Nucor’s Sheet Mill Group and Canada’s Algoma Steel have matched last week’s price increases by U.S. Steel and ArcelorMittal USA. Nucor informed customers on Monday that is has increased based prices on new orders of hot rolled, cold rolled and galvanized steel by a minimum of $30 per ton ($1.50/cwt). LIkewise, Algoma notified its flat […]
Ferrous scrap prices settled up $30-40/GT in December for most regions and most grades, on top of the $15-20/GT increase in November, lending further support to rising finished steel prices. Not only did prices find support from seasonally tighter scrap supply, but mill demand was stable or higher month over month for most regions, said […]
Stelco’s strategy to get into the merchant pig iron (MPI) market is getting high marks from the experts. As one of the Canadian steelmaker’s strategic growth initiatives, it plans to construct a new pig iron making facility at its Lake Erie Works to coincide with a blast furnace reline scheduled for Q2 2020. Stelco claims […]
By CRU Steel Prices Lead Anh Nghiem, from the Steelmaking Raw Materials Monitor Iron ore prices have been gradually increasing over the past week with improving steel prices and positive signals from the Chinese futures market. According to a market source, market participants’ confidence has improved significantly since steel prices started to increase and this […]
On Friday morning, SSAB announced another steel plate price increase. In a letter emailed to customers, SSAB advised their intention to raise “transaction prices by a minimum of $40 per ton effective immediately for all new non-contract orders.” The increase, which is the second $40 increase announced by SSAB so far this month, applies to […]
On Friday morning, SSAB announced another steel plate price increase. In a letter emailed to customers, SSAB advised their intention to raise “transaction prices by a minimum of $40 per ton effective immediately for all new non-contract orders.” The increase, which is the second $40 increase announced by SSAB so far this month, applies to […]
Steel buyers are clearly split on whether demand is sufficient to support the recent mill price increases or whether the market can expect another dead cat bounce. Following are results from this week’s Steel Market Update market trends questionnaire.(Note that the following responses were gathered prior to the mill price increase announcements on Friday.) Dead […]
So, tonight I thought I would write about a couple of text messages that I received over the past 24 hours. Both messages have to do with steel prices, just looking at information out of SMU and other publications or indices differently. The first message was from the president of a Midwest-based service center. They […]
CRU has underlined its commitment to ensuring “The CRU,” its U.S. Midwest HRC price, remains the most reliable and trusted reference in the industry by initiating a second audit of its data providers. The audit will be conducted by third-party audit firm PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC). It has been in planning for some time as a […]
By Senior Analyst Manjot Singh, from CRU’s Steelmaking Raw Materials Monitor The past week was characterized by improving sentiment in the Chinese and Indian steel industry. Chinese HRC and rebar prices increased substantially w/w (see data below) on the back of higher demand. Even the HRC prices in India witnessed a $7 /t increase w/w, […]
By CRU Research Manager Paul Butterworth, from CRU’s Global Steel Trade Service Although profitability for domestic sales in China has fallen sharply in 2019, steel exports from the country have not risen. Historically, when domestic profitability dropped, exports would rise. Prior analysis has shown that the strength of the domestic market is a key driver […]
By CRU Analysts Kevin Bai and Iris Speelmanns, from CRU’s Iron Ore Costs China has launched a probe into steelmaking capacity to understand the true state of the industry. If the government views the current state as detrimental to its reform agenda, orders to curb supply could be forthcoming. If enough capacity is curbed, this […]
It’s not too soon to save the date for next year’s SMU Steel Summit 2020, set for Aug. 24-26 in Atlanta. Just click the image below for details. We are delighted to announce details of the 10th SMU Steel Summit, which will again be held in Atlanta in 2020. Widely regarded as the premier steel […]
By CRU Research Manager Paul Butterworth Profitability in the steel industry is highly volatile with the last few years particularly seeing a huge swing in profits. Some producers saw margins hit ten-year highs only to see them quickly fall away, with many becoming loss-making in recent months. As steelmakers navigate the ups and downs of […]
The following calculation is used by Steel Market Update to identify the theoretical spread between foreign hot rolled steel prices (delivered to U.S. 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 costs […]
The following article discussing the global ferrous derivatives markets was written by David Feldstein. As an independent steel market analyst, advisor and trader, we believe he provides insightful commentary and trading ideas to our readers. Note that Steel Market Update does not take any positions on HRC or scrap trading, and any recommendations or comments […]
By CRU Senior Analyst Erik Hedborg, from CRU’s Crude Steel Market Outlook The iron ore market in 2019 has been dominated by supply disruptions. The Vale accident in January was followed by cyclones in Australia and, more recently, quality issues affecting Rio Tinto, the second largest iron ore producer in the world. The company has […]
By Principal Analyst Josh Spoores, from CRU’s Steel Sheet Products Monitor Global sheet prices remain in a downtrend for November, though are starting to recover in some markets. Overall, CRU’s Global Flat Products Price Indicator (CRUspi flats) fell 3.3 percent m/m in November to 137.7, the lowest level recorded since October 2016. This indicator of global […]
By Senior Analyst Ryan McKinley, from CRU’s Steel Metallics Monitor The CRU metallics price indicator (CRUmpi) rose by 7.5 percent m/m to 195.7 (see chart) after prices rose in most markets. The most pronounced rebounds were in the U.S. and European scrap markets, while prices in Asia either rose or were stable. Prices in regions […]
By CRU Principal Analyst Chris Asgill There has been a marked rise in Chinese imports of pig iron and HBI this year. This has been primarily due to limited domestic scrap supply that cannot be offset by external supply due to restrictions in scrap imports. Limited scrap supply relative to demand has meant that scrap prices in […]
Needle coke and graphite electrode availability has been under pressure since 2017 following substantial financially and environmentally driven capacity closures, particularly in China. With prices under pressure in 2019, and margins rapidly falling, the graphite electrode and needle coke markets appear to be at a crossroads with many questions about the future for these markets. […]
Needle coke and graphite electrode availability has been under pressure since 2017 following substantial financially and environmentally driven capacity closures, particularly in China. With prices under pressure in 2019, and margins rapidly falling, the graphite electrode and needle coke markets appear to be at a crossroads with many questions about the future for these markets. […]
Ferrous scrap prices traded $15-25/GT higher in November, with some variation by region, report Steel Market Update sources. Scrap prices were widely expected to rise in November due to slowing scrap flows, mills returning from seasonal outages, rising import demand and the onset of winter weather in some parts of the country. “Mills’ appetite for […]
I have noticed many articles in the mainline press over the past few days slamming the Trump administration’s Section 232 tariffs as not helping the steel industry. Most of the articles point to the recent loss announced by U.S. Steel as proof, along with minimal to no job gains in the industry. I don’t think […]
The following calculation is used by Steel Market Update to identify the theoretical spread between foreign hot rolled steel prices (delivered to U.S. 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 costs […]
By CRU Senior Analysts Ryan McKinley (USA), Ryan Smith (Australia) and Erik Hedborg (UK) Part three of our three-part series: What’s next for U.S. iron ore production? In parts one and two of our series, we examined the U.S. iron ore industry and reviewed recent market developments. We also explored the dependency of U.S. iron […]
By CRU Analyst Alexander Ordosch Last week, Turkish scrap import prices were assessed at $248 /t CFR for HMS 80:20. Only one deal was assessed from Europe, after strong restocking activity over recent weeks. Prices have been rising in recent weeks as sellers have pushed for gains as it had become uneconomic to supply at the lower prices […]
By CRU Principal Economist Lisa Morrison On Oct. 30, the Fed cut rates by 25bp as was widely anticipated (including by us), lowering the Federal Funds rate to a range of 1.50 percent-1.75 percent. Based on the Fed statement and comments during Chair Powell’s press conference, the Fed seems pleased with where monetary policy is, […]
By CRU Senior Analyst Ryan McKinley The rate of decline for U.S. domestic longs product prices is decelerating as steel buyers slowly return to the market and scrap market sentiment firms. Although not low, inventory levels have worked through enough for buyers to re-enter the market and conduct seasonal restocking. Still, domestic prices and demand […]
John Packard is traveling… Eddie Lehner, Ryerson president and CEO, is optimistic that carbon steel prices will bottom in the fourth quarter. “Given where prices are now, the recent price increases have a better chance of sticking than the ones that were announced in Q2 and Q3,” he commented during the company’s third-quarter conference call […]