Construction activity is returning to pre-coronavirus levels in many parts of the country and some firms are adding workers, report the Associated General Contractors of America and construction technology firm Procore, based on just-completed research. The new economic data, however, also shows some future projects are being canceled and many others are being delayed by […]
From a steel buyer’s perspective, the environment is relatively competitive now. Mills and service centers are hungry for business, said Donald Bly, managing director of Applied Value, during Wednesday’s SMU Community Chat Webinar. Mill capacity utilization is down to about 53 percent, but still better than the 2008-2009 recession, he said. “It’s a good time […]
Housing starts rose 4.3 percent in May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 974,000. Starts were 23.2 percent below the May 2019 rate of 1.27 million. Single-family starts were flat, increasing just 0.1 percent last month. Construction of housing with five units or more, however, jumped 16.9 percent. Regionally and on a year-over-year basis, […]
The term “sustainability” is most often associated with environmentalism. True to the word, U.S. Steel’s 2019 Sustainability Report details the steelmaker’s mission to reduce its global greenhouse gas (GHG) emission intensity by 20 percent over the next decade. But what makes a company’s success “sustainable” over the long term goes far beyond environmental considerations, said […]
By CRU Senior Analyst Erik Hedborg, from CRU’s Steelmaking Raw Materials Monitor Iron ore prices held steady in the past week as Chinese demand remained robust while seaborne supply registered another strong week. After struggling for most of 2020, shipments from Vale’s Northern System reached the highest level of the year in the past week. […]
Flat Rolled = 67.6 Shipping Days of Supply Plate = 61.0 Shipping Days of Supply Flat Rolled Service center flat roll inventories edged down in May, which was consistent with lower on-order volumes seen in April as well as higher shipments in May. Service centers carried 67.6 shipping days of supply at the end of […]
Steel buyers’ attitudes, as measured by Steel Market Update’s Sentiment Indexes, have improved steadily since their low point in the first week of April and are now approaching pre-coronavirus levels once again. Industry executives are clearly feeling more positive about their prospects as the economy begins to normalize. Current Sentiment has improved by 40 points […]
Steel demand is on the upswing three months after being decimated by government orders to shut down nonessential businesses and stop the spread of COVID-19. The majority of steel buyers (53 percent) responding to Steel Market update’s market trends questionnaire this past week said they are seeing improvement in demand for their products. Another 38 […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: Section 232 keeps cropping up in the news; this week, it’s no different. In 2017, the Commerce Department initiated several investigations (on steel, aluminum, autos and auto parts, and uranium). Trade restrictions ensued on steel and aluminum, but […]
By CRU Prices Analyst George Pearson, from CRU’s Steel Monitor In the U.S. Midwest market this week, sheet prices were somewhat mixed with HR coil near steady w/w while HDG coil fell by $19 /s.ton to $650 /s.ton and CR coil inched up by $4 /s.ton to $697 /s.ton. Our full HDG coil price, reflecting […]
Markets are vastly improved from where they were two months ago, said James Banker, Executive Vice President of NLMK USA, during Steel Market Update’s Community Chat on Wednesday. Conditions seem good, mostly because they are coming off a “really awful period,” he said. NLMK USA relies on its customers for information about the market, and […]
By CRU Senior Analyst Ryan McKinley, from CRU’s Metallics Monitor The CRU metallics price indicator (CRUmpi) increased slightly in June, rising by 2.9 percent m/m to 208.3. The reduction in lockdowns and other Covid-19-related restrictions across the globe allowed scrap to become more readily available as demand increased in major importing markets. In the near term, we […]
Cargo shipments on the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway were impacted during the coronavirus pandemic, with ports seeing lower volumes. Tonnage on the St. Lawrence Seaway was down 10 percent year over year in the period from March 15 through May 31 to 7.7 million metric tons, said the Marine Chamber of Commerce. “Road […]
Cleveland-Cliffs will resume construction on its Hot-Briquetted Iron plant in Toledo earlier than expected. Construction was halted on March 20, 2020, due to the pandemic, but will resume with newly implemented safety measures. Cleveland-Cliffs plans to complete the HBI facility during the fourth quarter of this year. The Tilden mine that supplies AK Steel Middletown […]
By CRU Senior Analyst Erik Hedborg, from CRU’s Steelmaking Raw Materials Monitor The suspension of iron ore production at Vale’s Itabira Complex resulted in prices surging after the weekend. On Tuesday, June 9, CRU has assessed the 62% Fe fines price at $105.0 /dmt, up $4.5 /dmt w/w. In China, demand has remained robust as […]
The World Steel Association (worldsteel) expects steel demand to contract by 5.4 percent in 2020 to 1.654 billion metric tons. The latest Short Range Outlook forecasts a recovery to 1.717 billion tons in 2021, a 3.8 percent increase over this year. Commenting on the outlook, Chairman of the worldsteel Economics Committee Al Remeithi said: “The […]
Construction employment declined in nine out of ten metro areas from March to April, during a season when the industry normally sees employment levels climb, said the Associated General Contractors of America in an analysis of new government data. “Today’s employment report shows how few areas were left unscathed by April’s unprecedented job losses,” said […]
The Dodge Momentum Index was nearly unchanged at 129.2 in May compared to 129.4 in April. The commercial component of the index rose 1.0 percent while the institutional component dropped 1.9 percent. The Index is a significant predictor of future construction. The monthly index is a measure of the first report for nonresidential building projects […]
There was positive net job creation in May following April’s disastrous report. The May jobs report was released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday, after which the N.Y. Times reported: “Employers added 2.5 million jobs in May, defying economists’ expectations of further losses and offering hope that the rebound from the pandemic-induced economic […]
In May, manufacturing gained back 17 percent of April’s job losses, while construction gained back 47 percent, according to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics data. The net change in employed persons was negative 20.7 million in April and positive 2.5 million in May. Table 1 breaks total employment down into service and goods-producing industries […]
There is much to discuss, much to learn… As trade attorney Lewis Leibowitz lays out in his article/opinion piece this evening, there are no easy solutions to issues built over decades. International manufacturing companies need to review their supply chains to ensure they are not doing business in countries potentially hostile to the United States. […]
Editor’s note: SMU Contributor David Feldstein is president of Rock Trading Advisors. David has over 20 years of financial market trading experience and has been active in the ferrous futures space for eight years. David earned an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business with concentrations in economics, statistics and analytical finance. Since […]
Mill Steel Co., a distributor of flat-rolled carbon steel, has launched a mobile app to provide customers access to its complete line of prime, excess, and secondary painted and acrylic inventories. The app features real-time pricing for placing transactions. Customers can reorder their products, view order history, place an order for delivery or pickup, and […]
Gerdau has partnered with 174 Power Global to develop one of the largest behind-the-meter solar facilities in the nation. The companies have signed a 20-year power purchase agreement that will develop an 80-megawatt solar project adjacent to the Gerdau Midlothian Steel mill in Midlothian, Texas. An array of more than 231,00 solar panels, spanning 700 […]
Total U.S. construction declined by 2.9 percent in April, compared with March, on a seasonally adjusted basis. On a non-adjusted basis, data for April had a positive growth of 2.3 percent, which was unusually low for this time of year. Normally April expenditures are about 8 percent higher than March. On a year-over-year basis and […]
The Institute for Supply Management’s May Report on Business showed improvement, with the manufacturing PMI rising to 43.1 percent from a reading of 41.6 percent the previous month. The PMI score was at a contraction level not seen since April 2009, but the slight uptick was a promising sign. Manufacturers, however, continue to be guarded regarding […]
Construction spending fell 2.9 percent in April after holding steady in March. The Department of Commerce estimates construction spending was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1.35 trillion—the lowest total since November, says the Associated General Contractors of America. Public construction spending dropped 2.5 percent from March to $342.1 billion. Private spending fell 3.0 […]
Steel buyers’ attitudes appear to be mirroring the economy—improving in painfully slow increments as coronavirus restrictions ease and more companies get back to work. Both Current and Future Sentiment as measured by Steel Market Update saw a 14-point improvement in the past two weeks and are up more than 30 points from the lows recorded […]
“Resilient” is how Barry Zekelman, executive chairman and CEO of Zekelman Industries, characterized steel markets during the SMU Community Chat Webinar yesterday. “We went through a rapid shock and adjustment at the end of March and early April, but April was actually pretty decent and May is basically back on track,” he said, expressing a fairly […]
By CRU Prices Analyst George Pearson, from CRU’s Steel Monitor In the U.S. Midwest, sheet prices have continued to strengthen while plate prices have weakened further. HR coil prices increased for the third consecutive week, albeit by just $5 /s.ton to $487 /s.ton. The volume-weighted average of transactions remains below recent mill targets of $500 […]