Nucor is expecting higher profitability for its sheet steel, structural, bar and plate operations for third quarter. In their quarterly guidance, Nucor noted that manufactured goods, including energy and automotive, are their strongest markets. The high level of imports continues to pressure prices downward. Growth in the residential market has benefited the fabricated construction products […]
US Steel announced today that as part of its strategic transformation effort it will no longer pursue the expansion of its Keetac iron ore pellet operations at Keewatin, Minn., or continue additional investments into the carbon alloy facility at Gary Works. The expansion at Keetac was intended to upgrade and restart the idled pelletizing line […]
The following report was prepared by Andre Marshall, CEO of Crunch Risk, LLC which is a company specializing in hot rolled, ferrous scrap and other “futures” contracts or financial derivatives. Today he discusses the broader financial markets, hot rolled steel futures (HRC), iron ore and ferrous scrap futures (BUS) trading on the CME. Andre Marshall […]
With iron ore approaching $80 per dry metric ton for spot 62% Fe fines in China (according to our Asian iron ore trading source as well as The Steel Index), I asked John Eckstein, retired metallurgist last with Severstal Sparrows Point and one of our Steel 101 instructors, to comment on the changes the price […]
For months there have been rumors circulating in the marketplace that the domestic steel industry was contemplating filing dumping suits against the Chinese on cold rolled and potentially a number of Asian countries on galvanized and/or Galvalume products. To date there have not been suits filed and the foreign steel continues to arrive at ever-greater […]
Chinese steel trade data was recently released for the month of July 2014, providing updated data on iron ore imports, steel scrap imports, and flat rolled imports and exports. Chinese imports of iron ore in July were 82,520,000 metric tons, an increase of 10.7 percent from the previous month and an increase of 12.8 percent […]
Steel Market Update featured Timna Tanners, Metals & Mining Analyst, Bank of America-Merrill Lynch, and John Anton, Director of Steel Services, IHS Global, at a luncheon presentation at the recent Steel Summit. The topic was commodity and steel forecasts and consolidation of the industry. As usual the two disagreed on some topics and sparked some […]
On Monday Steel Market Update received information from one of our trading sources in Asia regarding the iron ore situation and price offers for export on rebars (debars), hot rolled (Europe) and plate (Europe). Ore Port Stocks at 110.95 Million MTS on Friday and an increase of 320,000mts week on week. Many large State Owned […]
Iron ore spot pricing CFR Tianjin port, China was reported by The Steel Index on Friday morning to be $83.6/dmt for 62% Fe fines. During the past week, iron ore pricing has dropped $4.30/dmt or about 5 percent. Over the past 4 weeks, spot pricing has dropped $12.1/dmt or, 12.6 percent. To put this into […]
An explanation of the Key Indicators concept is given at the end of this piece for those readers who are unfamiliar with it. The total number of indicators considered at present is thirty five, the Chicago Fed Mid-West Manufacturing Index is still on hold to enable the staff to complete a major re-vamp of the […]
According to The Steel Index (TSI) spot 62% Fe iron ore fines pricing dropped below $88/dmt and are now at the lowest level recorded since October 2009. TSI reported 62% Fe fines this morning as being $87.30 per dry metric ton (dmt). Iron ore has been sliding since mid-August 2013 when 62% Fe fines where […]
OMG – It is the last full week before our Steel Summit Conference. Our days (and nights) are cram packed as we work with our speakers to provide their power point presentations, answer any questions that they may have and make sure that as many as possible will be staying for our networking/cocktail party on […]
The following article about Futures trading is from Andre Marshall, CEO of Crunch Risk, LLC. Andre will be one of our speakers at our 4th Steel Summit Conference as he speaks to the influence Chinese futures trading has on commodity prices. He mentions iron ore trading (China) in the article below: OK, so we’re at […]
ArcelorMittal iron ore mining operations in Liberia are in an expansion phase but the recent outbreak of Ebola in West Africa has the company taking extra precautions to safeguard employees. The following statement was issued by the company on August 8. Luxembourg, 8 August 2014 – ArcelorMittal is currently mining and shipping 5 million tonnes […]
Today’s hot rolled coil futures (HRC) article comes to us from Andre Marshall, CEO of Crunchrisk, LLC and our Managing Price Risk I & II instructor. In his article he will review the S&P 500, copper pricing, crude oil pricing, steel, iron ore and ferrous scrap futures trading: Well the S&P 500 reached its high […]
Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. has appointed Lourenco Goncalves as Chairman, President and CEO, effective immediately. Goncalves, former CEO of Metals USA holdings, will replace Cliff’s Chairman Jim Kirsch and CEO Gary Halverson. “I am honored by the opportunity to lead Cliffs into its next chapter, with a keen focus on improving performance and restoring shareholder […]
ArcelorMittal posted a profit of $52 million in the second quarter, following a string of quarterly losses that included a $205 million loss in Q1 2014 and a $780 million loss in Q2 2013. Steel shipments increased by 2.5 percent y/y to 21.5 million tonnes (23.7 million net tons). Net debt decreased to $17.4 billion […]
At the end of each month Steel Market Update takes a look back at the data we have compiled and does a quick analysis for our readers. This is different than our SMU Key Market Indicators which is also included in this newsletter. Benchmark hot rolled coil prices averaged $667 per ton (SMU) for the […]
The SMU Key Market Indicators is a Premium Level product produced by Peter Wright in collaboration with Steel Market Update. Our Executive Level members have been getting access to all of the Premium Level data for the month of July (today is the last day). This includes access to all of the Premium data which […]
AK Steel posted an adjusted profit in second quarter despite adverse weather early in second quarter that delayed iron ore shipments forcing reduced production. Adjusted net income was $2.9 million. AK Steel shipped 1,397,500 tons of steel in the second quarter for sales of $1.53 billion. Average selling price rose 3.2 percent to $1,095 per […]
Andre Marshall of Crunch Risk LLC has the honors this week to discuss the financial and HRC, iron ore and scrap futures markets in an attempt to make sense out of what can sometimes feel like total chaos. Financial Markets: Well we’re at all time highs again, having hit an intraday on the September S&P […]
Chinese steel trade data for June 2014 was released earlier this week, providing updated data on iron ore imports, steel scrap imports, and flat rolled imports and exports. Chinese imports of iron ore in June were 74,570,000 metric tons, a decrease of 3.6 percent from the previous month but an increase of 19.7 percent from […]
Explanation of data sources: The broad index is published by the Federal Reserve on both a daily and monthly basis. It is a weighted average of the foreign exchange values of the U.S. dollar against the currencies of a large group of major U.S. trading partners. The index weights, which change over time, are derived […]
Chuck Bradford of the Metals Industry Advisory Group is a well known steel analyst. Mr. Bradford will be participating in our 2014 Steel Summit Conference in Atlanta. Mr. Bradford will be part of a panel discussing commodity prices and the influence of China on the world steel industry – especially here in the United States. […]
We have had a number of end users and service centers who are against the filing of any new steel trade cases contact us to express their opinions. Most do not want to be identified. We received the following letter to the editor from an executive at a service center who asked that we not […]
First thing I want to say is everyone needs to be aware that the market is plum full of rumors and half-truths. There are rumors about dumping suits, Severstal sale, pricing (going both ways) and more. When you hear something question the source, see if there is anything in writing or if the information can […]
Based on SMU sources we understand there are two steel mills, comprising three separate steel plants, that are for sale and could potentially change hands before the end of this calendar year. The two mills are Severstal NA and Gallatin. Severstal NA SMU understands the bids for Severstal NA were due this past Friday. Our […]
The following article on the Asian scrap markets was written by Damon Sun one of Steel Market Update contributing writers and an active participant in the Asian ferrous scrap markets: From last week onwards, the Far East Asian scrap markets have been weakening on the containerized sales, but the bulk scrap sales have insisted and […]
Chinese steel trade data for May 2014 was released late last week, providing updated data on iron ore imports, steel scrap imports, and flat rolled imports and exports. Chinese imports of iron ore in May were 77,382,000 metric tons, a decrease of 7.2 percent from the previous month but an increase of 12.9 percent from […]
On Monday, United States Steel (USS) announced a base price increase on all new flat–rolled steel orders. The $25 per ton increase ($1.25/cwt) was to be “…applicable to all open quotations and/or negotiations where an agreement is not yet concluded….” As with most price announcements all published pricing extras were to be applied to any […]