U.S. steel product shipments rose for a fourth consecutive month in August, but at a slower pace, just 0.6% above July’s total. Despite the slow pace of growth, steel product shipments have been on a steady upward trend for much of the year. Although the expansion in steel product shipments and new orders continued, the […]
Steel Market Update is pleased to share this Premium content with Executive members. For information on upgrading to a Premium-level subscription, email Info@SteelMarketUpdate.com. Data on U.S. industrial production, capacity utilization, new orders and inventories continued to improve through August, indicating a strengthening manufacturing sector. The health of the manufacturing economy has a direct bearing on the […]
The U.S. manufacturing sector continued strong in September, though the PMI dropped to a five-month low due to ongoing material and labor shortages, according to the latest U.S. Manufacturing PMI data from IHS Markit. “The U.S. manufacturing sector continues to run hot, with demand once again racing well ahead of production capacity as firms report […]
Total construction spending was flat for a second consecutive month in August, as a decrease in nonresidential projects offset continuing gains in residential construction, reported the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC). Spending on infrastructure year-to-date declined when compared to the same year-ago period, leading the AGC to urge the House of Representatives to promptly […]
Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. has a new three-year labor agreement with United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 3044, which represents approximately 350 workers at the steelmaker’s Rockport Works near Rockport, Ind. The new contract is retroactively effective from Oct. 1, 2021, through Sept. 30, 2024. “Our union workforce is at the core of not just what we do […]
The paralyzing blows from the semiconductor chip scarcity haven’t just been limited to automakers. Supply chain disruptions, labor shortages, and logistical constraints have been decimating the domestic manufacturing sector at a similar clip, as detailed in a recently released white paper by a coalition of four major manufacturing associations. The Association of Home Appliance Manufacturing […]
New orders, employment, and production grew through September, while supplier deliveries slowed and backlogs lengthened, said the Institute for Supply Management in its latest Manufacturing ISM Report on Business. The Manufacturing PMI rose 1.2 percentage points to 61.1% in September, the second consecutive monthly increase, indicating continued expansion for the overall economy. As a three-month […]
Steel prices gradually declined through the month of September, following one full year of increasing prices. Hot rolled steel prices decreased $35 per ton ($1.75 per cwt) throughout the month, with the SMU index averaging $1,920 per ton ($96.00 per cwt) as of last Tuesday. The SMU Price Momentum Indicator was adjusted to neutral the […]
By most measures, the steel market is in transition. Demand remains strong, with notable exceptions in sectors such as automotive. Supplies remain tight, but not nearly as tight as earlier in the year thanks to surging imports. Mill lead times are still highly extended versus historical averages, but are a week or two shorter than […]
By CRU Senior Editor Ryan McKinley, from CRU’s Steel Sheet Products Monitor Sheet prices outside of the USA fell markedly this week as demand declines and inventories build. The largest of these declines occurred in Europe, as lower-priced imports forced Italian domestic prices to fall below the €1,000 /t mark for the first time since […]
U.S. steel product shipments grew for the third straight month in July, up 2.8% from the prior month. Following some irregularity to start the year after bottoming out in May 2020, steel product shipments have been on a steady upward trend. Mill outages, factory curtailments, seasonal disruptions, and COVID-related closures slowed steel products’ shipments to […]
Stupp Corp. said it plans to lay off 45 workers at its Baton Rouge, La., pipe manufacturing plant in November. The layoffs will begin on Nov. 6, according to the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) notice filed with the Louisiana Workforce Commission earlier in the month. The Baton Rouge-based pipe manufacturer said in the […]
By Trade Attorney Lewis Leibowitz The Section 232 tariffs are uppermost on people’s minds again, according to questions I’m getting from readers. My view is that the tariffs (and quotas and “monitoring”) have remained because of politics and the lack of ideas for reconciling the irreconcilable. We need a policy that protects domestic steel (and […]
The week ahead could be pivotal for Section 232, infrastructure spending and the U.S. pivot toward Asia – all of which are increasingly interlinked, according to one policy expert. The Biden administration wants to ease or lift Section 232 tariffs on the European Union as part of efforts to form a broader coalition against China on […]
Monthly Key Market Indicators, as analysed by Steel Market Update, slipped again in the past month, albeit slightly. The typical summer slowdown may have been compounded by the ongoing drag of COVID-19 as well as an uneasy economic and political landscape. Markers for the Present Situation have contracted for a third straight month and Trends […]
Much like when seasons change, wholesalers of galvanized steel products sense a whiff of something different in the atmosphere, brought to U.S. shores along with thousands of tons of low-priced imports. “The import market has opened people’s eyes. With that type of a price spread – coupled with auto steel still being impacted by the […]
Nucor has enough raw material to supply its planned $2.7 billion, 3-million tpy sheet mill, but is exploring new technologies that might help it further reduce carbon emissions. The Charlotte, N.C.-based steelmaker is eyeing a range of options – including increased use of shredded scrap in its sheet mills’ electric-arc furnaces (EAFs), “green” pig iron […]
NLMK USA has again sued the U.S. government over Section 232 and wants at least $130 million awarded to it for tariffs it claims were “wrongfully extracted” by the Commerce Department. The steelmaker and slab converter – a subsidiary of Russia’s Novolipetsk Steel – also claims that “secret,” undocumented and “off-record” meetings and communications between Commerce and […]
Flat Rolled = 51.6 Shipping Days of Supply Plate = 54 Shipping Days of Supply Flat Rolled U.S. service center flat rolled inventories continued to grow in August, while shipments rose from the lower levels seen in July. At the end of August, service centers carried 51.6 shipping days of flat rolled supply on an […]
Manufacturing growth in New York State accelerated in September, climbing 16 points and nearly reversing the slowdown from the prior month, according to the Empire State Manufacturing Survey. The general business index climbed to 34.3, compared to 18.3 in August. Indices for new orders and shipments grew by double digits in September, expanding by 19 and […]
By CRU Senior Editor Ryan McKinley, from CRU’s Steel Sheet Products Monitor Steel sheet prices were either little changed or fell w/w across most of the globe, with the U.S. market now joining in the global cooldown. Prices in the U.S. fell w/w for the first time in over year, albeit the decline was only […]
Editor’s note: Steel Market Update is please to share this Premium content with Executive members. For information on how to upgrade to a Premium-level subscription, email Info@SteelMarketUpdate.com. Producer prices expanded further in August, albeit at a slower rate. The gains continued, however, maintaining the historic climb for the index and subcategories for final demand, which have […]
By CRU Aluminum Advisor Greg Wittbecker Steel and aluminum are vigorous competitors, but share a common plight, supply chain woes. Just-in-time manufacturing, lean manufacturing, vendor-managed inventory…we all know the buzzwords that have shaped the way both the aluminum and steel supply chains have operated for several decades. Since the Global Financial Crisis, the primary aluminum market […]
The end of summer marks a return to normal in Washington. Congress is back, and so are the president’s cabinet and advisors. This is the time of year for officials to float new ideas. In the international trade arena, American business groups grew increasingly impatient with the lack of ideas on resetting the economic relationship […]
Is there really any such thing as a “foreign car” anymore? Who among us hasn’t driven a vehicle with a foreign-sounding name like Toyota, Honda or Nissan? Most likely it was built down the road in Kentucky, Alabama or Mississippi. And produced with American-made steel and other locally sourced materials. An economic impact report just released […]
Samuel, Son & Co., Limited, is constructing a new automotive processing facility in Querétaro, Mexico. This new operation, along with an existing automotive facility in Monterrey, will position Samuel as a leading metals processor to global automotive brands and their supply chain partners operating in Mexico, the company said. Samuel expects to complete construction of […]
General Motors will resume production at some assembly plants next week, but is extending downtime at others into October because of the continued global chip shortage. “All of GM’s full-size truck and full-size SUV plants in North America will be running full production next week,” a company spokesman told SMU on Thursday, Sept. 9. The […]
The U.S. labor market saw its worst monthly performance since January, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) August report. The latest data showed 235,000 new workers were added to payrolls in August, less than a quarter of the 1.053 million positions added in July. August’s employment report was a huge disappointment, nearly […]
Steel Market Update is pleased to share this Premium content with Executive members. For information on upgrading to a Premium-level subscription, email Info@SteelMarketUpdate.com. U.S. job creation in August disappointed, unable to maintain pace with July’s results. The U.S. economy decelerated in August, as hiring rose at its slowest pace since January. Nonfarm payrolls increased by […]
Steel prices continued to climb through the month of August, marking one full year of increasing prices. Hot rolled steel prices increased $45 per ton ($2.25 per cwt) throughout the month, with the SMU index averaging $1,935 per ton ($96.75 per cwt) as of Tuesday. The SMU Price Momentum Indicator remains unchanged since the August 2020 adjustment to higher, indicating prices […]