May heating and cooling equipment shipments were up 10.0 percent in May compared to one year ago, according to data released by the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI) last Friday. This is the higest year-over-year increase since March 2017 when there was a 10.1 percent increase. Residential and commercial storage water heaters were up […]
The U.S. rig count, an indicator of oil country tubular goods demand, fell this week, according to June 28 data from oilfield services company Baker Hughes. The number of active U.S. drill rigs fell by 5 to 1,047 rigs, with oil rigs down 4 to 858 rigs, gas rigs down 1 to 187 rigs, and […]
On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Commerce reported preliminary steel import license data for May at 2,886,606 net tons, a decrease of 23 percent from the April high and a decrease of 17 percent compared to the same month last year. Updated June license data was also released; taking the daily license rate and spreading […]
Steel Market Update canvassed steel buyers over the past two days and found that flat rolled prices are mixed and plate prices are rising. Two of our flat rolled indices increased over the prior week, and two of them declined, while the plate index rose. Here is how we see prices this week: Hot Rolled […]
We are in the middle of a U.S. holiday week, and the Fourth of July on a Wednesday gave plenty of steel buyers and sellers an excuse for taking the week off, or at least an extended long weekend. Benchmark hot rolled prices were seen as being modestly lower based on the responses received from […]
On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Commerce reported foreign steel import license data for the first 19 days of June. The data is indicating to Steel Market Update a significant drop in imported foreign steel. Taking the daily license rate and spreading it across the 30 days of June, we see the month trending toward […]
The following calculation is used by Steel Market Update to identify the theoretical spread between foreign hot rolled steel import prices (delivered to USA ports) and domestic hot rolled coil prices (FOB Domestic mills). We want our readers to be aware that this is only a “theoretical” calculation as freight costs, trader margin and other […]
Earlier this week, the Department of Commerce reported license data for the month of June 2018. Based on licenses through June 12, the trend is for June foreign steel imports to come in around 2.1 million net tons. If the pace of actual receipts matches the pace of the licenses seen so far this month, […]
April apparent steel supply fell 1.1 percent over March to 9,829,298 net tons, according to the data released late last week. Although down this month, supply remains strong in comparison to the last three years or so. Apparent steel supply is calculated by adding domestic steel shipments and finished U.S. steel imports, then subtracting total […]
April heating and cooling equipment shipments were up 8.2 percent in April compared to one year ago, according to data released by the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI) last Friday. This is the higest year-over-year increase since October 2017 when there was an 8.6 percent increase. Residential and commercial storage water heaters were up […]
Final steel imports for the month of April were reported at 3,753,987 million net tons, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce data released yesterday. The last time import levels were this high was June 2017 with 3,923,126 tons. April imports are up 12.6 percent compared to the previous month, and up 12.0 percent compared […]
U.S. steel exports in April 2018 totaled 861,004 net tons (781,091 metric tons), down 0.9 percent from the month before, but up 0.4 percent from April 2017. Total exports have averaged around 835,000 tons over the last few months. The total April export figure is above the three-month moving average (average of February 2018, March […]
Flat rolled and plate prices had yet another mixed week, according to the latest comparison of leading price indices. Steel Market Update’s hot rolled average decreased by $10 to $890 per ton, while Platts’ hot rolled price rose $4 to $894 per ton. SteelBenchmarker adjusted their hot rolled price to $886 per ton, up $5 […]
The U.S. rig count, an indicator of oil country tubular goods demand, rose this week, according to June 1 data from oilfield services company Baker Hughes. The number of active U.S. drill rigs rose by 1 to 1,060 rigs, with oil rigs up 2 to 861 rigs, gas rigs down 1 to 197 rigs, and […]
The following calculation is used by Steel Market Update to identify the theoretical spread between foreign hot rolled steel import prices (delivered to USA ports) and domestic (USA) hot rolled coil prices (FOB Domestic mills). We want our readers to be aware that this is only a “theoretical” calculation as freight costs, trader margin and […]
The American Institute for International Steel, a trade group representing foreign steelmakers, said it is deeply disappointed the Trump administration has decided to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from the EU, Canada, and Mexico. “Make no mistake: restricting the raw material supply in the U.S. and imposing tariffs on imports from our closest […]
Based on the latest license data from the U.S. Department of Commerce reported earlier this week, we are expecting the trend for May steel imports to total approximatley 2.6 million net tons. That’s just over one million tons less than what was imported in April. We continue to see strength in coil and sheet plate […]
Steel Market Update adjusted its price momentum indicator from neutral to higher in late May. Across the month, hot rolled steel prices averaged $886 per ton (up $13 over April), while cold rolled was at $1,007 (up $1), galvanized at $1,100 (unchanged), Galvalume at $1,322 (up $6), and plate at $966 (down $8). The SMU […]
Last year, it took Steel Market Update until Aug. 1 to reach the number of registrations already booked for the 2018 SMU Steel Summit Conference. Today alone we received registrations from: Duferco, L&W Supply, A.B. Martin Roofing Supply, Ryerson, Lapham-Hickey Steel and Roll-Kraft. We are just a few people shy of 550 and on our […]
Last year, it took Steel Market Update until Aug. 1 to reach the number of registrations already booked for the 2018 SMU Steel Summit Conference. On Tuesday alone we received registrations from: Duferco, L&W Supply, A.B. Martin Roofing Supply, Ryerson, Lapham-Hickey Steel and Roll-Kraft. We are just a few people shy of 550 and on […]
Flat rolled and plate prices had yet another mixed week, according to the latest comparison of leading price indices. Steel Market Update’s hot rolled average increased by $20 to $900 per ton, while Platts’ hot rolled price was unchanged at $890 per ton. SMU’s cold rolled average fell $5 to $1,005 per ton, while Platts […]
Chinese steel trade data was recently released for the month of April 2018, providing updated data on iron ore imports, scrap imports and flat rolled imports and exports. Chinese imports of iron ore in April totaled 82,920,000 metric tons, a decrease of 3.3 percent from the previous month, but an increase of 0.8 percent from […]
The following calculation is used by Steel Market Update to identify the theoretical spread between foreign hot rolled steel import prices (delivered to USA ports) and domestic (USA) hot rolled coil prices (FOB Domestic mills). We want our readers to be aware that this is only a “theoretical” calculation as freight costs, trader margin and […]
March apparent steel supply rose 13.2 percent over February to 9,935,479 net tons, according to the latest data 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. This is the […]
Below is the latest data released by the the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI) regarding residential and commercial heating and cooling equipment shipments through March 2018. You may read the full press release on their website here. Residential Storage Water Heaters U.S. shipments of residential gas storage water heaters for March 2018 decreased 2.2 […]
U.S. steel exports in March totaled 868,854 net tons (788,212 metric tons), up 7.9 percent from the month before, but down 8.4 percent from March 2017. Total exports have averaged 800,000-820,000 tons over the last few months. The total March export figure is above the three-month moving average (average of January 2018, February 2018 and […]
The U.S. rig count, an indicator of oil country tubular goods demand, rose this week, according to May 4 data from oilfield services company Baker Hughes. The number of active U.S. drill rigs rose by 11 to 1,032 rigs, with oil rigs up 9 to 834 rigs, gas rigs up 1 to 196 rigs, and […]
Total raw steel production for the month of March was 8,084,427 net tons, the highest production level since October 2014 when 8,147,661 tons were produced. The production method breakdown was 5,578,866 tons produced by electric arc furnaces (EAFs) and 2,505,561 tons produced by blast furnaces. March raw steel production was 818,072 tons or 11.3 percent […]
Steel Market Update downshifted its price momentum indicator from higher to neutral in late April as steel buyers reported stability in most products and prices appeared to have plateaued, at least in the short term. At month’s end, hot rolled was selling for about $873, cold rolled for just over $1,000, galvanized for around $1,100, […]
This should come as no surprise to our readers, the theoretical spread between foreign steel export prices and the SMU hot rolled coil index average is quite large. However, when looking at foreign steel offers on hot rolled (and there are precious few) which range from $820-$840 per ton, according to SMU sources, the spread […]