Tag: Imports

On Monday and Tuesday of this week, SMU polled steel buyers on a variety of subjects, including steel prices, demand, inventories, imports, and what people were talking about in the market.

Six US manufacturers of oil country tubular goods (OCTG) have come together to establish a Washington, D.C.-based trade association to promote the domestic industry.

Sector fundamentals for US steel companies remain solid overall, according to ratings agency Fitch’s 2024 outlook report.

I want to address a few things in this 'Final thoughts': the latest SMU survey results, the plate market, and the potential sale of U.S. Steel.

The increase in steel imports from September to October was higher than license applications had suggested earlier this month.

Flat-rolled steel prices were in a holding pattern ahead of Thanksgiving.

There has been almost an assumption that US mills would get the $950-1,000 per ton ($47.50-50 per cwt) they were seeking on HR base and $1,150-2,000 per ton ($57.50-60 per cwt) for cold-rolled and coated base. Recall that Cliffs initially announced an increase and said it was seeking $1,000 per minimum for hot-rolled coil. Nucor […]

Surging US sheet prices and expanding lead times are making imports more attractive. The automotive workers’ strike is essentially over, and domestic US sheet prices have rocketed higher alongside lead times. There is little to suggest that the momentum of these price increases will slow over the next month or two, and thus imports have […]

The importation of basic pig iron has allowed EAF steelmakers to implement thin-slab casting technology to make drawing-quality flat-rolled sheet over the last 30 years.

The US plate market has been rather quiet over the past couple of weeks since Nucor Corp. caught many off guard with a $140-per-ton price cut.

In the dynamic landscape of the steel futures market, a confluence of factors is shaping the current narrative.

US Hot-rolled coil (HRC) prices continue to surge on the heels of mill increases. They have become significantly more expensive than prices for hot band imported from offshore. Domestic hot band tags moved higher for a seventh consecutive week. Imports have seen only marginal gains over the same period, according to SMU’s latest foreign vs. domestic price analysis.

Sheet prices are up again. That shouldn’t come as a surprise on the heels of mill price hikes, scrap settling up and expected to move higher over the next few months, and inventories – as our premium subscribers will learn tomorrow – moving lower for a third month.

Cleveland-Cliffs announced it would seek a minimum base price of $1,000 per ton ($50 per cwt) for hot-rolled coil (HRC) on Nov. 7. Nucor said a day later that it was aiming for $950 per ton. Why didn’t Nucor follow Cliffs up to $1,000 ton? I think there might be some possible answers in our […]

Certain welded steel pipe and tube products being exported from Vietnam to the US have, in fact, been illegally evading the payment of import duties, a US government agency announced this week.

There seems to be a consensus that US sheet prices have nowhere to go but up in the short term, in part because offshore material ordered now won’t arrive until late March or even April.

US steel imports continue to arrive at a steady pace, as total import licenses in October were about even with September’s import levels.

Hot-rolled coil (HRC) tags continue to rally in the US, broadening the price disparity between domestic and imported offshore product.

Alan Price discussed the deep complexity of issues in the Global Arrangement on Sustainable Steel and Aluminum negotiations between the US and EU on Wednesday’s Community Chat.

The US Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration (ITA) is updating import duties on hot-rolled steel flat products from Japan and South Korea.

The LME aluminum three-month price was unchanged on the morning of Nov. 3 and was seen trading at $2,235 per tonne.

The American steel industry is the backbone of the US economy and produces the cleanest steel in the world.

There was consensus that steel prices would crash on the UAW strike and then rebound just as sharply once the union and the “Big Three” automakers reached tentative deals.

US hot-rolled coil (HRC) tags moved higher again this week, widening the gap in pricing between imported offshore product.

On Monday and Tuesday of this week, SMU polled steel buyers on a variety of subjects, including steel prices, demand, inventories, imports, the UAW strike, and what people were talking about in the market.

Manufacturing activity in the US contracted once again during the month of October.

Nucor’s plate price cut notice caught many off guard this week, especially after the company had maintained its pricing position in late September.

Sheet prices are getting back into very lofty territory. That’s assuming you can find spot tons available for the balance of 2023 – and some of you say you can’t.

Sheet prices surged this week on limited spot tonnage and on the heels of steep price increases announced by domestic mills.

The decline in imports from August to September was more pronounced than license applications suggested earlier this month.