Chinese steel trade data was recently released for the month of November 2017, providing updated data on iron ore imports, scrap imports and flat rolled imports and exports. Chinese imports of iron ore in November totaled 94,540,000 metric tons, an increase of 18.9 percent from the previous month, and an increase of 2.8 percent from […]
Current and future sentiment among flat rolled steel buyers remains high as the New Year begins, much the same as at this time last year, according to the Steel Market Update Steel Buyers Sentiment Index. The SMU Steel Buyers Sentiment Index measures changes in buyers’ optimism levels, which offers insight into their likely decision-making. Three […]
Earlier today, Steel Market Update provided our “Flash Report” on flat rolled steel service center inventories to those distributors who are actively providing months of supply data to SMU. Our first Flash Report prompted three comments from the group that we would like to share with our readers: Service Center One: “This market is the […]
The U.S. economy overall has grown for 103 consecutive months, and the manufacturing sector for 16 months, based on the Institute for Supply Management’s latest survey of corporate purchasing executives. In December, ISM’s manufacturing PMI climbed 1.5 percentage points to 59.7, well above the reading of 50 that indicates growth. “This indicates growth in manufacturing […]
All four raw materials tracked by Steel Market Update— iron ore, scrap, coking coal and zinc—increased in price in December. From Australia News Digest on Dec.18: “Steelmaking raw materials made strong gains on Monday as Chinese mills, responsible for half the world’s steel output, restock ahead of the resumption of full production at the end […]
The growth of U.S. Gross Domestic Product in the third quarter of 2017 maintained the strong performance of the second quarter. On Dec. 20, the Bureau of Economic Analysis released the third estimate of GDP growth in the third quarter. Growth was reported to be 3.16 percent quarter-on-quarter and 2.3 percent year-on-year. At the end […]
It was an unusually busy year for steel trade actions in the United States in 2017. January brought the nominations of Robert Lighthizer as U.S. Trade Representative and Wilbur Ross as Commerce Secretary. During his confirmation hearings, Ross said, “I’m not anti-trade, I’m pro-trade. But I’m pro-sensible trade. Not pro-trade that is to the disadvantage […]
The American Iron and Steel Institute welcomed Canada’s integrated steel company Stelco to its membership at AISI’s recent board meeting in Washington, D.C. “With its significant presence in North America, Stelco will be a great partner in our continued advocacy to fight unfairly traded foreign imports and level the playing field for the North American […]
The year 2017 proved a bit “odd” as the threat of political action against foreign steel worked against the domestic steel mills. Early in the year, newly crowned President Trump authorized the U.S. Department of Commerce, led by former steel magnate Wilbur Ross, to investigate if the steel industry is essential to the U.S. for […]
Current and future sentiment among flat rolled steel buyers improved further in December, according to the Steel Market Update Steel Buyers Sentiment Index, mirroring the pattern at this time last year that heralded a strong first quarter. The SMU Steel Buyers Sentiment Index measures changes in buyers’ optimism levels, which offers insight into their likely […]
Steel Market Update performs this analysis of global scrap trade each quarter to help readers understand the gyrations of the domestic scrap market and where the U.S. stands as a global player. This data is not very current because some nations are slow to report, but we still believe it gives a valuable perspective on […]
Since the Chinese government put a stop to all exports of steel scrap, analyzing the global scrap trade has become a bit more complicated. Steel Market Update performs this analysis of the world scrap market each quarter to help readers understand the gyrations of the domestic scrap market and where the U.S. stands as a […]
With demand fairly strong and prices rising, two out of three respondents to this week’s Steel Market Update market trends questionnaire feel there is no longer any need for President Trump to act on Section 232 ahead of the mid-January deadline. Earlier this year, the Trump administration instructed the Commerce Department to investigate whether low-priced […]
The U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) released updated import license data this evening. November license data continues to hover around 2.86 million net tons. Steel Market Update sees December license data trending toward 2.53 million net tons, down from our previous analysis of 2.64 million tons last week. Semi-finished imports were previously trending about 200,000 […]
Steel Dynamics Inc. provided guidance on fourth-quarter earnings, predicting a lower sequential quarter. Planned outages at the company’s flat rolled divisions resulted in higher costs and lower value-added shipments, reducing pretax earnings by approximately $27 million. Flat rolled steel pricing declined at a steeper rate than prices for scrap raw material. The long products division […]
As the year winds down, shipping in the United States is moving along with minor complications in December. River traffic has encountered reoccurring problems with aging infrastructure as record grain harvests put pressure on capacity. Ocean freight volume is improving and rates are strong. Truckers are rushing to meet electronic logging device mandates, and the […]
Both flat rolled and plate steel distributors saw only a very modest drop in inventories as of the end of July. Inventories continue to be “balanced” at 2.7 months of supply on flat rolled and 2.1 months of supply on plate, according to Steel Market Update’s proprietary inventory data. Flat Rolled Spread Tightens Although our […]
Nucor offered fourth-quarter guidance on Wednesday, forecasting a decrease in earnings compared to the third quarter. Fourth-quarter results are expected to be in the range of $0.50 to $0.55 per diluted share compared to third-quarter consolidated net earnings of $0.79 per diluted share and comparable to year-ago earnings. Imports continue to negatively impact the U.S. […]
Steel Market Update recently adjusted our Price Momentum Indicator to “Higher” as, in our opinion, steel buyers should anticipate flat rolled steel prices to move up over the next 30 to 60 days. During last week’s analysis of the flat rolled steel market, 78 percent of the respondents agreed with SMU, sensing that pricing momentum […]
The U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) released new import license data this evening. Steel Market Update has done a quick analysis of the data and foreign steel imports for the month of December are trending toward a 2.6 million net ton month (November license data was very similar at this time of the month yet […]
Apparent steel supply for the month of October totaled 9,355,621 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. October apparent steel supply […]
Demand for sheet products improved in the three months through October by 3.2 percent year over year, led by hot rolled and other metallic coated. Demand for Galvalume is surging at the expense of galvanized sheet, according to Steel Market Update’s latest analysis of American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) and U.S. Department of Commerce […]
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 […]
Washing machine manufacturers Samsung and LG won a partial victory in the Section 201 safeguard investigation initiated by Whirlpool and GE. Whirlpool is asking for quotas and a 50 percent digressive tariff on imports of all large residential washers (LRWs) in 2018. Beginning in 2019, the rate would be reduced to 49 percent and then […]
On the heels of its $50 per ton increase on carbon plate prices on Wednesday, Nucor announced an additional $30 per ton increase on hot rolled, cold rolled and galvanized steel products on Friday, effective immediately. U.S. Steel, NLMK USA and California Steel matched the Nucor sheet price increase of $30 per ton. ArcelorMittal USA, […]
Domestic mills are in the driver’s seat and steel prices have nowhere to go but up, agreed most respondents to Steel Market Update’s flat roll market trends questionnaire this week. SMU contacts steel buyers twice each month to monitor their views on market conditions. Asked for their opinion on the current direction of steel prices, […]
The Section 232 investigation into steel imports fails to meet approval by the Defense Department, according to Inside U.S. Trade sources. After reviewing a draft report earlier this year, the Defense Department determined that trade restrictions proposed by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross would “unnecessarily vex U.S. allies.” A source told Inside U.S. Trade that the […]
Preliminary antidumping duties were determined Thursday by the Department of Commerce on circular welded non-alloy steel pipe imports from South Korea. An antidumping margin of 38.16 percent was assigned to CWP manufactured by Hyundai Steel Co. and 23.17 percent duties on imports from Aju Besteel Co., Nexteel, and SeAH Steel Corp. Husteel received an antidumping […]
I have been pointing to the circumvention ruling as one of those “Black Swan” events that could come back to haunt the way importers do business. The section of the ruling that could potentially have the most teeth is the definition of what constitutes “significant transformation,” which allows substrate from one country to be converted […]
The Department of Commerce issued an affirmative final determination in the antidumping investigation of carbon and alloy steel wire rod imports from Belarus, the Russian Federation and the United Arab Emirates. The following dumping margins were assigned: Belarus: 280.02 percent Russia: 756.93 percent for Abinsk Electric Steel Works Ltd. and JSC NLMK-Ural, and 436.8 percent […]