Early December logistic reports show no major problems in the shipping markets. Shipments on most transportation modes are expected to slow as the holiday season approaches. A new Secretary of Transportation has been appointed by President-elect Donald Trump. Elaine Cho, former Secretary of Labor under President George W. Bush and Deputy Secretary of Transportation under […]
The following analysis of the steel markets in China is from Beijing Metal Import & Export Co.,Ltd and is being reproduced by Steel Market Update with permission: Please allow us to update China steel market (Nov 28 – Dec 04, 2016) as usual as following: In the past week, China markets still stood at high […]
The first thing that jumps out at you when reviewing the end of the month data for November is the pace of the price index averages as they push toward $600 hot rolled (which we believe we may hit by the end of the calendar year). Our monthly average at $522 per ton was $11 […]
US Steel Canada has been granted an extension of its CCAA protection while it hammers out a deal with suitor Bedrock Industries. The stay period for USSC was due to terminate on November 30, 2016 and has now been extended to March 31, 2017. According to the 32nd court monitor’s report by Alex Morrison, US […]
Today is Monday, please allow us to update you on the China steel market (Nov 21 – Nov 27, 2016) as usual as follows: In the past week, the market still kept rising heavily. It is out of our expectations as many non-market factors pushed spot prices to stand at very high levels. 1. China […]
Steel Market Update went out to a couple of hundred steel buyers and executives today as we probe for information about flat rolled steel prices. At the same time we asked questions about price direction and demand. Tonight we will cover price direction (prior to AM increase announcement) and on Thursday we will cover their […]
Please see the end of this report for an explanation of data sources. The Broad Index value of the US $ is reported several days in arrears by the Federal Reserve, the latest value we have was dated November 10th, Figure 1. The dollar has appreciated strongly since the election in anticipation of higher interest […]
Often with steel related economic statistics it’s useful to compare a given data stream with others which may or may not be causally related. This usually puts the steel data into context and shows whether a direction change is for real. In this piece we are comparing the price of Chicago shredded scrap with the […]
The following analysis of the steel markets in China is from Beijing Metal Import & Export Co.,Ltd and is being reproduced by Steel Market Update with permission: Today is Monday, Please allow us to update China steel market (Nov 07 – Nov 13, 2016) as usual as following: In past week, market and non-market factors […]
As we discussed earlier this week, higher international prices for iron ore, coking coal, pig iron and steel are helping take ferrous scrap export prices higher. SMU had lunch with one of our scrap/pig iron experts who advised that 80/20 scrap export prices may have reached $280 per metric ton delivered. At the same time, […]
The following article on the hot rolled coil (HRC), busheling scrap (BUS), and financial futures markets was written by David Feldstein. As Flack Steel’s director of risk management, Dave is an active participant in the hot rolled coil (HRC) futures market and we believe he will provide insightful commentary and trading ideas to our readers. […]
Once per month HARDI* wholesalers conduct a galvanized steel conference call so they can better understand what is happening in the broader markets as they deal with steel pricing, demand and inventory issues. The HARDI monthly call was held on Wednesday, November 9, just one day after the presidential election. Not surprisingly, the future of […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) ferrous scrap sources advised us over the weekend that strength in the Ohio Valley, as well as in the export markets, has led to ferrous scrap prices trading higher than originally thought. Talks continue in many of the regions of the country which have not yet completed scrap pricing negotiations for […]
Olympic Steel CEO Michael Siegal believes the election is affecting demand and said service center inventories are particularly low as a result. Olympic Steel executives on the earnings call noted that shipments were better in October than in September but fourth quarter is expected to be slow. Said Siegal, “As you know the fourth quarter […]
US Steel Corp announced today that it has agreed to terms proposed with Bedrock Industries Group for the sale and transition of ownership of US Steel Canada. The transaction is subject to customary court approvals. US Steel Canada has been in Companies Creditor Arrangement Act (CCAA) proceedings since Sept. 16, 2014. Under terms of the […]
The following “letter to the editor” was prompted by comments made by Lourenco Goncalves CEO of Cliffs Natural Resources during his earnings conference call with analysts and reported on by Steel Market Update (and others). The comments below were made by an executive at a domestic steel service center in response to Mr. Goncalves: I’m […]
After already publishing the article below on our website for our members, we received a note from our primary Chinese price source advising us that prices rose in China today by approximately $61 per metric ton. We were told, “Price on 2.5mm [.0985″] is USD450/mt fob st. lsd. A lot of buyers did not cover […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) reported a shift in steel pricing “Momentum” at the end of October as our Steel Price Momentum Indicator was adjusted first to Neutral and then to Higher. Our expectation is for domestic flat rolled steel prices to increase over the next 30-60 days. Sentiment, however, has been trending lower with our […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) is adjusting our Price Momentum Indicator to “Higher” from Neutral. It is our opinion that flat rolled steel prices in the United States and Canada will move higher over the next 30 to 60 days. There are a number of reasons why we have chosen to make this move now, here […]
All eyes this week will be on the scrap dealers and their steel mill customers as they haggle over where ferrous scrap prices will trade for the month of November. The opinion of many in the steel industry is that as scrap prices increase, it will both support the flat rolled steel price announcements already […]
Cliffs Natural Resources reported iron ore pellet sales volume in third quarter was 5.3 million long tons compared to 5.6 million long tons in 2015. Production was also down at 3.86 million long tons compared to 4 million long tons the year before. The decrease was attributed to customer inventory mix that was partly offset […]
The following article on the hot rolled coil (HRC), busheling scrap (BUS), and financial futures markets was written by David Feldstein. As Flack Steel’s director of risk management, Dave is an active participant in the hot rolled coil (HRC) futures market and we believe he will provide insightful commentary and trading ideas to our readers. […]
Steel Market Update has been working on developing new sources to complement some of our original sources out of China. The following information is part of a report we receive once per week from two steel trading companies located in Asia and actively involved with the Chinese steel industry. The first note is from one […]
Chinese steel trade data was recently released for the month of September 2016, providing updated data on iron ore imports, scrap imports, and flat rolled imports and exports. Chinese imports of iron ore in September were 92,990,000 metric tons, an increase of 6.0 percent from the previous month and an increase of 8.0 percent from […]
One of our key Asian steel and commodity trading sources has provided SMU with details about the Chinese steel markets as well as what is happening in Asia,including comments about the circumvention suit which involves Vietnam: Export offers from China have basically risen by USD20/mt in the past two weeks, and it has become a […]
Please see the end of this report for an explanation of data sources. The Broad Index value of the US $ is reported several days in arrears by the Federal Reserve, the latest value we have was dated October 7th, Figure 1. The dollar has lacked direction since early May as traders have correctly anticipated […]
For those who have not been members for a long period of time or who may be new to Steel Market Update this section, my Final Thoughts, is the one area where I get to pontificate (provide my opinion) on subjects of interest to me. Today I want to briefly address the elephant in the […]
Final approval was received from a federal bankruptcy judge on Thursday to wind down operations at Magnetation’s iron ore plant in Grand Rapids, MN and pellet plant in Reynolds, IN. “Now, our focus shifts to safely shutting down the Pellet Plant and Plant 4 in order to preserve their value for a potential buyer of […]
Essar Steel Algoma is approaching the end of one year of protection under the Canada’s Companies Creditors Arrangement Act. The company entered protection on November 9, 2015. The latest court monitor report by Brian Denega, senior vice principle of Ernst & Young, shows the company maintaining its production and stocking up on iron ore for […]
ArcelorMittal USA told a District court last week that the Cleveland steel mill will suffer “catastrophic harm” if the Cuyahoga River shipping channel is not dredged this fall. ArcelorMittal told a U.S. district court that the sediment build-up in the shipping channel has caused cargo ships to lighten their loads resulting in a critically low […]