SMU on Monday and Tuesday canvassed steel buyers on a variety of subjects ranging from future steel prices and new capacity to demand and supply chain issues. As we did earlier this month, we are sharing the comments we received in each buyers’ own words rather than summarizing them in ours. Want to have your voice […]
US apparent steel supply eased from March to April, declining 4% to 9.09 million net tons, according to the latest US Department of Commerce and American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) data. Recall that supply reached a six-year high last September at 9.92 million tons, declining each month through February. Supply rebounded 14% in March […]
Antidumping and countervailing duty (“trade remedy”) cases provide a rare glimpse into tariffs on imported goods that entered the US before they were subject to these burdensome duties. In the opinion of some, retroactively applied tariffs are always unfair to importers and their downstream US customers. Others disagree, believing that they deter imports competing with […]
The temptation to purchase foreign hot rolled over domestic steel remains high, according to SMU’s latest foreign versus domestic hot-rolled coil (HRC) price comparison. Since mid-April, foreign steel prices have declined at a faster rate compared to domestic prices, resulting in greater potential discounts on imported products. Select foreign prices now range between $119-238 per […]
Steel Market Update’s latest market check indicates steel mill lead times continue to decline for sheet products as they move closer to historical norms. Plate lead times have been relatively flat since mid-May. Lead times over the past two weeks have been roughly in line with what we were seeing in the early weeks of […]
Final Census data shows that steel imports in April totaled 2.73 million net tons, falling 12% from March’s 26-month high of 3.09 million tons. May import licenses have risen from our late-May report to 2.61 million tons, 4% less than April levels and 16% lower than the March high. Total finished steel imports were 2.29 […]
The big news of the day is that hot-rolled coil prices slipped below $1,200 per ton ($60 per cwt) for the first time since the start of the Ukraine war. The big question remains how far they’ll fall and how fast. There are no immediate signs of what might stop the declines. The Detroit-area scrap […]
SMU updates its prices every Tuesday evening, and all indications are that prices could be in for a significant adjustment downward this week. This time last year, big orders at times had to pay a premium over small orders because the market was so tight and because prices were shooting up so fast. That’s no longer […]
The Biden administration, picking up where the “America First” Trump administration left off, extols the virtues of increased production here at home. There are many advantages to this approach, the president says. Increased production in the US will diminish reliance on China in critical materials for electric vehicles (rare earth metals and lithium, for example). […]
The US Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration is adjusting the antidumping duty margins on imports of carbon and alloy cut-to-length plate from South Korea. The agency is conducting an administrative review of the duties, evaluating the period May 1, 2020 through April 30, 2021, according to a Federal Register filing. POSCO is the only Korean […]
US President Joe Biden has officially implemented the tariff-rate quota (TRQ) to ease Section 232 restrictions on steel imports from the United Kingdom. Biden’s presidential proclamation, dated May 31, is clear that only steel melted and poured in the UK – up to 500,000 metric tons per year – is eligible to enter the US […]
Sheet and plate prices continue to fall. That’s not a surprise, as there is little reason for them to do otherwise. What is surprising when you step back is just how quickly prices have fallen, and how much further they could continue to fall. SMU’s hot-rolled coil price now stands at $1,255 per ton ($62.75 […]
Sheet and plate prices continued to slip this week on expectations of lower scrap costs in June, increased import competition, and so-so demand, market participants said. Hot-rolled coil prices were down $35 per ton as were plate prices. Coated products were off by $25 per ton. Cold-rolled prices were up $10 per ton – or effectively […]
Steel Dynamics Inc. (SDI) sees a “myriad of opportunities” on the M&A front but disagreements over valuations have prevented some of those deals from moving forward, the company’s top executive said. “It’s a matter of determining what is a great strategic fit at a reasonable value. … People’s aspirations of value are a little steep […]
The US will lift Section 232 tariffs from Ukrainian steel imports on Wednesday, June 1, at 12:01 a.m. Eastern Time, the White House said. The waiver from the national security duties will remain in place until at least 11:59 pm Eastern on June 1, 2023. “In light of the ongoing security discussions and significant disruption […]
The US will lift Section 232 tariffs from Ukrainian steel imports on Wednesday, June 1, at 12:01 a.m. Eastern Time, the White House said. The waiver from the national security duties will remain in place until at least 11:59 pm Eastern on June 1, 2023. “In light of the ongoing security discussions and significant disruption […]
Preliminary Census data recently released shows that steel imports in April declined 12% month-over-month to 2.73 million net tons, falling from March’s 26-month high of 3.09 million tons. May import licenses through May 23 and are currently at a 15-month low of 2.02 million tons, down 26% compared to April and 35% lower than the […]
Steel Market Update’s latest check of the market indicates steel mill lead times are slowly reverting back towards historical norms for most sheet products, while Galvalume and plate lead times inched up compared to two weeks prior. Lead times are now in line with levels seen in the beginning of 2022. Buyers surveyed this week […]
The US Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration has adjusted the antidumping duty margins on imports of hot-rolled steel flats from Japan after an administrative review covering the one-year period ended September 30, 2020. Commerce calculated a weighted-average dumping margin of 24.07% for mandatory respondents Nippon Steel Corp., Nippon Steel Nisshin Co., and Nippon Steel […]
Prices are down across the board this week. That’s not new if you’ve been paying attention lately. Price increases are often announced. Decreases rarely are. What’s new is Nucor’s almost aggressively transparent pricing strategy – announcing not only price increases but also flat and decreasing prices. That is new on the sheet and plate side […]
What a whirlwind last week was. I want to thank Wolfe Research and Bank of America for inviting me to speak, the former virtually, the latter in person. I also want to thank Stanislav Zinchenko and the GMK Center for taking time to join us for what I thought was one of our better Community […]
What a whirlwind last week was. I want to thank Wolfe Research and Bank of America for inviting me to speak, the former virtually, the latter in person. I also want to thank Stanislav Zinchenko and the GMK Center for taking time to join us for what I thought was one of our better Community […]
Tariffs on China put in place under the Trump administration are under review now because Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 requires it after four years. I thought it was surprising that President Biden continued the “China tariffs” after criticizing them during the 2020 presidential campaign. But it is not too surprising. The tariffs […]
The temptation to purchase foreign hot rolled over domestic steel remains high, according to SMU’s latest foreign versus domestic hot-rolled coil (HRC) price comparison. Select foreign HRC prices range from $164-364 per ton cheaper than domestic prices, after taking freight costs, trader margins and tariffs into consideration. The price differentials between domestic HRC and foreign import […]
Alan Beaulieu Comments, Stanislav Kinchenko Webinar, Steel Prices, Events SMU’s Michael Cowden and David Schollaert are at the Boy Scout Dinner in Chicago this evening (Thursday). Steel Market Update is a supporter of the event which has been hosted by the metals industry for 50 years. If you have never attended the dinner, I highly […]
Three months of war in Ukraine have wreaked havoc on the country’s iron and steel industry and caused repercussions across the global economy, but industry and the country of Ukraine continue to fight back. In this week’s SMU Community Chat, Stanislav Zinchenko, CEO of the GMK Center, spoke with us on the impact Russia’s invasion […]
Strict and strictly enforced trade laws are key to backing the steel industry’s investments in decarbonization. That was the takeaway from a press conference on Tuesday, May 17, at the AISTech 2022 conference in Pittsburgh. Executives from Steel Dynamics Inc. (SDI), Commercial Metals Co. (CMC), the Steel Manufacturers Association (SMA), and the American Iron and […]
Sheet prices slipped again this week on what some sources described as a summertime market that has arrived a few weeks earlier than usual. SMU’s hot-rolled coil price was down $15 per ton week-over-week (WoW) to an average of $1,350 per ton ($67.50 per cwt). Other sheet products also fell, with cold-rolled down $30 per […]
Canada’s government has decided to continue antidumping duty orders on hot rolled sheet and strip from Brazil and China and a countervailing duty order on HR from India, while allowing the AD duty order on HR imports from Ukraine to expire. The Canadian International Trade Tribunal (CITT) issued its final ruling in the expiry review […]
Flat Rolled = 51.4 Shipping Days of Supply Plate = 48.3 Shipping Days of Supply Flat Rolled US service center flat rolled inventories declined slightly in April in terms of shipping days of supply, while the amount of material on order rose again. At the end of April, service centers carried 51.4 shipping days of […]