The month of March proved to be an interesting month for the flat rolled steel industry and related commodities associated with the industry, both within North America and around the world. The biggest news was the move by the domestic mills to raise flat rolled steel prices. ArcelorMittal led the way on March 17th when […]
The following article was written by contributing writer David Phelps. Mr. Phelps is recently retired from his duties as the Director of the American Institute for International Steel. In that capacity he had occasion to interact with the domestic steel mills. The following article contains the viewpoint of Mr. Phelps regarding Big River Steel and […]
The following article was written by contributing writer David Phelps. Mr. Phelps is recently retired from his duties as the Director of the American Institute for International Steel. In that capacity he had occasion to interact with the domestic steel mills. The following article contains the viewpoint of Mr. Phelps regarding Big River Steel and […]
The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) released their third estimate of real GDP today, (March 27th) for Q4 2013. The third is normally the final estimate though there sometimes are revisions further back in time. GDP rose in the fourth quarter by 2.6 percent at a seasonally adjusted annual rate, this was an upward revision […]
The U.S. Department of Commerce reported Preliminary Census Data for February 2014 steel imports into the United States. Total steel imports (all products) were reported to be 3,250,176 net tons which is an increase of 30 percent year over year and well above both the 12 month and 3 month moving average. As you can […]
Details on steel trade data out of China were released earlier this week on iron ore imports, steel scrap imports, and flat rolled steel imports and exports. Chinese imports of iron ore in February were 61,240,000 metric tons (MT), a decrease of 29.6 percent from the previous month but an increase of 8.5 percent from […]
I have been asked about the rumor mill surrounding coated products and especially the Asian 4 exporting countries. The Asian 4 are: China, India, Taiwan and South Korea. Steel Market Update is aware that at least one mill has been pushing for dumping suits on coated products. We understand that not all mills favor the […]
The following article on hot rolled futures (HRC), #1 busheling futures (BUS) as well as information regarding the iron ore spot pricing and futures trading in China is written by Andre Marshall, CEO of Crunch Risk, LLC and the instructor for Steel Market Update’s Managing Price Risk workshop series. Our new: Managing Price Risk 2: […]
Ferrous scrap exports totaled 898,156 metric tons (990,046 net tons or NT) for the month of January, a 42.7 percent decrease in exports from December 2013. This is a 41.4 percent decrease over the same month last year when tonnage was 1,689,288 NT. Global exports haven’t been this low since January of 2006 when they […]
Both these data points are reported in the Federal Reserve G17 data base. The Industrial Production (IP) index was reported as 101.63 for February, this was the fourth consecutive month for the index to exceed the pre-recession peak of September 2007. The three month moving average, (3MMA) of the index expanded by 0.62 month on […]
Each month the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) puts out its series of producer price indexes for thousands of goods and materials. The latest release on Friday reported February results. These statistics are a useful way to evaluate any changes in the competitive position of steel against competing materials. See below for the official description […]
The following article on the financial, hot rolled coil futures, busheling scrap futures and iron ore markets is written by Andre Marshall, CEO of Crunchrisk, LLC and our Managing Price Risk 1 and 2 instructor. Financial Markets: Today was not a good one, a repeat of last week when the market retraced on the back […]
Canada was the highest volume exporter of all carbon and low alloy steel products to the US in both the last 12 and 3 month periods through January with 4,956,812 and 1,172,616 tons respectively (Figure 1). Mexico came in 4th in 12 months after Brazil and Korea but was bumped into 5th place by Russia […]
Total January 2014 US steel exports were 963,060 net tons (NT), a 10.5 percent increase over December 2013 figures but down 10.6 percent compared to January 2013. Total exports in January were above the three month moving average but below the twelve month moving average. The top countries receiving US exports were Canada at 54.8 […]
Apparent steel supply for January was 9,386,260 net tons, a 1.1 percent increase compared to the same month one year ago. Although steel imports were up and exports decreased over these periods, the decrease in domestic shipments negated any big changes in total apparent supply. The net trade balance between steel imports and exports was […]
Met coal prices are plummeting and oversupply is the problem, says Goldman Sachs. On Friday, Goldman cut its metallurgical coal average price estimate for 2014 to $141 per metric ton from $150 due to higher Australian output and slower demand from China along with “limited U.S. supply rationalization.” Bank of America Merrill Lynch agrees that […]
An ousted president, deadly violence, military insurgence and a possible secession—the crisis in the Ukraine has been moving at an alarming speed in the last several weeks. As the Ukraine struggles to create a new government, economic sanctions are increasingly being considered by the global powers to sway preferred outcomes. The US and the EU […]
Russia and the Ukraine are major steel producers and exporters of steel to the rest of the world. Under the current political upheaval associated with these two countries, Steel Market Update thought it might be interesting for our readers to understand what steel products are being imported from the two countries into the United States. […]
Total steel imports in January were 3,205,246 net tons (NT), the highest levels Steel Market Update has recorded since we began keeping track of monthly import data in mid-2009. January tonnage is a 27.9 percent increase over December figures and well above both the three month moving average (3MMA) and twelve month moving average (12MMA). […]
Iron ore spot prices in China plummeted for the third week. During the past three weeks 62% Fe fines dropped by 6 percent and 58% Fe by 5 percent, according to data compiled by The Steel Index (TSI). Since the beginning of the year iron ore has fallen by 12 percent and is at the […]
Steel Market Update has been in constant contact with one of our Asian trading sources who is a trader of iron ore to Chinese steel mills and exporter of finished steel out of China around the world. We have been discussing the iron ore “bubble” which continues to inflate and our source believes it will […]
Chinese imports of iron ore in January were 86,830,000 metric tons (MT), an increase of 18.3 percent from the previous month and an increase of 32.5 percent from January 2012. Total iron ore imports for 2013 were adjusted to 819,410,000 MT. January imports of steel scrap were 160,000 MT, down 48.4 percent from December and […]
Scrap exports closed out the year of 2103 at 18,470,000 tons, down by 2,888,702 tonnes or 13.5 percent from 2012. Turkey alone was down by 1,169,000 and the Far East as a whole was down by 942,000 tonnes or 9.9 percent. Figure 1 shows the three month moving average of total exports and of the […]
We have posted the latest imports by product, port and country in the Premium section of the website. The most recent data is through the end of 2013. Some of the highlights include totals for hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized and “other metallic coated” which is primarily Galvalume. This report provided information which can help […]
Andre Marshall of Crunch Risk, LLC shared the following information about iron ore and busheling futures trading for the past week. Iron Ore: As always traders make a big deal about the Chinese post New Year’s holiday making a big buying push upon their return, but it appears whatever buying has been done hasn’t been […]
Apparent steel supply for December was 8,662,212 net tons (NT), a 4.14 percent increase compared to the same month one year ago. This was due to a slight increase in domestic shipments and a decrease in exports. The net trade balance from the difference between imports and exports was a surplus of 1,635,411 net tons […]
December 2013 U.S. exports for all steel products fell 7.2 percent over November to 871,384 net tons (NT). Compared to December of the previous year when total exports were 969,783 NT, December 2014 exports were down over 10.1 percent. December tonnage was below both the 3 and 12 month moving average (MMA). The primary countries […]
POSCO announced the completion of a second continuous galvanizing line in Altamira, Tamauliapas, that will serve the flourishing automobile industry in Mexico. The new facility has an annual capacity of 500,000 tons and will produce galvanized steel sheet used in exterior panels of high end automobiles. Products from 2CGL will include ‘GI Ace’ and 780mPa […]
Shipments of sheet and strip products in 2013 as a whole were 49,608,408 tons, a decrease of 1.7 percent from the total for 2012. Shipments in Q4 averaged 4,100,162 tons / month, a decrease of 2 percent from Q3 but an increase of 3.7 percent from Q4 last year. Comparing YTD shipments for 2013 to […]
Steel analyst Charles Bradford of Bradford Research spoke at the Port of Tampa Steel Conference this past week. He presented a relatively upbeat analysis of the domestic steel industry. He began by referring to a recent McKinsey and Company report which basically said, “The steel industry has had it, it’s over. The industry doesn’t make […]