Earlier today Dr. Alan Beaulieu of the Institute for Trends Research spoke to the HARDI annual conference in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He started by telling the 1300 people attending the conference, “We did not change our forecast due to the election.” He went on to say that in government things don’t happen quickly, “The economy […]
Today, the U.S. Department of Commerce released Final Census Data for October 2016 as well as license data for November and early December. Since there have only been 6 days of licenses collected for December we are going to ignore that data for now and will report on December next week. October foreign steel imports […]
A punishment tax proposed by President-elect Trump is not sitting well with either Republicans or Democrats. In a series of tweets instead of a press conference, President-elect Trump rolled out his position on U.S. companies that produce products in foreign countries and sell them back to the United States. “The U.S. is going to substantially […]
I am sitting in Colorado Springs, Colorado after having spent the last few days attending the HARDI annual conference. I have been a member of HARDI and have participated in their steel committee for many years. After I stopped selling steel and began Steel Market Update as my main focus I was invited to remain […]
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 […]
A note to our Premium level members, we put out a Premium supplemental newsletter this afternoon that covered an extensive analysis of the MSCI data (long and flat rolled), there is also an article on currency values for steel trading nations (not good news for domestic mills as dollar has been strengthening), there is a […]
Once per month HARDI* wholesalers conduct a galvanized steel conference call so they can better understand what is happening in the broader markets as they deal with steel pricing, demand and inventory issues. The HARDI monthly call was held on Wednesday, November 9, just one day after the presidential election. Not surprisingly, the future of […]
On Wednesday of this week I participated in the monthly HARDI conference call (see article in tonight’s newsletter). During the call one of the executives from an east coast HVAC wholesaler told the group that he didn’t believe prices could or would move much higher from here. I disagreed with him. One of the justifications […]
Steel Market Update is a member of an association connected to the construction industry called HARDI. HARDI stands for Heating, Air-conditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International. HARDI and the Institute for Trend Research (ITR), an economic forecasting company, work together to gather economic data to provide a forecast to the HARDI members located in the United […]
Steel Market Update is a member of an association connected to the construction industry called HARDI. HARDI stands for Heating, Air-conditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International. HARDI and The Institute for Trend Research (ITR), an economic forecasting company, work together to gather economic data to provide a forecast to the HARDI members located in the United […]
Earlier today Steel Market Update (SMU) participated in the monthly steel conference call hosted by HARDI. The call is for those wholesalers who supply galvanized sheet and coil to the HVAC mechanical contractors. During the course of the discussion it became clear that the wholesalers are quite concerned about the drop in galvanized spot prices […]
On Wednesday of this week HARDI hosted their monthly steel conference call. Steel Market Update participates in these calls which are dedicated to a better understanding of the galvanized steel market. The participants are wholesalers, service centers and manufacturing companies who either buy or sell galvanized sheet products used in the HVAC industry. SMU advised […]
Steel Market Update is a member of an association connected to the construction industry called HARDI. HARDI stands for Heating, Air-conditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International. HARDI and The Institute for Trend Research (ITR), an economic forecasting company, work together to gather economic data to provide a forecast to the HARDI members located in the United […]
Steel Market Update is a member of an association connected to the construction industry called HARDI. HARDI stands for Heating, Air-conditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International. HARDI and The Institute for Trend Research (ITR), an economic forecasting company, work together to gather economic data to provide a forecast to the HARDI members located in the United […]
HARDI wholesalers reported today that the key to this current market is to be disciplined as you go about your business. The wholesalers, who provide galvanized steel and other products to the mechanical contractors around the United States and Canada, told SMU and other wholesalers on their monthly steel conference call, that business conditions continue […]
I am working on an article about the difficulties manufacturing companies face when trying to recoup a portion (or all) of the flat rolled steel price increases from their customers. This morning I spoke with a manufacturing entity in the building materials segment of the industry who reported their industry has taken prices up by […]
Once a month Steel Market Update participates in a steel conference call hosted by HARDI. The wholesalers associated with HARDI supply galvanized steel and other products to the mechanical contractors involved in residential, multi-family, light commercial and commercial construction around the country. The purpose of the call is to better understand the galvanized steel markets […]
Whenever SMU speaks to steel buyers about flat rolled steel pricing cycles we inevitably hear about how the domestic steel mills have a tendency to over-correct to both the low and the high sides of the cycle (boom/bust). In the process there seems to be an assurance that market volatility will continue to be significant […]
Earlier today the HARDI wholesalers conducted their May galvanized steel conference call. The wholesalers on the call service the mechanical contractors involved in the residential and commercial construction markets supplying galvanized sheet and coil and other products used in the heating and air-conditioning markets. Needless to say, the call was well attended in response to […]
My final thoughts are going to be short this evening. The word that keep going through my head today as I spoke with buyers and sellers of steel was “worry.” The number of people who worry about what is going to happen next seems to be growing by leap years on a daily basis. I […]
Earlier today, Steel Market Update participated in a steel conference call hosted by HARDI. Every month the wholesalers who sell galvanized sheet and coil steel to the HVAC industry conduct an informational conference call to evaluate what is happening in the North American market. Over the past few months we have seen the wholesalers much […]
Steel Market Update is a member of an association connected to the construction industry called HARDI. HARDI stands for Heating, Air-conditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International. HARDI and The Institute for Trend Research (ITR), an economic forecasting company, work together to gather economic data to provide a forecast to the HARDI members located in the United […]
Steel Market Update is a member of an association connected to the construction industry called HARDI. HARDI stands for Heating, Air-conditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International. HARDI and The Institute for Trend Research (ITR), an economic forecasting company, work together to gather economic data to provide a forecast to the HARDI members located in the United […]
We should see the pace of the price increases slow down as most mills are getting the announced minimum price levels from their spot buyers ($25.00-$26.00/cwt HR, $35.00/cwt cold rolled and coated). The market needs a couple of weeks to absorb the increases and push them down to the end users and resale spot customers. […]
“Welcome to March Madness..,” is what one HARDI member company had to say during the March 2016 HARDI galvanized steel conference call held earlier today. He went on to say, “Brackets are an indication of what we are seeing – a lot of chaos out there… The [index name removed] base price is up 23 […]
Steel Market Update is a member of an association connected to the construction industry called HARDI. HARDI stands for Heating, Air-conditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International. HARDI and The Institute for Trend Research (ITR), an economic forecasting company, work together to gather economic data to provide a forecast to the HARDI members located in the United […]
Steel Market Update is a member of an association connected to the construction industry called HARDI. HARDI stands for Heating, Air-conditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International. HARDI and The Institute for Trend Research (ITR), an economic forecasting company, work together to gather economic data to provide a forecast to the HARDI members located in the United […]
Happy Academy Award (Oscar) Night… We will begin our early March flat rolled steel market trend analysis on Monday morning. If you receive an invitation to participate please take a few moments to click on the button contained in the message which will take you to our questionnaire. If you would like to participate in […]
On Tuesday evening we published an article regarding the HARDI wholesaler steel conference call. During the call one of the wholesalers referred to Kloeckner Metals Corporation as one of the service centers they were having competitive issues with. An executive with Kloeckner saw our article and responded to the comment made and quoted in our […]
Steel Market Update asked steel buyers how they were seeing the flat rolled steel market so far this week. One large Midwest based service center told us, “Eerily quiet.” Other buyers basically provided the same guidance. Hot rolled order books continue to be weak to moderate while cold rolled and coated lead times are extended […]