The growth of U.S. Gross Domestic Product in the fourth quarter of 2017 declined from the strong performance of the second and third quarters, but the overall trend is good. The Bureau of Economic Analysis released its first estimate of GDP growth in the fourth quarter on Friday. Growth was reported to be 2.57 percent […]
I am hearing from some of AK Steel’s customers that the hot end of the mill will be back up early this week. One told me on Friday, “I spoke with AK yesterday and was told there will be little impact from the ladle accident…” I got a question from a steel buyer dealing with […]
January imports are trending higher than expected at 2.8 million net tons, similar to what was imported one year ago. This is a bit disappointing to many in the steel industry who were expecting total steel imports to drop as they did in November and December 2017. To get a more complete view, we look […]
The pile of unfinished paperwork on President Trump’s desk just got a little taller with Friday’s delivery of the Section 232 report on aluminum. It joins the Section 232 report on steel that hit the president’s desk on Jan. 11, starting the clock on a 90-day deadline for possible trade action. On Jan. 19, the […]
Steel is a core business for the port in Tampa, Fla., which handled steel and scrap imports and exports totaling about 900,000 tons last year. Hundreds of industry executives will also pass through the port as attendees of the 29th annual Tampa Steel Conference to be hosted by Port Tampa Bay and Ports America on […]
President Trump’s decision today to impose tariffs on imports of solar panels and large washing machines in a bid to help U.S. manufacturers has heated speculation the administration may take a similar tack on the pending Section 232 rulings on steel and aluminum imports. President Trump has approved recommendations by the U.S. International trade Commission […]
Steel Market Update forecast December 2017 flat rolled steel shipments from U.S. service centers would be 87,850 tons per day. The Metals Service Center Institute (MSCI) reported last week that sheet distributors shipped 87,805 tons per day. We missed being perfect by 45 tons per day. Receipts coming into the service centers has been harder […]
The pile of unfinished paperwork on President Trump’s desk just got a little taller with Friday’s delivery of the Section 232 report on aluminum. It joins the Section 232 report on steel that hit the president’s desk on Jan. 11, starting the clock on a 90-day deadline for possible trade action. On Jan. 19, the […]
Steel is a core business for the port in Tampa, Fla., which handled steel and scrap imports and exports totaling about 900,000 tons last year. Hundreds of industry executives will also pass through the port as attendees of the 29th annual Tampa Steel Conference to be hosted by Port Tampa Bay and Ports America on […]
Most steel buyers agree that prices are on the increase, it’s just a question of how high and how fast. About 92 percent of the respondents to Steel Market Update’s latest market trends questionnaire concur that steel prices are heading higher, while the remainder say they see no clear price direction. Following are some of […]
Premium subscribers to Steel Market Update receive reports on imports with macro data broken down by product at the national level. SMU also provides reports that detail the import tonnage received by district of entry and source nation, available here on our website. This new report from SMU takes the analysis even further. Using U.S. […]
Steel buyers recognize that flat rolled prices are moving higher and momentum is clearly on the side of the steel mills. Hot rolled price offers, which Steel Market Update identified earlier this week as being $650 to $710, have moved higher based on information gleaned from steel buyers today. The new spread is $680 to […]
The American Line Pipe Producers Association filed an antidumping and countervailing duty petition with the Department of Commerce and U.S. International Trade Commission on Wednesday. The group alleges that the dumping of large diameter welded pipe from Canada, Greece, India, China, Korea and Turkey is causing injury to domestic producers. The group also charges that […]
Demand is good heading into 2018, mill prices are on the upswing and trade cases promise to keep low-priced imports at bay. So why aren’t distributors who sell galvanized steel products to the HVAC market happier? Members of the Heating, Air-conditioning, and Refrigeration Distributors International (HARDI) reported that market conditions remain highly competitive despite price […]
The U.S. Department of Commerce released import license data earlier today, which indicates that January steel imports are trending slightly higher than December’s 2,475,249 tons. Right now, based on the first 16 days of data, January is trending toward a 2.5 million to 2.7 million net ton month. Semi-finished imports (slabs/billets), which are purchased by […]
Emotions are running hot as the market awaits President Trump’s decision on Section 232, and whether to impose new trade restrictions on steel imports for national security reasons. Sharply contrasting comments recently from Dan DiMicco and Richard Chriss serve to bookend both sides of the issue. DiMicco, the former CEO of Nucor and current trade […]
Emotions are running hot as the market awaits President Trump’s decision on Section 232, and whether to impose new trade restrictions on steel imports for national security reasons. Sharply contrasting comments recently from Dan DiMicco and Richard Chriss serve to bookend both sides of the issue. DiMicco, the former CEO of Nucor and current trade […]
Over the past six months, Steel Market Update has been canvassing flat rolled steel service centers as we try to better understand the number of months of supply being held as of the end of each month. Steel distributors now hold three months (3.03 month’s supply) based on the responses we have received from our […]
The Section 232 report on the effect of steel mill product imports on U.S. national security was submitted to President Trump by Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross late on Thursday, Jan. 11. The president now has 90 days to take action. Details of the report have not been released. In its announcement, the Commerce Department […]
Steel plate prices are rising as demand tightens and lead times lengthen. On Thursday of this past week, Steel Market Update published an article containing comments from steel buyers in both flat rolled and plate steel products. One comment sparked a discussion between one of the domestic steel mills and SMU (and indirectly with the […]
Apparent steel supply for the month of November totaled 8,723,547 net tons, according to the latest data from the U.S. Department of Commerce and the American Iron and Steel Institute. Apparent steel supply is calculated by adding domestic steel shipments and finished U.S. steel imports, then subtracting total U.S. steel exports. November apparent steel supply […]
The Section 232 report on the effect of steel mill product imports on U.S. national security was submitted to President Trump by Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross late on Thursday, Jan. 11. The president now has 90 days to take action. Details of the report have not been released. In its announcement, the Commerce Department […]
U.S. demand for steel sheet products continued to expand through November, according to Steel Market Update’s analysis of data from the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) and the U.S. Department of Commerce. Apparent supply is a proxy for market demand. Demand momentum for sheet products in total was negative in the three months through […]
Imports of rolled steel into the United States have been on the decline since peaking in July, based on a three-month moving average of government import data through the end of 2017. In three months through December compared to three months through September, total rolled steel imports declined by 16.8 percent, while sheet products dropped […]
In Q1 2018, long product imports increased by 9.5 percent compared to Q4 2017. Total long product imports were down by 150,000 tons per month year over year on a three-month moving average (3MMA) basis, but there was a turn for the worse in the first quarter, according to Steel Market Update’s analysis of federal […]
In Q1 2018, tubular product imports increased by 3.8 percent compared to Q4 2017. Total rolled steel imports increased by 3.6 percent, and tubular products by 3.8 percent, in the three months through March compared to three months through December 2017, but on a year-over-year basis tubulars were up by 20.2 percent, according to Steel […]
Premium subscribers to Steel Market Update receive reports on imports with macro data broken down by product on the national level. SMU also provides reports that detail the import tonnage received by district of entry and source nation. This new report from SMU takes the analysis even further. Using U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) data, […]
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 is often used to influence purchase decisions. Our intent with this analysis is to describe in detail what is going on in a […]
As we collected hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized, Galvalume and plate prices earlier this week, we asked a number of questions trying to get reactions from the steel buyers. We asked how high steel prices could go (using hot rolled as the benchmark) and what were the key drivers affecting prices right now. Here are […]
The following article on the hot rolled coil (HRC) futures market was written by David Feldstein. As the Flack Global Metals Director of Risk Management, Dave is an active participant in the hot rolled futures market, and we believe he provides insightful commentary and trading ideas to our readers. Besides writing futures articles for Steel […]