Price, Price, Price… I might as well begin where I left off in our last issue of Steel Market Update on Thursday. Everyone wants to know when this market will peak, then tip over, and how far it will then fall. There are a wide range of opinions within the steel community, from prices will […]
I have been “out” for the past few days as my daughter has received her shots and has been visiting us for the first time in well over a year. A special thank you to the SMU team for picking up the slack in my absence. Jumping right back into the fray, as Michael mentioned […]
Jumping right back into the fray, as Michael Cowden mentioned in his Final Thoughts in Tuesday’s issue of Steel Market Update, the talk is about nothing but price, price, price. As we look for signs of possible steel mill order book weakness, we are seeing conflicting signals. There are a couple of steel mills who […]
Auto assemblies in North America gained ground in March for the first time since October, according to LMC Automotive (LMCA). North American production rose to 1.217 million units in March, up from 1.092 million in February, but production continues to suffer from the ongoing shortage of semiconductor chips. North American production was up 20.1% in […]
Steel Market Update is pleased to share this exerpt from one of our Premium articles with Executive members. For information on the benefits of upgrading to a Premium-level membership, email Paige@SteelMarketUpdate.com. Auto assemblies in North America gained ground in March for the first time since October, according to LMC Automotive (LMCA). North American production rose to 1.217 […]
Nucor plans to spend $58 million to upgrade its engineered bar mill in Norfolk, Neb., with the aim of increasing sales to the automotive industry. The modernization project is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2022, the electric-arc furnace steelmaker said. The scope of work will include adding a new reheat furnace, […]
U.S. automotive sales were robust in April despite production challenges from the continuing shortage of semiconductor chips. April sales were estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of over 18 million vehicles and may be one of the best months ever, said Cox Automotive. April sales were well over Cox Auto’s forecast of 16.5 million. […]
U.S. automotive sales saw their lowest third-quarter performance in a decade, a 13.4% decline in new vehicle sales, due primarily to low inventory and high prices. In September, new-vehicle inventory was down nearly 60% from 2020, and sales suffered accordingly, said Cox Automotive. New-vehicle sales totaled 3.395 million in the third quarter, the slowest third […]
By CRU Chief Economist Jumana Saleheen and Principal Economist Alex Tuckett from CRU’s Global Economic Outlook This month has seen strong signs that the speed of the recovery in the global industrial sector is feeding through to costs throughout the supply chain. Although this does present a risk to our forecast, our baseline case remains […]
By CRU Consulting CEO Rebecca Gordon and Principal Consultant Alex Laugharne The increasing momentum behind transportation electrification is driving new supply chains to evolve rapidly. Historically, long and lean automotive supply chains led to cost efficiencies. The challenges of developing entirely new suppliers and embedding sustainability objectives mean: working with many completely new suppliers who […]
Ford expects to lose 50% of its planned second-quarter production because the global chip shortage has become a “significant headwind” for the company. The Dearborn, Mich.-based automaker had already lost 17% of its planned production in the first quarter because of the chip issue, and it anticipates losing 10% of forecast output in the second […]
Ternium has strong confidence in the growth potential for the Mexican steel industry. Despite a poor performance by the government in helping the economy recover from the impact of the pandemic, CEO Maximo Vedoya expects the industrial base will continue to grow. One of the drivers will be reshoring of the supply base, which will […]
Orders for durable goods—products expected to last three years or more—recovered partially in March, increasing 0.5% after dipping 0.9% in February, said the Commerce Department on Monday. Orders for the month totaled $256.3 billion, increasing for the 10th time in the last 11 months, but at a much lower rate than the 2%-plus uplift expected by […]
Nucor, SDI and Cliffs all announced earnings last week. All of the CEOs are quite bullish as all of their flat rolled mills are running at full capacity. And with pricing now in excess of $1,400 per ton for benchmark hot rolled, the mills are reporting record or near record quarterly profits for first-quarter 2021. […]
Ford has extended downtime at assembly plants in the U.S. and Canada into May because of an ongoing microchip supply squeeze. “The global semiconductor shortage continues, presenting challenges to a number of industries – including automakers worldwide,” a Ford spokeswoman said. The Dearborn, Mich.-based automaker will take outages the weeks of May 3 and May […]
Everything You Want to Know About This Year’s Conference There is much to talk about at this year’s SMU Steel Summit Conference as the industry deals with record high prices, strong demand, challenges to supply, questions about trade, new steel mills about to come onstream and more recently announced, automotive moving to electric vehicles, questions […]
Everything You Want to Know About This Year’s Conference There is much to talk about at this year’s SMU Steel Summit Conference as the industry deals with record high prices, strong demand, challenges to supply, questions about trade, new steel mills about to come onstream and more recently announced, automotive moving to electric vehicles, questions […]
Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co., the nation’s largest metals distributor and processor, reported record pretax income of $359 million in first-quarter 2021, fueled by the unexpectedly high steel prices and solid demand in most of the markets the company serves. “The combination of a record quarterly gross profit margin, average selling prices well above our […]
Cleveland-Cliffs expects historically high steel prices and record profits to continue for the balance of the year. The integrated steelmaker forecasts that U.S. hot-rolled coil prices will average $1,100 per ton for the remaining three quarters the year, according to guidance released with first quarter earnings data on Thursday, April 22. That’s 21.5% below SMU’s […]
Cleveland-Cliffs expects historically high steel prices and record profits to continue for the balance of the year. The integrated steelmaker forecasts that U.S. hot-rolled coil prices will average $1,100 per ton for the remaining three quarters the year, according to guidance released with first quarter earnings data on Thursday, April 22. That’s 21.5% below SMU’s […]
NLMK USA shipments rose to 430,000 metric tons in the first quarter of 2021, a 10% gain from the fourth quarter of 2020. Strong demand for hot rolled and hot-dipped galvanized coil by key customers benefited sales as did the end of the strike at NLMK Pennsylvania. Revenue jumped 63% quarter over quarter to $403 […]
The global semiconductor shortage continues to disrupt North American vehicle production roughly four months after the issue emerged in a key steel end market. The result: Production at multiple North American assembly plants is down through the end of this month, and some are down in May as well. Here is where things stand to date. General Motors […]
My first job in the steel industry started in July 1977. I have been involved with the industry ever since. I’m coming up on 44 years in a few months. That either makes me old or wise…well, old anyway. What I can tell you is during those 44 years I have never seen a market […]
Steel Dynamics Inc. had a stellar first quarter and looks forward to its new Sinton, Texas, mill beginning production later this summer. The $1.9 billion EAF mill is designed with production capabilities that will compete with traditional integrated steel producers, providing a differentiated product portfolio with a climate-conscious focus, SDI said. Four customers have committed […]
Steel Dynamics Inc. (SDI) posted record first-quarter sales and expects the good times to keep rolling into the second quarter. The solid showing came thanks to high steel prices, lean customer inventories and strong demand across most end markets, according to commentary released with first-quarter earnings data. “Numerous individual operating and financial records were attained–a […]
The World Steel Association was cautiously optimistic in its April 2021 Short-Range Outlook published last week. The association expects steel demand to grow 5.8% this year, reaching 1.874 billion metric tons, after declining 0.2% during the pandemic in 2020. “Despite the disastrous impact of the pandemic on lives and livelihoods, the global steel industry was […]
We understand at least one integrated steelmaker is approaching their spot customers with hot rolled base prices of $1,500 to $1,520 per ton. We are not aware of any buyers at this “suggested” HRC price level (it wasn’t that long ago that $1,300 was the “suggested” steel price). We concluded one of our SMU Flat […]
Hot-rolled coil lead times at some mills are well into June, so steel buyers have to ask themselves now whether a year-long upswing in prices is sustainable. In short, can hot-rolled coil prices continue their record run upward? First a Look Back at Where We’ve Been Steel Market Update’s average hot-rolled coil price was $1,340 […]
Russian steelmaker NLMK said sales in its U.S. division increased 16% in Q1 2021 to 430 million metric tons. The increase was driven by hot-rolled and galvanized steel. Sales of hot rolled increased 17% from the fourth quarter of 2020 and galvanized steel sales soared 37%. Sales of cold rolled fell 13%. On a year-over-year […]
There are specific reasons for the tightness of supply that exists in the market today. Events have been in motion for the past 25 years that have culminated in the limitations of supply. For those of you who have attended SMU Steel Summit Conferences you may recall a presentation done by Paul Lowrey, Managing Director […]