Production in the month of April was 142,080,000 metric tons, down from up from 143,469,000 tons in March. Capacity utilization at 73.6 percent was up from 71.9. The three month moving averages (3MMA) that we prefer to use were 137,479,000 and 72.0 percent respectively. Capacity is 2.35 billion tonnes per year. Figure 1 shows monthly […]
Later this week the U.S. Department of Commerce will hold public hearings for interested parties to voice their opinions regarding the Section 232 (national security) inquiry into the steel industry. Many believe the conclusion of this investigation was predetermined at the time of the original announcement. In the Fact Sheet produced by the U.S. Department […]
Production in the month of March was 144,953,000 metric tons, up from 127,227,000 tons in February. Capacity utilization at 74.0 percent was up from 70.3 in February. The three month moving averages (3MMA) that we prefer to use were 136,737,000 and 71.2 percent respectively. Production in February was severely influenced by the short month. Capacity […]
Production in the month of February was 126,579,000 metric tons, down from 137,837,000 tons in January. Capacity utilization fell from 69.2 to 65.5 The three month moving averages (3MMA) that we prefer to use were 132,861,000 and 67.8 percent respectively. This capacity utilization number is misleading because in February it was severely influenced by the […]
Once each quarter we publish the official statistics for Chinese GDP, industrial production, consumer price inflation and fixed asset investment. Currently available GDP data is through the fourth quarter, other data included here is through December or January. Many analysts don’t believe these Party self-serving figures but we include them in our reports because of […]
The Global steel industry is on a roll with the y/y growth in the three month moving average (3MMA) of production increasing from negative 5.5 percent in January last year to positive 6.0 percent in January this year. Production in the month of January was 136,514,000 metric tons with a capacity utilization of 69.2 percent. […]
Global steel production in 2016 was up by 0.9 percent after declining by 3.4 percent in 2015. On a rolling 12 month basis, December was the first month to have positive growth since May 2015. Production in the month of December was 134,059,000 metric tons with a capacity utilization of 68.6 percent. The three month […]
The following analysis was done by Steel Market Update for our Premium level customers. We are sharing the article with everyone (as well as our Apparent Excess article), well, because we would like all of our readers to upgrade to Premium… The WSA released their November update of global steel production on Tuesday. Production in […]
Once each quarter we publish the official statistics for Chinese GDP, industrial production, consumer price inflation and fixed asset investment. Currently available GDP data is through the third quarter, other data included here is through October. Many analysts don’t believe these Party self-serving figures but we include them in our reports because of the importance […]
The World Steel Association (WSA) released their provisional October update of global steel production on Friday with the proviso that several countries were late in reporting. When this happens they plug in the missing numbers and, based on our review of past assumptions, we believe their preliminary report is credible. We are, therefore, going ahead […]
Production in the month of August at 134,125,000 metric tons was up by 0.2 percent from July and the three month moving average (3MMA), that we prefer as a measure, was down by 0.13 from July. Capacity is 2.35 billion tonnes per year and the 3MMA of capacity utilization in August was 68.8 percent. Figure […]
Figure 1 shows published data for the growth of GDP, industrial production and consumer prices through the second quarter of 2016. The GDP and industrial production portions of this graph are three month moving averages. The growth of GDP was 6.7 percent in the second quarter, which was unchanged from the first quarter, down from […]
Production in the month of June at 135,720,000 metric tons was down by 2.7 percent from May and the three month moving average (3MMA) that we prefer as a measure was down by 0.2 percent year over year. Month over month the 3MMA was down by 0.6 percent. Capacity is 2.3 billion tonnes per year […]
Production in the month of May, at 139,154,000 metric tons, was up by 3.2 percent from April and the three month moving average (3MMA) that we prefer as a measure was up by 4.5 percent. Capacity is 2.3 billion tonnes per year and the 3MMA of capacity utilization in May was 70.5 percent. This report […]
The following article was written by Lisa Reisman, Managing Director and CEO Of Azul Partners, Inc., on May 24, 2016 and is reprinted with permission of MetalMiner: Jennifer Diggins is the director of Government Affairs at Charlotte, N.C.-based Nucor Corp., the largest steelmaker in the U.S. and North America’s largest recycler of any material (Nucor […]
Production in the month of April at 134,874,000 metric tons was down by 2.0 percent from March but the three month moving average (3MMA) that we prefer as a measure was up by 2.0 percent. Capacity is 2.3 billion tonnes per year and capacity utilization in April was 70.5 percent. There has been a significant […]
Source World Steel Association with analysis by SMU. Global steel production in the 12 months of 2015 totaled 1.595 billion tonnes with a capacity of 2.33 billion tonnes. The WSA has made no downward revision to capacity as production fell in the course of 2015 through February this year making capacity utilization look increasingly dismal. […]
Licensed data for March was reported by the Steel Import Monitoring System of the US Commerce Department on April 5th. An explanation of the methodology that we at SMU use to analyze the trade data is given at the end of this piece. Total rolled product licensed imports in the single month of March were […]
The American Institute for International Steel submitted comments and will provide testimony on overcapacity in the global steel industry at a hearing convened by the U.S. Trade Representative on April 12, 2016. AIIS recognizes the damage caused to the U.S. steel industry from sustained excess steel capacity and urges the United States and the Organization […]
According to data released by the World Steel Association, total world crude steel production for February 2016 was 120,412,000 metric tons, down 6,461,000 tons or 5.1 percent from the previous month. February 2016 production was down 4.1 percent over February 2015 production of 125,575,000 tons. North American production (United States, Canada, Mexico, Cuba, El Salvador, […]
Licensed data for February was reported by the Steel Import Monitoring System of the US Commerce Department on March 8th. At SMU we perform a detailed analysis of this data, an explanation of our methodology is given at the end of this write up. Total rolled product licensed imports in the single month of February […]
Source World Steel Association with Analysis by SMU. Global steel production in the 12 months of 2015 totaled 1.595 billion tonnes with a capacity of 2.33 billion tonnes. The WSA has made no downward revision to capacity as production fell in the course of 2015 making capacity utilization look increasingly dismal. Production in the month […]
Four U.S. steel producers announced earnings this past week. During their earnings conference calls held with analysts the steel mills addressed questions/concerns regarding foreign steel being exported to the United States. The domestic mills filed trade cases against corrosion resistant steels (such as galvanized and Galvalume) as well as cold rolled and hot rolled steels. […]
The following article is normally produced for our Premium level members, but we wanted to share it with our Executive level members as we think it is important and interesting as the world is flooded with excess steel capacity. If you find this article interesting you may be interested in upgrading your membership from Executive […]
Net imports equals imports minus exports. We regard this as an important look at the overall trade picture and its effect on demand at the mill level. Figure 1 shows that net sheet product imports on a three month moving average (3MMA) basis at 546,093 tons in November continue to be more than double that […]
The following article is normally produced for our Premium level members, but we wanted to share it with our Executive level members as we think it is important and interesting as the world is flooded with excess steel capacity. If you find this article interesting you may be interested in upgrading your membership from Executive […]
Global steel production in 12 months through October totaled 1.609 billion tonnes with a capacity of 2.3 billion tonnes. Production in the month of October was 133,640 tonnes up from 130,998 in September or 2.0 percent, however on a tons/day basis production was 4.311 million tonnes, down from 4.367 in September and from 4.518 in April […]
The following article is one produced for our Premium level members as we look to delve deeper into the overall steel industry picture in the United States. You can learn more about becoming a Premium member either online or by contacting our office: info@SteelMarketUpdate.com Net imports equals imports minus exports. We regard this as an […]
Global steel production in 12 months through September totaled 1.613 billion tonnes with a capacity of 2.3 billion tonnes. Capacity utilization in September was 69.3 percent with a three month moving average (3MMA) of 69.1 percent, down from 72.2 percent in three months through April. China accounted for 50.5 percent of global production in September. […]
The difference between auto industry and steel industry: the UAW has issue a notice to GM that they could walk out at midnight tonight (Sunday) if they don’t have a contract. The USW is content to work under the old contract for as long as they can get away with it since both US Steel […]