As we approach the end of the year we begin to think about what is ahead of us for 2015. Will we see the massive amounts of foreign steel continue to flood the domestic (USA) market or will buyers back off as domestic prices slide closer to foreign offers? The expectation is for demand to […]
Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. announced on Tuesday the purchased of Fox Metals and Alloys, Inc. for an undisclosed sum. Fox Metals, based in Houston, Texas, is a steel distributor specializing in alloy, carbon and stainless steel bar and plate products, primarily servicing OEMs and machine shops supporting the oil, gas and petrochemical industries. “The […]
It has now been five weeks (October 28th) since AK Steel became the first domestic steel mill to announce a price increase on flat rolled steel. The relatively modest $20 per ton move was, in many steel buyers’ opinions, meant to stem the decline in steel prices. At that point in time benchmark hot rolled […]
Total light vehicle sales were little changed in October at 16.5 million units, up from 16.4 million in September, both on a seasonally adjusted annualized basis. The spread between light trucks and autos, which in September was one million units in favor of light trucks, decreased to 0.5 million. On a y/y basis total light […]
Each month the Bureau of Labor Statistics, (BLS) puts out its series of producer price indexes, for thousands of goods and materials. The latest release on Tuesday reported October results. We run this analysis every three months to give readers an opportunity to become aware of any changes in the competitive position of steel against […]
China has a number of taxes on steel, both domestically and for exports. This is one of the misunderstandings many countries have (including the United States). We have been speaking about the subject with one of our key Asian trading contacts over the past few days as we asked about possible suspension of Boron added […]
October U.S. auto sales reached an annualized rate of 16.35 million according to WardsAuto with actual sales totaling 1,273,138 units. October deliveries were up 6 percent on a seasonally adjusted annual rate compared to October 2013. “October was another strong month for the automotive sector, driven by a combination of low fuel prices, available credit […]
We didn’t get the transcript of the AK Steel earnings conference call until this evening. A little late to do a full blown article. However, there were a few items that I wanted to point out to our readers. AK Steel reported that approximately 50 percent of their business is related to automotive. They reported […]
Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co reported record sales for third quarter of $2.71 billion on shipments of 1.5 million tons. Not only did the company have good results to report, the Reliance executives had good commentary to offer in their third quarter conference call. Reliance noted that their purchase of imported steel has increased from […]
Everyone is aware of the high level of flat rolled imports in 2014 – especially cold rolled and coated products. So, where does 2014 rank on a historical basis? It is on pace to be the third highest year on record. We have 8 months of actual import data on the books. August year-to-date flat […]
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 […]
Metal Center News published their top 50 service centers based on volume with Reliance Steel & Aluminum taking top honors once again by a wide margin. Reliance 2013 revenues were $9.22 billion up from 2012 revenues of $8.44 billion. The next five service centers are closely bunched with revenues of at least $3.0 billion but […]
The following article was produced by Peter Wright, contributing writer and Steel 101 instructor for Steel Market Update. Economy.com reported as follows on the August U.S. vehicles sales volume: the year-to-date pace of 16.4 million units SAAR is the best since 2006, when it was 16.55 million. The strong recovery of the U.S. auto industry […]
The following press release was made earlier today regarding two investments which are being made in the AM/NS Calvert steel mill (former ThyssenKrupp Steel USA Calvert mill). The two investments will assist in bringing the mill up to its 5.3 million metric ton (5.8 million net tons) target for production. The release (below) came from […]
Ford has begun transforming its Dearborn plant for production of the all new aluminum-bodied F-150 pickup. The last steel-bodied F-150 left the line on August 23rd and the plant was closed to start replacing the old machinery with new. The conversion will cost Ford $359 million and idle production until September 22. Ford employees, approximately […]
Ford has begun transforming its Dearborn plant for production of the all new aluminum-bodied F-150 pickup. The last steel-bodied F-150 left the line on August 23rd and the plant was closed to start replacing the old machinery with new. The conversion will cost Ford $359 million and idle production until September 22. Ford employees, approximately […]
A number of steel mills have joined Nucor and US Steel by adjusting their coating extras on galvanized steel. Wheeling Nisshin advised their customers on Monday of this week that they were going to the new U.S. Steel galvanized extras. Severstal also made adjustments to their mills extras but they did not come out with […]
The buzz about aluminum replacing steel as the material of choice in automobiles isn’t holding true everywhere. Chrysler will be using steel body panels for its Ram pickup when it updates the vehicle in 2017, according to sources cited by Reuters, and will likely remain that way until the Ram receives a full redesign in […]
With August steel imports looking like they may exceed May’s high of over 4 million tons and the recent influx of steel at the Port of Houston, Steel Market Update asked other U.S. ports to give their assessment of steel volume and port conditions. Port of Los Angeles “The Port of Los Angeles has seen […]
Each month the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) puts out its series of Producer Price Indexes (PPI) for thousands of goods and materials. The latest release on Friday reported July results. These statistics are a useful way to evaluate any changes in the competitive position of steel against competing materials and rail vs truck transportation. […]
I got a note from a manufacturing company regarding the size of the Nucor move on galvanized coating extras. The comment that was made was, “Zinc average for 2014 is up 8.6% since average of 2012. Nucor increase is way too high.” This steel buyer went on to comment, “Aluminum average in same time period […]
Olympic Steel & Aluminum posted the highest net sales in its history. Second quarter sales increased 16.7 percent year-over-year to $386.0 million, due to increased market share and higher sales volume. Net income jumped 38 percent to $3.5 million from $2.5 million in Q2 2013. Flat product volume was up 17 percent in Q2 to […]
At the end of each month Steel Market Update takes a look back at the data we have compiled and does a quick analysis for our readers. This is different than our SMU Key Market Indicators which is also included in this newsletter. Benchmark hot rolled coil prices averaged $667 per ton (SMU) for the […]
AK Steel posted an adjusted profit in second quarter despite adverse weather early in second quarter that delayed iron ore shipments forcing reduced production. Adjusted net income was $2.9 million. AK Steel shipped 1,397,500 tons of steel in the second quarter for sales of $1.53 billion. Average selling price rose 3.2 percent to $1,095 per […]
Reliance Steel and Aluminum reported a net income of $96.5 million for second quarter, up 11 percent from the previous quarter and 19 percent year over year. Sales were at a record $2.62 billion, up 2.5 percent on a quarterly basis. Improved metals pricing contributed to improved gross profit margins. Demand was below expectations with […]
Based on a quick analysis of the just released July steel import license data (through the 15th of July) we see the foreign steel imports continuing at very high rates. The import data suggests we will see July imports at levels similar to that of May and June. May had the highest level of imports […]
Spot zinc prices on the LME are closing in on $1.05 per pound as the metal has traded just above $1.04 over the past four business days. The metal has moved from $0.9508 per pound on the 16th of June to its current level at $1.04 per pound. It is important to watch zinc pricing […]
Chuck Bradford of the Metals Industry Advisory Group is a well known steel analyst. Mr. Bradford will be participating in our 2014 Steel Summit Conference in Atlanta. Mr. Bradford will be part of a panel discussing commodity prices and the influence of China on the world steel industry – especially here in the United States. […]
Steel price inputs were mixed during the month of June. Shredded and heavy melt scrap prices declined $8 and $4 per ton respectively while busheling scrap prices increased by $3 per ton. Iron Ore prices increased for 62% Fe grades but decreased for 58% Fe. Zinc and Aluminum prices showed a slight increase of $0.0437 […]
U.S. light vehicle sales increased in May to nearly 16.8 million units at a seasonally adjusted annual rate, (SAAR) up from an average of 15.8 million units in the first five months of 2014 and the strongest rate since February 2007. Light vehicles are autos and light trucks (GVW Classes 1-3, under 14,001 lbs.). Automotive […]