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 […]
An explanation of the Key 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. At the end of […]
The Fed once again elected not raise rates in their September 21st announcement. On the 22nd Ian Bezek had this to say: “For those who wanted decisive action, the Fed’s latest move failed to please, however, there were three dissenters against the decision – a large number for the Fed – and the vast majority […]
Freight reports are mixed for August and September. Seaborne freight is seeing a resurgence in volume and pricing while U.S. truck, rail and river freight has been somewhat weak. August was reported as a good month for cargo shipments on the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway. Seaborne An increase in China demand for coking […]
After making a big move this past week, spot flat rolled steel prices out of the domestic steel mills remained range bound with only minor adjustments as steel buyers try to digest what they need to do next. Steel buyers have been telling Steel Market Update that there is a disparity between the mini mills […]
Earlier today Steel Market Update (SMU) participated in the monthly steel conference call hosted by HARDI. The call is for those wholesalers who supply galvanized sheet and coil to the HVAC mechanical contractors. During the course of the discussion it became clear that the wholesalers are quite concerned about the drop in galvanized spot prices […]
SMU attended the regional meeting of the Associated Steel Distributors (ASD) on Sept. 15 in Cleveland, Ohio. The meeting was well attended for a presentation by Cliffs Natural Resources CEO Lourenco Goncalves. Mr. Goncalves spoke about the environment, trade and how conditions in the iron ore industry impact global steel supply, or, in recent years, […]
MID-SHIP Group expressed optimism in its first report of the fall season. The Sept. 8 MID-SHIP Report said the group is “cautiously optimistic” about better dry bulk shipping demand in the second half of 2016. Oversupply of vessels continues to be a problem but as the seasonal grain shipments begin late in September demand should […]
An explanation of the Key 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. At the end of […]
The Federal Reserve Open Market Committee met on Friday, an event closely watched by currency traders around the world as they try to anticipate the Fed’s future interest rate activity. AllianceBernstein (AB) had this to say on Saturday. While Yellen’s main focus in Wyoming was on the tools needed to ensure a resilient monetary policy […]
Essar Steel Minnesota has requested an investigation of Cliffs Natural Resources for violation of antitrust laws. Lawyers for the company filed a motion in bankruptcy court claiming that Cliffs CEO Lourenco Goncalves interfered with state mineral leases and contract negotiations with ArcelorMittal in an effort to thwart the completion of Essar’s iron ore plant. The […]
Iron ore mining company Magnetation announced on Friday that it may shutdown its Minnesota iron ore concentrate plant, rail loading facility and Pellet Plant located in Reynolds, Indiana on or after September 30, 2016. The company intends to continue normal operations until that time. WARN notices have been issued to local officials and the International […]
Chinese steel trade data was recently released for the month of July 2016, providing updated data on iron ore imports, scrap imports, and flat rolled imports and exports. Chinese imports of iron ore in July were 88,400,000 metric tons, an increase of 8.3 percent from the previous month and an increase of 2.7 percent from […]
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. […]
An explanation of the Key Indicators concept is given at the end of this piece for those readers who are unfamiliar with it. It is important to understand 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. The total […]
The following article on the hot rolled coil (HRC) and financial futures markets was written by Jack Marshall of Crunch Risk LLC. Here is how Jack saw trading over the past week: Steel A trickle of bullish news for steel helping to push values higher on very light HR futures volume and reduced selling interests. […]
Cliffs Natural Resources recorded another successful quarter with net income of $30 million for continuing operations compared to a net loss of $38 million in Q2 2015. Adjusted EBITDA was $102 million, driven by higher domestic steel prices. EBITDA included idle expenses of $20 million for the Northshore and United Taconite mines. US iron ore […]
The Broad Index value of the US $ is reported several days in arrears, the latest value we have was dated July 15th (Figure 1). Our previous report was current as of June 26th which shortly followed the FOMC meeting of June 14th and 15th at which it was decided not to raise rates. This […]
Essar Steel Minnesota has named a new CEO to take the company through it restructuring process. The company, which declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on July 8, has selected Matthew Stock to replace Mandhu Vuppuluri as CEO, effective immediately. Stock has 25 years of experience in the steel and metals mining business including leading efforts […]
The following article on the hot rolled coil (HRC), busheling scrap (BUS), and financial futures markets was written by Andre Marshall and Jack Marshall of Crunch Risk LLC. Here is how they saw trading over the past week: It has been a quiet week in Hot Rolled futures (HRC) with 13,380 short tons (ST) trading.Until […]
Ontario Steel Investment says it signed a letter of intent with USW Local 2251 for the acquisition of Essar Steel Algoma. Ontario Steel says it will assume all employer liabilities for Essar Steel Algoma’s pension plan in return for a purchase price of US $900 million for the acquisition of the company. Ontario Steel is […]
Essar Steel Minnesota entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Friday after the state of Minnesota revoked the company’s mining leases. Essar Steel Minnesota was given an extension to July 1 after missing a May 1 deadline to pay off its creditors and prove it could finance a plan to complete its promised taconite operation. Essar […]
Michigan Governor Rick Snyder has asked the state’s members of Congress to begin the process of obtaining funding for a renovation of the Soo Locks. “The Soo Locks are crucial shipping link for some our nation’s biggest industries,” said Snyder. “The increase in outages from maintenance, redundancy and capacity issues poses significant economic consequences for […]
Spot market prices continue to rise in the seaborne freight market according to the June MID-SHIP Report. As of July 4, the Baltic Dry Index was at 688, nowhere near its five year high on December 13, 2014 but well above its trough of 290 on February 11, 2016. The BDI tracks shipping rates for […]