Steel prices simply continue to move higher—as do the anxiety levels of many service center and manufacturing executives. Hot rolled steel set yet another record this week, according to Steel Market Update’s check of the market, reaching an average of $1,270 per ton, topping the previous high mark set in 2008 by $200 per ton. […]
On April 21, Steel Market Update will conduct our first Galvanized Steel Hedging Workshop. This half-day workshop will be done through our virtual platform. The main instructor will be Spencer Johnson of StoneX, who will be accompanied by someone from the CME Group and from CRU, which generates the index used by the CME for […]
Last week, we conducted one of our flat rolled and plate steel market trends analyses. Or, to put it another way (that the search engines don’t like), we conducted one of our surveys that we do ever other week. We invited over 500+ market participants, most of whom are steel buyers in the manufacturing and […]
Availability from domestic sheet mills is getting worse again after briefly improving last month, according to some market participants. The trend follows winter storms taking out production at electric-arc furnace (EAF) producers in the southern U.S. in February and ahead of a raft of upcoming maintenance outages in the second and third quarter, sources said. […]
U.S. Steel plans to take a 25-day outage in May on the No. 1 blast furnace at its Mon Valley Works in western Pennsylvania, a company spokeswoman confirmed. The outage is part of the steelmaker’s normal maintenance program, she said. The maintenance is to apply shotcrete–a sprayed concrete–and other standard upkeep, sources said. Smaller outages are planned […]
Altos Hornos de México (AMSA) has resumed normal operations at its No. 5 blast furnace following a temporary outage last month, a company spokesman said. The No. 5 furnace had to stop for two days because of severe weather and a natural gas shortage. The Mexican flat-rolled steelmaker last month said that it had lost […]
The latest SMU Market Survey results are now available on our website to all Premium members. After logging in at SteelMarketUpdate.com, visit the Analysis tab and look under the “Survey Results” section for “Latest Survey Results.” The historical survey results presentations also are available in the Survey Results section for “Survey Results History.” If you […]
With negotiations still ongoing this week, it appears ferrous scrap prices will see a big jump in March, as was widely expected. Steel Market Update sources reported that scrap pricing announced in Detroit today was up $70 per ton on prime grades and up $50 per ton on obsoletes. Other regions of the country are […]
Registrations for the 2021 SMU Steel Summit Conference have topped 200 and counting. We continue to work toward having a live in-person conference in Atlanta on Aug. 23-25. We are heartened to hear President Biden speak to having enough vaccine to inoculate the entire U.S. population by the end of May. If true, that gives […]
Registrations for the 2021 SMU Steel Summit Conference have topped 200 and counting. We continue to work toward having a live in-person conference in Atlanta on Aug. 23-25. We are heartened to hear President Biden speak to having enough vaccine to inoculate the entire U.S. population by the end of May. If true, that gives […]
SSAB Americas raised some eyebrows in the steel market when it officially announced a “scrap collar” along with an $80-per-ton ($4/cwt) plate price increase earlier this week. The move, while not unheard of in the steel market, is not necessarily typical for standard spot market plate orders, some buyer sources said. An SSAB Americas spokeswoman […]
NLMK USA expects United Steelworkers (USW) union members at its steel mill in Farrell, Pa., to return to work on Monday, March 8, a company official said. The steelmaker plans to ramp up its hot mill in western Pennsylvania in March. April will see downstream facilities resume normal operating rates, NLMK USA Executive Vice President […]
John Packard founded Steel Market Update in 2008 after spending 31 years actively selling steel in the service center, steel mill and trading company segments of the industry. He is currently President & CEO of Steel Market Update which was sold to CRU in 2018. Steel Market Update is a leader in collection of market […]
Preston Pipe Partner Rick Preckel will be the speaker at Steel Market Update’s next Community Chat webinar. The webinar will be held tomorrow, Wednesday, March 3, at 11 a.m. ET and is free to those looking to learn more about the interplay between the steel and energy markets. Joining Rick will be SMU Senior Editor […]
Mark your calendars as Steel Market Update has a wide array of conferences and workshops scheduled through the month of August 2021. Here is what you can expect: March 30 & 31: Steel Hedging 101: Introduction to Managing Price Risk (virtual) At the end of this month, Spencer Johnson of StoneX, the CME Group and […]
United Steelworkers (USW) union members have voted to ratify a new labor contract with NLMK USA, ending a strike that began more than six months ago. There were 276 votes cast in favor of the new four-year contract and 103 against it, USW District 10 Staff Representative Todd Clary told Steel Market Update on Monday, March […]
U.S hot-rolled coil import volumes are at their highest level in at least two years–and import data for February is not yet complete. The U.S. is poised to import at least 162,357.3 metric tonnes of hot-rolled coil in February, according to import license data last updated by the Commerce Department on Wednesday, Feb. 24. That […]
JSW Steel USA resumed operations at its Baytown, Texas, plate and pipe mill on Feb. 25–earlier than expected, the company’s top executive said. And the steelmaker remains on track to begin melting at its electric-arc furnace (EAF) sheet mill in Mingo Junction, Ohio, in March, JSW Steel USA CEO Mark Bush told Steel Market Update. “We […]
“Life at Cleveland-Cliffs has been intense,” said CEO Lourenco Goncalves, referring to a pandemic-challenged year in 2020 and major changes to what just one year ago was an iron ore company. “Without question, 2020 was the most transformational year in our company’s 173-year history,” said Goncalves. “We completed two seminal acquisitions, AK Steel and ArcelorMittal […]
Nucor has increased plate prices by $70 per ton ($3.50/cwt) effective immediately. The steelmaker’s new ex-works base price for cut-to-length Grade A36 plate is now $1,090 per ton, up from $1,020 per ton a month ago. The new base price for quenched-and-tempered A514 Grade B is $1,340 per ton, up from $1,270 per ton in […]
Preston Pipe Partner Rick Preckel will be the speaker at Steel Market Update’s next Community Chat webinar. The webinar will be held on Wednesday, March 3, at 11 a.m. ET and is free to those looking to learn more about the interplay between the steel and energy markets. Joining Rick will be SMU Senior Editor […]
North Star BlueScope continues to be a strong segment for Australian steelmaker BlueScope Steel. North Star BlueScope shipped 1,024,700 metric tons of steel in the first half of fiscal year 2021 for revenue of U.S. $569 million, up slightly from $557 million in the second half of FY 2020. The U.S. division ran at full […]
The latest SMU Market Survey results are now available on our website to all Premium members. After logging in at SteelMarketUpdate.com, visit the Analysis tab and look under the “Survey Results” section for “Latest Survey Results.” The historical survey results presentations also are available in the Survey Results section for “Survey Results History.” If you […]
At least two major Mexican flat-rolled steel producers–Altos Hornos de México (AHMSA) and Ternium México–have cut production in response to power outages and natural gas shortages, according to mill communications. That development–along with transportation and production snarls at multiple flat-rolled mills in the southern United States–means the North American steel market might be short tens […]
Steel Buyers Sentiment, as measured by Steel Market Update, hit a very optimistic +70 this week, not far from the highest reading ever recorded at +78 in January 2018. Future Sentiment was nearly as bullish at +63, just 14 points below its historical peak of +77, also in early 2018. Both Current Sentiment and Future […]
Many buyers have been expecting lead times for deliveries of spot steel orders to begin shortening in response to added mill capacity and more import arrivals, but there’s no hint of such a change yet in Steel Market Update lead times data. In fact, SMU’s check of the market this week shows lead times for […]
It is my opinion the U.S. is entering a “super cycle” that will be good for the steel industry and could well keep steel prices above the historical $600-$650 per ton average on benchmark hot rolled coils. This does not mean prices won’t scale back once more supply comes into the market. I am of […]
Stelco management presented an optimistic outlook for the Canadian mill in 2021. Fourth-quarter revenue rose 79 percent from the third quarter to CAD $424 million on higher steel pricing and increased volume. Shipments rose 46 percent sequentially to 489,000 net tons. Shipments are expected to jump another 35 percent in the first quarter of 2021. Stelco […]
NLMK USA has reached a tentative agreement with the United Steelworkers at its operations in western Pennsylvania, according to both company and union leaders. If ratified, the pact would bring an end to a strike that began nearly six months ago. “We reached a tentative agreement today. … We are optimistic that today’s actions will […]
Black Swan Events One of the areas I cover when I am teaching my segment of our Steel 101 workshop is Black Swan Events and how they can impact the steel market – especially steel prices. Most of the United States appear to be having a Black Swan Event in the form of unusually cold […]