U.S. raw steel production for the week ending Feb. 10 totaled 1,737,000 net tons, a 1.9 percent decrease from the same period last year, and down 0.6 percent from the prior week. The mill capability utilization rate for the week averaged 74.5 percent, down from 75.0 percent the prior week, reports the American Iron and […]
The U.S. Department of Commerce released license data through the first 13 days of February that “suggests” foreign steel imports could be at the lowest levels seens in many years. The trend is for imports to barely exceed 2 million net tons, almost one-third lower than the 3 million tons that were reported for January. […]
This analysis breaks down the imported tonnage of six flat rolled products into the district of entry and the source country. We believe that misinformation (or lack of) about regional import volumes are often used to influence purchase decisions. Our intent with this analysis is to describe in detail what is going on in a […]
Total rolled steel imports declined by 15 percent in the three months through January compared to the previous three-month period, August through October. Sheet product imports declined by 17.3 percent on the same basis, according to Steel Market Update’s analysis of U.S. Department of Commerce data released Feb. 6. The data is reported within the […]
Both manufacturing companies and flat rolled steel service centers reported near unanimous support for higher spot pricing. In the process, it is Steel Market Update’s opinion the higher flat rolled and plate spot prices provided by the distributors also support the most recent steel price increase announcements by the flat rolled steel mills. Last week, […]
According to at least one steel index, hot rolled prices surged higher this past week. Steel Market Update saw the markets as being higher with coated making the largest weekly move. When it came to benchmark hot rolled, Platts moved their pricing up by $28 per ton (actually $27.50 but we rounded to $28) as […]
The U.S. Department of Commerce released the final accounting for December 2017 imports, which came in at 2,450,286 net tons. For the calendar year, foreign steel imports rose by 15 percent compared to 2016. Total steel imports rose to 37,999,383 net tons. Steel Market Update is providing our readers with a detailed analysis of selected […]
Steel prices continued to head into “lofty” levels with hot rolled, the strongest product, moving up another $10 per ton this week. Cold rolled bucked the trend as its average remained the same as one week ago. Galvanized and Galvalume prices were also seen as higher this week. Plate prices were mixed with our average […]
U.S. raw steel production for the week ending Feb. 3 totaled 1,747,000 net tons, a 0.2 percent decrease from the same period last year, but up 1.6 percent from the prior week. The mill capability utilization rate for the week averaged 75.0 percent, down from 73.8 percent the prior week, reports the American Iron and […]
Hot rolled, cold rolled and plate prices increased last week, according to the steel indexes followed by Steel Market Update. Benchmark hot rolled prices, which recently passed through the $700 per ton barrier, reached $715 per ton on the SMU index and $718 per ton ($717.75) on Platts. SteelBenchmarker did not report prices last week […]
It is not enough to know a steel mill’s base price. When doing a comparison of galvanized transaction pricing, a steel buyer must understand the extras being added to the base price as well as freight and other considerations that could impact the total delivered cost to your facility. During our Steel 101 workshop we […]
The flat rolled and plate steel mills were busy this week announcing new rounds of price increases. Steel buyers who spoke with Steel Market Update today reported offer prices as being much higher than their most recent transaction pricing. For that reason, we have included a note about what was being reported as the latest […]
Of the four raw materials tracked by Steel Market Update, scrap and zinc prices advanced in January, iron ore took a small step back and coking coal declined by 10 percent. Each January, Bloomberg and U.S. Global Investors compile their Periodic Table of Commodity Returns. Figure 1 shows the returns of commodities each year of […]
Responding to strong demand in the New Year and the market’s apparent acceptance of higher price tags, the major mills have announced another round of price increases on plate and flat rolled products. For most mills, this is the fourth increase they’ve announced in the past three months. On Monday, Nucor’s Plate Mill Group announced […]
U.S. raw steel production for the week ending Jan. 27 totaled 1,719,000 net tons, a 1.0 percent decrease from the same period last year, but up 1.5 percent from the prior week. The mill capability utilization rate for the week averaged 73.8 percent, down from 72.6 percent the prior week, reports the American Iron and […]
Steel imports into the United States declined by 10 percent in December, compared with the prior month, to 2.45 million net tons, according to preliminary Census data. This followed an 11.4 percent slide from October to November. But despite the late-year declines, annual steel imports increased by more than 15 percent in 2017. The American […]
The Nucor Sheet Mill Group informed customers on Friday of this past week, that it is raising base prices on new orders by a minimum of $30 per ton on hot rolled, cold rolled and galvanized products. Nucor’s latest hike follows a $40 per ton increase the steelmaker announced on flat rolled spot prices early […]
Flat rolled steel prices and those of plate fluctuated in both directions this past week depending on the steel index viewed. Benchmark hot rolled prices were up across all three of the indexes followed by Steel Market Update. SMU was the highest at $705 per ton ($35.25/cwt) with Platts ($700) and SteelBenchmarker ($668) following close […]
The following article was written by George F. Will as an opinion piece in the Washington Post. It was originally published on Jan. 26, 2018. Like Horatius at the bridge, or the boy who stood on the burning deck whence all but he had fled, or the Dutch boy who saved the city by putting […]
The Nucor Sheet Mill Group informed customers today, Friday, that it is raising base prices on new orders by a minimum of $30 per ton on hot rolled, cold rolled and galvanized products. Nucor’s latest hike follows a $40 per ton increase the steelmaker announced on flat rolled spot prices early this month. On Thursday, […]
West Coast steel mills California Steel Industries (CSI) and USS-POSCO Industries (UPI) announced further flat roll price increases yesterday, Jan. 24. Today, ArcelorMittal USA began advising their flat rolled customers of a change in their minimum base price levels on hot rolled, cold rolled and coated steels. CSI told customers that due to changing market […]
January imports are trending higher than expected at 2.8 million net tons, similar to what was imported one year ago. This is a bit disappointing to many in the steel industry who were expecting total steel imports to drop as they did in November and December 2017. To get a more complete view, we look […]
Cleveland Cliffs reported another great quarter with net income of $318 million and sales of $601 million, compared to prior-year income of $81 million and sales of $754 million. For the full year, revenue totaled $2.3 billion with net income of $371 million. Adjusted EBITDA has increased for the past two years, 28 percent in […]
U.S. raw steel production for the week ending Jan. 20 totaled 1,693,000 net tons, a 2.5 percent decrease from the same period last year, and down 0.8 percent from the prior week. The mill capability utilization rate for the week averaged 72.6 percent, down from 73.2 percent the prior week, reports the American Iron and […]
The pile of unfinished paperwork on President Trump’s desk just got a little taller with Friday’s delivery of the Section 232 report on aluminum. It joins the Section 232 report on steel that hit the president’s desk on Jan. 11, starting the clock on a 90-day deadline for possible trade action. On Jan. 19, the […]
Flat rolled and plate steel prices moved higher last week, based on the steel indexes followed by Steel Market Update. Benchmark hot rolled is quickly approaching $700 per ton (average) with SMU having the highest pricing while Platts, which was at $695.75 on Friday morning, dropped to $694 ($693.50) when we checked again over the […]
The spot price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) broke through the $60 level on Dec. 29 for the first time since Dec. 18, 2014. It reached $64.22 on Jan. 12 before falling back to $63.82 on Jan. 16. The total number of operating rigs exploring for oil and gas increased by 15 in the week […]
Steel buyers recognize that flat rolled prices are moving higher and momentum is clearly on the side of the steel mills. Hot rolled price offers, which Steel Market Update identified earlier this week as being $650 to $710, have moved higher based on information gleaned from steel buyers today. The new spread is $680 to […]
U.S. raw steel production for the week ending Jan. 13 totaled 1,707,000 net tons, a 1.7 percent decrease from the same period last year, but up 3.5 percent from the prior week. The mill capability utilization rate for the week averaged 73.2 percent, up from 70.7 percent the prior week but down from 74.5 percent […]
The U.S. Department of Commerce released import license data earlier today, which indicates that January steel imports are trending slightly higher than December’s 2,475,249 tons. Right now, based on the first 16 days of data, January is trending toward a 2.5 million to 2.7 million net ton month. Semi-finished imports (slabs/billets), which are purchased by […]