Mill lead times moved out over the past two weeks. We are seeing lead times extending by as much as one week on hot rolled and cold rolled and three quarters of a week on galvanized. We did some quick checking and HRC, CRC and GI lead times are the furthest we have recorded since […]
Buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel are reporting the domestic steel mills as much less willing to negotiate prices this week as compared to two weeks ago. Our market analysis saw major contraction in each of the products with hot rolled moving from 85 percent down to 48 percent. Cold rolled halved their previous […]
The US Department of Commerce released Final Census numbers for the month of February 2014. The 3,285,874 net tons was the highest level for imports since July 2007 when they were 3,288,054 NT. In the table below we have provided updated twelve month and three month moving averages through the month of February. The March […]
The month of March proved to be an interesting month for the flat rolled steel industry and related commodities associated with the industry, both within North America and around the world. The biggest news was the move by the domestic mills to raise flat rolled steel prices. ArcelorMittal led the way on March 17th when […]
Every month we track a number of the other steel indexes including the two used the most for contract adjustments: CRU and Platts. We had some interesting results as the month of March closed as all of the indices showed declines (compared to the end of the prior month) in hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized […]
In an email sent late in the afternoon on Monday, March 17th, ArcelorMittal USA announced a price increase on all of their new flat rolled orders, with specific base prices at $33.00 for hot rolled, $39.50 for cold rolled, and $39.50 for galvanized. The mill justified their increase by stating “Despite the recent drop in […]
We have been hearing of a very strong booking week at many of the domestic steel mills this past week. With the hot end of USS Great Lakes down and other flat rolled steel production issues within the domestic steel mill ranks, we have seen a tightening of flat rolled steel pricing. We have heard […]
The word out of U.S. Steel has been silence since they reported a collection pipe (collector main) falling onto and collapsing part of the roof over their #2 BOP Shop at Great Lakes Works on Thursday evening. Our understanding continues to be that all three blast furnaces are in hot idle (not producing pig iron) […]
Steel Market Update has been projecting 3.5 million tons of total steel products as the target number for the month of March based on US DOC license data. The license numbers were updated again today (April 1st) and we continue to believe we will be quite close to the 3.5 million ton mark when the […]
Steel Market Update has been well aware, and has reported on, the prospect of new trade cases being levied by the U.S. steel industry against imports of cold rolled and coated (galvanized & Galvalume) steels. There have been suggestions that the dumping suits could be filed within the month. So, we wanted to get the […]
March was the month that saw the bottom to the flat rolled steel pricing cycle and signs of the first bounce as prices began moving higher. We are finding our monthly analysis of pricing fascinating as many become consumed by the weekly numbers and forget the bigger picture. Weekly gyrations many times equal little change […]
Imports of foreign steel increased during the month of February compared to the prior month. Steel Market Update carefully monitors total steel imports, slab imports, hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized and Galvalume imports as well as plate (coiled and sheet) and oil country tubular goods (OCTG). The U.S. Government recently released preliminary census data for […]
US Steel has essentially lost a steel mill – Great Lakes in Ecorse, Michigan – for how long is the unknown question. Part of the roof collapsed in the building which houses their basic oxygen furnace (they called it a basic oxygen process or BOP). It is the most critical piece of equipment in the […]
Imports of foreign steel increased during the month of February compared to the prior month. Steel Market Update carefully monitors total steel imports, slab imports, hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized and Galvalume imports as well as plate (coiled and sheet) and oil country tubular goods (OCTG). The U.S. Government recently released preliminary census data for […]
We are beginning to see a new push away from a fragmented steel mill supply base as closures of capacity coupled with the recent acquisition of ThyssenKrupp Steel USA by ArcelorMittal/Nippon Steel Sumitomo Metals Corporation (AM/NS Calvert) are reducing the number of players and the tons in the game. Over the past two years we […]
Reasons: The first reason being the limited number of buyers who admitted they had actually placed any tonnage since the flat rolled price increases were announced. Second, was the vast difference between northern fully integrated mills, mini-mills and conversion mill spot pricing. We need to remember all three groups are part of our index and […]
The U.S. Department of Commerce reported Preliminary Census Data for February 2014 steel imports into the United States. Total steel imports (all products) were reported to be 3,250,176 net tons which is an increase of 30 percent year over year and well above both the 12 month and 3 month moving average. As you can […]
I have been asked about the rumor mill surrounding coated products and especially the Asian 4 exporting countries. The Asian 4 are: China, India, Taiwan and South Korea. Steel Market Update is aware that at least one mill has been pushing for dumping suits on coated products. We understand that not all mills favor the […]
As our regular readers know, Steel Market Update projects imports of foreign flat rolled sheet, plate and oil country tubular goods (OCTG) as well as semi-finished (mostly slabs) steels for the month in progress. The projection is based on U.S. Department of Commerce license data which can be misleading and our projection should also be […]
Steel Market Update began our latest analysis of the flat rolled steel market on Monday of this week. We found mill lead times remained very similar to those reported at the beginning of March. The ArcelorMittal flat rolled steel price announcement was not made until late Monday afternoon and by then 50 percent of the […]
As mentioned in the Lead Times article, SMU began the process of analyzing the flat rolled steel market early on Monday morning – prior to any flat rolled price increase announcements being made. More than likely the survey results regarding mill negotiations represented by the graphic below are going to have about half the respondents […]
Late on Monday afternoon, ArcelorMittal moved to raise spot flat rolled steel pricing. In an email to their customers, AM reported that, “Inventories on sheet products appear to be in balance of slightly lean compared to our second quarter consumption forecast. As a result, we are quite surprised by the recent erosion in pricing that […]
In an email sent late in the afternoon on Monday, March 17th, ArcelorMittal USA announced a price increase on all of their new flat rolled orders, with specific base prices at $33.00 for hot rolled, $39.50 for cold rolled, and $39.50 for galvanized. The mill justified their increase by stating “Despite the recent drop in […]
There are always reasons behind the domestic steel mills’ attempt to push flat rolled steel prices. One of the reasons, and the one we believe is being exercised by those mills who have already made price announcements, is prices have moved too low too fast. Based on Steel Market Update data, benchmark hot rolled coil […]
The indexes are beginning to spread out, especially on benchmark hot rolled coil pricing. Steel Market Update saw HRC prices down $15 per ton this past week, SteelBenchmarker was $16 per ton lower (but they only produce prices twice per month), CRU down $5 and Platts held the line even with the previous week. The […]
The partnership between ArcelorMittal and Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp (NSSMC) has created a new sales entity for a portion of the flat rolled produced at what was once ThyssenKrupp Steel USA in Calvert, Alabama. The new 50/50 joint venture mill, renamed AM/NS Calvert, will have two sales groups much like I/N Tek which […]
Takashi Imura, General Manager US Flat Rolled Division for Metal One, announced that with the purchase of the ThyssenKrupp Steel USA steel mill in Calvert, Alabama by Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Corporation and ArcelorMittal the new company: AM/NS Calvert has nominated Metal One to sell their flat rolled steel products. Metal One has been involved […]
Steel Market Update has been aware for awhile that at least one, and probably more than one, domestic steel mill has been trying to convince the rest of the industry to support dumping suits on coated products. This would most likely include galvanized and Galvalume steels. The countries being mentioned include China, India, Taiwan and […]
The rumor mill has been buzzing for a number of months about the potential for flat rolled steel dumping suits on galvanized and Galvalume steels. The focus of attention seems to be on China, India, Taiwan and South Korea as being the major offenders. However, Steel Market Update, which has a long background in coated […]
January prepainted flat rolled steel imports increased over both the previous month and the same month one year prior. The four prepainted products tracked by Steel Market Update rose a combined 18,188 net tons (NT) or 86.6 percent over the previous month and were up 16,236 NT or 70.7 percent over January 2013 tonnage. In […]