The U.S. dollar weakened against 12 of the 16 steel and raw materials trading nation currencies in the last 30 days and against 11 in the last 90 days, which is similar to the declines that we reported for June and July. The biggest changes in the last 90 days were in the value of […]
Mills are hoping to boost flat rolled prices by an additional $50-60 per net ton as the economy and steel demand continue to improve, iron ore and scrap prices rise and mill outages tighten supplies. On Monday, U.S. Steel and sister company USS-POSCO Industries (UPI) informed customers they have raised spot prices for hot rolled, cold […]
By CRU Senior Analyst Erik Hedborg, from CRU’s Steelmaking Raw Materials Monitor Iron ore prices have stayed elevated in the past week and even exceeded $130 /dmt, before falling back on Tuesday to just below that level. Weakening margins in the Chinese steel industry held prices from rising further and seaborne supply improved in the […]
By CRU Research Manager Paul Butterworth, from CRU’s Steel Raw Materials and Steel Costs CRU price and cost forecasts suggest that the steel sector generally will return close to steady-state, or “through-cycle,” levels of profitability over the five-year forecast period. However, as our analysis highlights, steady-state profitability of individual steel mills has varied widely in […]
SMU contributor Tim Stevenson is a partner at Metal Edge Partners, a firm engaged in Risk Management and Strategic Advisory. In this role, he and his firm design and execute risk management strategies for clients along with providing process and analytical support. In Tim’s previous role, he was a Director at Cargill Risk Management, and […]
By CRU Research Analyst Eduardo Tinti, from CRU’s Steelmaking Raw Materials Monitor The iron ore price rose further last week and is now approaching the $130 /dmt mark as demand from Chinese steel mills remains strong and seaborne supply declined w/w. On Tuesday, Sept. 8, CRU assessed the 62% Fe fines price at $128.0 /dmt, […]
By CRU Senior Analyst Ryan McKinley, from CRU’s Steel Metallics Monitor The CRU metallics price indicator (CRUmpi) rose by 9.9 percent m/m in September to 225.5. Rising steel demand internationally in combination with tighter markets has driven relatively large price increases in every market we assess. Market sentiment is bullish for October and, barring any […]
By CRU Research Analyst Eduardo Tinti, from CRU’s Steelmaking Raw Materials Monitor In the past week, iron ore prices remained steady. Despite somewhat lower demand from hot metal production, pre-holiday restocking activity kept iron ore port outflows at a high level while the seaborne supply registered one of the best weeks in the year so […]
Editor’s note: SMU Contributor David Feldstein is president of Rock Trading Advisors. David has over 20 years of financial market trading experience and has been active in the ferrous futures space for eight years. David earned an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business with concentrations in economics, statistics and analytical finance. […]
By CRU Senior Analyst Erik Hedborg, from CRU’s Raw Materials Monitor The iron ore price has risen again in the past week as offloading activities have continued while demand from China’s steel mills has been robust. On Tuesday, Sept. 1, CRU has assessed the 62% Fe fines price at $124.5 /dmt, up by $1.5 /dmt […]
Among steelmaking raw materials, the prices of iron ore, pig iron and zinc have seen big gains in the past three months. Scrap prices have been challenged, but saw some improvement in August, notably in the coastal regions, and are expected to rise in September, lending support to higher finished steel prices. Table 1 summarizes […]
The future of U.S. Steel and Big River Steel as one entity continues to excite CEOs from both companies. Speaking during the SMU Virtual Steel Summit this past week, U.S. Steel CEO David Burritt could barely contain his enthusiasm regarding the opportunities the marriage of the two companies will provide the iconic steel producer. Burritt […]
The SMU Steel Summit 2020 was off to a strong start on Day 1 covering a wide variety of topics from new capacity to international trade. SMU President John Packard officially opened the conference on Monday leading a panel discussion about the steel industry in Mexico, the Middle East, Turkey and China. Ternium CEO Maximo Vedoya […]
By CRU Senior Analyst Erik Hedborg from CRU’s Steelmaking Raw Materials Monitor Iron ore prices have held steady in the past week as import restrictions on Australian ore have disrupted the supply chain and reduced the availability of Australian fines. As a result, port inventories of fines products remain at the lowest level in years. […]
By CRU Senior Analyst Erik Hedborg, from CRU’s Steelmaking Raw Materials Monitor Iron ore prices continued their upward trajectory and traded at $123.0 /dmt on Tuesday, Aug. 18, a $3.0 /dmt increase w/w. Chinese demand remains strong and the challenges of delivering ore from vessels to steelmakers remain in place. Chinese domestic steel prices have […]
By CRU Principal Analyst Josh Spoores, from CRU’s Steel Monitor Steel markets have recovered from the depths of Covid-19 global disruption, but this has varied in pace across regions and has been stop-start in many. Indeed, as measured by CRU’s global finished steel CRUspi, finished steel prices bottomed in May at 129.3, the lowest reading […]
Canadian steel producer Stelco reported stronger sales in the second quarter despite market headwinds, posting revenue of $411 million. Net income was nil compared to a net profit of $1 million in Q2 2019 and a net loss of $24 million in Q1 2020. Adjusted net income was $10 million, up from $6 million a […]
Seventy percent of the steel buyers polled by SMU last week said they believe prices are near the bottom of the current market. SMU pegs the current benchmark price for hot rolled at around $440 per ton, slightly lower than the consensus view of $460 per ton because SMU learned of some low-$400’s deals late […]
The COVID-19 pandemic is not stopping CEO Lourenco Goncalves. “We are back on track and ready to fulfill our vision for the new Cleveland-Cliffs, which includes our mines and pellet plants, AK Steel, AK Tube, Precision Partners and our new HBI plant.” Having set his sights on the auto industry and already dedicating more than […]
The COVID-19 pandemic is not stopping CEO Lourenco Goncalves. “We are back on track and ready to fulfill our vision for the new Cleveland-Cliffs, which includes our mines and pellet plants, AK Steel, AK Tube, Precision Partners and our new HBI plant.” Having set his sights on the auto industry and already dedicating more than […]
By CRU Senior Analyst Ryan McKinley, from CRU’s Metallics Monitor The CRU metallics price indicator (CRUmpi) rose by 3.6 percent m/m in August to 205.1. China’s demand for finished steel has either lifted or stabilized both scrap and metallics prices across the globe. Looking ahead, we expect this trend to continue through September as markets […]
By CRU Research Analyst Eduardo Tinti, from CRU’s Steelmaking Raw Materials Monitor Last week, iron ore prices rallied, rising by $10.7 /dmt w/w. This was mainly due to very strong Chinese demand driven by high steelmaking margins, BFs operating at historic high capacity utilization rates and bullish market sentiment. Albeit rising iron ore inventories at […]
“Second-quarter results are a reminder of why we have to change,” said U.S. Steel President and CEO David Burritt, during his quarterly conference. The second quarter marked the trough of a challenging year, he said, as U.S. Steel remains focused on its “best of both” strategy, which includes the acquisition of EAF mill Big River […]
SMU contributor Tim Stevenson is a partner at Metal Edge Partners, a firm engaged in Risk Management and Strategic Advisory. In this role, he and his firm design and execute risk management strategies for clients along with providing process and analytical support. In Tim’s previous role, he was a Director at Cargill Risk Management, and […]
SMU contributor Tim Stevenson is a partner at Metal Edge Partners, a firm engaged in Risk Management and Strategic Advisory. In this role, he and his firm design and execute risk management strategies for clients along with providing process and analytical support. In Tim’s previous role, he was a Director at Cargill Risk Management, and […]
Reducing harmful greenhouse gas emissions from the steelmaking process, which remains a very CO2- and energy-intensive activity, calls for a combination of approaches that may vary from nation to nation. “There is no single solution to drastically reducing CO2 emissions from our industry, and we believe that individual countries are best placed to assess and […]
Editor’s note: SMU Contributor David Feldstein is president of Rock Trading Advisors. David has over 20 years of financial market trading experience and has been active in the ferrous futures space for eight years. David earned an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business with concentrations in economics, statistics and analytical finance. […]
NOTE: Steel Market Update will be moving to a new Azure server tomorrow. Most of the day our website will be down as we make the transition. The website should be back up on Saturday and we intend to publish on Sunday as usual, barring any technical difficulties. We are in an interesting time for […]
We are in an interesting time for the steel industry. The pandemic is just one factor behind the stress in the market. The price increase announcements by the integrated steel mills, U.S. Steel, AK Steel and ArcelorMittal, have created another issue for steel buyers. An executive with U.S. Steel saw the slides associated with yesterday’s […]
Wholesalers who sell HVAC and galvanized steel products to the construction sector report a market that is sharply split. In a conference call this morning, members of the Heating, Air Conditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International (HARDI) said demand from residential building is surprisingly healthy despite the coronavirus pandemic, while nonresidential/commercial construction is weakening. “I have […]