To date the domestic steel mills have announced four flat rolled price increases totaling a minimum of $140 per ton ($7.00/cwt) going back to October 21, 2016. As of today the U.S. steel mills are looking for base price levels on new orders to be placed for the 1st Quarter 2017 to be a minimum […]
Over the past four days Steel Market Update has been conducting one of our market trends surveys. The respondents to our queries have provided data indicating slightly longer lead times on hot rolled, cold rolled and Galvalume while galvanized lead times remained steady at mid-November levels. The lead times reported in this article are the […]
According to those participating in this week’s flat rolled steel market trends survey the domestic steel mills are taking a firm stance to price negotiations. Since the first price increase announcements were made in late October the percentage of steel buyers reporting the mills as willing to negotiate prices has dropped from a high of […]
Flat rolled steel prices continued their march higher after the 4th price increase announcement set the bar at $600 per ton for hot rolled and $820 per ton on cold rolled and coated steels. The total of the four increases is a “minimum” of $140 per ton going back to the first announcement made on […]
Flat rolled steel prices continued to increase this past week with both Steel Market Update and Platts reporting steady to upward movements for all products. The average hot rolled price between SMU and Platts is $560 per ton (up $10 over last week), and the average cold rolled price is $775 per ton (up $18 […]
Late in the day on Wednesday, Nucor and NLMK USA advised their customers of their intention to raise spot flat rolled prices by an additional $40 per ton. This follows ArcelorMittal’s announcement on Tuesday of specific minimum base price levels of $600 per ton hot rolled, $820 per ton cold rolled and coated steel products […]
Today ArcelorMittal USA announced new minimum base price levels for orders of hot rolled, cold rolled and coated products. This is the 4th flat rolled steel price announcement since late October. The announcement takes base prices to the following minimum levels: Hot Rolled = $600 per ton ($30.00/cwt) Cold Rolled = $820 per ton ($41.00/cwt) […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) spend the last 24 hours researching the flat rolled steel markets in an effort to come to a resolution on what the price spread is on hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized and Galvalume steels. We found about 90-95 percent of the buyers reporting the domestic steel mills as “firm” in their […]
The U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) reported Preliminary Census Data for the month of October which came in at just under 2.7 million tons (2,681,608 net tons). At the same time the DOC updated license data which we warned last week was being over-stated at close to 3.0 million net tons. According to the license […]
As of late this afternoon www.Kitco.com was reporting zinc spot pricing around $1.22 per pound. Zinc recently reported prices not seen in the past 9 years and those of you buying galvanized and Galvalume steels need to be aware of how zinc is trading. The U.S. steel mills published new extras just as zinc pierced […]
Flat rolled steel prices continued their march higher this past week with both SMU and Platts reporting movement in the average prices of hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized, Galvalume and plate products. Platts moved their prices by large double digits this past week. Platts took hot rolled up $35 per ton, cold rolled up $45 […]
Every two weeks Steel Market Update publishes an analysis of flat rolled steel mill lead times by product. In our last newsletter we told our readers that those responding to our questionnaire just before Thanksgiving said hot rolled lead times were averaging 4.18 weeks from the time a new order is placed until the steel […]
Flat rolled steel prices continue to move as the steel buyers absorb the three increases announced by the domestic steel mills going back to October 21st. Most buyers are telling Steel Market Update that this week is relatively quiet due to the Thanksgiving Holiday but the mill remain steadfast in their resolve to garnish higher […]
Flat rolled steel lead times continued to move out (extend) according to those taking our flat rolled steel market trends survey which we began on Friday and concluded earlier today. Lead times are now more than one week longer than year ago levels as steel buyers have entered the market in response to the three […]
We are being a bit facetious when we tell steel buyers to “forget about it” when asked if the steel mills are willing to negotiate flat rolled steel prices. According to those taking our mid-November flat rolled steel market trends survey, the percent of buyers reporting the mills as willing to negotiate has dwindled from […]
Flat rolled steel prices increased on two of the three steel indexes with benchmark hot rolled up $45 per ton according to Steel Market Update with Platts reporting HRC prices as being up $10 per ton. SteelBenchmarker, on the other hand, saw HRC prices as being down $4 per ton. So, we have quite a […]
With the antidumping (AD) and countervailing (CVD) duties cases on hot rolled, cold rolled and CORE (coated products such as galvanized and Galvalume) having gone through the investigation process, decisions on duties or deposit rates for various countries were announced in the Final Determinations. The US Department of Commerce (DOC) has issued deposit rates that […]
Flat rolled steel prices shot up this week in response to two price increase announcements within the past 8 days. ArcelorMittal provided base price guidance on Monday for $560 for hot rolled ($28.00/cwt) and $780 base on cold rolled and coated ($39.00/cwt). A number of mills followed with some announcing $30-$40 per ton and others […]
Is everyone strapped in? The rollercoaster is clearly on the way back up and the question today is will benchmark hot rolled exceed the previous cycle highs of $635 per ton ($31.75/cwt) set in mid-June 2016? Flat rolled steel indexes followed by Steel Market Update recorded higher average pricing on hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized, […]
We received a question from the financial community about “significant transformation” and the U.S. Department of Commerce initiation of an investigation into circumvention by China where hot rolled or cold rolled substrate is sent to Vietnam where it is then converted to cold rolled (from HRC) or coated steels. Their question was about the following […]
We believe that misinformation (or lack of) about regional foreign steel import volumes is often used to influence purchase decisions. Our intent with this analysis of tonnage by district of entry is to describe in detail what is going on in a company’s immediate neighborhood and, thus, provide a negotiating advantage for our premium subscribers. […]
The amount of time it takes a steel mill to produce a product once a new order is placed is measured in weeks. Twice per month Steel Market Update (SMU) conducts a market trends analysis on the flat rolled steel industry. We invite just under 600 steel executives representing about 550 companies to participate in […]
One of the areas of our focus during our twice monthly flat rolled steel trends survey is how flexible are the domestic steel mills when negotiating spot steel prices with their customers? Over the past three months the mills have been willing to discuss discounts in order to obtain business. We found this on all […]
I am about to embark on a two-week trip which includes stops in Memphis (and Big River Steel in Arkansas), Las Vegas (FabTech and ASD annual meeting), San Diego and then on to Los Angeles to have Thanksgiving with my daughter and the rest of our family. I will be in the office early tomorrow […]
Steel buyers and steel mill sellers are beginning to come to the same conclusion, the steel mills have the momentum and flat rolled steel prices are beginning to rise. What may be surprising steel buyers, especially those who do not read publications like Steel Market Update, is the pace and the strength of the market […]
On Monday, November 7, 2016 ArcelorMittal USA began advising their customers of their intention of raising steel base prices to specific minimum levels. The announcement came from an internal memo (or email from the various sales representatives of the mill) which stated, “Effective immediately, the following minimum base prices will be applicable to all new […]
The U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) released Final Census Data on imports of foreign steel for the month of September 2016. Imports totaled 2,775,565 net tons which is 9.5 percent below the August import numbers. The U.S. continues to see strong imports of semi-finished steels (slabs/billets) which are used by the domestic steel mills. Hot […]
Flat rolled steel prices have begun their ascent as the $30 per ton price increase begins to be collected by the domestic steel mills. Both Platts and Steel Market Update have hot rolled prices moving up by $10 per ton this past week with SMU at $480 and Platts at $485 per ton by week’s […]
It does not feel like a “rocket” market. By that we mean we are seeing prices skyrocketing at a breakneck pace. Don’t get us wrong. Prices have indeed changed coarse and the Momentum is for prices to trend higher over the next month of two. We just need to be careful as different products and […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) is adjusting our Price Momentum Indicator to “Higher” from Neutral. It is our opinion that flat rolled steel prices in the United States and Canada will move higher over the next 30 to 60 days. There are a number of reasons why we have chosen to make this move now, here […]