Flat rolled steel prices continued their decline this past week. We saw numbers sliding on all products on the indexes followed by Steel Market Update. Steel prices dropped on hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized and Galvalume as well as plate products. Benchmark hot rolled pricing dropped $15 per ton to an average of $580 per […]
Flat rolled prices continued their skid despite the Memorial Day Holiday. Prices were lower by $5 to $15 per ton depending on product. Steel buyers continue to be concerned about the direction of prices and how long this downward spiral will last. We have more on the comments received today as we canvassed both end […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) spend the majority of today discussing the flat rolled steel markets with steel buyers from around the country. The main topic of conversation was pricing, which is anticipated will drop over the next 30 days and Section 232 which is expected to end that drop… Flat rolled steel buyers reported most […]
Flat rolled steel prices dropped last week as all three of the indexes followed by Steel Market Update (SMU) reported lower pricing. Benchmark hot rolled prices dropped by double digits last week with SMU and Platts at $595 per ton as the week ended and SteelBenchmarker dropping $12 per ton to $611 per ton. The […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) has been contacted by end users, distributors and steel mills regarding an article published by another trade publication on Galvalume. The article, which was published on Thursday, May 18, 2017, quoted Keith Medick, president and CEO of Union Corrugating Company, as he made the point that there is not enough light […]
“There’s been further erosion with EAF’s dropping spot to $570-$580, not necessarily tied to volume,” is what one large service center told us this afternoon. “[I am] afraid this market at risk of bigger drops than was anticipated.” Flat rolled price averages were lower across all products followed by Steel Market Update with the exception […]
The U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) reported foreign steel import license data earlier today. May licenses continue at a 3.6 million net ton pace which is quite disturbing (and probably not well timed based on the Section 232 hearing happening on Wednesday). However, almost one-third of the imports are attached directly to the steel mills […]
Flat rolled steel prices continued to slip lower this past week according to the steel indexes followed by Steel Market Update. Benchmark hot rolled prices slipped $5 per ton on both Platts and our own index. SteelBenchmarker did not report prices as they only produce prices twice per week. The hot rolled average is quickly […]
Flat rolled lead times have been shrinking over the past eight weeks according to the results of this week’s SMU Flat Rolled Steel Market Trends questionnaire. Buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel are reporting shorter lead times than what we measured at the beginning of May and lead times on all products are much […]
Since early Monday morning of this week, Steel Market Update (SMU) has been conducting an inquiry into the flat rolled steel markets. We discovered lead times have shrunk which usually relates to lower steel prices and more willingness by the domestic steel mills to negotiate spot prices being offered into the market. SMU inquired on […]
The U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) reported foreign steel import license data earlier this week. Based on the daily rate and projecting it over the course of the entire month of May we are anticipating another 3.0 million net ton month. As of the 17th of May the trend is for imports to be close […]
A number of our readers have requested details regarding the CORE (corrosion resistant which is galvanized, Galvalume, etc.), cold rolled and hot rolled trade suit status and when the one-year anniversary for each product are potential reviews are due. Steel Market Update (SMU) went to trade attorney Lewis Leibowitz for answers and he provided the […]
Earlier today, Steel Market Update (SMU) adjusted our Price Momentum Indicator from Neutral to Lower. Flat rolled prices have been slowly dropping for more than a month and it does not appear there is anything that is going to stop the leak from continuing, at least not over the next 30 days. Flat rolled steel […]
Hot rolled prices have been dropping over the past few weeks and that trend continued with all three steel indexes followed by Steel Market Update reporting lower hot rolled coil price averages last week. Steel Market Update’s (SMU) own index saw HRC prices as being down $15 per ton ($0.75/cwt) to $610 per ton ($30.50/cwt). […]
The latest license data was reported by the Steel Import Monitoring and Analysis system of the US Commerce Department on May 2nd and closed out the April data. An explanation of the methodology that we at SMU use to analyze the trade data is given at the end of this piece. All volumes in this […]
We saw mixed results this week with two products moving lower (hot rolled and galvanized), two remained the same (cold rolled and Galvalume), and plate prices rose a modest $5 per ton. Here is how we see prices this week: Hot Rolled Coil: SMU price range is $580-$640 per ton ($29.00/cwt-$32.00/cwt) with an average of […]
Last week we saw adjustments to the indices that brought the Steel Market Update and Platts numbers closer to one another. Hot rolled is now averaging $625 per ton ($31.25/cwt) on both SMU and Platts (SteelBenchmarker did not provide numbers last week as they only publish their indices twice per month). The spread between the […]
Flat rolled steel lead times are running essentially flat (same as what we have been reporting over the past few weeks) based on the responses we received from manufacturing companies and service centers this week. Lead time is the amount of time it takes a domestic steel mill to produce a new order if placed […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) has been conducting one of our flat rolled steel market trends surveys this week. According to those responding to our questionnaire, steel mill resistance to holding firm on flat rolled steel spot prices is in free fall. A very large portion of our respondents reported mills as willing to negotiate on […]
From Steel Market Update perspective the past week was fairly quiet and we did not find any huge changes in prices from what we had reported one week ago. We have a flat rolled steel market trends survey in process right now and a portion of our indices are based on the approximately 100 companies […]
Steel prices were down across the board this past week according to the indexes followed by Steel Market Update. The biggest drops were on our own indices as we saw large moves in hot rolled, cold rolled and galvanized steel with a smaller move in Galvalume. Our plate prices were up slightly as we continue […]
Is the newly initiated Section 232 the Black Swan event that will remove steel supply from the market and tip the balance of supply/demand in favor of the domestic steel mills, thus pushing prices to levels not seen since 2008? There should not be any doubt that the make-up of the Trump Administration, coupled with […]
The industry is abuzz with all kinds of speculation as to how the Section 232 investigation will impact traders and steel buyers. Another Section 232 was announced and should have been signed by President Trump today covering aluminum. I was texting with one of the steel mills this morning about their access to aluminum for […]
Galvalume imports through the first three months 2017 total 292,843 net tons. If this pace continues throughout the calendar year imports of “other metallic” products (with the majority being Galvalume) could exceed 1.1 million tons despite the antidumping and countervailing duty suits. As you can see by the table below, there has been steady growth […]
We have an unusual market. What Steel Market Update is seeing is confidence by most of the steel mills. They feel there may be some minor adjustments in spot pricing as a few mills jockey to maintain their order books. At the same time, most steel buyers are being supportive of the price levels we […]
There has been much discussion about the impact of foreign steel on the U.S. economy and specifically how it impacts the steel industry and steel prices. Most in the steel industry believe foreign steel to be a cancer on world trading while others see it as a way of taking wealth from one country and […]
Flat rolled spot prices are slipping based on an analysis of the Steel Market Update (SMU) and Platts flat rolled steel indexes. We found lower average pricing on hot rolled and cold rolled this week with no movement in galvanized and Galvalume. SMU had plate prices down $20 per ton while Platts kept plate prices […]
Since Thursday, when President Donald Trump signed his executive order calling for an analysis of the steel industry from a “national security” perspective, I have been swamped with emails and phone calls questioning what is going on and what do I think about the chances of something happening that will impact the amount of foreign […]
The U.S. Department of Commerce released the latest update on foreign steel import license request on Tuesday evening. The data suggest that April will be similar to that of March where license data is at 3.5 million net tons. Both March and the April trend a well above both the 12 month and 3 month […]
Over the course of the last four days Steel Market Update (SMU) has been conducting our mid-April flat rolled steel market trends analysis. We finished earlier this afternoon and we are providing the results of some of our findings to our readers this evening. Lead times, which is the length of time it takes to […]