Tag: Imports

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.

Nucor’s plate mill group (NPG) will cut prices for as-rolled discrete plate and normalized plate by $140 per ton ($7 per cwt). The Charlotte, N.C.-based steelmaker said it would also drop prices for quenched-and-tempered plate by $80 per ton. Nucor said the lower prices would be effective with new orders received on Wednesday, Oct. 31. […]

The ferrous export market in the US has experienced several geopolitical events and natural disasters during 2023.

U.S. Steel’s third-quarter earnings call with analysts on Friday, Oct. 27, was packed full of insight into the Pittsburgh-based steelmaker’s current state of affairs.

I wrote on Sunday that it could be a busy week for steel. It has been.

Mill lead times for flat-rolled products pushed out this week once again across the board.

US apparent supply increased to 8.65 million net tons in August, up 5% compared to 8.24 million tons July, according to data from the US Department of Commerce and the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI).  Apparent steel supply is determined by combining domestic steel mill shipments and finished US steel imports, then deducting total […]

South Korea and Brazil will not be maxing out their allowable quotas on hot-rolled sheet shipments to the US for 2023, according to government data analyzed by SMU.

Electricity demand worldwide is growing significantly, requiring massive investments in the electric grid to supply increased needs and desire for electricity. A recent report by the International Energy Agency (IEA) indicates that global demand for electricity will double from 2020 to 2050. In developed economies, the growth rate will be somewhat lower. But it will […]