I was conversing with a consulting friend who reported to me that steel prices are taking a beating in Europe. He referenced hot rolled prices being offered out of Russia into Europe for 365 to 375 euros. He also reported that the sales of the Italian steel mill, ILVA would not succeed and the mill […]
A lot has already been written about the dramatic decline in oil prices, the persistent high imports of energy tubulars, and related issues. What is missing, in my opinion, is some perspective and context to pull it all together. The purpose of this article is to show why the energy sector is so important to […]
Gulf ports are not experiencing the horrific congestion issues seen in the West. Fleetwood Port Logistics, out of Houston and Savannah, that deals primarily in break bulk steel products, has seen little to no congestion at the primary discharge terminal of North City Docks, Port of Houston. There has been some congestion at the smaller […]
Apparent steel supply for the month of November 2014 is 9,637,349 net tons. Apparent steel supply is calculated by adding domestic steel shipments and finished US steel imports and subtracting total US steel exports. November supply represents a 1,044,666 ton or 12.2 percent increase compared to the same month one year ago. This is primarily […]
This is our second article about foreign steel imports where we look deeper into imports from a three month moving average perspective. We also look at the complete picture by analyzing both long and flat rolled steel products. License data for December was updated on January 6th through the Steel Import Monitoring System of the […]
The Chinese central government announced on Wednesday that it would remove the export rebate on certain boron-added steel products effective January 1, 2015. The move was anticipated by our sources in China however the impact of the move may be minimal and short-lived. Steel Market Update received the following information from one of our steel […]
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 in this analysis is currently 36. Please refer to Table 1 for the view of the present situation and the quantitative measure of trends. Readers […]
This will be our last issue before Christmas and the last day of Hanukkah. We wish each and everyone one of you and your family all the best over the Holidays. I drove from Atlanta to Chicago over the weekend as we prepare to celebrate the Holidays with our son. One of the first gifts […]
Total service center carbon steel shipments in November decreased by 763,700 tons to 2.979 million tons. This was mainly due to a decrease in shipping days from 23 to 19. On a tons per day basis (t/d) shipments also decreased from 162,700 in October to 156,800. In the eleven years 2004 through 2014 November shipments […]
Apparent steel supply for October 2014 was 10,954,832 net tons, the highest monthly figure we have seen since the beginning of the Great Recession. Apparent steel supply is calculated by adding domestic shipments and finished US imports and subtracting total US exports. October supply represents a 1,509,671 ton or 16.0 percent increase compared to the […]
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 in this analysis is currently 36. The Chicago Fed Mid-West Manufacturing Index which was suspended earlier this year was expected to be re-instituted this month but […]
Total service center carbon steel shipments in October increased by 244,000 tons to 3.742 million tons. This was due to an increase in shipping days from 21 to 23. On a tons per day basis (t/d) shipments decreased from 166,600 tons in September to 162,700 in October. In every month this year since March, t/d […]
WASHINGTON, DC –The Board of Directors of the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) today elected three new members to its Board of Directors. Lourenco Goncalves, Chairman, President and CEO of Cliffs Natural Resources, Inc.; Roger K. Newport, Senior Vice President, Finance and CFO of AK Steel Corporation; and Conrad J. Winkler, President and CEO […]
Licensed data for October was updated on November 4th through the Steel Import Monitoring System of the US Department of Commerce. The SMU publishes several import reports ranging from this very early look using licensed data to the very detailed analysis of final volumes by district of entry and source nation which is published in […]
ArcelorMittal reported $20 billion in sales for third quarter on 21.5 million tonnes (23.7 million tons) of steel shipments. Net income for the quarter was $22 million, compared to $52 million in Q2 2014 and a net loss of $193 million in Q3 2013. Total crude steel production for the company was 23.9 million tonnes […]
Apparent steel supply for September was 10,305,707 net tons, the third biggest month since the beginning of the Great Recession. Apparent steel supply is calculated by adding domestic shipments and finished US imports and subtracting total US exports. Note that our Premium member analysis breaks down apparent steel supply by flat and long products. September […]
One thing that we learned from the earnings conference calls which were conducted over the past two weeks: the domestic steel mills will be entering 2015 with all of their blast furnaces online, maintenance completed and (hopefully) running well. Barring any unforeseen circumstances we should have plenty of domestic supply going into the traditionally strong […]
The World Steel Association published its 2014 statistical year book this week with data through 2013. Figure 1 shows total crude steel production in the U.S. since 1880 in short tons. The peak production was 150,483,000 tons in 1973. The final total for 2013 was 95,566,000 tons, down by 2.05 percent from 97,565,000 in 2012. […]
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 has been increased by one this month to thirty six. We have added the price of coking coal FOB the Australian East Coast to the raw […]
Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co reported record sales for third quarter of $2.71 billion on shipments of 1.5 million tons. Not only did the company have good results to report, the Reliance executives had good commentary to offer in their third quarter conference call. Reliance noted that their purchase of imported steel has increased from […]
Total service center carbon steel shipments in September increased by 21,100 to 3.498 million tons. Shipping days were unchanged at 21. On a tons per day basis, (t/d) shipments increased from 165,600 tons in August to 166,600 in September. In each of the last four months t/d shipments for each particular month was the best […]
Licensed data for September was updated on October 3rd through the Steel Import Monitoring System of the US Commerce Department. The SMU publishes several import reports ranging from this very early look using licensed data to the very detailed analysis of final volumes by district of entry and source nation which is published in our […]
Apparent steel supply for August was 10,252,449 net tons, down slightly from July which was the largest tonnage month since the beginning of the Great Recession. Apparent steel supply is calcualted by adding domestic shipments and finished US imports and subtracting total US exports. Note that our Premium member analysis breaks down apparent steel supply […]
Raw steel production is reported on a weekly basis and then on a monthly basis by the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI). The weekly report, like the one we have published in today’s newsletter, is based on a response rate of approximately 50 percent of the producing steel mills. The weekly report is then […]
Through the 23rd of September foreign steel import licenses continue to suggest that September imports could exceed the 4.0 million net tons reported in the final census numbers for May 2014. The license data suggests that the biggest surge in imports will move through the domestic steel mills as semi-finished import licenses are trending toward […]
Total service center carbon steel shipments in August decreased by 61,400 tons to 3.477 million tons. Shipping days also decreased from 22 to 21. On a tons per day basis (t/d) shipments increased from 160,900 tons in July to 165,600 in August. All three months June, July and August had the best t/d shipments of […]
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 […]
Total service center carbon steel shipments in July increased by 11,600 tons to 3.539 million tons. Shipping days also increased, from 21 to 22. On a tons per day basis, (t/d) shipments decreased from 168,000 tons in June to 160,900 in July but the latest data has the best shipments of any July since 2008. […]
License data for July was updated on August 5th through the Steel Import Monitoring System of the US Commerce Department. The SMU publishes several import reports ranging from this very early look using licensed data to the very detailed analysis of final volumes by district of entry and source nation which is published in our […]
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 […]