It seems to be a foregone conclusion that there will be a flat rolled price increase announcement within the next few working days. Spot prices have remained firm with benchmark hot rolled averaging $665 per ton ($650-$680 range) based on our SMU index. Scrap is forecast to be up by $20 to $40 per gross […]
In my last ditty, I mentioned we were likely headed to the 1775-1800 area on the S&P 500. Well yesterday we reached 1775. However, the Fed statement from their October meeting yesterday had just enough language changes from the September meeting that some felt nervous and got out of some of their positions and the […]
There has been great speculation and anticipation regarding the sale of the ThyssenKrupp Steel Americas steel mills since the parent company announced it was offering the plants for sale over one year ago. The Americas operations consist of the Calvert, Alabama facility as well as the CSA fully integrated slab mill with its two blast […]
Our ferrous scrap sources are advising Steel Market Update to expect a minimum of $20 per gross ton increase in scrap prices as we head into the month of November mill buys. We are finding there is some weakness being exhibited on the east coast with the Claymont plate mill being shut down by Evraz, […]
The combination of higher spot prices and adjustments to contract negotiations has caused some buyers of flat rolled steel to seek alternatives to their normal domestic source of supply. Steel Market Update is beginning to get confirmations from both manufacturing companies and service centers of larger foreign tonnage purchases being made for 1st and early […]
The early forecast is for scrap prices to increase by $20 per gross ton in early November. If this happens it could help keep domestic mill prices at current levels (or slightly higher). It could also prompt the domestic mills to ask for another price increase. Longer term the analysts believe domestic scrap prices will […]
Nucor announced consolidated net earnings of $147.6 million for the third quarter of 2013 as compared to net earnings of $85.1 million reported in the previous quarter and $110.3 million in third quarter of 2012. Net sales increased 6 percent to 4.94 billion, up slightly from $4.67 billion in the second quarter […]
There is a lot going on regarding contracts, contract negotiations and the timing of when orders/commitments need to be placed with the domestic steel mills. SMU has had direct conversations and seen email correspondence which suggests at least one of the integrated steel mills is pushing for remaining 2013 tonnage to be placed right away […]
You don’t usually think of fruit when visiting a domestic steel mill. However, our gracious hosts at Nucor Arkansas (Hickman) let us in on the secret of Strawberries – and that’s all I have to say about that. For more details talk to anyone associated with Nucor Arkansas and they will most likely let you […]
The Board of Directors of the World Steel Association (worldsteel) has elected the following new officers for 2013/2014: Chairman: POSCO Chairman and CEO Joon-Yang Chung Vice Chairmen: Severstal JSC CEO Alexey Mordashov, voestalpine AG CEO and Chairman Wolfgang Eder Treasurer: JFE Steel Corporation CEO and President Eiji Hayashida The new chairman takes office from Wednesday […]
We are back in our offices, life is back to normal after traveling over the past four days to Arkansas and our website due date keeps on getting pushed back… Frustration is running high at SMU these days. The developers haven’t given us a firm promise date but it is beginning to look like November […]
Gov. Robert Bentley of Alabama announced that IT-TRI LLC will build a steel tubing and manufacturing plant in Lawrence County. The Chicago-based company hopes to break ground in Trinity, Ala. this fall and begin operations in 2014. “Having two raw material suppliers in Alabama, Nucor Steel in Decatur and U.S. Steel in Birmingham, and due […]
The weather in Arkansas couldn’t have been more perfect. We had temperatures in the low 70’s with a cool breeze and sunny. A perfect day to go on a mill tour. I want to take a moment to thank all of the employees at Nucor Steel Arkansas for hosting Steel Market Update and our Steel […]
CHARLOTTE, N.C., Oct. 7, 2013 — Nucor Corporation NUE +0.08% announced that The Steel Manufacturers Association (SMA) presented Nucor’s Executive Chairman Dan DiMicco with its Iverson-Selig award, recognizing his outstanding contributions to the minimill steel industry. The award is named after Nucor’s founder Ken Iverson and Marvin Selig, founder of CMC Steel, who were two […]
In a normal ferrous scrap market the first deals done at the beginning of the month are usually those with the best pricing. The month of October is turning out to be one of the exception months as many dealers rejected the preliminary lower offers and managed to trade steel scrap at the same numbers […]
I am in Blytheville, Arkansas making final preparations for our Steel 101: Introduction to Steelmaking & Market Fundamentals workshop. We have a full class which will tour the Nucor Hickman facility on Tuesday afternoon. We will send out a complimentary issue of our latest Monthly Newsletter on Monday. Once our new website comes online we […]
A quick note about ferrous scrap. From the early deals being done – and there are still a number yet which need to be completed. Our sources are advising us that scrap prices have been trading lower by $5 to $10 per gross ton in the east. However, in the Midwest there have been trades […]
Nucor was the last of the major domestic flat rolled mills to come out with new minimum base price levels on flat rolled steel products. Nucor chose to mimic those of ArcelorMittal and not NLMK or AK Steel whose announcements were slightly different than the rest of the industry. Nucor advised their customers through use […]
This week the domestic steel mills and their scrap suppliers will be locked in negotiations to determine the price of ferrous scrap used in the EAF’s and BOF’s to make steel. Steel Market Update sources have been advising that the October scrap market looks to be down $10 per gross ton before firming later in […]
A storage dome collapse will delay the start-up of Nucor’s new DRI plant in Convent, La., until the end of the year said Nucor officials in a press release on Sept. 26. On Wednesday afternoon, one of three storage domes for storage of iron ore pellets, suffered structural failure and collapsed, creating what sounded like […]
One of our service center contacts told Steel Market Update recently, “The ending of indexed pricing for many is just around the corner which is a major positive but hearing little of this from SMU. [The] mills still trying to make something – they cannot continue to withstand the losses they have incurred. In fact, […]
U.S. steel industry members are challenging proposed changes to Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Buy America laws that will affect manufactured products, ferry boat equipment, and pig iron and processed, pelletized, and reduced iron ores. The FHWA sought comments from the public regarding the continued, need, in whole or part for the general waivers on […]
We heard it earlier this month when during our HARDI steel conference call the wholesalers complained of reduced margins due to competitive pressures and mentioned that there were a growing number of non-traditional galvanized suppliers competing for the mechanical contractors business. During last week’s steel market review conducted by Steel Market Update (SMU), manufacturing companies […]
Another steel-related publication produced an article on September 18th regarding a lawsuit brought by the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality against the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The lawsuit is regarding air permits issued to Nucor Louisiana for their DRI operation which is about to begin operations. Nucor, in a letter to investors […]
In guidance remarks released Tuesday, Nucor Corp. said it expects the third quarter to outperform the second due to strong performance from its sheet and structural steel segment. Sheet steel improvements are attributed to competitor supply disruptions, customer inventory restocking and market demand improvement. The structural segment benefited from higher production following a planned maintenance […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) has received many emails from our readers as well as interested parties regarding our SMU Price Momentum Indicator which we have had at Neutral since Friday, August 23, 2013. Since that time we have seen hot rolled pricing remain in the $630-$660 per ton level (see Comparison Price Indices article below) […]
None of the indexes watched by Steel Market Update (SMU) on a regular basis saw flat rolled steel prices rising this past week. We saw very modest movement lower ($1-$5 per ton) or no change. Benchmark hot rolled prices range from $645 to $652.50 per ton (average $648.90 per ton). We have discussed this issue […]
Earlier this year a number of mills announced that they would no longer accept CRU minus based steel contracts. Since at the time most flat rolled steel contracts were negotiated to go through the end of the calendar year we did not see how the mills were going to approach the subject until just recently. […]
Final Scrap Pricing Settlement Numbers Still in Negotiation Scrap prices continued their weakening trend – especially on shredded with cut grades such as #1 HMS and prime grades such as #1 busheling are moving sideways to down $10 depending on the geographical location and the status of the mills in each area. We heard from […]
HARDI held their monthly steel conference call earlier today. The purpose of the call is to keep the HVAC wholesalers who sell galvanized sheet and coil in touch with market conditions and trends which could impact their businesses. The consensus of opinion, based on the comments made during the conference call, is prices remain stable […]