Flat rolled lead times, the amount of time it takes for the steel mills to produce an order if placed today, have shortened ever so slightly in the past month, according to data collected by Steel Market Update (SMU) from manufacturers and steel service centers earlier this week. Viewed over a longer time frame, lead […]
We believe that misinformation, or a lack of information, about regional import volumes is often used to influence purchase decisions. Our intent with this analysis of sheet steel imports by district of entry and source through July 2017 is to describe in detail what is going on in a company’s immediate neighborhood and thus provide […]
Total rolled steel imports increased by 10.8 percent in the three months through August compared to the three months through May. Sheet product imports rose by 14.3 percent on the same basis, according to final license data for August reported by the U.S. Commerce Department on Aug. 6. The data is reported within the Steel […]
Flat rolled prices have been mixed since we last produced our indices on Thursday of last week. The expectation is for prices to go higher from here, although Steel Market Update (SMU) is waiting to see how those responding to our flat rolled steel market trends questionnaire feel about the current and future markets. We […]
The various steel indexes followed by Steel Market Update (SMU) had flat rolled and steel plate prices as mixed last week. SMU, Platts and SteelBenchmarker all had hot rolled prices as averaging $630 per ton. SMU had HRC up $5, SteelBenchmarker was up $10 and Platts remained the same as the prior week. Cold rolled […]
We did not review pricing earlier this week due to all of our staff being at the SMU Steel Summit Conference in Atlanta. During the conference, we did not want to discuss pricing in an open format. We did check on pricing today and found mixed results depending on the product. Within the data, we […]
The following table is for the month of August 2017. Most of the data speaks for itself. We produce this information at the end of every month. There are a number of data points or reference points that are proprietary to Steel Market Update. These include our SMU Price Momentum Indicator which, at the end […]
Last week, Steel Market Update (SMU) saw prices as being modestly higher than the week before, while Platts held their prices steady. For the week, SMU had hot rolled up $10, but our $625 per ton average is still below the $630 being reported by Platts. Cold rolled prices averaged $815 per ton at SMU […]
Today, 25 steel mills and related companies, as well as the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) and Steel Manufacturers Association (SMA), sent a letter to President Trump asking that he act on Section 232 and stop foreign steel from damaging the domestic steel industry. According to the letter, 30 percent of the apparent supply […]
Last week, the flat rolled and plate steel mills announced price increases. Steel Market Update has seen prices rise in the mill spot markets (not in the service center spot markets) by $10 to $20 per ton. We are hearing from steel buyers (and a couple of mills) that the number of spot orders have […]
Over the last few weeks, the price of zinc has risen to over $1.41 per pound on the London Metal Exchange, and I thought it was time for an update on a series of articles I’ve written on the actual metallic cost of coating steel with zinc. To do the calculation, I use a spreadsheet […]
During the week of Aug. 14, 2017, the U.S. steel mills advised their flat rolled and steel plate customers of their intention to increase spot prices on hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized and Galvalume steels, as well as plate. The flat rolled mills announced $30 per ton base price increases on new spot business. For […]
Zinc prices hit a 10-year high this past week, climbing to $3,000 per metric ton ($1.36 per pound) on the London Metal Exchange on Wednesday. Strong global demand and shrinking inventory boosted prices, as well as a shortage of Chinese zinc. The primary use of zinc is for the production of coated steels such as […]
Zinc prices hit a 10-year high this past week, climbing to $3,000 per metric ton ($1.36 per pound) on the London Metal Exchange on Wednesday. By Monday, zinc had risen to $1.41 per pound. Strong global demand and shrinking inventory boosted prices, as well as a shortage of Chinese zinc. The primary use of zinc […]
The three steel indexes followed by Steel Market Update reporting this past week saw prices differently. Steel Market Update, which gathered its pricing information on Monday through Wednesday of this past week, found prices to be lower on all flat rolled products and plate. Platts, on the other hand, reported hot rolled prices higher late […]
The number of U.S.-based flat rolled steel mills announcing price increases on hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized and Galvalume has reached six. On Tuesday of this week, Nucor Sheet Mill Group became the first flat rolled steel mill to raise transaction pricing on spot flat rolled steel. The Nucor increase was for a “minimum” of […]
Flat rolled lead times, the amount of time it takes for the steel mills to produce an order if placed today, have flattened out and are essentially unchanged over the past few months, according to data collected by Steel Market Update from manufacturers and steel service centers earlier this week. On Monday, Steel Market Update […]
Steel buyers and sellers reported mills slightly more open to steel price discussions, based on responses this week from Steel Market Update’s flat rolled market trends questionnaire, possibly reflecting the seasonal slowdown in sales activity. What makes the results collected on mills willingness to negotiate pricing especially interesting is the domestic steel mills began announcing […]
Flat rolled steel prices slipped over the past week just as the domestic steel mills began to announce new price increases. Were the increases in reaction to the slippage? Were they in response to new higher scrap costs for August delivery? Most likely, it was a combination of both. We found the spread widening on […]
Four flat rolled steel mills, Nucor, NLMK USA, California Steel Industries (CSI) and ArcelorMittal USA, announced spot price increases today on all flat rolled steels produced at each mill. The Nucor Sheet Mill Group, which handles flat rolled steel products, announced a minimum of $30 per ton ($1.50/cwt) price increase on hot rolled, cold rolled […]
Based on the steel indexes followed by Steel Market Update (SMU), there were some very minor changes to hot rolled and cold rolled prices this past week, while coated products were unchanged and plate products fell. Both Platts and SMU had hot rolled falling by $5 per ton with both indexes reporting the HRC average […]
Flat rolled steel prices remained range-bound on most items for yet another week. We picked up a couple of points of weakness in coated products, but they seem to be isolated in nature. Many of the steel buyers are reporting the mills (especially Nucor) are talking up the idea of a price increase on flat […]
It is now official. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, June 2017 foreign steel imports totaled 3,923,126 net tons and are at the highest levels seen since January 2015, prior to the antidumping (AD) and countervailing duties (CVD) trade suits being filed. Approximately one-quarter of the imports were semi-finished steels (mostly slabs) with the […]
Flat rolled and plate steel prices were essentially flat this past week as both Steel Market Update and Platts saw hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized and Galvalume steel prices remaining the same as the previous week. With Section 232 being put on the back burner, the flood of foreign steel imports (prompted by the original […]
Responses to two questions in Steel Market Update’s latest flat roll market trends analysis elicited a clear consensus from our participants: The Trump administration’s delay in acting on Section 232 could open the door to more foreign steel imports. But the government should not necessarily penalize foreign countries just because they export a high rate […]
Flat rolled lead times have seen little change in the past month. Twice per month, Steel Market Update conducts an analysis of the flat rolled sheet and plate markets based on responses to a comprehensive questionnaire. When looking at lead times, the analysis is restricted to responses from manufacturers and distributors, who accounted for 84 […]
Over the course of this week, Steel Market Update has been canvassing active participants in the flat rolled steel markets as we try to capture any changes in market trends. The more than 100 respondents we had this week provided us a snapshot on how steel mills are handling price negotiations. As a group, respondents […]
Total imports of rolled steel increased by 16.9 percent, and sheet products by 18.4 percent, in the three months through July, compared with the prior three months, according to final license data for July released by the U.S. Commerce Department on Aug. 1. The three-month moving average (3MMA) of the total volume of rolled product […]
Steel Market Update has seen a bit of a yo-yo effect to flat rolled and plate steel prices over the past few weeks. Since the word got out that the Section 232 decision would not be announced any time soon, the market has taken a step back to evaluate where prices will go from here. […]
Written by: John Packard, Founder, Steel Market Update Steel Market Update was incorporated and began selling subscriptions (memberships) of just our steel newsletter during August 2008. Today, we are celebrating our ninth birthday. I want to take a moment to thank our members and those who participate in our conference and workshops. I want to […]