“A somewhat challenging flat-rolled price environment” is how Steel Dynamics CEO Mark Millett described the first quarter of 2019. SDI posted net income of $204 million in the first quarter and sales of $2.8 billion. Lower steel prices impacted sales resulting in 3.0 percent decline sequentially. Operating income for the company’s steel operations fell 22 […]
The official economic statistics out of China show a surge in industrial production in March and a steady growth in fixed asset investment. Once each quarter, Steel Market Update publishes the official statistics for Chinese GDP, industrial production, consumer price inflation and fixed asset investment. We don’t know the accuracy of these numbers but we […]
Demand for long products and tubular goods has seen strong growth, but sheet products are declining. This analysis by SMU staff is based on data from the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) and the U.S. Department of Commerce (DoC). The analysis summarizes total steel supply by product from 2003 through February 2019 and year-on-year […]
In Q1 2019, all regions except the North Central had positive employment growth. First-quarter regional employment data by state was released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) on Friday. The state data follows and confirms the strong employment situation that we reported at the national level two weeks ago. In the first quarter, the […]
The metalforming industry is expecting a dip in business conditions in the next three months, according to the April 2019 Precision Metalforming Association survey. “The Business Conditions Report reflects the growing concern of metalforming manufacturers that the Section 232 steel tariffs are creating a drag on the U.S. manufacturing sector,” said PMA President David Klotz. […]
Non-coated flat rolled and plate prices are under pressure and there is worry coming from steel buyers about the second half of this calendar year. I am hearing mixed results regarding actual demand. The weather has finally broken in the north and products such as the metal building industry are seeing significant gains. We also […]
Data in Steel Market Update’s Steel Buyers Sentiment Index took a decidedly pessimistic turn this week. Current Sentiment hit its lowest reading since October 2016. The goal of the index is to measure how buyers and sellers of steel feel about their company’s ability to be successful today (Current Index), as well as three to […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: The lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Section 232 took an interesting turn earlier this week, with plaintiffs’ petition for immediate Supreme Court review of the case, without passing through the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Ordinarily, […]
Steel interests in North America and the rest of the world are watching intently to see if the Trump administration grants some tariff relief to Canada and Mexico to clear the way for final approval of the new U.S.-Canada-Mexico Trade Agreement. One possible compromise being discussed (albeit one so far opposed by the U.S. trading […]
Updated steel import license data was released Tuesday evening, reporting new March license data up slightly over last week to 2.79 million tons, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. These figures would be above the three-month moving average (3MMA, through final January data), but below the 12-month moving average (12MMA). When removing the semi-finished […]
Editor’s note: The following analysis by Alex Lawson of Law 360 describes the American Institute for International Steel’s position on its filing Monday with the U.S. Supreme Court. The legal push to strike down the Cold War-era law used by President Donald Trump to set tariffs on national security grounds unexpectedly shifted to the U.S. […]
Editor’s note: The following analysis by Alex Lawson of Law 360 describes the American Institute for International Steel’s position on its filing Monday with the U.S. Supreme Court. The legal push to strike down the Cold War-era law used by President Donald Trump to set tariffs on national security grounds unexpectedly shifted to the U.S. […]
The Russians are coming—to Kentucky. Russian aluminum producer United Co. Rusal plans to invest $200 million in a $1.7 billion rolling mill being built by start-up company Braidy Industries in Ashland, Ky. The investment will give Rusal a 40 percent stake in the project and a significant presence in the U.S. automotive and aerospace aluminum […]
By CRU Principal Analyst Matthew Watkins. In the event of a no-deal Brexit, the key short-term impacts on the European steel market are likely to be increased delays for material crossing the UK-EU border as well as modifications to the EU safeguard system. Beyond short-term behavior such as stockpiling, there are possible longer-term effects, perhaps […]
The following calculation is used by Steel Market Update to identify the theoretical spread between foreign hot rolled steel prices (delivered to U.S. ports) and domestic hot rolled coil prices (FOB domestic mills). We want our readers to be aware that this is only a “theoretical” calculation as freight costs, trader margin and other costs […]
The Trump administration is threatening to impose tariffs of up to 100 percent on goods imported from the European Union as early as this summer in a long-running dispute over aircraft subsidies. A preliminary list of goods that could be affected covers every major product group. Deadline for comments on the list is May 28. […]
A surprising two out of three respondents to Steel Market Update’s market trends questionnaire last week said they are not concerned about the direction of steel prices, at least in the short term, though some question the staying-power of current demand. Steel Market Update asked: “Foreign steel imports are dropping and the domestic mills are […]
A long-term feud between Boeing in the U.S. and Airbus in Europe is coming to a head. Tuesday the U.S. threatened to impose $11.2 billion of retaliatory tariffs on European goods in response to the continued subsidization of the Airbus manufacturer. “This case has been in litigation for 14 years, and the time has come […]
The U.S. Department of Commerce released updated import license data on Tuesday evening, with new March license estimates up slightly to 2.76 million tons. These latest figures would be above the three-month moving average (3MMA, through final January data), but below the 12-month moving average (12MMA). When removing the semi-finished (mostly slabs) licenses from the […]
Steel Market Update is pleased to share this Premium content with Executive-level members. For more information on how to upgrade to a Premium-level subscription, email info@SteelMarketUpdate.com. This is a quarterly analysis that SMU performs using data from the Iron and Steel Statistics Bureau in the UK. We believe that to improve our understanding of the […]
Sales of HVAC products remain fairly strong in most parts of the country, but prices don’t fully reflect that demand, reported members of the Heating, Air-conditioning and Refrigeration Distributors International in their monthly conference call. “I still think the market is fragile,” commented one HARDI member. “The mills have a lot of fundamentals in their […]
By CRU North America Analyst Ryan McKinley U.S. long product prices have come under downward pressure, driven primarily by persistently high inventory levels. This inventory build-up has been compounded by an increase in import levels in March relative to the prior month, and consistently wet weather in many regions of the U.S. has delayed any […]
The U.S. Department of Commerce released license data for foreign steel coming into the United States. Based on the data received and reported through April 2, March imports are expected to come in slightly higher than February at 2.6-2.7 million net tons. When removing the semi-finished (mostly slabs) licenses from the data, the finished steel […]
January apparent steel supply was calculated at 9,902,993 net tons, according to data released late last week. Apparent steel supply is determined by adding domestic steel shipments and finished U.S. steel imports, then subtracting total U.S. steel exports. This is the highest level seen since March 2018 when apparent supply was 9,935,479 tons. January apparent […]
Year over year, total rolled product imports in March were down by 11.2 percent, measured as a three-month moving average (3MMA). This early look at March’s import volume is based on Commerce Department license data (see explanation below). Beginning in January 2018, we expanded this import analysis to include all major steel sectors: sheet, plate, […]
Raw materials prices have lacked direction in the last month. Table 1 summarizes the price changes through March of the five materials considered in this analysis. It reports the month / month, 3 months / 3 months and 12 months / 12 months changes and tells us that iron ore and pig iron declined in […]
The U.S. International Trade Commission announced its final antidumping and countervailing duty injury determinations in the investigations concerning imports of large-diameter welded pipe from Canada, Greece, Korea and Turkey. Commerce will issue: antidumping duty orders on imports of LDW carbon and alloy steel line pipe from Canada, Greece, Korea, and Turkey; a countervailing duty order […]
Rising trade tensions took a toll on global economic growth in 2018 and will create strong headwinds in 2019 and 2020, says a new report by the World Trade Organization. Global trade grew 4.6 percent in 2017 generating optimism that an upward momentum was beginning. Data from 2018, however, showed trade underperforming, with growth of […]
The Canadian International Trade Tribunal recommended on Wednesday that five of seven provisional steel safeguards, imposed by the government following the imposition of Section 232 tariffs by the U.S., be removed. A CITT inquiry concerning the importation into Canada of heavy plate, concrete reinforcing bar, energy tubular products, hot-rolled sheet, pre-painted steel, stainless steel wire, […]
The following calculation is used by Steel Market Update to identify the theoretical spread between foreign hot rolled steel prices (delivered to U.S. ports) and domestic hot rolled coil prices (FOB domestic mills). We want our readers to be aware that this is only a “theoretical” calculation as freight costs, trader margin and other costs […]