A few weeks back I was having a conversation with the head of commercial for one of the domestic steel mills. The conversation centered around the influence Steel Market Update was having on their order book. In particular, the discussion focused on the SMU Price Momentum Indicator. I was told when our indicator moves to […]
The domestic steel mills have been able to put a floor on flat rolled steel prices since Nucor announced their $40 per ton price increase on Jan. 28, 2019. Now that they have a firm floor, the mills are slowly moving prices higher. In the process, they are very slowly shifting momentum. Steel Market Update […]
A strong economy and record profits are stimulating expansion in the U.S. steel industry. Often crediting President Trump for “leveling the playing field” with steel imports, companies like U.S. Steel and Nucor are taking the opportunity to reinvest their windfall in new and upgraded facilities. Adding capacity in a world that is struggling with steel […]
Steel prices are trying to rise following the $40 per ton increase announced by the mills last month, but how fast, how far and for how long remains the subject of much speculation. Comments from SMU’s market canvas this week show buyers with two basic views: Either, “Mills are very firm on pricing. We’ve got […]
Flat rolled steel distributors have been slowly backing away from offering spot prices to their end customers at lower numbers than what was seen a couple of weeks ago. At the same time, these same service centers are reporting difficulties getting those same end user customers to pay higher prices, despite the price increase announcements […]
Flat rolled steel distributors have been slowly backing away from offering spot prices to their end customers at lower numbers than what was seen a couple of weeks ago. At the same time, these same service centers are reporting difficulties getting those same end user customers to pay higher prices, despite the price increase announcements […]
There is a considerable amount of information/debate happening in Washington, D.C., Canada, Mexico, China and Europe regarding tariffs either in place or being threatened by the Trump administration. We included a press release in tonight’s issue that was sent out by Wilbur Ross of the U.S. Department of Commerce earlier this week. U.S. Trade Representative […]
The following article on the hot rolled coil (HRC) steel and financial futures markets was written by Jack Marshall of Crunch Risk LLC. Here is how Jack saw trading over the past week: Steel The HR futures curve has both flattened and risen versus physical spot HR since its lows on Jan. 7. Optimism is […]
Steel Market Update has confirmed that ArcelorMittal joined the other major mills in raising flat rolled steel prices this week. ArcelorMittal notified its commercial team that it is raising base prices a minimum of $40 per ton on all light flat rolled sheet products, effective immediately. The increase applies to all new and unacknowledged orders […]
Whether the mills succeed in collecting the $40 increase on flat rolled they announced in recent days depends a lot on how strong demand proves to be in the first quarter. Such price hikes are common in January as the mills anticipate a pickup in business following the seasonal slowdown in the fourth quarter. Service […]
The Steel Manufacturers Association would like to see the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement ratified by the three countries, even if it calls for a change to the tariffs. Speaking at a press briefing during SMA’s board meeting Thursday in Washington, SMA President Phil Bell said the modernized trade rules in the USMCA are an improvement on NAFTA. […]
Steel Market Update has confirmed that ArcelorMittal joined the other major mills in raising flat rolled steel prices this week. ArcelorMittal notified its commercial team that it is raising base prices a minimum of $40 per ton on all light flat rolled sheet products, effective immediately. The increase applies to all new and unacknowledged orders […]
We have seen Nucor, U.S. Steel, NLMK USA and ArcelorMittal move spot flat rolled base prices up $40 per ton effective immediately. That is what was announced this week. The reality is not yet clear, and the prices referenced in tonight’s pricing assessment only marginally take the increases into account as negotiations are very early […]
Major domestic steelmakers have announced a $40 per ton ($2/cwt) hike in the price of hot rolled, cold rolled and galvanized steel products, fueling the debate over whether current market conditions can support an increase or if the latest announcement is bound to flop like the last one in October. West Coast mills California Steel […]
Last week, Steel Market Update conducted our mid-January flat rolled and plate steel market trends analysis. One of the areas of interest to SMU was how manufacturing companies and service centers would peg spot pricing coming out of the distributors to their end customers. Prior to the New Year, just below 75 percent of the […]
Nucor Corp. surpassed expectations for 2018, reporting net earnings of $2.36 billion for the full year compared to $1.32 billion in 2017. Net sales jumped 24 percent to $25.07 billion due to a 5 percent increase in tons shipped and an 18 percent jump in the average sales price per ton. Nucor shipped 27.9 million […]
U.S. Steel is the latest mill to announce a price increase. Like Nucor, U.S. Steel notified its sales organization on Monday that its base pricing for all new flat rolled spot orders would increase by a minimum of $40 per net ton, effective immediately. U.S. Steel’s last price change on flat rolled was also a […]
U.S. Steel is the latest mill to announce a price increase. Like Nucor, U.S. Steel notified its sales organization on Monday that its base pricing for all new flat rolled spot orders would increase by a minimum of $40 per net ton, effective immediately. U.S. Steel’s last price change on flat rolled was also a […]
Following on last week’s announcement by West Coast mills, Nucor’s Sheet Mill Group today also announced a $40 per ton ($2/cwt) increase on hot rolled, cold rolled and galvanized steel products, effective immediately on new and unconfirmed orders. The price hike comes as no surprise as Nucor and other mills east of the Rockies were […]
Following on last week’s announcement by West Coast mills, Nucor’s Sheet Mill Group today also announced a $40 per ton ($2/cwt) increase on hot rolled, cold rolled and galvanized steel products, effective immediately on new and unconfirmed orders. The price hike comes as no surprise as Nucor and other mills east of the Rockies were […]
What an interesting week it has been, and it’s only Tuesday. As previous articles have already stated, Nucor, U.S. Steel, NLMK USA and ArcelorMittal (verbally) have joined California Steel and USS/POSCO by announcing $40 per ton price increases on flat rolled. For those of you who are new to the industry or to our newsletter, […]
Nucor Corp. announced on Monday that it is scouting the Midwest for a suitable location to build a $1.35 billion EAF mill that is capable of producing 1.2 million tons of steel plate products annually. Nucor expects site selection to be completed in 2019 and construction to begin as soon as permits are secured. The […]
With finished steel prices continuing their second-half decline through the end of 2018, the market is holding its collective breath to see if the mills announce a price hike this month. Many believe they will try to raise prices, but most are doubtful they will succeed. Following is what industry sources told SMU this week: […]
Perhaps it’s because the year started out with so much promise that the end of 2018 seemed so uninspiring. On balance, most in the steel business would call 2018 a good year, some even a great year. But few look forward to 2019 with the same optimism and confidence they felt a year ago at […]
Service centers are perilously close to capitulation as the percentage of respondents reporting service centers as lowering spot prices continues to increase. Manufacturing companies are telling Steel Market Update that they are receiving lower and lower spot pricing from their service center suppliers. In our latest flat rolled steel market trends analysis conducted this past […]
So, we have our service center inventories at 2.5 months of supply, down slightly from the 2.6 months we got from our distributor data suppliers the previous month. This is not from our survey; we decided to put that data aside as it was suspect – it had both buyers and sellers contributing to the […]
In fourth-quarter guidance on Friday, Nucor reported that it expects strong steel demand and favorable pricing to continue in 2019. Nucor benefitted from strong economic conditions in the United States throughout 2018, which were positively impacted by tax and regulatory reform. Additionally, broad-based tariffs imposed under Section 232 provided a tailwind that contributed to Nucor’s […]
By CRU Principal Analyst Josh Spoores, from CRU’s Steel Sheet Products Monitor The steel sheet market in North America is starting the second half of the year off with the same primary trends seen in the past few quarters: rising prices due to strong demand and supply that continues to be affected by unplanned disruptions. […]
Ratner Steel ran the first coil on its new stretch leveler cut-to-length line in Osceola, Ark., on Monday, reported Ratner President and CFO Steve Gottlieb. The company hopes to replicate the success it has seen at its other service centers in Minnesota and Indiana. The line was installed by Red Bud Industries in a 150,000-square-foot […]
A couple of comments regarding possible price increase announcements as we go into first-quarter 2019 made today as I canvassed the flat rolled and plate steel markets pricing. “Mills appear to be much more sanguine on prices than I’ve seen in a while. I’m hearing them say that once all of the mills are done […]