Tag: Galvanized

The majority of steel buyers responding to our latest market survey reported that mills continue to hold a firm grip on prices. The share of buyers reporting that mills were negotiable fell this week to the lowest rate seen in over five years. Every two weeks, SMU surveys service center and manufacturer buyers asking if mills are negotiable on new spot sheet and plate orders. In this week’s survey, just 3% of respondents said mills were willing to talk price to secure an order (Figure 1). This is down 11 percentage points from our mid-October survey.

Lead times for sheet and plate products continued to lengthen amid historically tight supply, according to the latest SMU steel market survey data. Average lead times now extend into January 2027, with some mills quoting availability well into February. Lead times for all sheet products except Galvalume stand at their highest point since the post-Covid demand snapback in 2021. Plate lead times exceed their 2021 peak, setting a record in our data series, which dates to 2018. (We started collecting sheet lead times earlier, in 2011.)

Cleveland-Cliffs Chairman and CEO Lourenco Goncalves said Stelco is not for sale, but he might sell it after operating the company for a period. He said he had come to understand that he was unwelcome in Canada. Separately, in a statement to SMU on Wednesday, Goncalves said he would consider a sale only after Stelco records one year of higher production and brings back all laid-off workers. He clarified it was 175 workers, not 500. He also said he would speak with no potential buyers “real or imaginary” now or during the next calendar year.

Sheet and plate prices continued to press higher this week as the current supply squeeze shows no signs of letting up even as contract season winds down and lead times tip into 2027. The historic rally marks a sharp reversal from last year, when the consensus was that prices would drift lower on uneven demand and new capacity. Steel buyers said it remains difficult to find a domestic mill with spot availability in a market that some said is tighter than in 2021, even if prices haven't spiraled as high as they did then. SMU's price assessment for spot hot-rolled (HR) coil stands at...

Nucor has been awarded an entire General Motors platform for exposed automotive sheet, Chair and CEO Leon Topalian said on a call Tuesday discussing the company’s third-quarter earnings. Topalian described the award as a breakthrough for Nucor in a product area he said integrated steelmakers had long dominated. Nucor plans to shift related process engineering and quality control work to its new West Virginia sheet mill as the facility ramps up, Topalian said. He said the mill would be capable of producing high-end automotive steel. Noah Hanners, executive VP of sheet products, said West Virginia automotive tons would begin customer qualifications in 2028.

The US Department of Commerce has reduced the anti-dumping duty on corrosion-resistant steel (CORE) for some Mexican producers after a court order. On remand from the Court of International Trade (CIT), Commerce agreed that the record did not show that Galvasid SA de CV’s US customers separately negotiated or paid freight or insurance. The agency therefore removed the adjustment and recalculated the margin. As a result, the agency lowered Galvasid’s coated steel dumping rate to 14.54%, from 24.05%. The all-others rate is now 14.29%, down from 17.42%. Ternium’s rate is unchanged at 14.17%.

Steel Dynamics Inc. (SDI) expects tight supply, lean inventories, and firm demand to support steel pricing and margins through the fourth quarter and into 2027, Chairman and outgoing CEO Mark Millett and incoming President and CEO Theresa Wagler said on the company’s third-quarter earnings call. SDI’s steel mills operated at 92% utilization in the third quarter, compared with an estimated 80% for the domestic industry.

Sheet and plate prices continue to push higher as mills charge a premium for what little spot tonnage remains for 2026, market participants said. SMU’s price assessment for hot-rolled (HR) coil now stands at $1,290 per short ton (st) on average, up $10/st week over week. HR price gains averaged $5/st w/w throughout July and August, with no changes in prices some weeks and gains of at most $15/st w/w. In September and October to date, in contrast, prices have increased every week—with the average gain at $11.25/st w/w and w/w gains as high as $20/st. Prices for cold-rolled and coated products continued to increase as well. SMU's price assessment for cold-rolled (CR) coil clocked in at...

Lead times for sheet and plate continued to extend amid a domestic supply squeeze, according to the latest SMU steel market survey data. Average lead times stretch into mid- or late December, and those at some mills now extend into 2027. Lead times for all sheet products except Galvalume stand at their highest point since the post-covid demand snapback in 2021. Lead times for plate are now even higher than their 2021 peak.

Sheet buyers found mills slightly more negotiable on price this week, while plate buyers thought mills were less flexible on spot price tags, according to our latest survey data. Every two weeks, SMU surveys service center and manufacturer buyers to see whether mills will negotiate on new spot sheet and plate orders. In this week’s survey, 14% of respondents said mills were willing to talk price to secure an order, up three percentage points from two weeks earlier (Figure 1). This is the highest reading since July 8, when the rate stood at 18%.

AZZ Inc. said galvanized flat-rolled steel availability remains a constraint for its Precoat Metals business, complicating customer sourcing and logistics. Customers are having difficulty securing substrate within required timeframes, and costs remain elevated, President and CEO Tom Ferguson said on an earnings conference call on Wednesday. He said AZZ is helping customers locate domestic and imported material and manage logistics. The situation has “definitely” affected the business, he added. “It’s tight. We see it every day, particularly galvanized sheet metal.”

AZZ Inc. raised its fiscal 2027 guidance after reporting record second-quarter sales and adjusted earnings, supported by higher volumes and pricing in both its Metal Coatings and Precoat Metals segments. AZZ reported fiscal second-quarter sales of $486.9 million for the three months ended Aug. 31, up 16.7% from the prior-year quarter. Net income fell 34.6% year over year (y/y) to $58.45 million. “During the quarter, we benefited from organic sales growth, the continued ramp-up of our new Washington, Missouri facility within our Precoat Metals segment, and the completion of a strategic Metal Coatings acquisition in the Pacific Northwest,” noted President and CEO Tom Ferguson.

US flat-rolled steel import licenses climbed in September, extending a recovery after several months of depressed inbound shipments. Licenses rose 4.9% month on month to 679,889 short tons (st), their highest level in 14 months and 29.1% above the 12-month moving average (12MMA) for August, according to Commerce Department data. The increase was led by cold-rolled sheet and other metallic-coated products, with particularly sharp gains in licenses from Turkey, Taiwan, and South Korea. Hot-rolled sheet licenses eased from August’s 19-month high, while galvanized sheet, coiled plate and cut-to-length plate also slipped month on month. Even so, licenses for hot-rolled sheet and both plate categories remained elevated relative to their recent averages, pointing to continued strength across several product lines.

US sheet and plate prices continued to march higher this week as a market squeeze that’s been in place for months now showed no signs of letting up. Market participants, some mostly focused on 2027 contract negotiations, said that it was increasingly difficult to even get a quote for spot tonnage from domestic mills, which firmly retain their grip on pricing power. SMU’s hot-rolled (HR) coil price stands at...

Commerce is amending the anti-dumping duties on corrosion-resistant steel products from Taiwan. The agency is currently conducting an annual administrative review of the AD order. It is considering the year ended June 30, 2024. In its preliminary results, Commerce set weighted-average dumping margins of 3.54% for Prosperity Tieh Enterprises, 20.73% for Sheng Yu Steel Co., and 5.92% for Great Grandeul Steel Co. (Samoa).

Total shipments of heating and cooling equipment cooled further in August, according to the latest figures from the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI). After falling 11% month on month (m/m) in July, shipments slipped another 10% in August. The monthly pace marks the third-slowest shipment rate year-to-date. Shipments of water heaters, air conditioners, and heat pumps declined m/m, while warm-air furnace shipments picked up. Compared with a year earlier, only air conditioners and heat pumps increased.

Steel markets in the United States now feature supply shortages. Spot tons are well-nigh unavailable, and even contract tons are scarce. Based on the available statistics, the US market for flat-rolled products is seriously constrained. The US economy is still the strongest in the world, and manufacturing output remains vigorous. But the available supply is tight. The reason is fairly obvious. US domestic supply has increased a bit. Meanwhile, imports have fallen significantly.

Steel imports into the US crept higher in August and continued climbing in September, according to the Department of Commerce's latest import license data. August imports rose 3.4% from July to a 15-month high. September license data collected through Oct. 5 shows another 6.2% month-on-month increase. Imports continue to recover from some of the lowest levels since 2020, seen late last year through February this year.

The US Department of Commerce is considering raising the anti-dumping duties on imports of corrosion-resistant steel products (CORE) from Korea.

Sheet and plate prices continued to move higher on market dynamics that have carried headlines for much of the second half of the year: scarce spot tons, long lead times, production delays, lean inventories, and stable demand.

Steel mill lead times continued to expand for sheet and plate products this week, according to buyers responding to our latest market survey.

The overall mill negotiation rate ticked up slightly this week, but the overwhelming majority of buyers are still finding mills inflexible on price, according to our latest survey data.

Sheet and plate prices continued to inch higher on a combination of scarce spot tons, long lead times, lean inventories, and stable demand.

Stelco Holdings Inc. is indefinitely idling its finishing operations in Hamilton, Ontario. The Canadian steelmaker, a subsidiary of Cleveland-Cliffs, will concentrate steel production at its Lake Erie Works in Nanticoke, Ontario, a Cliffs spokesperson told SMU.

Sheet and plate prices continued to tick mostly higher this week amid a supply squeeze that shows no signs of loosening its grip on the US market.

Steel mill lead times extended for sheet and plate products this week, according to buyers responding to our latest market survey. Production times have been historically long for most of the summer.

The vast majority of steel buyers responding to our latest market survey found mills unwilling to negotiate lower prices for spot tons. This holds true for all the products SMU tracks. Every two weeks, SMU surveys service center and manufacturer buyers asking if mills are negotiable on new spot sheet and plate orders. In this week’s survey, 9% of respondents said mills were willing to talk price to secure an order (Figure 1). This is the third consecutive survey at that rate. You'd have to go back to September 2021 to find a lower number.

Service centers and manufacturers on the Sept. 15 HARDI Sheet Metal and Air Handling Council call described a tight, seller-driven market. Lead times are long, deliveries are late, inventories are thin, imports are down, and demand is strong, causing a shortage of galvanized material. SMU regularly joins the council’s meetings to discuss the galvanized sheet market. Participants — members of Heating, Air-Conditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International (HARDI) — are wholesalers, service centers, distributors, and manufacturers who buy or sell galvanized steel.

Sheet and plate prices remained on an upward trek over the last week as concerns about supply shortages continued to ripple across the market, industry sources said.

US steel imports increased 7.8% in July and, based on US Department of Commerce license data, rose even higher in August.