On Wednesday of this week the U.S. Department of Commerce reported Preliminary Census data on imports of foreign steel for the month of June 2016. The data is initially released in metric tons which Steel Market Update has converted to net tons for our readers. Imports in June totaled 2.630,373 net tons which are down […]
Flat rolled steel prices remained essentially unchanged for yet another week. We did pick up a break in the $600 barrier on hot rolled steel. However, we were only able to tie that price level to one Canadian mill into the Chicago market. The other mills appear to be holding much closer to $610-$620 per […]
For the week ending July 23, 2016, the American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) estimated the U.S. steel industry produced 1,703,000 net tons of raw steel, a 2.5 percent decrease over the previous week and a 2.7 percent decrease over the same week one year ago. The estimated capacity utilization rate is 72.8 percent, down […]
Flat rolled steel prices slipped on both Platts and Steel Market Update this past week. Benchmark hot rolled slid $10 per ton on SMU and $10 per ton on Platts with our average now down $8 per ton for the week. SteelBenchmarker did not report steel prices this past week. Cold rolled prices remained stationary […]
Service centers support for higher spot prices has deteriorated over the past couple of months according to our latest survey results. Manufacturers reported distributors as backing away from raising spot prices on flat rolled products. This is a big change from what they were reporting just one month ago when 78 percent of the manufacturers […]
Production in the month of June at 135,720,000 metric tons was down by 2.7 percent from May and the three month moving average (3MMA) that we prefer as a measure was down by 0.2 percent year over year. Month over month the 3MMA was down by 0.6 percent. Capacity is 2.3 billion tonnes per year […]
Flat rolled steel prices have been “drifting” over the past few weeks. By that we mean there has been some minor adjustments to pricing on a weekly basis but nothing that would qualify as a trend in one direction or another. Steel buyers are trying to gauge the strength and direction of the breeze blowing […]
For the week ending July 15, 2016, the American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) estimated the U.S. steel industry produced 1,746,000 net tons of raw steel, a 2.0 percent increase over the previous week but a 0.2 percent decrease over the same week one year ago. The estimated capacity utilization rate is 74.7 percent, up […]
Essar Steel Minnesota has named a new CEO to take the company through it restructuring process. The company, which declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on July 8, has selected Matthew Stock to replace Mandhu Vuppuluri as CEO, effective immediately. Stock has 25 years of experience in the steel and metals mining business including leading efforts […]
Flat rolled prices had a relatively “ho hum” week as we saw very little movement in any of the indexes with the exception of SteelBenchmarker which only produces prices twice per month. Benchmark hot rolled prices ranged from a low (average) from our own index which came in at $620 per ton for a second […]
Steel traders have not been shy about pointing at Vietnam and Turkey as the leaders for cold rolled export pricing into the United States. Since the antidumping suits were filed against China in particular, first Vietnam and then Turkey have been quick to offer cold rolled into the United States and are building market share. […]
Chinese finished steel exports surged for monthly increase of 16 percent in June to 10.94 million tonnes and were 23 percent higher than a year-over-year. The June exports were among the highest monthly totals to date, exceeded only by the 11.25 million tonnes recorded in September 2015. Key Banc attributes the rise to the competitiveness […]
Flat rolled steel buyers reported steel prices as being essentially unchanged from this time last week. Here is how we see prices this week: Hot Rolled Coil: SMU Range is $600-$640 per ton ($30.00/cwt- $32.00/cwt) with an average of $620 per ton ($31.00/cwt) FOB mill, east of the Rockies. Both the lower and upper end […]
Steel buyers believe that we have reached the top of the flat rolled steel price cycle and that all of the risk is downside from here. Even so, most of the buyers with whom SMU spoke over the past couple of days are not believers in the idea that steel prices will collapse in the […]
For the week ending July 8, 2016, the American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) estimated the U.S. steel industry produced 1,712,000 net tons of raw steel, a 1.4 percent decrease over the previous week and a 2.2 percent decrease over the same week one year ago. The estimated capacity utilization rate is 73.2 percent, down […]
Essar Steel Minnesota entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Friday after the state of Minnesota revoked the company’s mining leases. Essar Steel Minnesota was given an extension to July 1 after missing a May 1 deadline to pay off its creditors and prove it could finance a plan to complete its promised taconite operation. Essar […]
Flat rolled steel prices continued to trade within a relatively narrow range this past week according to the steel indexes followed by Steel Market Update. Benchmark hot rolled coil was reported as being down $8 per ton by our own index while Platts has kept the product stable for yet another week. SMU HRC average […]
According to the latest data released from the U.S. Department of Commerce and the American Iron and Steel Institute, apparent steel supply for the month of May 2016 was 8,957,525 net tons. Apparent steel supply is calculated by adding domestic steel shipments and finished US steel imports, then subtracting total US steel exports. May apparent […]
The American Institute for International Steel reports that steel exports from the U.S. rose 1.1 percent from April to May, but are still lower than a year ago. The press release from AIIS follows: Falls Church, VA. July 8, 2016. Steel exports inched up in May, reaching 803,464 net tons. The May total was 1.1 percent higher […]
Galvanized steels continue to see strong bookings at the domestic steel mills with August sold out at all but SDI, The Techs and Wheeling Nisshin according to SMU sources. One of the domestic mills told Steel Market Update earlier this week that coated products were on “autopilot” as bookings remain strong and they were not […]
Licensed data for June was reported by the Steel Import Monitoring System of the US Commerce Department on July 5th. An explanation of the methodology that we at SMU use to analyze the trade data is given at the end of this piece. Total rolled product licensed imports in the single month of June were 2,169,434 […]
Licensed data for July was reported by the Steel Import Monitoring System of the US Commerce Department on August 2nd. An explanation of the methodology that we at SMU use to analyze the trade data is given at the end of this piece. Total rolled product licensed imports in the single month of July were […]
Flat rolled prices were relatively flat for yet another week as the 4th of July holiday kept buyers and sellers thinking of something other than buying and selling steel. Steel Market Update is picking up signs of slowing order books at a number of mills as the number of “inquire only” products begins to dwindle […]
For the week ending July 1, 2016, the American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) estimated the U.S. steel industry produced 1,737,000 net tons of raw steel, a 1.1 percent decrease over the previous week and a 1.2 percent decrease over the same week one year ago. The estimated capacity utilization rate is 74.3 percent, down […]
Flat rolled steel prices seem to have stabilized, even if there was some see-sawing among the indexes followed by Steel Market Update this past week. Benchmark hot rolled prices are hovering close to $630 per ton with SMU ($627.50 per ton), SteelBenchmarker ($627) and Platts ($630) all within $3 per ton of each other. Last […]
The flat rolled markets are trying to find where, and what direction, prices should be moving. After being down slightly last week, this week prices are up slightly. There is no clear-cut focus to the market at this moment. As one service center purchasing director put it to us this afternoon, “[Pricing] is all need […]
For the week ending June 25, 2016, the American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) estimated the U.S. steel industry produced 1,757,000 net tons of raw steel, a 0.4 percent increase over the previous week but a 0.2 percent decrease over the same week one year ago. The estimated capacity utilization rate is 75.1 percent, up […]
The American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) recently reported final U.S. raw steel production estimates for the month of May 2016. The monthly estimates are different than the weekly estimates we report in our Tuesday issues; the AISI bases the monthly estimates on over 75 percent of the domestic mills reporting vs. only 50 percent […]
Both Platts and Steel Market Update saw flat rolled steel prices as dropping this past week. The question now is this the beginning of a correction or just a bump in the road? From the perspective of ArcelorMittal USA and NLMK USA this is just a bump. If the drop in steel prices continue this […]
The following is the monthly report on exports by the American Institute for International Steel (AIIS): Falls Church, VA. June 24, 2016. Steel exports increased 2.5 percent from March to April, as both Mexico and Canada increased their purchases from the United States. The 794,537 net tons of exports were almost 6 percent lower than […]