American Iron and Steel Insitute (AISI) President and CEO Thomas J. Gibson spoke about currency manipulation at a press conference at the City Club in Cleveland, Ohio on Thursday. American steel producers are “under attack from surging imports benefitting from unfair trade practices—like currency manipulation,” said Gibson. Gibson was joined by former Missouri Governor Matt […]
Explanation of Data Sources: The broad index is published by the Federal Reserve on both a daily and monthly basis. It is a weighted average of the foreign exchange values of the U.S. dollar against the currencies of a large group of major U.S. trading partners. The index weights, which change over time, are derived […]
Early indications, based on steel import license data, are suggesting August steel imports will once again exceed 3.5 million net tons and could go as high as 4.0 million tons. The high so far this year was May at 4.033 million net tons. May 2014 was also the highest import level seen since prior to […]
In the week of August 2nd the four week moving average (4WMA) of raw steel production as reported by the AISI exceeded 1,900,000 tons per week, for the first time since June 16th 2012, (Figure 1). However, capacity utilization at 79.2 percent (4WMA) is still nowhere near where it was before the recession. Capacity is […]
In the 1st half of 2014, scrap exports totaled 7,580,485 metric tons, down by 23.5 percent from the 1st half of 2013. In the single month of June exports were 1,270,041 tons, down from May’s volume of 1.549,070 tons. May had by far the highest tonnage of the year, the June volume was in line […]
Total shipments of sheet and strip products including hot rolled, cold rolled and all coated products were down by 0.6 percent year to date (YTD) compared to the first half of 2013. In the second quarter of 2014 compared to the first quarter, the total tonnage was down by 0.7 percent and comparing Q2 2014 […]
The American Institute for International Steel (AIIS) reports steel exports to NAFTA partners decreased in June but were offset by exports to other countries, particularly Brazil. The AIIS Statement on June 2014 steel exports is reprinted for your convenience below: Falls Church, VA. August 7, 2014. Exports of U.S. steel held steady in June, […]
Earlier today you should have received a special issue newsletter about our upcoming Events – Steel Summit, Steel 101 workshop and Managing Price Risk II. There is a ton of information in that newsletter and you are welcome to forward it around the country. Probably the one thing of the most interest is who is […]
One of our Steel Summit Conference speakers, Chuck Bradford, produced an interesting report on Chinese pig iron and crude steel production, imports and exports. Mr. Bradford shared the information with Steel Market Update along with a few comments: “Please keep in mind that the data I show in this report is more exact than the […]
We are aware that the domestic (USA) steel mills are unhappy with Chinese exports of cold rolled to the United States. The rumors of potential dumping suits against Chinese cold rolled, and possibly coated steel, have been floating about the industry for months. Based on latest import license data for the month of July, Chinese […]
The July ISM Report on Business indicates that activity in the manufacturing sector increased last month. The July PMI rose 1.8 percent to 57.1 for the highest reading since April 2011 and the 14th consecutive monthly increase. A PMI reading in excess of 43.2 percent, over a period of time, also indicates an expansion of […]
The JP Morgan Global Manufacturing PMI registered 52.5 in July, down just 0.1 point from June and indicating moderating growth. Indices for new orders and output were nearly unchanged from the prior month. The exports index increased at a faster rate, up 0.4 points to 51.5 in July. The employment index decreased by 0.4 points […]
On Wednesday this week the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) released the advance estimate of Q2 2014 Annual Revision of the National Income and Product Accounts. In addition to the regular revision of estimates for the most recent 3 years and for the first quarter of 2014, GDP and select components were revised back to […]
South Korea may take action against the recent DOC decision to impose dumping duties on South Korean OCTG products. According to an article by the Yonhap News Agency in S. Korea, Deputy Trade Minister Choi Kyong-lim told a press briefing that the government is reviewing the impact the decision will have on steel exports from […]
The SMU Key Market Indicators is a Premium Level product produced by Peter Wright in collaboration with Steel Market Update. Our Executive Level members have been getting access to all of the Premium Level data for the month of July (today is the last day). This includes access to all of the Premium data which […]
We are going to hold off on doing an import analysis other than to say that the latest license data suggests July imports will be approximately the same as June. I will check the latest numbers to see if there are any huge variances compared to what we reported over the past few days. If […]
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 […]
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) today announced the release of its 2013 Annual Statistical Report (ASR). The 2013 ASR shows that U.S. steel production, shipments, imports and exports all decreased in 2013 vs. 2012, as U.S. steel markets remained below pre-recession levels. U.S. steel shipments were at 95 million net […]
NLMK USA sold 538,000 tonnes (593,033 net tons) of steel in the second quarter of 2014, an increase of 17.8 percent following low sale volumes in first quarter due to unfavorable weather conditions. Steel sales for the first half of 2014 totaled 994,000 tonnes (1.095 million net tons) due to stronger US demand, an increase […]
Statistical data out of China is always questioned for a number of reasons, not least is, “Is the data politically motivated.” Other suspicions arise because China gets their data out faster than any other major economy and the data is never revised. Figure 1 shows published data for the growth of GDP, industrial production and […]
Chinese steel trade data for June 2014 was released earlier this week, providing updated data on iron ore imports, steel scrap imports, and flat rolled imports and exports. Chinese imports of iron ore in June were 74,570,000 metric tons, a decrease of 3.6 percent from the previous month but an increase of 19.7 percent from […]
Explanation of data sources: The broad index is published by the Federal Reserve on both a daily and monthly basis. It is a weighted average of the foreign exchange values of the U.S. dollar against the currencies of a large group of major U.S. trading partners. The index weights, which change over time, are derived […]
Because we are a media outlet we receive from the International Trade Administration notification of all kinds of dumping filings against any number of countries. Earlier this week there was a filing against Chinese tires, this morning it was something I couldn’t even pronounce and didn’t have a clue what it was. What we are […]
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 […]
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. […]
Just as the steel industry took a breath of relief at the OCTG decision, the World Trade Organization announced that the United States was unfairly imposing countervailing duties on steel exports from China and India. According to the July 14, WTO decision, the United States acted inconsistently with articles 1, 2, 10, 11 and 32.1 […]
US Steel has been one of the leaders in the push to prevent foreign oil country tubular goods (OCTG) from being unfairly traded here in the United States. US Steel recently closed two of their OCTG manufacturing facilities. One of the main reasons provided by US Steel was the flood of OCTG imports from countries […]
The following article comes from one of our contributing writers, Peter Brebach. Peter is an active trader who deals in the pipe and tube markets and understands the impact of the US Department of Commerce final determination on oil country tubular goods (OCTG). Here is what Peter has to say: The just published final determinations […]
The final determination on oil country tubular goods (OCTG) was released on Friday afternoon (Friday, July 11, 2014). The steel industry believes that a positive ruling in favor of the domestic steel industry will prompt a new round of dumping cases aimed at flat rolled products – specifically cold rolled, galvanized and Galvalume. However, these […]
The International Trade Commission and Commerce Department issued the following determination on antidumping relief on OCTG imports from South Korean steelmakers: “Today, the Department of Commerce announced its affirmative final determinations in the AD investigations of imports of OCTG from India, Korea, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, and Vietnam, and CVD investigations […]