The following is a “hypothetical” calculation of the spread between world hot rolled export prices and domestic (USA & Canada) hot rolled prices. Actual HRC price spreads can vary based on freight costs, trader margins and other factors. SMU compares the world hot rolled export price with adders for freight, handling, trader margin, etc., against […]
The Steel Market Update Price MoMo Index for flat rolled steel in the U.S. indicates hot rolled coil price momentum continued its downward trend for the eighth week in a row. MoMo, which is a trailing indicator, is measured as a percentage and shows the relation of the current hot rolled coil (HRC) price movements […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) is changing the way we look at the import license data. As we have mentioned on numerous occasions, the steel import license data can only provide an idea as to how imports are shaping up for the current month. The licenses received have been tending to surge at the beginning of […]
For the week ending October 11, 2014, the American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) estimated that the U.S. steel industry produced 1,804,000 net tons (NT) of raw steel, a 1.2 percent decrease over the previous week and a 1.5 percent decrease over the same week one year ago. The estimated capacity utilization rate is 75.0 […]
Below is the latest data issued by the The Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI) regarding residential and commercial heating and cooling equipment shipments through August 2014. You may read the press release on their website here. Residential Storage Water Heaters U.S. shipments of residential gas storage water heaters for August 2014 decreased 4.0 percent, […]
According to Baker Hughes data from October 10th 2014, the U.S rig count for this week is 1,930 rigs exploring for or developing oil or natural gas. This count represents an increase of 8 rigs compared to last week, with oil rigs up 18 to 1,609 rigs, gas rigs down 10 to 320 rigs, and […]
Apparent steel supply for August was 10,252,449 net tons, down slightly from July which was the largest tonnage month since the beginning of the Great Recession. Apparent steel supply is calcualted by adding domestic shipments and finished US imports and subtracting total US exports. Note that our Premium member analysis breaks down apparent steel supply […]
The Steel Market Update Price MoMo Index for flat rolled steel in the U.S. indicates hot rolled coil price momentum fell this week for the seventh week in a row. MoMo, which is a trailing indicator, is measured as a percentage and shows the relation of the current hot rolled coil (HRC) price movements against […]
Final steel imports totaled 3,698,435 net tons (3,355,168 metric tons) for the month of August, down 4.2 percent from 3,858,692 tons in July but up 28.5 percent from 2,878,367 tons August of last year. On a 12 month moving average (12MMA) basis, total steel imports through August are at the highest level recorded in our […]
Below is a press release issued by The American Institute for International Steel (AIIS) titled “Steel Exports Show Monthly Increase, Yearly Decline” Falls Church, VA. October 7, 2014. Steel exports from the United States bounced back in August following a late spring-early summer dip. August exports increased 4.1 percent from their July level to total […]
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) report on non-farm employment indicated that 248,000 jobs were added in September. August , which had been disappointing, was revised up by 38,000 and July was revised up by 31,000. The three month moving average, (3MMA) declined to 224,000 in September and has declined for three straight months but […]
For the week ending October 4, 2014, the American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) estimated that the U.S. steel industry produced 1,825,000 net tons (NT) of raw steel, a 1.1 percent decrease over the previous week and a 1.4 percent decrease over the same week one year ago. The estimated capacity utilization rate is 75.9 […]
One of the first things that we noticed when looking at the graph below is all of the “neutral” arrows (yellow arrows in SMU Pricing Momentum) going across the full spectrum of the table shown. We went back to see at what point did we move our Momentum to Neutral and found we made the […]
The Steel Market Update Price MoMo Index for flat rolled steel in the U.S. showed hot rolled coil price momentum falling this week for the sixth week in a row after being in positive territory for the previous four weeks. MoMo, a trailing indicator, is measured as a percentage and shows the relation of the […]
As we try to point out on regular basis, import license data is an imperfect program and can only suggest what ballpark the final number will be in. Last week the import license data was suggesting September would meet or exceed 4.0 million net tons (all products). Based on license data updated on September 30th, […]
For the week ending September 27, 2014, the American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) estimated that the U.S. steel industry produced 1,846,000 net tons (NT) of raw steel, a 2.4 percent decrease over the previous week and a 1.5 percent decrease over the same week one year ago. The estimated capacity utilization rate is 76.7 […]
According to Baker Hughes data from September 26th 2014, the U.S rig count for this week is 1,931 rigs exploring for or developing oil or natural gas. This count is unchanged compared to last week, with oil rigs down 9 to 1,592 rigs, gas rigs up 9 to 338 rigs, and miscellaneous rigs unchanged at […]
Foreign steel imports accounted for 27 percent of the August 2014 monthly usage and a like percentage for annual steel usage according to data just released by the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI). Foreign imported steel tonnage was lower in August than the prior month but is way ahead of the tonnage received in […]
The following is a “hypothetical” calculation of the spread between world hot rolled export prices and domestic (USA & Canada) hot rolled prices. Actual HRC price spreads can vary based on freight costs, trader margins and other factors. SMU compares the world export price with adders for freight, handling, trader margin, etc., against the spot […]
The American Institute of Architects (AIA) released their Architecture Billings Index (ABI) score for the month of August on Wednesday this week, reporting that the latest index declined slightly after reaching last month’s seven-year high. The ABI score for August was 53.0, down 2.8 points from July’s score of 55.8. Note that the index is […]
The Steel Market Update Price MoMo Index for flat rolled steel in the U.S. showed hot rolled coil prices as falling this week for the fifth week in a row after being in positive territory for the previous four weeks. MoMo, a trailing indicator, is measured as a percentage and shows the relation of the […]
Chinese steel trade data was recently released for the month of August 2014, providing updated data on iron ore imports, steel scrap imports, and flat rolled imports and exports. Chinese imports of iron ore in August were 74,880,000 metric tons, a decrease of 9.3 percent from the previous month but an increase of 8.5 percent […]
For the week ending September 20, 2014, the American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) reported that the U.S. steel industry produced 1,891,000 net tons (NT) of raw steel, a 0.5 percent increase over the previous week and a 0.9 percent increase over the same week one year ago. The estimated capacity utilization rate is 78.6 […]
The following article was originally published in our Premium edition of Steel Market Update last week after the MSCI shipment and inventory data was released. Service Center Apparent Inventory Deficit/Excess is one of the proprietary products available for our Premium Level customers. We thought our Executive customers might be interested in how our forecast did […]
Steel Market Update nailed (in our opinion) last month’s forecast for August. We projected that the -193,000 tons deficit from the end of July (based on our proprietary formula for what a balanced flat rolled inventory level should be for the U.S. service centers) would be eliminated and move into a very small excess situation. […]
According to Baker Hughes data from September 19th 2014, the U.S rig count for this week is 1,931 rigs exploring for or developing oil or natural gas. This count is unchanged compared to last week, with oil rigs up 9 to 1,601 rigs, gas rigs down 9 to 329 rigs, and miscellaneous rigs unchanged at […]
Canadian shipments for all steel products in the month of August were 456,600 net tons, a decrease of 5.3 percent from the month before and a decrease of 4.6 percent from August 2013. Inventories at the end of the month stood at 1,499,500 tons, up 2.2 percent from last month and up 8.0 percent from […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) conducted our mid-September flat rolled steel market analysis this week. We invited slightly more than 600 companies to participate in the latest survey which analyzes various trends which affect the flat rolled steel market. One set of questions had to do with the consolidation of the steel mills as SDI and […]
The Steel Market Update Price MoMo Index for flat rolled steel in the U.S. remained negative this week for the fourth week in a row after being in positive territory for the previous four weeks. MoMo, a trailing indicator, is measured as a percentage and shows the relation of the current hot rolled coil (HRC) […]
Below is the latest press release issued by the The Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI) on residential and commercial heating and cooling equipment shipments through July 2014. You may read the press release on their website here. Residential Storage Water Heaters U.S. shipments of residential gas storage water heaters for July 2014 increased 7.5 […]