In my last ditty, I mentioned we were likely headed to the 1775-1800 area on the S&P 500. Well yesterday we reached 1775. However, the Fed statement from their October meeting yesterday had just enough language changes from the September meeting that some felt nervous and got out of some of their positions and the […]
It has now been three consecutive months that the SMU Price Momentum Indicator has been at Neutral. Flat rolled steel prices have broken out of the $640 per ton doldrums with benchmark hot rolled coil haven risen to $665 as of earlier this week. The monthly average for benchmark hot rolled is $651 per ton […]
The 3 month moving average (3MMA) of imports of the combined tonnage of billets, blooms and slabs through September reached the highest level since February last year. We use the 3MMA to avoid getting too wrapped up in a single months numbers which can be a fruitless exercise. On the same basis flat rolled products […]
The U.S. Department of Commerce released final August import numbers late last week. August steel imports rose by 368,606 net tons to 2,878,367 net tons due to higher slab, OCTG, cold rolled and hot-dipped galvanized imports. Slab imports were up by 140,252 tons over the prior month to 657,659 tons total. However, this was expected […]
The European Steel Association (Eurofer) says the year-over-year decline in the European Union (EU) steel industry is beginning to lessen and should show positive growth in 2014, according to the Eurofer Economic and Steel Market Outlook 2013-2014. The SWIP (Steel Weighted Industrial Production) Index is expected to be down -1.1 percent in the third quarter […]
The recent strength in the physical market has sent futures prices up over the past month. This week, however, prices have begun to soften as most market participants feel the market has reached a top. Talk of revived imports coming in as well as some domestic mills offering deals a bit below published prices has […]
The combination of higher spot prices and adjustments to contract negotiations has caused some buyers of flat rolled steel to seek alternatives to their normal domestic source of supply. Steel Market Update is beginning to get confirmations from both manufacturing companies and service centers of larger foreign tonnage purchases being made for 1st and early […]
The Chinese economy grew 7.8 percent in the third quarter, compared to 7.5 percent in the second quarter and 7.7 percent in the first quarter. Growth for the first nine months of 2013 was 7.7 percent keeping China on target for a 7.5 percent GDP for the year. According to the China National Bureau of […]
Evraz North America announced Monday it would suspend operations at its steel mill in Claymont, Delaware on December 13th due to “subdued market demand and the high volume of imports.” The Russian-owned mill produces specialized steel plate and has an annual capacity of 500,000 tons but produced only 383,590 tons in 2012 and 189,025 tons […]
The U.S. Treasury defines the debt ceiling or limit as “the total amount of money that the United States government is authorized to borrow to meet its existing legal obligations, including Social Security and Medicare benefits, military salaries, interest on the national debt, tax refunds, and other payments.” The current debt ceiling is set at […]
Shipping in the Capesize Market is beginning to slow down after a strong September driven by iron ore restocking in China and exports of ore from Brazil. According to the MID-SHIP Report on Oct. 10, average Capesize earnings fell to $33,368 from $42,211 two weeks ago. Time charters averaged $30,000 prompting owners to turnover cargo […]
The following is an email we received from a service center executive regarding the current contract negotiations and their opinion as to how changes can change the mix of contracts to spot orders on with a mill and, price volatility in the marketplace. We have heard the same argument from others within the steel industry […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) asked David Phelps, president of the American Institute for International Steel if there were any issues involving steel imports which our readers needed to be aware. He sent us an email with the following: “…the Customs officials employed at the ports to process imports and exports are considered essential. The licensing […]
The Federal Reserve publishes a trade weighted index of the value of the US$ (dollar) against a basket of the currencies of our major trading partners on a daily and monthly basis. As a result of the government shut-down we don’t have the very latest data for this index. The latest data we do have […]
SMU has received a number of questions about the overall level of imports into the U.S. For example, 33.5 million tons in 2012 sounds like a lot. We don’t see this magnitude on the flat rolled side. Could someone please explain what product forms the imports are coming in and where they are coming from? […]
A quick note about ferrous scrap. From the early deals being done – and there are still a number yet which need to be completed. Our sources are advising us that scrap prices have been trading lower by $5 to $10 per gross ton in the east. However, in the Midwest there have been trades […]
For the past three days, Steel Market Update has been canvassing those attending the Metalcon show in downtown Atlanta. We spoke with manufacturers associated with the metal building, architectural panel and various construction products as well as their service center, steel mill, trading company, paint and toll processors. We heard mixed results regarding 2013 versus […]
The Baker Hughes North American Rotary Rig Count is a weekly census of the number of drilling rigs actively exploring for or developing oil or natural gas in the United States and Canada. Rigs are considered active from the time they break ground until the time they reach their target depth and may be establishing […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) has received a large number of comments and inquiries regarding the subject of contract negotiations between the domestic steel mills and their end user and service center customers. Here are some samples: “I think the bucket deals are gone and the 6 percent deals are gone. I think the mills are […]
The Bureau of Economic Analysis’s third estimate of GDP growth in the second quarter was 2.46 percent q / q, little changed from the 2nd estimate and up from 1.1 percent in the first quarter. The official news release is included below. All major sub components made positive contributions except government expenditures and net exports […]
The headline you are seeing both here and in other trade publications is total steel imports are up 13.9 percent in August based on just released Preliminary Census Data from the U.S. Department of Commerce. Total imports rose from 2,520,506 net tons in July to 2,870,266 net tons in August. When looking at flat rolled, […]
One of our service center contacts told Steel Market Update recently, “The ending of indexed pricing for many is just around the corner which is a major positive but hearing little of this from SMU. [The] mills still trying to make something – they cannot continue to withstand the losses they have incurred. In fact, […]
An explanation of the Key Indicators concept is given at the end of this piece for those readers who are unfamiliar with it. The total number of indicators considered at present is thirty six. The present situation of eleven of the indicators based on historical standards was positive on September 22nd and thirteen were negative; […]
In August China’s steel production exceeded 50 percent of the global total for what we believe to be the first time. Global production in August was 130.352 million tonnes with a capacity utilization of 76.0 percent. In three months through August production was at an annual rate of 1.572 billion tonnes with a capacity utilization […]
Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp. and Ternium SA announced the start-up of its joint venture steel operation, Tenigal, near Monterrey City, Mexico on Sept. 18. Tenigal is part of Ternium’s Pesqueria Project, a $1.1 billion steel complex that includes a cold-rolling plant with a 1.5 million ton annual capacity. Tenigal will produce automotive […]
Other metallic coated (mainly Galvalume) imports July 2013 and YTD by source and port of entry. This is the fourth of an expanded series of analyses, exclusive to the Steel Market Update that is designed to provide a much more comprehensive view of actual flat rolled steel volume by product. This will enable a steel […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) has received many emails from our readers as well as interested parties regarding our SMU Price Momentum Indicator which we have had at Neutral since Friday, August 23, 2013. Since that time we have seen hot rolled pricing remain in the $630-$660 per ton level (see Comparison Price Indices article below) […]
Hot dipped galvanized imports July and YTD 2013 by source and port of entry: This is one of an expanded series of analyses, exclusive to the Steel Market Update that is designed to provide a much more comprehensive view of actual volume by product. This will enable a steel buyer or manager to see exactly […]
This is one of an expanded series of analyses, exclusive to Steel Market Update that is designed to provide a much more comprehensive view of actual flat rolled steel imports by product, volume, port of arrival and country of origin. This series of reports includes hot rolled, cold rolled, hot dipped galvanized (HDG) and other […]
The process of populating, testing, editing, fixing, testing, editing, adding content, editing, testing – well, you get the idea…. The website work continues and we continue to strive to meet the Friday the 13th deadline. My gut is telling me a week late may be a better target – but, we are going to try […]