Although Steel Market Update, Inc. is only “officially” 5.5 years old we are actually moving into our 9th year of publishing when the calendar changes to 2014. The first 2.5 years of continuous publication came during my tenure as an agent for Winner Steel along with my association with a couple of trading companies during […]
If you look under the “Analysis” tab there will be a drop down menu where you can access Imports/Exports – there is then a sub menu where the last item is imports by product, port and country. This is available only to Premium Level members. The October numbers are on the website. If you have […]
I thought our Premium Level readers might appreciate the latest forecast from Timna Tanners, Bank of America Merrill Lynch metals and mining analyst. Timna was a little “light” in her price forecast for 2013 hot rolled coil which was originally $555 average and was upgraded during the year to $622. Tanners believes some of the […]
The first estimate of Q3 GDP growth from the Bureau of Economic Analysis surprised on the upside with a growth of 2.82 percent annualized, the second estimate came in at 3.6 percent and the third at 4.1 percent, well within the range that results in the growth of steel demand. GDP in Q3 2013 was […]
Financial Markets: Well two weeks back the S+P held that 1775 zone it tested. It has since rallied back to new highs yesterday at 1806.75, this for the March future. Yesterday the Fed announced the beginning of the easing of the easing, or bond buyback program. The Fed will start to taper their bond buying […]
U.S. Steel announced a price increase on Monday and the market appears to be cautiously optimistic as we enter the end of 2013 and look out into the New Year. The announcement itself was termed a “non-event” by one of the construction related steel mills with whom we spoke this afternoon as increases had previously […]
The futures market has traded in a very tight range over the past couple of weeks. Prices in the front months, December and January, have continued to firm trading around $670 per ton. The further out, the curve prices have remained backwardated as the risk of imports in the 2nd quarter onwards continues to weigh […]
Apparent steel supply for October was 9,445,160 net tons, a 12.63 percent increase compared to the same month one year ago. This was due to a large increase in domestic shipments and total imports, and a decrease in exports. The net trade balance from the difference between imports and exports was a surplus of imports […]
Total U.S. steel exports for the first 10 months of 2013 were 10,871,857 net tons (NT), a 7.69 percent decrease from the 11,777,542 NT exported for the same period in 2012. NAFTA exports decreased slightly during that time frame by 173,983 NT or 1.86 percent. U.S. exports to non-NAFTA countries within the Western Hemisphere were […]
The other day Steel Market Update wrote an article about steel buyers anticipating a flat rolled steel price increase announcement out of the domestic mills prior to the end of the year. Not everyone is a believer that will occur and we got several emails and phone calls pointing out short lead times at a […]
Prepainted flat rolled imports increased in October over August for all products followed by SMU, especially for galvanized and electro-galvanized. Compared to the same month one year ago, prepainted imports in October significantly increased for all products. As you can see by our table below – prepainted cold rolled (CR) imports increased by 376 NT […]
Year to date net imports of all hot worked products combined was 10,025,543 tons, down by 26,420 tons from the first ten months of 2012. This reduction was entirely driven by tubulars and plate. Pipe and tube had a decline in net imports of 925,617 tons and plate a decline of 509,778 tons. All other […]
Steel buyers are bracing for a new round of flat rolled price increases according to steel buyers and executives as well as the results of our most recent Steel Market Update (SMU) market analysis of the flat rolled steel market which we conducted this past week. “It’s time to raise the price of flat rolled […]
We continue to get positive feedback regarding the new SMU website. As with any new site as complicated as ours is there will be a few bugs and a learning curve to negotiate through in the early stages. We are working through those and believe we are offering a unique experience for those involved in […]
Final October import data was released earlier this week, showing total imports for the month at 3,101,063 net tons (2,813,240 metric tons). This figure is the highest tonnage seen since April 2012 when imports were 3,144,947 NT (2,853,051 MT). Total October imports are well above both the 3 and 12 month-moving-averages (MMA). Compared to September, […]
Imports of most rolled products and semi finished declined in November. The only exceptions were rail and tin plate. Sheet products were down by 21.5 percent in total but within that group coated products were down over 40 percent. An analysis of the 3 month moving averages (3MMA) of imports results in a very different […]
December tends to be a slow month having just come off of a late in the month Thanksgiving Holiday coupled with Christmas and the Jewish Holidays during the month of December. The bottom line is there are a limited number of shipping days during the month. One of the first things SMU will be watching […]
Negotiations on 2014 flat rolled steel contracts are heating up. Sources are advising Steel Market Update that there has been some movement in the negotiation process by the domestic mills which has allowed a number of the mills to close some 2014 business. We are also hearing from multiple sources of a move by buyers […]
The November ISM Report for November 2013 indicated expansion in the manufacturing sector for the sixth consecutive month and the highest PMI (purchasing mangers index) reading for the year. The PMI registered 57.3 percent, up from 56.4 percent in October. Indices for new orders, production, employment and exports picked up their pace of growth in […]
The U.S. Department of Commerce released preliminary October import figures earlier today, estimating total imports of 3,059,358 net tons (NT). This tonnage is the highest monthly figure since May 2012 when total imports were 3,064,008 NT. With the exception of hot rolled products, imports increased month-over-month (MOM) in October for all products in the table […]
For those of you who logged into the website and read the newsletter online – you will already know that our SMU Price Ranges & Indices article has an interactive graphic at the end of the article. Those of you reading the newsletter in your inbox will not be able to see or interact with […]
Once per month Steel Market Update publishes reports on flat rolled imports into the United States by product, port and country of origin. The result is a fairly massive report which is difficult to reproduce in our newsletter but is in our new website. The totals in the report are accurate. However, we have removed countries […]
One of the questions we hear on a continuous basis is, how much foreign flat rolled steel import is really coming and what impact will it have on domestic steel prices (and when)? Steel Market Update conducted our most recent analysis of the flat rolled steel market over this past week. Based on the responses […]
Steel Market Update will publish our second Premium Supplement Newsletter on Monday. Included will be our SMU Key Market Indicators and forecast, September imports by product, port and country and articles related to our most recent steel market analysis not available elsewhere. If you are interested in upgrading one of your memberships to the Premium […]
The total number of Key Market Indicators considered at present is thirty six. The present situation of eleven of the indicators based on historical standards was positive on November 21st the same as on October 31st but there were two changes. We changed the situation of demand for commercial and industrial bank loans from green […]
There is a lot of interest in what direction spot flat rolled prices will move from here. It appears there is a split between some of the domestic steel mills regarding the most recent price announcements made by AK Steel and Severstal NA. We understand that spot prices on hot rolled are hitting a bit […]
Total steel mill product exports in September were 1,022,050 net tons, a 10.93 percent decrease from October tonnage of 1,147,411 NT. September exports are reported to be at their lowest levels since December 2012. Semi-finished exports were reported to be 2,678 NT, down 93.55 percent from August tonnage of 86,065 NT, but this is most […]
Each month the Bureau of Labor Statistics puts out its series of producer price indexes, for thousands of goods and materials. The latest release on Thursday reported October results. These statistics are a useful way to evaluate any changes in the competitive position of steel against competing materials. For the purpose of this report, SMU […]
Apparent steel supply for September was 9,043,000 net tons, a 10.38 percent increase compared to the same month one year ago. This is due to an 8 to 9 percent increase in domestic shipments and all imports, and was slightly offset by a decrease in exports, down 3.38 percent. The net trade balance from the […]
Apparent supply is defined as domestic mill shipments to domestic locations plus imports. Sources are the American Iron and Steel Institute and the Department of Commerce. The three month moving average (3MMA) of the total tonnage of flat rolled sheet and strip supply was 4,469,473 tons per month in the period July through September. This […]