On Monday, January 23rd, AK Steel announced a price increase on all flat rolled steel products of $40 per ton ($2.00/cwt). The price increase is for “spot” orders only and is “effective immediately” according to the press release issued by the company. This is the first price announcement so far during the 2013 calendar year. […]
Steel Market Update was founded because I felt the quality of information (as well as the sourcing of information) was not up to the standards I felt necessary when I was selling steel. I can remember contacting one of the periodicals and asking them why they were referencing prices in a certain way when the […]
Written by: Sandy Williams ArcelorMittal Lázaro Cárdenas, Mexico recently launched production of specialized slabs for use in pipelines that transport sour gas. Lázaro Cárdenas is known as a leading producer of high quality, value added steel. In order to increase its share of the growing market for API (American Petroleum Institute) pipes, best technological practices […]
According to Baker Hughes data from January 18th, 2013, the U.S rig count for this week is 1,749 rigs exploring for or developing oil or natural gas. This number represents a decrease of 12 rigs from last week. Compared to last year the 1,749 count is a decrease of 259 rigs. Canadian rigs increased by […]
November apparent steel supply grew by 8 percent year-over-year to 8,468,720 tons. Imports were up by 28 percent (semi-finished being a major piece up 41.57 percent) while exports shrunk by almost 19 percent to just under 1,000,000 tons (998,040 tons). The United States increased its imbalance as a net importer (YOY) has grown apparent steel […]
Written by: Sandy Williams Creditors of bankrupt RG Steel are seeking court permission to sue Renco Group founder and billionaire Ira Rennert for deliberately delaying the bankruptcy filing of RG Steel in order to protect his own financial interests. RG Steel and its affiliates are 75 percent-owned by Renco, with the remaining equity owned by […]
Written by: Sandy Williams Steel Market Update is a member of an association connected to the construction industry called HARDI. HARDI stands for Heating, Air-conditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International. HARDI and The Institute for Trend Research (ITR), an economic forecasting company, work together to gather economic data to provide a forecast to the HARDI members […]
This week, the SMU Fair Value HRC (hot rolled coil) Model has spot HRC pricing below Fair Value for the first time in nine weeks. This is due to the SMU average spot HRC index decreasing $5 per ton to $620 per ton and scrap inputs remaining the same over last week’s figures. The Fair […]
Based on the weighted results from our most recent steel survey which was conducted this past week, SMU found lead times slipping slightly on all flat rolled products followed by our company. Benchmark hot rolled average lead times declined to 3.38 weeks and are much shorter than the 4.76 weeks measured by the SMU survey […]
Benchmark hot rolled coil (HRC) declined across each of the indexes watched by Steel Market Update, as did each of the other flat rolled products. Steel Orbis took their numbers down the most after sitting at $620 on HRC and $720 on CRC for 9 weeks. SteelBenchmarker, which produces their numbers twice per month, and […]
On Tuesday, January 15th, Steel Market Update (SMU) began our second steel survey of the New Year. Our surveys are focused on the flat rolled steel market and are conducted by inviting slightly less than 700 companies who are asked to participate by invitation. Of those participating in last week’s survey 48 percent of the […]
Three mills are out this week attempting to dump steel quickly in the marketplace at $560-$580 per ton. The lead mill is known to do this just prior to announcing a price increase. SMU is being told the mills are asking for large block tons of hot rolled in order to book at these levels. […]
Written by: Sandy Williams Housing starts rose at the fastest pace since 2008, showing continued recovery in the housing market. The Commerce Department said housing starts were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 954,000, up 12.1 percent from the revised November estimate and up 36.9 percent from the December rate in 2011. Starts of […]
Written by: Sandy Williams At least eight new steel plants are under construction in Asia (not including India) that will increase the annual output capacity of steel in Asia by 100 million tonnes within the next few years. Currently China accounts for nearly 50 percent of global steel demand with its own annual output capacity […]
Written by: Sandy Williams Metal forming companies are expecting a spike in business conditions in the next three months according to survey data released Wednesday by the Precision Metalforming Association (PMA). Survey data shows 32 percent of participants are expecting conditions to get better in the next three months (up from 22 percent in December) […]
Written by: Brett Linton Utilizing a trailing average hot rolled coil (HRC) price, the SMU Price MoMo Index for flat rolled steel in the U.S. fell below zero percent this week for the first week after eight consecutive weeks of positive momentum readings. MoMo is based upon the current hot rolled coil price weighed against […]
Written by: Sophia Fain A. M. Castle & Co. announced restructuring plans to improve annual operating profit by $33 million once fully implemented in 2013. Changes to its metals business include an organizational restructuring, warehouse realignments and performance improvement programs. “This broad, performance-enhancing plan will enable us to better serve our customers by organizing our […]
Canadian steel service centers shipped a total of 338,600 tons (all products) during the month of December 2012 – this represents a decline of 19.3 percent compared to last year (not adjusted, 16 percent seasonally adjusted) when the Canadian distributors shipped 419,500 tons. At the end of December, Canadian distributors ended the month with 1,832,800 […]
Exports at lowest levels since February 2011
Written by: Andre Marshall, Crunchrisk LLC Financial Markets On the equities markets we hit a new 5 year high reaching 1485 on SP 500 today. In this current rally you might recall our target point for this move is 1488 and so we may be near a point for a little retracement. If this current move […]
U.S. distributors grew annual shipments by 1.81 percent (all products) according to Metal Service Center Institute data during calendar year 2012. Shipments totaled 41,447,900 tons. Flat rolled shipments also rose during 2012 totaling 26,378,900 tons which represents an improvement of 2.39 percent over the previous year. Plate shipments were up by 2 percent, while pipe […]
The Metal Service Center Institute (MSCI) released service center shipment and inventory data for the month of December on Wednesday of this week. For total steel products, shipments were down slightly to 136,900 tons per day compared to 140,800 tons per day last year. On a seasonally adjusted basis shipments were 4.6 percent lower than […]
SMU Steel Buyers Sentiment Index improved to +27 this week, this is 6 points better than the +21 measured during the first week of January and is almost back to the levels achieved during the middle of December (+28). However, current Sentiment is well below the +49 measured during the middle of January 2012 – […]
Our steel market survey continues with invitations out to approximately 689 companies. We will send a reminder to those who have not yet responded at approximately 8 AM ET on Wednesday morning. SMU will continue to collect responses until 3 PM ET on Thursday and will begin reporting our findings in Thursday evening’s issue of […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) has developed an exceptional basic steel training program covering the steel industry (flat and long products). Our two day workshop, which we call – Steel 101: Introduction to Steelmaking & Market Fundamentals – is meant to provide a comprehensive review of the way steel is made by the blast/BOF or electric […]
Written by: Sandy Williams Former RG Steel assets from both Sparrow Point and Warren are headed for the auction block. Sparrow Point assets are being offered by Hilco Industrial at an onsite auction January 23-24 and will include mobile, construction, material handling and support equipment along with spare parts and production lots. An online auction […]
Written by: Sandy Williams Construction employment is expected to rise in 2013 according to survey data presented by the Associated General Contractors of America in their construction industry outlook report for 2013. Of those firms surveyed in 30 states, 31 percent expect to add new staff this year while only 9 percent plan to make […]
Written by: Sandy Williams Conditions for New York manufacturers continue to decline at a modest pace according to the Empire State Manufacturing Survey for January 2013. The general business conditions index declined for the sixth consecutive month to -7.8 in January. New orders fell four points to -7.2 and the shipments index declined 15 points […]
Written by: Sandy Williams Iron ore prices are at a 15 month high but are unlikely to stay that way say analysts. Currently, 62% Fe ore is at $158 per tonne, soaring from November’s price of $116 and almost doubling from the low of $87 per tonne in September. Analysts say the increase is a […]