One of our service center contacts told Steel Market Update recently, “The ending of indexed pricing for many is just around the corner which is a major positive but hearing little of this from SMU. [The] mills still trying to make something – they cannot continue to withstand the losses they have incurred. In fact, […]
For the week ending September 21, 2013, the American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) reported that the U.S. steel industry produced 1,877,000 net tons of raw steel, a 1.8 percent increase over the previous week and a 7.2 increase over the same week one year ago. The estimated capacity utilization rate is 78.3 percent, up […]
According to Baker Hughes data from September 20th, 2013, the U.S rig count for this week is 1,761 rigs exploring for or developing oil or natural gas. This count is a decrease of 7 rigs when compared to last week, with oil rigs up 8 to 1,369 rigs, gas rigs down 15 to 386 rigs, […]
Ocean Freight Ocean freight rates, as reported by the Baltic Exchange, have rebounded strongly in the last few months driven mainly by the cape-size component. The composite Baltic Dry Index has risen by 152 percent from its 2013 low point in February an increase from 737 to 1860 (Figure 1). The Capesize component has risen […]
Prices this week are slightly lower over what we saw last week. For all of the companies below, prices fell or remained steady for all four products followed. We saw slight movement from $10 per ton lower or no change at all. Benchmark hot rolled prices range from $635 to $645 per ton (average $640.50 […]
We noticed a little slippage in flat rolled steel prices over the past week. As one steel executive put it to SMU this afternoon, “Prices are in retreat – only at a snail’s pace.” One of our manufacturing sources told us that they had seen prices slip over the past two weeks, “We have seen […]
Both these data points are reported in the Federal Reserve G17 data base. The IP index (industrial production) was reported as 99.36 for August, up from 98.96 in July. This was an increase of 0.4 percent and moved the 3MMA up by 0.17 percent. Growth of the 3MMA was 2.0 percent year over year reversing […]
Other metallic coated (mainly Galvalume) imports July 2013 and YTD by source and port of entry. This is the fourth of an expanded series of analyses, exclusive to the Steel Market Update that is designed to provide a much more comprehensive view of actual flat rolled steel volume by product. This will enable a steel […]
For the week ending September 14, 2013, the American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) reported that the U.S. steel industry produced 1,843,000 net tons of raw steel, a 1.5 percent decrease over the previous week but a 5.3 increase over the same week one year ago. The estimated capacity utilization rate is 76.9 percent, down […]
None of the indexes watched by Steel Market Update (SMU) on a regular basis saw flat rolled steel prices rising this past week. We saw very modest movement lower ($1-$5 per ton) or no change. Benchmark hot rolled prices range from $645 to $652.50 per ton (average $648.90 per ton). We have discussed this issue […]
Hot dipped galvanized imports July and YTD 2013 by source and port of entry: This is one of an expanded series of analyses, exclusive to the Steel Market Update that is designed to provide a much more comprehensive view of actual volume by product. This will enable a steel buyer or manager to see exactly […]
The U.S. International Trade Commission determined on September 12 to continue trade restraints on welded large diameter pipe from Japan following a second five-year sunset review. The dumping margin is set at 30.80 pct. It was determined that revoking the existing antidumping duty order “would be likely to lead to continuation or recurrence of material […]
According to Baker Hughes data from September 13th, 2013, the U.S rig count for this week is 1,768 rigs exploring for or developing oil or natural gas. This count is an increase of 1 rig when compared to last week, with oil rigs down 4 to 1,361 rigs, gas rigs up 7 to 401 rigs, […]
This is one of an expanded series of analyses, exclusive to Steel Market Update that is designed to provide a much more comprehensive view of actual flat rolled steel imports by product, volume, port of arrival and country of origin. This series of reports includes hot rolled, cold rolled, hot dipped galvanized (HDG) and other […]
Freight rates on seabourne vessels have escalated according to this week’s data in the MID-SHIP Report. Prices have been volatile over the past few months and are expected to continue to rise in the fourth quarter. Oversupply of vessels continues to be a problem but economic improvement in the EU, America and China, and […]
For the week ending September 7, 2013, the American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) reported that the U.S. steel industry produced 1,872,000 net tons of raw steel, a 0.9 percent increase over the previous week and a 6.9 increase over the same week one year ago. The estimated capacity utilization rate is 78.1 percent, up […]
Prepainted flat rolled imports moderately increased in July over June for all products with the exception of prepainted cold-rolled sheet and strip. Compared to the same month one year ago, this month’s prepainted imports slightly decreased for all products with the exception of prepainted electro-galvanized sheet and strip. As you can see by our […]
Hot rolled sheet imports July 2013 and YTD by source and port of entry: This is one of an expanded series of analyses, exclusive to the Steel Market Update that is designed to provide a much more comprehensive view of actual volume by product. This will enable a steel buyer or manager to see exactly […]
It has been an eerily quiet week. A number of mills have been in meetings and the MSCI is holding their forecasting summit in the Chicago area on Monday and Tuesday of this week. We did capture a few interesting numbers (such as HR at $610) but not in enough volume to warrant making any […]
Based on a number of conversations Steel Market Update (SMU) has had with service centers over the past couple of working days, there appears to be concern that the domestic steel mills are actively looking to take end user contract business away from the distributors. While it is still early in the negotiation process SMU […]
Apparent steel 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 (3MMA) of the total tonnage of flat rolled steel sheet and strip supply was 4,305,106 tons per month in the period May through […]
Year to date through July, net imports of steel sheet products have been steadily declining as those of long products have been steadily increasing, (Figures 1 and 2). Net imports are defined as imports minus exports and at times can be negative for individual products when exports exceed imports. In the case of flat rolled […]
American Institute for International Steel Press Release Falls Church, VA, September 9, 2013 – Steel exports increased in July by 2.2 percent over June according to government reporting. “NAFTA steel demand improved in July compared to June by 6 percent, offsetting declines in other smaller international markets. NAFTA market’s increase reflects the timing of the […]
Earlier this year a number of mills announced that they would no longer accept CRU minus based steel contracts. Since at the time most flat rolled steel contracts were negotiated to go through the end of the calendar year we did not see how the mills were going to approach the subject until just recently. […]
Apparent steel supply for July was up slightly compared to the same month one year ago by 1.53 percent. This is due to a 4.60 percent increase in domestic shipments, which was offset by a decrease in both total steel imports and finished steel imports, down 9.24 percent and 9.92 percent respectively. The net trade […]
Based on the most recent compiled license data from the U.S. Department of Commerce, total steel imports are poised to rise by 6.8 percent in August compared to the prior month. August imports are forecast to be 2,691,265 net tons which are above both the 3 month and 12 month moving averages. August imports are […]
The American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) reported estimated raw steel production at 1,871,000 net tons for the week ending July 27, 2013. With outages and maintenance issues, production declined through August to a high of 1,888,000 net tons of raw steel in the week ending August 3, and dropping down to 1,856,000 net tons […]
Picking up where we left off at the end of July – during the month of August we saw relatively modest movement in flat rolled pricing out of the various indices we track on a regular basis. SMU is the only index showing some erosion in the benchmark hot rolled and cold rolled indices. The […]
As we entered the month of August we found flat rolled steel prices trending higher. Prices began rising 10 weeks earlier (late May) after U.S. Steel announced the first of three rounds of price increases. On May 21st the Steel Market Update (SMU) hot rolled coil average price was $565 per ton ($28.25/cwt) and by […]
For the week ending August 31, 2013, the American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) reported that the U.S. steel industry produced 1,856,000 net tons of raw steel, a 0.3 percent decrease over the previous week and a 2.2 decrease over the same week one year ago. The estimated capacity utilization rate is 77.5 percent, down […]