bar, angles, beams) are produced through EAF technology and […]
In spite of new price increase announcements being made by the domestic mills just prior to Christmas, the flat rolled pricing cycle flattened out during the month of December with essentially no movement on all four of our product groups: hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized and Galvalume steels. Hot rolled and cold rolled prices went […]
For the week ending January 4, 2014, the American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) reported that the U.S. steel industry produced 1,822,000 net tons of raw steel, a 2.8 percent increase over the previous week and a 0.6 percent increase over the same week one year ago. The estimated capacity utilization rate is 76.1 percent, […]
The U.S. Department of Commerce recently released revised import statistics for the month of November and December. Total preliminary imports for November are 2,584,176 net tons (NT), down 16.7 percent compared to October import figures. November imports are below both the 3 month-moving-average (3MMA) and 12 month-moving-average (12MMA) calculated through October. December imports, based on […]
Platts took all of their flat rolled sheet indices higher this past week and they now reference benchmark hot rolled at $685 per ton – $15 per ton higher than Steel Market Update and $17 per ton higher than CRU. With the New Year Holiday sandwiched in the middle of this past week SMU did […]
The American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) reported their final raw steel production numbers for the month of November 2013. 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 […]
According to Baker Hughes data from January 3rd, 2014, the U.S rig count for this week is 1,751 rigs exploring for or developing oil or natural gas. This count is a decrease of 6 rigs when compared to last week, with oil rigs down 4 to 1,378 rigs, gas rigs down 2 to 372 rigs, […]
Based on our channel checks over the Holidays we found little to no movement in flat rolled steel prices as buyers sat on the sidelines (or were on vacation) waiting for the New Year to begin. Steel Market Update published our latest prices on Tuesday afternoon in our website. Here is how we are seeing […]
For the week ending December 28, 2013, the American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) reported that the U.S. steel industry produced 1,773,000 net tons of raw steel. This is a decrease in production in comparison to the first week of December when raw steel production was 1,829,000 NT (the highest production rate for the month). […]
Australian ports Port Hedland, Dampier and Cape Lambert resumed operations on Wednesday after Cyclone Christine tore through the area. The cyclone shut down operations and shipments but caused only minor infrastructure damage. BHP Billiton, Fortescue Metals Group and Rio Tinto reported all mines back in operation with no injuries to personnel. Only minor damage has […]
For the week ending December 28, 2013, the American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) reported that the U.S. steel industry produced 1,773,000 net tons of raw steel, a 2.3 percent increase over the previous week but a 0.7 percent decrease over the same week one year ago. The estimated capacity utilization rate is 74.0 percent, […]
Flat rolled steel prices remained range bound over the past few days due to the Holidays and most buyers being out of the office. At the same time, U.S. Steel, NLMK USA, Nucor and ArcelorMittal USA have all come out with new base price guidance for new orders. The expectation from most buyers is for […]
According to the most recent U.S. Department of Commerce import license data, Chinese exports of cold rolled into the United States are beginning to surge. Based on license data through the 24th of December, cold rolled imports from China totaled 76,419 net tons of the 159,416 net tons requesting licenses. Since October 2012 the previous […]
On Monday, December 23, 2013 Nucor Sheet Mill Group advised their flat rolled customers that “due to higher raw material prices, the Nucor Sheet Mill Group will increase base pricing to the following levels, effective immediately:” Hot Rolled = $35.00/cwt ($700 net ton) Cold Rolled = $40.50/cwt ($810 per ton) Galvanized = $40.50/cwt ($810 per […]