Steel mills continue to press for higher prices and this week SMU found success on everything but hot rolled coil, which continues to lag behind the rest of the flat rolled market. We found that maintenance at Steel Dynamics and other mills over the next 30-45 days is weighing on some steel buyers. Here is […]
Domestic steelmakers appear to be collecting at least some of the price increases they have announced on flat rolled steel. Steel Market Update data shows prices for hot rolled, cold rolled and galvanized steel up by $10 to $25 per ton over last week. The mills hope to do the same with steel plate, announcing […]
Steel Market Update data indicates that the mills have been able to collect some, but not all, of their recent price increases. Their apparent willingness to continue negotiating on spot orders, as reported by steel buyers to SMU, casts doubt on the resolve they will need to collect the rest. Certainly, steel prices are much […]
Lead times for steel delivery have continued moving out over the past two weeks as the three price increases announced by the mills have drawn more buyers off the sidelines. The average lead time for hot rolled has moved up to more than four weeks, cold rolled to about six weeks, and coated steels to […]
Flat rolled steel prices continued their march higher – even prior to the ArcelorMittal USA price increase announcement. The domestic mills are determined to move prices higher. As one mill executive put it to Steel Market Update today, “I think the fall from $940 to $505 was too much, too fast. Way overshot a fair […]
This week we solicited input from steel buyers (and steel mills) regarding their reaction to the third round of price increases, which was kicked off by ArcelorMittal USA yesterday. On June 24, Nucor announced the first of the latest round of mill price increases on spot flat rolled steel. Nucor advised that hot rolled, cold […]
This week we solicited input from steel buyers (and steel mills) regarding their reaction to the third round of price increases, which was kicked off by ArcelorMittal USA yesterday. On June 24, Nucor announced the first of the latest round of mill price increases on spot flat rolled steel. Nucor advised that hot rolled, cold […]
The wait is over—Steel Dynamics has announced it will build its new $1.9 billion flat rolled steel mill in Sinton, Texas, 30 miles northwest of Corpus Christi. The new steel mill will serve the four-state Texas area, the western U.S. and Mexico market regions, representing approximately 27 million tons of relevant flat rolled steel consumption—7 […]
Imports of “finished” foreign steel are trending below 2 million net tons for the month of July. Overall, the trend, based on the first two weeks of license data for all products, is for a 3.2 million net ton month. SMU believes these numbers are overstated due to the opening of a new quarter and […]
We saw upward price movement in flat rolled steel prices this week. Benchmark hot rolled prices now average $550 per ton, up $15 per ton over the past week. All of the other products indexed by Steel Market Update also moved higher. Here is how we see prices this week: Hot Rolled Coil: SMU price […]
Demand for long products is very strong, driven by the construction industry. Demand for sheet products is declining. This analysis by Steel Market Update is based on steel mill shipment data from the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) and imports/export data from the U.S. Department of Commerce (DoC). The analysis summarizes total steel supply […]
Steel price negotiations have tightened considerably as the mills have begun to hold firm in support of two $40 per ton price increases announced in the past two weeks. Note that Steel Market Update began gathering the data below on Monday, just prior to the latest mill price increase announcements on Tuesday and Wednesday. In […]
Lead times for steel delivery have moved out a bit in the past two weeks, lending support to recent mill price increases. The average lead time for hot rolled has moved up to nearly four weeks, cold rolled to nearly six weeks, and coated steels to more than six weeks. Plate lead times are bucking […]
Our pricing data was collected on Monday and Tuesday of this week prior to the new Nucor price increase announcement on flat rolled steel. We are seeing the market as stable to slightly higher. This week, especially in light of the second price announcement (combined totaling $80 per ton), we will be able to see […]
Last week, the domestic steel mills raised prices on hot rolled, cold rolled and coated products (galvanized, Galvalume, etc.) by approximately $40 per ton ($2.00/cwt). Since then, we have seen lead times move on hot rolled by about 1 to 1.5 weeks, according to the steel buyers canvassed yesterday and today. Cold rolled and coated […]
U.S. steel imports saw a big drop in May, from unusually high levels in April, according to preliminary Census data. Total steel imports declined to less than 2.1 million tons in May from more than 3.3 million tons in the prior month. Imports were down significantly from April in all product categories except for Galvalume. […]
There seem to be more questions than answers regarding the move by the domestic flat rolled steel mills to increase spot base pricing on hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized and Galvalume steels. The move was taken as the low end of the benchmark hot rolled steel base pricing was dipping below $500 per ton. The […]
Flat rolled and plate steel prices tumbled again this week. The question now: Is this the last drop we will see as the domestic steel mills have stepped forward and announced price increases to the tune of $40 per ton? Base prices for benchmark hot rolled were beginning to pass through the psychological $500 per […]
As I expected, Nucor came out with a $40 per ton ($2.00/cwt) price increase on flat rolled this afternoon. This is the first Nucor price increase since Feb. 20, 2019. Shortly after the Nucor announcement, USS/POSCO followed with an increase letter of their own and then NLMK USA put out a letter identifying the minimum […]
Steel price negotiations have been wide open for the past two months and there is no sign of that changing in Steel Market Update’s latest data. More than nine out of 10 steel buyers responding to SMU’s market trends questionnaire this week reported that the mills are still willing to negotiate on flat rolled and […]
The market is keeping a close eye on mill lead times, hoping for some sign they are extending and perhaps signaling a pickup in order activity at the mills. Steel Market Update’s latest numbers, which show little change in lead times, are sure to disappoint. Lead times for steel delivery are a measure of demand […]
After a few weeks of dynamic price drops on all flat rolled and plate products, we saw prices moderate this week. Maybe a better way to put it is prices were flat to down slightly compared to one week ago when we saw major reductions in the spot numbers. Here is how we see prices […]
SMU now offers a comprehensive series of import reports ranging from the first look at licensed data to the very detailed look at volume by district of entry and source nation. The report you are reading now is designed to plug the gap between these two. Our intention is to report regional imports for six […]
This report examines the import share of sheet, plate, long and tubular products and 16 subcategories. Table 1 shows total supply to the market in three months through April and in 12 months through April for the four product groups and the 16 subcategories. Supply to the market is the total of domestic mill shipments […]
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 made by […]
Last week I spoke with Mark Millett, CEO of SDI, and he said to me, “Crazy market, isn’t it?” That is proving to be an understatement. Our price indices took major hits this week as we saw prices drop across the board. We heard the drop was blamed on scrap, on short lead times, on […]
U.S. steel imports appear to have declined in May from the big jump in April, based on a preliminary total of May license data from the Commerce Department. Semi-finished imports dropped sharply, from 1.3 million tons in April to 697,000 tons in May as domestic steelmakers worked down their supplies of foreign slabs. Imports totaling […]
It’s nearly unanimous that steel prices are in play. More than nine out of 10 flat rolled steel buyers responding to SMU’s market trends questionnaire this week reported that the mills are willing to negotiate price in order to secure the order. The vast majority even reported the mills willing to talk price on plate. […]
It’s nearly unanimous that steel prices are in play. More than nine out of 10 flat rolled steel buyers responding to SMU’s market trends questionnaire this week reported that the mills are willing to negotiate price in order to secure the order. The vast majority even reported the mills willing to talk price on plate. […]
Lead times for spot orders of all types of steel products continued to shorten in the past two weeks with demand falling below the pace of steel production. The average lead time for hot rolled is now below three and a half weeks, cold rolled is nearing five weeks, galvanized is less than six weeks […]