Tariffs are an option to stop steel dumping, said President Donald Trump at a bipartisan meeting of legislators this morning. “I want to keep prices down, but I want to make sure that we have a steel industry,” said Trump, according to a Bloomberg report. “Part of the options would be tariffs coming in. As […]
At a meeting with lawmakers this morning, President Donald Trump said imposing tariffs is an option for stopping the dumping of steel and aluminum into the U.S. “I want to keep prices down, but I want to make sure that we have a steel industry,” said Trump, according to a Bloomberg report. “Part of the […]
Distributors of galvanized steel products to the HVAC industry are concerned that steel prices could experience a correction once President Trump finally announces his decision on Section 232. “I fear that a lot of 232 is already built into the pricing, and if the [trade action] is less than people were expecting, we could see […]
Fifteen trade associations, representing more than 30,000 U.S. steel-using manufacturers and employing one million American workers, sent a letter to President Trump and other senior trade officials last night in advance of the meeting between the administration and legislators regarding Section 232. The letter warns that restrictions on basic steel imports will “adversely impact national […]
The Department of Commerce announced on Tuesday the initiation of new antidumping duty and countervailing duty investigations on imports of large-diameter welded pipe from Canada, China, Greece, India, Korea, and Turkey. Dumping margins were estimated by the petitioners at 50.89 percent for Canada, 41.04 percent for Greece, 120.84 to 132.63 percent for China, 37.94 percent […]
Does President Trump’s call for a “reciprocal tax” on imports from countries that impose higher tariffs than the U.S. give him cover for the dilemma he faces over Section 232? Speaking at a White House meeting with state officials and local executives on Monday to discuss his infrastructure plan, the president offered up some unexpected […]
The U.S. Department of Commerce released license data through the first 13 days of February that “suggests” foreign steel imports could be at the lowest levels seens in many years. The trend is for imports to barely exceed 2 million net tons, almost one-third lower than the 3 million tons that were reported for January. […]
Fifteen trade associations, representing more than 30,000 U.S. steel-using manufacturers and employing one million American workers, sent a letter to President Trump and other senior trade officials last night in advance of the meeting between the administration and lawmakers regarding Section 232. The letter warns that restrictions on basic steel imports will “adversely impact national […]
This analysis breaks down the imported tonnage of six flat rolled products into the district of entry and the source country. We believe that misinformation (or lack of) about regional import volumes are often used to influence purchase decisions. Our intent with this analysis is to describe in detail what is going on in a […]
Total rolled steel imports declined by 15 percent in the three months through January compared to the previous three-month period, August through October. Sheet product imports declined by 17.3 percent on the same basis, according to Steel Market Update’s analysis of U.S. Department of Commerce data released Feb. 6. The data is reported within the […]
Both manufacturing companies and flat rolled steel service centers reported near unanimous support for higher spot pricing. In the process, it is Steel Market Update’s opinion the higher flat rolled and plate spot prices provided by the distributors also support the most recent steel price increase announcements by the flat rolled steel mills. Last week, […]
The American Institute for International Steel, which represents foreign steel producers, sent a letter to President Trump on Thursday on behalf of the 1.3 million people who depend on steel imports for their livelihoods. AIIS President Richard Chriss urged the administration not to impose new tariffs and quotas on imported steel products that would benefit […]
The following article on the hot rolled coil (HRC) steel and financial futures markets was written by Jack Marshall of Crunch Risk LLC. Here is how Jack saw trading over the past week: Steel Increased HR futures buying this week reflects the slightly more bullish narrative in the domestic HR price expectations. Concern that lead times […]
The U.S. Department of Commerce released the final accounting for December 2017 imports, which came in at 2,450,286 net tons. For the calendar year, foreign steel imports rose by 15 percent compared to 2016. Total steel imports rose to 37,999,383 net tons. Steel Market Update is providing our readers with a detailed analysis of selected […]
Editor’s note: Richard Chriss, president of the American Institute for International Steel, which represents foreign steelmakers, offered this rebuttal to a recent letter to the editor in the New York Times by Scott Paul, president of the Alliance for American Manufacturing: There is no single word for the economic fallacy of assuming that those who […]
As the steel industry continues to wait for President Trump’s decision on restricting steel imports on national security grounds, steel prices continue to rise. Has the market already factored in Section 232? In Steel Market Update’s latest market trends questionnaire, SMU asked steel buyers: Do you believe existing steel prices include a positive Section 232 […]
The United Steelworkers challenged the president to reduce the trade deficit after Commerce released its deficit report today. The Department of Commerce reported that for 2017, the goods and services deficit increased $61.2 billion, or 12.1 percent, from 2016. Exports increased $121.2 billion or 5.5 percent and imports increased $182.5 billion or 6.7 percent. Specifically […]
The steel industry stands to be a major beneficiary of the $1.5 trillion in infrastructure improvements proposed by President Trump in his State of the Union address on Tuesday, but don’t count on the extra government business anytime soon. Not unlike his plan to build a border wall paid for by Mexico rather than the […]
U.S. steelmakers sent a letter to President Trump on Feb. 1 urging the administration to take action against steel imports under Section 232. The letter from the American Iron and Steel Institute stressed that immediate action is needed to prevent imports from recapturing nearly a third of the U.S. market as they did last June. […]
Inaction by the Trump administration leaves the market to wonder if the Section 232 investigation will lead to new tariffs or quotas this year on steel imports. Steel buyers contacted by Steel Market Update are concerned that additional restrictions on foreign imports may create a shortage and make steel prices even more volatile. Following are […]
Bank of America Merrill Lynch sees market conditions lining up for a strong first quarter with hot rolled coil prices that could even hit $800 per ton. “Even without Section 232 support, a weaker U.S. dollar, good demand, Chinese supply curtailments and recent trade case action can support prices well through the second half,” predicts […]
The JP Morgan Global Manufacturing PMI was only slightly lower in January than December’s near seven-year record. Inching down to 54.4 from 54.5, manufacturing is off to a good start for 2018. The Global PMI is produced monthly by J.P. Morgan and IHS Markit in association with the Institute for Supply Management and the International Federation […]
Those who were hoping the State of the Union address would offer some indication of how President Trump will act on Section 232 were left disappointed. His speech was long on patriotism and short on specifics when it came to trade policy. The steel industry is left to speculate on whether the administration will further […]
Manufacturing activity slipped slightly in January, according to the latest Report on Business from the Institute for Supply Management. The ISM Index edged downward to 59.1 percent from 59.3 percent in December, but remained higher than its average reading of 57.4 for 2017. Indexes for new orders fell 2 points to 65.4 percent and production […]
The flat rolled and plate steel mills were busy this week announcing new rounds of price increases. Steel buyers who spoke with Steel Market Update today reported offer prices as being much higher than their most recent transaction pricing. For that reason, we have included a note about what was being reported as the latest […]
Of the four raw materials tracked by Steel Market Update, scrap and zinc prices advanced in January, iron ore took a small step back and coking coal declined by 10 percent. Each January, Bloomberg and U.S. Global Investors compile their Periodic Table of Commodity Returns. Figure 1 shows the returns of commodities each year of […]
Planned maintenance outages at AK Steel contributed to a net loss of $107.9 million in the fourth quarter. Net sales during the quarter increased 5 percent to $1.5 billion, however, driven by incremental sales from recently acquired Precision Partners. Flat rolled shipments declined to 1,337,100 tons in the quarter from 1,385,500 tons in Q4 2016 […]
“We don’t just sell to each other–this is a kind of unique relationship in the world…we make things together,” said Canada International Trade Minister François-Philippe Champagne in a recent speech. Center for Automotive Research analyst Bernard Swiecki referred to the quote as a summary of what NAFTA means to the North American automotive industry. “We […]
The sixth round of NAFTA talks closed on Monday with the U.S. Trade Representative rejecting proposals by Canada and lamenting the slow pace of the renegotiations. “We finally began to discuss the core issues, so this round was a step forward,” Robert Lighthizer said. “But we are progressing very slowly. We owe it to our […]
Steel imports into the United States declined by 10 percent in December, compared with the prior month, to 2.45 million net tons, according to preliminary Census data. This followed an 11.4 percent slide from October to November. But despite the late-year declines, annual steel imports increased by more than 15 percent in 2017. The American […]