In early June, the price of zinc had nosed down to about $1.10 per pound, raising hopes among buyers of galvanized steel that the mills might consider rolling back their coating extras–the extras mills charge when applying zinc to cold rolled or hot rolled substrate to produce galvanized products. Those hopes were short-lived as the […]
Global steel production in May was 143,325,000 metric tons, up from 142,060,000 tons in April. Capacity utilization was 71.8 percent in May. The three-month moving averages (3MMA) that we prefer to use were 142,957,000 and 72.4 percent, respectively. Capacity is 2.35 billion metric tons per year. Figure 1 shows monthly production and capacity utilization since […]
We are seeing a strengthening in the resolve of the steel mills as most (but not all) steel buyers were reporting an attempt to take numbers up or to restrict orders by having mills move to an “inquire only” position. Even so, we continued to get some pricing at the lower end of our range […]
The U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) released Preliminary Census Data on May indicating foreign steel imports totaled 3.6 million net tons. They also released license data for June and we are seeing the trend indicating the month will be close to 3.8 million net tons (license data through the 27th of June). The numbers for […]
Domestic raw steel production declined slightly last week, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute in Washington. In the week ending June 24, raw steel production totaled 1,729,000 net tons, down 0.6 percent from the previous week and down 1.5 percent from the same week last year. Adjusted year-to-date production through totaled 43,353,000 net […]
Flat rolled steel prices had another mixed week of results based on our analysis of the steel indexes reporting last week. Hot rolled prices were up slightly on both the Steel Market Update (SMU) index as well as Platts. SMU saw the market as averaging $600 per ton, while Platts had it at $605 per […]
“Countries like China are clearly at fault for the decline of the North American aluminum industry,” said M. Robert Weidner, III, president and CEO of the Metals Service Center Institute, in written testimony to the Commerce Department on June 23. “China’s share of the world primary aluminum market rose from 10 percent in 2000 to […]
The Department of Commerce hearing Thursday on the proposed Section 232 for aluminum revealed the same big rift between supporters and opponents as in the steel industry. And for many of the same reasons, notably the effect on prices for downstream manufacturers and consumers and possible retaliation by global trading partners. Commenting on the proceedings, […]
The U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) released foreign steel license data on Tuesday of this week. The trend, based on the first 20 days of this month, is for June imports to be at record highs for the year. Total steel imports are trending toward 3.7-3.9 million tons which would be the highest level since […]
We are continuing our investigation to quantify the players in the global trade of both HRC and CRC. We now have data through Q1 2017. This information is sourced quarterly from the Iron and Steel Statistics Bureau in the UK. Data is not very current because many countries are slow in reporting, but we feel […]
We saw mixed results this week as hot rolled prices rose a very modest $5, cold rolled was down $15, galvanized was up $10 and Galvalume remained the same even as the lower end dropped $10 per ton and the upper end rose $10 per ton. Definitely a mixed week as the market tries to […]
Domestic raw steel production inched up in the past week and remains ahead of last year’s pace, reports the American Iron and Steel Institute in Washington. In the week ending June 17, domestic raw steel production totaled 1,739,000 net tons, up 1.2 percent from the previous week, but down 0.9 percent from the same week […]
On Friday, June 16th USS/POSCO Industries (UPI) in Pittsburgh, California increased flat rolled steel prices by $50 per ton ($2.50/cwt). The steel price increases were to be in effect “immediately.” Prices were raised on all products produced at UPI. This includes hot rolled pickled & oiled (HRPO), cold rolled (CR) and galvanized steels. In a […]
Two of the three steel indexes followed by Steel Market Update saw flat rolled prices as rising last week and steel plate prices sideways or down. The third index, SteelBenchmarker only produces their average steel prices twice per month and they saw the market as being lower on all products last week. Hot rolled averages […]
On Friday, June 16th SSAB Americas became the third U.S. plate-producing steel mill to announce a $30 per ton ($1.50/cwt) plate price increase. As with the announcements made by Nucor and ArcelorMittal earlier in the week SSAB made the increase effective immediately on transaction (spot) pricing. The SSAB increase applies to: as rolled mill plate, […]
This afternoon ArcelorMittal USA matched a previous mill plate price announcement taking plate price up by $30 per ton. In a emailed letter to their customers ArcelorMittal advised transaction pricing will be increasing by a minimum of $30 per ton. The increase applies to all non-contractual carbon, HSLA, alloy, heat-treated, and specialty plate products. SMU […]
“I bet the next increase happens later this week or at the latest next Monday,” one mill executive told Steel Market Update (SMU) earlier this week. Soon, we were hearing similar comments about new flat rolled steel prices coming from others (non-mill) in the industry. As you all are well aware by now, the U.S. […]
The steel industry has a way of surprising those who use its products. This may be especially true this year as it appears the industry is about to enter a phase not seen in decades. It is mid-June 2017 and the domestic flat rolled steel mills are raising steel prices as the U.S. Department of […]
Uttam Galva North America, Inc. (UGNA), a supplier of cold rolled and galvanized steels, tells SMU it has temporarily suspended taking new orders in the United States for its mill in India in reaction to the Section 232 investigation. “For the last few weeks, we have stayed on the sidelines while 232 is being analyzed […]
The U.S. Department of Commerce reported foreign steel import data earlier this week. Based on license data through June 13, foreign steel imports are on track to once again top 3 million net tons. This would be the fourth consecutive month of imports reaching the 3 million ton mark. Steel Market Update (SMU) looks at […]
Cliffs Natural Resources announced today that it has selected Toledo, Ohio, to be the site of its first hot briquetted iron production plant. Midrex Technologies will design, engineer and procure equipment for the new plant, which will produce at least 1.6 million tons of HBI per year. The project is expected to cost approximately $700 […]
Mesabi Metallics, the former Essar Steel Minnesota, emerged from 11 months of bankruptcy on Tuesday with a new owner, Chippewa Capital Partners. Chippewa Capital is a joint venture of London-based GFG Alliance and billionaire Tom Clarke. Clarke is also the owner of Magnetation and hopes to use the taconite ore from both facilities to produce […]
April 2017 steel exports totaled 857,582 net tons (777,986 metric tons), down 9.6 percent over March, but up 7.9 percent from April 2016. Last month, we saw the highest export level since November 2014. The total April export figure is below the three-month moving average (average of February 2017, March 2017 and April 2017), but […]
Apparent steel supply for the month of April totaled 9,132,068 net tons, according to the latest data released from the U.S. Department of Commerce and the American Iron and Steel Institute. Apparent steel supply is calculated by adding domestic steel shipments and finished U.S. steel imports, then subtracting total U.S. steel exports. While down over […]
Flat rolled steel prices moved higher this week as the effects of last week’s price increase announcements begun to take place. Prices on all but plate moved up by $15 to $20 per ton. As one mill pointed out to SMU earlier today many of the orders that are being placed this week are smaller […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) has been in contact with dozens of steel buyers and executives over the past 24 hours discussing the status of the flat rolled price increases, steel mill lead times and other items of interest to the steel community. Most steel buyers reported the flat rolled price increases as being in effect […]
Anxiety reigns supreme in the flat rolled steel industry as both buyers and sellers grapple with the unknowns brought on by the Section 232 investigation. One area of concern is how service centers are handling spot sales to their end user customers. In the flat rolled steel market trends analysis we performed last week, we […]
U.S. raw steel production totaled 1,718,000 net tons for the week ending June 10, a decline of 2.1 percent from the same period last year, and down 1.8 percent from the previous week. The mill capacity utilization rate was 73.7 percent, down from 75.0 percent a week ago, estimates the American Iron & Steel Institute […]
We believe that misinformation (or a lack of) about regional import volumes is often used to influence purchase decisions. Our intent with this analysis of tonnage by district of entry is to describe in detail what is going on in a company’s immediate neighborhood and thus provide a negotiating advantage for our premium subscribers. We […]
The final license data for May was reported by the Steel Import Monitoring and Analysis system of the U.S. Commerce Department on June 6. An explanation of the methodology that SMU uses to analyze the trade data is given at the end of this piece. All volumes in this analysis are reported in short tons. […]