The following is a recap of the data compiled during the month of August 2014. For the second month in a row our SMU Price Momentum Indicator remained at Neutral as steel prices have been relatively stable with the $673 average up $6 from the July average. However, by the end of the month our […]
Based on our conversations with steel buyers and analysis of the data we received from steel mills, service centers and end users, we saw some slippage in flat rolled steel prices this week. Not enough to change our position (Neutral) on the market. But, there was enough to make us sit up and take notice. […]
The spreads between the various steel price indexes watched on a weekly basis by Steel Market Update have been shrinking. With the exception of plate (which had price increase announcements during the week) and SMU cold rolled, all of the other flat rolled steel price indices either moved sideways or moved lower this past week. […]
The following article about Futures trading is from Andre Marshall, CEO of Crunch Risk, LLC. Andre will be one of our speakers at our 4th Steel Summit Conference as he speaks to the influence Chinese futures trading has on commodity prices. He mentions iron ore trading (China) in the article below: OK, so we’re at […]
“Everyone wants business,” is how the conversation began with one of our Midwest service center sources. “Everyone has steel to sell,” is what he told us. However, he admitted that the bottom has not dropped out of this market. That feeling of concern was heard in a number of places. Flat rolled steel prices seem […]
U.S. Steel has begun to inform their customers of their intention to raise their zinc coating extras effective October 1, 2014. Unlike Nucor, USS did not go back to their 2011 price extras. Based on our quick analysis, the under .020” thru .018” G90 extra is being increased by $1.05/cwt or 11.3 percent. The new […]
Spreads between the indexes are beginning to narrow as the market has been trending sideways (with a slight upward bias) for a number of weeks. Benchmark hot rolled numbers were up $2 per ton due to SteelBenchmarker reporting new numbers this past week (SteelBenchmarker only reports prices twice per month). The average of all the […]
We spent the last two days canvassing as many buyers and mill sellers of steel as we possibly could. Our goal was to gather enough information so we could speak to the development of this market and the direction prices should go from here. What we found is a market that is perhaps stronger than […]
We are starting to learn that the holdup on the flat rolled dumping suits has been due to the desire by the domestic mills to protect the automotive companies. If suits are filed look for exclusions on I.F. steels and potentially coils wider than 60 inches. We have heard from both mill and non-mill sources […]
Flat rolled steel price indexes followed by Steel Market Update on a weekly basis saw prices continuing to be firm to slightly higher on most products. Benchmark hot rolled coil prices averaged $676 per ton, up $2 per ton compared to the previous week’s average. SMU HRC pricing remained stable at $675 per ton while […]
Today’s hot rolled coil futures (HRC) article comes to us from Andre Marshall, CEO of Crunchrisk, LLC and our Managing Price Risk I & II instructor. In his article he will review the S&P 500, copper pricing, crude oil pricing, steel, iron ore and ferrous scrap futures trading: Well the S&P 500 reached its high […]
Last week flat rolled steel prices moved higher by modest amounts, $5 per ton or less with a couple exceptions (see table below). Since the beginning of July our SMU steel price index has seen hot rolled prices move higher by $15 per ton, cold rolled prices by $10, galvanized prices by $10 and Galvalume […]
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 […]
Flat rolled steel prices have been essentially trending sideways for the past couple of weeks and this past week was no exception. We saw our hot rolled average increase by $3 per ton to $673 per ton with the CRU having the lowest HRC pricing at $667 per ton and Platts the highest at $680 […]
Andre Marshall of Crunch Risk LLC has the honors this week to discuss the financial and HRC, iron ore and scrap futures markets in an attempt to make sense out of what can sometimes feel like total chaos. Financial Markets: Well we’re at all time highs again, having hit an intraday on the September S&P […]
Steel Market Update watches a number of flat rolled steel indexes and once per week we provide our readers an analysis of what movement has occurred in each during the prior week. This week we found small movements, mostly indicating higher prices, in most of the indices. Hot rolled saw two indexes moving prices by […]
This past week saw very little movement in any of the indexes followed by Steel Market Update. Benchmark hot rolled averages ranged from a low of $670 per ton (SMU) to a high of $671 per ton (SteelBenchmarker). The only change from the previous week was in the CRU which rose $1 per ton to […]
Steel Market Update did not publish on Sunday evening due to the extended 4th of July holiday here in the United States. We know that there are a number of our readers who enjoy our Comparison Price Indices (CPI) articles on Sunday evening. Here is what the CPI looks like as of Monday evening: Benchmark […]
On Monday, United States Steel (USS) announced a base price increase on all new flat–rolled steel orders. The $25 per ton increase ($1.25/cwt) was to be “…applicable to all open quotations and/or negotiations where an agreement is not yet concluded….” As with most price announcements all published pricing extras were to be applied to any […]
Hot rolled prices eroded during the month of June with the month ending at $660 per ton ($33.00/cwt) and our June monthly average $666 per ton. At the end of May our average was $680 per ton so we are down $14 per ton based on the monthly averages. The CRU hot rolled coil futures […]
On Monday, United States Steel (USS) announced a base price increase on all new flat–rolled steel orders. The $25 per ton increase ($1.25/cwt) was to be “…applicable to all open quotations and/or negotiations where an agreement is not yet concluded….” As with most price announcements all published pricing extras were to be applied to any […]
Hot rolled prices eroded during the month of June with the month ending at $660 per ton ($33.00/cwt) and our June monthly average $666 per ton. At the end of May our average was $680 per ton so we are down $14 per ton based on the monthly averages. The CRU hot rolled coil futures […]
With the exception of Platts, the balance of the steel indexes followed by Steel Market Update dropped slightly with benchmark hot rolled coil now averaging $667 per ton, down $4 per ton for the week. When looking at cold rolled Platts was unchanged, SMU was up $5 per ton to $785 per ton with CRU […]
Hello from Chicago, home of our first Managing Price Risk II: Strategies & Execution workshop. We have an excellent group in attendance and the program is going well. Tomorrow (Wednesday) is day 2 when we provide an opportunity to our attendees to do simulated trading based on profiles and directives that they have to meet […]
The SMU Comparison Price Indices saw prices dropping on all products except plate products. Benchmark hot rolled coil saw pricing drop anywhere from $2 per ton (CRU) to $10 per ton (Platts). The HRC average dropped $6 per ton for the week to $670 per ton. Cold rolled also dropped on all of the reporting […]
Two flat rolled steel price indexes, Steel Market Update and Platts, saw little movement in flat rolled steel prices this past week. The two indexes are probably the closest they have been in some time with SMU showing hot rolled pricing averaging $670 per ton ($33.50/cwt) while Platts has their benchmark HRC price at $675 […]
Prices dropped on all flat rolled items with the exception of plate which remained the same as one week ago. Hot rolled prices dropped by an average of $5 per ton, cold rolled by an average of $10 per ton, galvanized by $3 per ton and Galvalume by $15 per ton. With the latest drop […]
It was an active month when it came to flat rolled steel prices, at least it was active on a week by week basis. However, when looking at the total month price movement compared against where the previous month ended, then the month of May should be considered rather tame. Hot rolled prices ended the […]
With the exception of SteelBenchmarker which only supplies steel indices twice per month, all of the other indexes showed flat rolled steel averages as being either the same or down slightly compared to one week ago. Perhaps the most surprising has been Platts which by the end of this past week had taken its benchmark […]
As usual we will spend a few moments taking a look at the month of May in our rear view mirror to see what transpired. SMU Price Momentum Indicator was adjusted during the month from Higher to Neutral as we detected a change in the supply/demand dynamics with the return to full production at US […]