In June and July, China registered its highest share of global steel production ever, according to World Steel Association data with analysis by Steel Market Update. Global crude steel production in the month of July totaled 143,245,000 metric tons, up from 141,331,000 metric tons in June. Capacity utilization was 71.7 percent, down from 73.0 percent […]
Service center shipments took the normal dip in July, but the decline was slightly more than the historical average. Months on hand at the end of July were up sharply, partly because of a decline in shipping days, according to Steel Market Update’s latest analysis of Metals Service Center Institute data. Daily shipments in July […]
Total imports of rolled steel increased by 16.9 percent, and sheet products by 18.4 percent, in the three months through July, compared with the prior three months, according to final license data for July released by the U.S. Commerce Department on Aug. 1. The three-month moving average (3MMA) of the total volume of rolled product […]
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 […]
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 […]
The U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) released new foreign steel import license data on July 18. The trend for July is for steel imports to remain quite high, in the mid 3-million-net-ton range. We expect imports to be lower than June’s 3.9 million net tons, but above the 12-month and 3-month moving averages. Finished steel […]
The growth of service center shipments in June beat the average performance since 2009, according to data from the Metals Service Center Institute (MSCI). Inventories tend to be lower at mid-year, which is the case in 2017. Daily shipments in June were 0.8 percent higher than in May. On average since 2009, June has decreased […]
The final license data for June was reported by the Steel Import Monitoring and Analysis system of the U.S. Commerce Department on July 5. An explanation of the methodology that we at SMU use to analyze the trade data is given at the end of this piece. All volumes in this analysis are reported in […]
This is my gut feeling, my opinion based on what I have been reading and watching in the news like everyone else. The world is trying to figure out if President Trump is going to start a trade war and the first bullets are made with flat rolled steel, pipe and long products. I am […]
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 […]
Schnitzer Steel, a metals recycler and steel bar producer, reported its best third quarter since FY 2012. Total revenue increased 36 percent sequentially and 25 percent year-over-year to $477 million. Net income was up 50 percent from second quarter and 51 percent from Q3 2016 to $17 million. The improvement was primarily in the company’s […]
Daily shipments by service centers in May decreased by 1.4 percent from April’s result. On average since 2009, May has increased by 1.3 percent, therefore these latest numbers were a little worse than normal for this time of year. Carbon steel shipments were 148,500 tons per day in May and months on hand on the […]
The final license data for May was reported by the Steel Import Monitoring and Analysis system of the U.S. Commerce Department on June 6. An explanation of the methodology that SMU uses to analyze the trade data is given at the end of this piece. All volumes in this analysis are reported in short tons. […]
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. We now have three […]
When we saw that shipments had dropped by over 500,000 tons in April our first thought was “Yikes!” but as we looked deeper we saw that shipping days in March were 23 days (their highest in the cycle) and in April fell to 19 days. Daily shipments in April increased by 6.6 percent from March. […]
This report summarizes total steel supply from 2003 through March 2017 and year on year changes. It then compares domestic mill shipments with total supply to the market. It quantifies market direction by product and enables a side by side comparison of the degree to which imports have absorbed demand. Sources are the American Iron […]
The latest license data was reported by the Steel Import Monitoring and Analysis system of the US Commerce Department on May 2nd and closed out the April data. An explanation of the methodology that we at SMU use to analyze the trade data is given at the end of this piece. All volumes in this […]
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. We now have two […]
Correction: In last Thursday’s issue of Steel Market Update we mistakenly referenced earnings from a previous period instead of the 1Q 2017 report. Here is what Steel Dynamics had to say in their announcement on April 19, 2017: FORT WAYNE, Ind., April 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ — Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ/GS: STLD) today announced first quarter […]
At first glance this was a good report but that impression diminished on closer examination. Year over year the report was quite good but the number of shipping days increased by three and the normal March month over month shipment surge was very muted. Daily shipments increased by 1.7 percent from February. Since 2009 on […]
This report summarizes total steel supply from 2003 through February 2017 and year on year changes. It then compares domestic mill shipments with total supply to the market. It quantifies market direction by product and enables a side by side comparison of the degree to which imports have absorbed demand. Sources are the American Iron […]
Licensed data for March was reported by the Steel Import Monitoring System of the US Commerce Department on March 4th. An explanation of the methodology that we at SMU use to analyze the trade data is given at the end of this piece. All volumes in this analysis are reported in short tons. The total […]
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. During March our view […]
February service center shipments were almost exactly normal on a month/month basis though there were some bright spots. Daily shipments decreased by 0.6 percent from January. Since 2009 on average, February has decreased by 0.8 percent. Carbon steel shipments were 148,900 tons per day. The number of shipping days decreased from 21 to 20. Intake […]
This report summarizes total steel supply from 2003 through January 2017 and year on year changes. It then compares domestic mill shipments and total supply to the market. It quantifies market direction by product and enables a side by side comparison of the degree to which imports have absorbed demand. Sources are the American Iron […]
Licensed data for February was reported by the Steel Import Monitoring System of the US Commerce Department on March 7th. An explanation of the methodology that we at SMU use to analyze the trade data is given at the end of this piece. All volumes in this analysis are reported in short tons. Total rolled […]
We at Steel Market Update (SMU) have been upbeat on the steel market for many weeks. We thought sharing our Key Market Indicators (KMI) with our readers would help everyone to understand our reading on the market and from where we get our core optimism. An explanation of the Key Indicators concept is given at […]
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. During February our view […]
January service center shipments were exceptional. There are times when we wish we weren’t so hung up on three month moving averages and this is one of them. Daily shipments increased by 29.9 percent from December. Since 2009 on average, January has increased 8.1 percent hence our enthusiasm for the latest data. Carbon steel shipments […]
This report summarizes total steel supply from 2003 through December 2016 and year on year changes. It then compares domestic mill shipments and total supply to the market. It quantifies market direction by product and enables a side by side comparison of the degree to which imports have absorbed demand. Sources are the American Iron […]