Prices for all steel products saw further declines this week as price momentum continues to point firmly downward. The benchmark hot rolled price set a new low for the year, below the $520 per ton level reached in June. Here is how we see prices this week: Hot Rolled Coil: SMU price range is $480-$550 […]
Raw steel production by U.S. mills has been stuck in the high 70 percent range for the past seven weeks. The last time the utilization rate was above the desired mark of 80 percent was the week ending Aug. 24. Production for the most recent week ending Oct. 5 totaled 1,804,000 net tons at a […]
U.S. raw steel production in August fell 0.3 percent to 8,152,796 net tons, reports the American Iron and Steel Institute in Washington. August production is in line with the 2019 average of 8,147,242 tons and down 1.1 percent compared to the same month last year. Broken down by production method, 5,752,849 tons (70.6 percent) were […]
More than 80 percent of the steel buyers polled by Steel Market Update in the last 10 days believe steel prices will test the lows reached earlier this year. SMU’s current average hot rolled price is $525 a ton, just $5 above the $520 low hit in late June. Pointing to sketchy demand, some believe […]
Questions about demand, tariffs, trade wars and the overall health of the economy continue to put downward pressure on steel prices. Here is how we see prices this week: Hot Rolled Coil: SMU price range is $500-$550 per ton ($25.00-$27.50/cwt) with an average of $525 per ton ($26.25/cwt) FOB mill, east of the Rockies. The […]
With three quarters of 2019 nearly complete, U.S. steel mills have managed to keep capacity utilization above the industry’s target of 80 percent, producing 3.4 percent more steel than they did in the first three quarters of 2018, reported the American Iron and Steel Institute. Through the week ending Sept. 28, domestic steelmakers produced 72,593,000 net […]
Raw materials prices were erratic in September with four of the five considered here experiencing price reversals since August. Table 1 summarizes the price changes through Sept. 25 of the five materials considered in this analysis. It reports the month / month, 3 months / 3 months and 12 months / 12 months changes on […]
By CRU Principal Analyst Josh Spoores U.S. plate prices have fallen to a new cycle low and threaten to move lower. Prices here were assessed at $687 /s.ton, a $16 /s.ton fall w/w. This is now the lowest price recorded since early 2018. Price momentum of the plate market has taken a negative turn for […]
With about a week left in the month, U.S. steel imports in September are trending to total about 2 million tons, based on Steel Market Update’s projection of Commerce Department license data. Total imports in both August and September are significantly below average, primarily because of the surge in semifinished imports in July. Slab imports, […]
We saw further weakening in pricing this week, based on the active flat rolled and plate steel market trends questionnaire which began on Monday. We did see evidence of pressure on prices from a number of different areas. From the service centers, we saw reports of hot rolled at $500 per ton. However, we do […]
Steelmakers had a good run, keeping their mills running at 80 percent capacity or better for 30 weeks this year. But the market has shifted and the trend has reversed. Raw steel production by U.S. mills saw another small decline last week, taking the industry’s average capability utilization rate down to 77.7 percent. Mill utilization […]
Total U.S. raw steel production in the month of July rose 2.4 percent to 8,178,563 net tons, reports the American Iron and Steel Institute in Washington. August production is right in line with the 2019 average of 8,146,449 tons and is up 0.5 percent compared to the same month last year. Broken down by production […]
July apparent steel supply was calculated at 9,351,701 net tons, according to data recently released by the American Iron and Steel Institute and U.S. Department of Commerce. Apparent steel supply, a proxy for demand, is determined by adding domestic steel shipments and finished U.S. steel imports, then subtracting total U.S. steel exports. July apparent steel […]
By CRU Analyst Jordan Permain The mismatch between seaborne coal supply and demand deepened during the week, causing CRU to assess the Premium HCC $17 /t lower w/w at $128 /t, FOB Australia. Demand for seaborne coal in China, India and Europe was weak in the past week. The macroeconomic environment in India continues to […]
Domestic steelmakers managed to reverse the year’s long downtrend in steel prices for a few weeks in July and August, but the turnaround was short-lived. As of mid-September, Steel Market Update’s Price Momentum Indicator is pointing firmly lower for hot rolled, cold rolled and coated steel prices, as well as for steel plate, as the […]
Steel Market Update thought it might be interesting to review steel prices over the past 11 years, or since we began producing our own steel indices. As you can see by the graphic below, there have been three strong downward cycles over the past 11 years. The first was in 2011, the second began in […]
U.S. steel imports were trending considerably below average though mid-September at less than 2 million tons, based on Commerce Department license data. Imports of semi-finished steel, tracking at just over 360,000 tons, are a bit more than half the normal level, as the mills are still working off the nearly 1.2 million tons of slabs […]
By CRU Senior Analyst Helen O’Cleary August ended on a bearish note as weak economic data from the USA signaled that the U.S. economy had slipped into contraction territory and European manufacturing data confirmed ongoing contraction. These data, coupled with ongoing rmb weakness, heightened concerns over metal demand going forward and helped push zinc’s price to […]
Demand for sheet products is declining due to the weakness in manufacturing. Construction expenditures are showing signs of softening and will reduce the demand for long products through the balance of 2019. This analysis by Steel Market Update is based on steel mill shipment data from the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) and import/export […]
Flat rolled and plate steel prices have definitely reversed course and are moving lower, based on the results of our market analysis this week. We found the number of steel buyers actually buying steel to be limited. Sentiment has become negative and price momentum has shifted to Lower on all products as demand is now […]
Raw steel production by domestic steelmakers declined for the third week in a row, taking the industry’s average capability utilization rate down by another full percentage point to 77.8 percent. The last time the utilization rate was above 80 percent was the week of Aug. 24. Mill production has dipped by nearly 3 percentage points […]
“If you want to be successful in this business you need to understand the market you serve,” said Cleveland-Cliffs CEO Lourenco Goncalves at the Credit Suisse Basic Materials Conference on Tuesday. Goncalves appears to know what he is doing, having transformed Cleveland-Cliffs from a failing enterprise into a solid business with a unique market position. […]
Total rolled product imports in August were down by 11.8 percent on a three-month moving average (3MMA) basis year over year. This follows the 15.3 percent decline in July on the same basis. This early look at August’s import volume is based on Commerce Department license data (see explanation below.) This import analysis includes all […]
This analysis breaks down the imported tonnage of six flat rolled products into the district of entry and the source nation. We believe that misinformation (or lack of) about local import volumes is often used to influence purchase decisions. Our intent with this analysis is to describe in detail what is going on in a […]
Steel price momentum has shifted Lower for hot rolled steel. With scrap prices down in September, the market may have passed a tipping point. Here is how we see prices this week: Hot Rolled Coil: SMU price range is $550-$600 per ton ($27.50-$30.00/cwt) with an average of $575 per ton ($28.75/cwt) FOB mill, east […]
Raw steel production by domestic steelmakers dipped for the second week in a row, taking the industry’s average capacity utilization rate down to 78.8 percent–the lowest level since the week of Aug. 4, 2018. Production for the week ending Sept. 7 totaled 1,835,000 net tons, down 0.8 percent from the previous week and down 1.7 […]
By CRU Senior Analyst Erik Hedborg Part two of our three-part series: What’s next for U.S. iron ore production? After a remarkably profitable 2018, the U.S. steel industry has suffered a setback in 2019 as steel prices have dropped sharply on weaker than expected demand. Steel margins have turned negative and production cuts have been […]
U.S. steel imports are trending well below average in September, based on Commerce Department license data. Extrapolating the current rate of import licenses out through the end of the month shows total imports on track to hit about 1.8 million tons–significantly below the 2.4 million ton average for the past three months and the 2.6 […]
The U.S. exported 620,598 tons of flat rolled steel in July, according to final Census data, a 4 percent rise from June, but down 5 percent from the same month one year ago. July exports were in line with the 2019 average of 611,019 tons, but down significantly compared to recent years. It was this […]
On Friday, Sept. 6, USS-POSCO Industries advised customers: “USS-POSCO Industries (UPI) has revised the published Galvanized coating extras. The new extras will apply on all new orders effective immediately. The new price book for the extras can be found on the attachment as well as on our website. Please contact your UPI Sales Representative with […]