The U.S. active rotary rig count, an indicator of oil country tubular goods demand, declined slightly week over week, according to oilfield services company Baker Hughes. The number of active U.S. rigs fell by 3 to 1,076, with oil rigs up 2 to 887 rigs, gas rigs down 5 to 189 rigs, and miscellaneous rigs […]
November saw steel prices continue to decline, with benchmark hot rolled dipping below $800 per ton, cold rolled below $900 per ton, and galvanized below $1,000 per ton. Plate continued to hold its own at over $1,000 per ton as mills kept customers on allocation while they worked to meet strong demand. Steel Market Update […]
Both Steel Market Update and the CRU Group forecast lower steel prices next year. With a new North America free trade agreement soon to be signed, the U.S. is likely to lift or modify the Section 232 tariffs on Canada and Mexico, opening the borders to more imports and adding to the downward pressure on […]
Nucor is increasing its presence in Mexico with the acquisition of Corporacion POK, a fully integrated precision castings company with a facility in Guadalajara. “Our company has had a presence in Mexico for more than a decade. We know the market and the customers there. This acquisition supports Nucor’s strategy in Mexico, which is focused […]
Editor’s note: Following is an edited excerpt from the 2019 Gulf Coast Energy Outlook published by Louisiana State University’s Center for Energy Studies and the E. J. Ourso College of Business. The past two decades have seen a dramatic change in the energy landscape along the Gulf Coast with the “revolution” created by unconventional gas […]
The U.S. Department of Commerce has released import license data for the months of October and November through the 13th of the month. October foreign steel imports are expected to reach 3 million net tons on the back of almost 900,000 net tons of semi-finished steels (mostly slabs going to the domestic steel mills). It […]
The Keystone XL pipeline, which was given the go-ahead by an executive order from President Trump, has been blocked once again by a federal judge in Montana, who ruled that the administration had not considered all the potential impacts of the project as required by law. The decision could further stall the controversial pipeline, which […]
Economic activity expanded across the United States with the majority of the 12 Federal Reserve Districts reporting modest to moderate growth in the September-October period, according to the Fed’s Beige Book released late last month. However, several Districts indicated that firms faced rising materials and shipping costs, uncertainties over the trade environment and difficulties finding […]
Toronto-based Russel Metals reported “stellar” results for its third quarter, attributing the company’s success to a high steel price environment and improved demand in all three of its business segments: service centers, energy products and steel distributors. Trade actions by government authorities have increased steel prices, which has benefited both producers and distributors. However, these […]
Oil and gas companies, and their steel suppliers, were relieved to learn late Tuesday that Proposition 112 failed to get enough support among the voters who cast ballots in Colorado. The highly contentious measure, which pitted the energy industry against anti-fracking environmentalists, failed by a 57-43 percent margin. Proposition 112 would have more than doubled […]
The U.S. active rotary rig count, an indicator of oil country tubular goods demand, declined slightly week over week, according to oilfield services company Baker Hughes. The number of active U.S. rigs fell by 1 to 1,067, with oil rigs down 1 to 874 rigs, gas rigs unchanged at 193 rigs, and miscellaneous rigs unchanged […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: When is a product from Japan instead of China? Turns out, it depends on why you’re asking. For purposes of the required “marking” of imported products, U.S. Customs and Border Protection decides whether a product composed of several […]
Except for plate, which held its own at around $1,000 a ton, steel prices generally weakened further in October, continuing a decline that began this summer. Steel Market Update data in the table below shows that the benchmark hot rolled coil price dipped below $800 per ton after sliding by about $45 during the month. […]
Construction spending hit a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1.329 trillion and grew 5.5 percent for nine months of 2018, with continued year-to-date gains for major public and private categories, according to an analysis of new government data by the Associated General Contractors of America. Association officials said that while demand for construction should remain […]
Manufacturing activity continues to be strong, according to the latest ISM Report on Business, although slowing its pace of growth as it enters the fourth quarter. The October PMI declined 2.1 percentage points from September to register 57.7 percent. Most of the components of the PMI are trending at a slower rate. The new orders […]
Construction spending hit a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1.329 trillion and grew 5.5 percent for nine months of 2018, with continued year-to-date gains for major public and private categories, according to an analysis of new government data by the Associated General Contractors of America. Association officials said that while demand for construction should remain […]
With oil and gas prices rising, the nation’s shale plays, particularly the Permian Basin, are struggling with costly bottlenecks as drillers try to pump more crude and natural gas than the existing pipelines can handle. Energy companies are committing billions to new and expanded pipelines over the next several years, which represents a major opportunity […]
The U.S. Department of Commerce released updated foreign steel import data for September and October yesterday, with the September figure down to 2.2 million tons and the October trend remaining over 3 million tons. Prior to this week, the September total was hovering around 2.7 million to 2.9 million net tons. Our October trend is […]
The following article on the hot rolled coil (HRC) futures market was written by David Feldstein. As the Flack Global Metals Chief Market Risk Officer, Dave is an active participant in the hot rolled futures market, and we believe he provides insightful commentary and trading ideas to our readers. Besides writing futures articles for Steel […]
Voters who go to the polls in Colorado next month will consider Proposition 112, a measure with serious implications for the energy industry in their state, and beyond. “If this passes, not only will it devastate our economy, but also the economies of surrounding states,” an executive from a steel fabricator in Denver told Steel […]
In the last month, the U.S. dollar has weakened against seven of the 16 currencies that Steel Market Update tracks. This was close to the performance we reported last month, but a dramatic change from the period May through August when only a few of the 16 appreciated against the dollar (just one in May, […]
Pittsburgh, PA, October 18, 2018 – Allegheny Technologies Incorporated (NYSE: ATI) announced today it has signed an agreement to provide carbon steel hot-rolling conversion services for NLMK USA at ATI’s world-class Hot-Rolling and Processing Facility, or HRPF, located in Brackenridge, PA. Slab shipments to ATI will begin immediately and increase to anticipated production levels in […]
Lewis Leibowitz, trade attorney and contributor to Steel Market Update, offers the following commentary on the latest developments in Washington: Three items of interest for today, which will be expanded upon as events warrant: WTO Disputes on Section 232 Tariffs—At least two WTO members (the EU and Norway) requested formation of a dispute settlement panel […]
This afternoon, Steel Market Update spoke with James Banker, Jr., Executive Vice President of NLMK USA, about two topics. First, the slab conversion agreement between NLMK USA and Allegheny Technologies Inc. Second, we spoke about NLMK not following the $40 per ton price increase announced by the other domestic steel mills. We will discuss both […]
Earlier today, the U.S. Department of Commerce released the latest foreign steel import license data for September and October. Based on our analysis, the import trend for October continues to be much higher than we would have anticipated. We are looking at the month trending over 3 million net tons. The biggest reason for the […]
The U.S. active rig count, an indicator of oil country tubular goods demand, increased this week, according to oilfield services company Baker Hughes. The number of active U.S. rigs rose by 11 to 1,063, with oil rigs up 8 to 869 rigs, gas rigs up 4 to 193 rigs, and miscellaneous rigs down 1 to […]
ArcelorMittal announced a binding offer from Liberty House Group for the purchase of ArcelorMittal Ostrava (Czech Republic), ArcelorMittal Galati (Romania), ArcelorMittal Skopje (Macedonia) and ArcelorMittal Piombino (Italy). The transaction is part of a divestment package agreed to by ArcelorMittal with the European Commission for the €1.8 billion acquisition of Italian steel mill Ilva. The ArcelorMittal […]
Energy prices are up, but growth in the rig count has slowed, and bottlenecks in the nation’s oil fields will continue to constrain oil and gas production—and along with it demand for oil country tubular goods (OCTG), reports Rick Preckel, a principal at Preston Pipe, a Ballwin, Mo., market research and consulting firm. As of […]
In an article last week, I overstated the amount of quota Brazil had for Galvalume. One of the other traders/mills was nice enough to provide me the accurate data. The yearly quota on AZ is 49,974.44 metric tons. The other flat rolled and plate product quotas out of Brazil are as follows: Hot rolled = […]
The slowdown for global manufacturing continued in September, according to the latest J.P. Morgan Global Manufacturing PMI. The headline PMI fell to a 22-month low at 52.2, down from 52.6 in August. The PMI has been above the 50.0 neutral mark since March 2016, but has declined in each of the past five months. Output […]