Steel buyers are hoping the market will find a bottom soon, but it did not happen in the past week. Steel Market Update data indicates that hot rolled and cold rolled both saw further declines averaging around $10 per ton. Plate prices saw a small increase. Here is how we see prices this week: Hot […]
Prices declined further on all types of steel products in the past week, according to Steel Market Update sources. Demand appears soft as buyers wait to see if import offers pick up now that President Trump has cut tariffs on Canada, Mexico and Turkey. Here is how we see prices this week: Hot Rolled Coil: […]
Average lead times for spot orders of hot rolled, galvanized and plate steels continue to shorten as mill production, at more than 80 percent capacity, appears to be outpacing demand. Hot rolled lead times are now approaching three and a half weeks, cold rolled less than six weeks, and galvanized and Galvalume slightly above six […]
Steel Market Update data on negotiations and pricing corroborate the same trend. More than eight out of 10 flat rolled steel buyers responding to SMU’s market trends questionnaire this week reported that the mills are willing to talk price to win their business. Thus, it’s no surprise that steel prices continue to move lower. About […]
Steel prices declined yet again this week with some hot rolled offers falling below the $600 per ton level, according to Steel Market Update data. The market will be watching intently in the coming weeks to see if imports from Canada and Mexico add to the downward price pressure, now that President Trump has removed […]
Demand for long products and tubular goods have shown strong growth, but sheet products are declining. This analysis by SMU staff is based on data from the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) and the U.S. Department of Commerce (DoC). The analysis summarizes total steel supply by product from 2003 through March 2019 and year-on-year […]
Flat rolled and plate steel prices continued their slide this week. There continues to be a wide spread between hot rolled base pricing and that of cold rolled and coated steels. The changes in pricing shown below do not reduce the spreads, which have been running $150-$170 per ton. Normal spreads should be closer to […]
With steel prices moving down or sideways and demand softening in some markets, it’s no surprise that most mills are willing to talk price to win business in the current environment. Eight out of 10 of the flat rolled steel buyers responding to Steel Market Update’s questionnaire this week report that prices are in play […]
Average lead times for spot orders of steel have shortened in the past month, suggesting that the mills are not as booked as they would like to be at this time of year. Hot rolled lead times now average less than four weeks, cold rolled less than six weeks, and galvanized and Galvalume slightly above […]
Steel buyers are still trying to get a sense for what is driving this market and market pricing. We are seeing weakness in prices even though foreign steel imports are down, import price offers are higher than domestic steel prices and demand is pretty good for most of the market segments using sheet or plate […]
Earlier this week the U.S. Department of Commerce released the latest foreign steel import license data. Based on this data, the trend is for 2.8 million net tons of foreign steel imports to arrive in the United States during the month of April. This is essentially unchanged from March, but higher than the 2.4 million […]
This comment from a large national service center says it all: “Prices are all over the place. It’s as if the discipline is lost. Different mills all seem to have some sort of hole or gap they’re trying to fill causing pricing heartburn.” Steel Market Update saw further erosion in spot prices on flat rolled […]
The vast majority of flat rolled and plate steel buyers are reporting to Steel Market Update that prices on all products will be moving at best sideways, with most believing prices will move lower from here. We are seeing pressure on hot rolled, cold rolled and plate prices right now as indexes on these products […]
Steel buyers continue to express concerns about hot rolled, cold rolled and plate steels. We have seen weakness in those products over the past week to two weeks. Galvanized and Galvalume have had more staying power, however buyers are not rushing to fill their inventories at today’s pricing. There is a wait-and-see attitude regarding future […]
Steel Dynamics has narrowed the choice for its new flat rolled steel mill to either Texas or Louisiana. The planned $1.8 billion EAF mill will have an annual production capacity of 3 million tons and include a 450,000-ton galvanizing line and 250,000-ton paint line with Galvalume capability. The mill will differentiate itself by producing higher […]
“A somewhat challenging flat-rolled price environment” is how Steel Dynamics CEO Mark Millett described the first quarter of 2019. SDI posted net income of $204 million in the first quarter and sales of $2.8 billion. Lower steel prices impacted sales resulting in 3.0 percent decline sequentially. Operating income for the company’s steel operations fell 22 […]
Demand for long products and tubular goods has seen strong growth, but sheet products are declining. This analysis by SMU staff is based on data from the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) and the U.S. Department of Commerce (DoC). The analysis summarizes total steel supply by product from 2003 through February 2019 and year-on-year […]
Mills are willing to talk price on all types of steel products to get the orders, report the vast majority of buyers responding to Steel Market Update’s questionnaire this week. Corroborating the trend, SMU data shows steel prices moving downward or sideways, raising questions about current steel demand. About 86 percent of respondents said the […]
Average lead times for spot orders of steel, including all types of products, have shortened slightly in the past two weeks. Hot rolled lead times now average around four weeks, cold rolled and Galvalume around six weeks, and galvanized down to nearly six and a half weeks. Lead times for plate are now less than […]
First, please be aware that Sunday is Easter and Steel Market Update will not publish an issue on Sunday evening. Our next issue will be on Tuesday, April 23. We have been receiving calls and getting comments associated with our release of the SMU Service Center Inventories Analysis in Sunday evening’s issue where we showed […]
Flat rolled steel prices saw a little more weakening this week, and steel buyers are concerned that more erosion in prices could be coming in the next few months. Here is how we see prices this week: Hot Rolled Coil: SMU price range is $640-$700 per ton ($32.00/cwt-$35.00/cwt) with an average of $670 per ton […]
I am making the following comments in my Final Thoughts section for a reason. My Final Thoughts is the area where I will sometimes provide my opinion or make comments regarding conversations that I am having about the market that I haven’t been able to totally put my finger on yet. I know that may […]
We saw weakness in a number of the products we index this week. We are not seeing a collapse of the market, and as we discuss in another article in tonight’s issue, there are regional and product differences. The various products are not working in concert right now. We moved our Price Momentum Indicators on […]
SMU was speaking to a coated sheet steel buyer this afternoon about flat rolled steel prices. He made an interesting observation about how the markets have become quite complicated. When looking at galvanized, for example, there are different starting points for light gauge, medium gauge and heavy gauge steels. There are also regional differences (southern […]
We saw weakness in a number of the products we index this week. We are not seeing a collapse of the market, and as we discuss in another article in tonight’s issue, there are regional and product differences. The various products are not working in concert right now. We moved our Price Momentum Indicators on […]
SMU was speaking to a coated sheet steel buyer this afternoon about flat rolled steel prices. He made an interesting observation about how the markets have become quite complicated. When looking at galvanized, for example, there are different starting points for light gauge, medium gauge and heavy gauge steels. There are also regional differences (southern […]
Sales of HVAC products remain fairly strong in most parts of the country, but prices don’t fully reflect that demand, reported members of the Heating, Air-conditioning and Refrigeration Distributors International in their monthly conference call. “I still think the market is fragile,” commented one HARDI member. “The mills have a lot of fundamentals in their […]
A comment from a steel buyer today as we discussed steel prices, “That’s what I like about the steel business, there is always a new dynamic.” Put another way by one of my trading mentors a number of years back, in the steel industry prices are either going up or they are going down, there […]
I’m going to give you more than advertisements in tonight’s Final Thoughts. I have been struggling with our SMU Price Momentum Indicator. It appears that each product has a life of its own, and I need to do a deeper analysis of each to determine where my Momentum Indicator needs to be. Right now, I […]
The majority of respondents to Steel Market Update’s questionnaire this week reported mills willing to talk price in every product category, even plate, which may say something about the current state of steel demand. About 76 percent of respondents said the mills are open to price negotiations on hot rolled, up 20 points from the […]