Japan-based Metal One Corp. has agreed to acquire Cargill’s U.S. metals business. The two companies expect to close the sale later this year. The agreement includes Cargill’s U.S. metals supply chain business, which includes commercial activities based in Minneapolis and Houston, as well as eight processing facilities in seven U.S. cities: Windsor, Colo.; Panama City, […]
The following article on the hot rolled coil (HRC) futures markets was written by David Feldstein. As the Flack Global Metals Director of Risk Management, Dave is an active participant in the hot rolled futures market, and we believe he provides insightful commentary and trading ideas to our readers. Besides writing futures articles for Steel […]
In this report, we examine the latest prices for iron ore, scrap, coking coal and zinc. To put the raw materials analysis into perspective, we begin with Figure 1, which shows the spread between Chicago #1 busheling and hot rolled coil ex works Indiana through Aug. 18, both in dollars/net ton. On this date, Aug. […]
Tomorrow, Monday, Aug. 28, the steel event of the year will kick off in Atlanta. With over 650 steel and manufacturing executives registered, expectations are for this conference to truly be the most dynamic steel conference in North America for 2017. Welcome to the Steel Market Update Steel Summit Conference. This is what the fuss […]
This article is normally reserved for our Premium members, but we are sharing it with our entire readership this month. To learn more about what our Premium members receive, click here. Steel Market Update offers this update on the currencies of the steel and iron ore trading nations through Aug. 21. The analysis of currency […]
The following article on the hot rolled coil (HRC) steel and financial futures markets was written by Troy Rossi of Crunch Risk LLC. Here is how Troy saw trading over the past week: Steel This week, HR futures markets continued to see price consolidation along the curve as HR futures prices have found some support […]
Lenders pursuing the purchase of Canadian steel mill Algoma have reached an agreement with the City of Sault Ste. Marie regarding payment of Algoma’s back taxes. We have settled the tax issue,” Mayor Christian Provenzano told The Sault Star. “We are satisfied that we recovered enough moneys in our negotiations to ensure that we were […]
Cliffs Natural Resources, in celebration of 170 years in business, has returned to its historical name Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. “The historical name Cleveland-Cliffs is synonymous with our strong heritage and is the perfect one for our next era of growth,” said Chairman, President and CEO Lourenco Goncalves. “As we did more than 60 years ago, when […]
Cliffs Natural Resources, in celebration of 170 years in business, has returned to its historical name Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. “The historical name Cleveland-Cliffs is synonymous with our strong heritage and is the perfect one for our next era of growth,” said Chairman, President and CEO Lourenco Goncalves. “As we did more than 60 years ago, when […]
The following article on the hot rolled coil (HRC) futures markets was written by David Feldstein. As the Flack Global Metals Director of Risk Management, Dave is an active participant in the hot rolled futures market, and we believe he provides insightful commentary and trading ideas to our readers. Besides writing futures articles for Steel […]
On Monday, the futures markets surged 7 percent in China. We reached out to one of our trading contacts in China to see what we could learn about physical steel trading prices into the export markets out of China: Future’s market jumped 7% yesterday but only on Hot Money influx. Spot market was up RMB15 […]
China domestic demand is driving a tandem rise in iron ore and steel pricing. Iron ore prices are at their highest level since April as Chinese steel producers gobble ore to take advantage of high margins and surging summer steel prices. Although China is ahead of its target for reducing steel capacity this year, Chinese […]
Olympic Steel celebrated a particularly strong second quarter. Net sales jumped 30 percent year-over-year to $356.2 million on higher shipping volume and selling prices. Net income grew 35 percent for the quarter to $4.8 million. Carbon flat product sales increased 37 percent to $237 million from Q2 2016 sales of $173 million. Shipments increased 13 […]
In this report, updated July 28, we examine the latest prices for iron ore, scrap, coking coal and zinc. To put the raw materials analysis into perspective, we begin with Figure 1, which shows the spread between Chicago #1 busheling and hot rolled coil ex works Indiana through July 21, both in $/net ton. On […]
On Monday, August 28, the steel event of the year will kick off in Atlanta. With less than four weeks to go and 575 steel and manufacturing executives already registered, expectations are for this conference to truly be the most dynamic steel conference in North America for 2017. Welcome to the Steel Market Update Steel […]
On Monday, Aug. 28, the steel event of the year will kick off in Atlanta. With four weeks to go and 560 steel and manufacturing executives already registered, expectations are for this conference to truly be the most dynamic steel conference in North America for 2017. Welcome to the 7th Steel Market Update (SMU) Steel […]
In the Key Indicators data released in July, both the present situation and trends have recovered from what now appears to have been a temporary downward blip in June. Trends lead the present situation by about four months. An explanation of the Key Indicators concept is given at the end of this piece for those […]
Now that it appears the Trump administration will not be acting anytime soon on the much-anticipated Section 232 trade action, what are the implications for the steel market? Steel prices are likely to decline, say some observers, though how much and how quickly is open to debate. The Wall Street Journal reported this week that […]
The following article on the hot rolled coil (HRC) futures markets was written by David Feldstein. As the Flack Global Metals director of risk management, Dave is an active participant in the hot rolled futures market, and we believe he provides insightful commentary and trading ideas to our readers. Besides writing futures articles for Steel […]
ArcelorMittal’s NAFTA segment posted sales of $4.6 billion, a 3.3 percent decline from first quarter. Operating income decreased to $378 million from $396 million and EBITDA fell 3.3 percent to $506 million. Although average steel prices were higher in second quarter, they were offset by lower shipment volumes and higher costs, including planned maintenance at […]
Cliffs Natural Resources is psyched to begin construction on its HBI facility. The company is currently in discussions with potential financial partners that align with Cliffs’ strategy for growth. CEO Lorenzo Goncalves says a financial partner for a $700 million private investment is not necessary to move the project forward, but would be nice to […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) sources in China have provided pricing guidance on a number of steel products coming out of China. We are seeing steel prices rising in China due to higher commodity prices (example: iron ore this morning was $69.70 per dry metric ton for 62% Fe, according to The Steel Index). The following […]
The value of the U.S. dollar is in free fall on the international foreign exchange markets. Through July 18, the Broad Index value of the U.S. dollar had depreciated by 7 percent since January 3. Comparing on a rolling three-month basis, the index has declined every single day since January 20. (Please see the end […]
I am working on an article regarding foreign steel offers, which have almost dried up completely due to the threats/unknowns associated with the Section 232 investigation. There have been a number of months where foreign steel imports have exceeded 3.5 million tons. We are hearing that these months will soon be behind us – although […]
The following article on the hot rolled coil (HRC) futures markets was written by David Feldstein. As the Flack Global Metals director of risk management, Dave is an active participant in the hot rolled futures market, and we believe he provides insightful commentary and trading ideas to our readers. Besides writing futures articles for Steel […]
John Harris is the former director of raw materials for ArcelorMittal. Currently, he is a consultant and speaker on global metallics, and he will be a speaker at this year’s SMU Steel Summit Conference at the end of August. Mr. Harris and Philip Hoffman of Hoffman Iron & Steel have been conducting a friendly debate […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) spoke with ferrous scrap executives about the outlook for the industry, not only looking at the upcoming negotiations with the steel mills for July shipments, but also the long-term view. The scrap industry is upbeat about its future as electric arc furnaces continue to take market share from integrated steel producers. […]
The following article on the hot rolled coil (HRC) futures markets was written by David Feldstein. As the Flack Global Metals director of risk management, Dave is an active participant in the hot rolled futures market, and we believe he provides insightful commentary and trading ideas to our readers. Besides writing futures articles for Steel […]
An explanation of the Key Market Indicators concept is given at the end of this piece for those readers who are unfamiliar with it. This will explain the difference between our view of the present situation, which is subjective, and our analysis of trends, which is based on the latest facts available. In the June […]
Please see the end of this report for an explanation of data sources. The analysis of currency trends is a highly technical undertaking; therefore we at SMU rely on the opinions of experts for much of our commentary. As expected, the Fed raised its policy rate range by 25 basis points on June 14. This […]