Employment growth in both construction and manufacturing was strong in August. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) net job creation report released on Friday was disappointing in total, but unusual in the detail. Disappointing because employment growth was worse than normal for August. Unusual in that the ratio of goods-producing to service-industry job growth was […]
Barry Zekelman calls himself a free-trader. Yet his company, Zekelman Industries, filed a trade case last year alleging that Chinese producers of circular welded steel pipe were guilty of evading U.S. import duties. Espousing free trade while suing to block imports may seem like a contradiction, but Zekelman made a good case for his position […]
SMU’s Steel Summit 2017 kicked off its first full day with heartfelt empathy for those colleagues in the Houston region who were unable to make it to the conference in the wake of destruction left by Hurricane Harvey. The devastating floods along the Gulf Coast and in Houston may have a lasting impact on the […]
A subsidiary of Canadian steel processor and Nova Steel is looking for a location in the United States to build a pipe and tube manufacturing plant. Cleveland, Ohio, hopes to entice Nova Tube and Steel LLC with a prime spot along Interstate 77 near ArcelorMittal and access to the Cuyahoga River and the Great Lakes. […]
ArcelorMittal’s three plate facilities in the United States—Burns Harbor in Burns Harbor, Ind., and Coatesville and Conshohocken in Pennsylvania—have each achieved DNV-GL certification, which will allow the company to expand business opportunities domestically and internationally for its plate products. DNV-GL (Germanischer Lloyd) is a classification society that sets rules and standards for industries, especially maritime-related […]
This article is normally reserved for our Premium members, but we are sharing it with our entire readership this month. To learn more about what our Premium members receive, click here. Steel Market Update offers this update on the currencies of the steel and iron ore trading nations through Aug. 21. The analysis of currency […]
In the last month, the price of crude oil has risen and the price of natural gas has declined slightly. The number of operating rigs exploring for both oil and gas has declined for three straight weeks. This is the first decline since the low point of June 27 last year. The prices of oil […]
Trucks needed to haul steel and other materials are in short supply and availability is likely to get tighter later this year when drivers will be required to use electronic logging devices (ELDs) rather than hand-written logs to record their hours behind the wheel. The American Trucking Associations estimate that the new ELD requirement, which […]
Sherwin Williams, a major supplier of paint and coatings to coil coaters and other industries, announced a price hike on Monday, citing the need to recoup the escalating costs of raw materials. The company notified its customers to expect a 5 percent increase on all shipments of PVDF and FEVE topcoats, a 7 percent increase […]
Below is the latest data released by the the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI) regarding residential and commercial heating and cooling equipment shipments through June 2017. You may read the press release on their website here. Residential Storage Water Heaters U.S. shipments of residential gas storage water heaters for June 2017 increased 0.3 percent […]
Steel imports are higher this year than 2016, but still below levels of 2015, according to ports on the West and Gulf Coasts. The Port of New Orleans has seen imports increase slightly over a year ago. In the first six months of 2016, imports rose to 1,186,630 tons from 1,179,037 tons in the same […]
Nebraska began final hearings on the Keystone XL pipeline this week to determine if approval of the long-delayed project is in the best interest of its citizens. Nebraska is the last of three states that must give a thumbs-up for the project before the pipeline can finish winding its way from Canada’s Alberta province to […]
It is now official. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, June 2017 foreign steel imports totaled 3,923,126 net tons and are at the highest levels seen since January 2015, prior to the antidumping (AD) and countervailing duties (CVD) trade suits being filed. Approximately one-quarter of the imports were semi-finished steels (mostly slabs) with the […]
Ryerson Holding Corp. turned in a strong performance in Q2 despite conflicting business and industry conditions, said President and CEO Eddie Lehner. Margins took a hit as steel import levels rose and nickel and carbon hot rolled prices moved lower. “Ryerson saw some mix-shift impact to margins,” said Lehner, “as sheet and stainless related demand […]
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) employment report for July was released on Friday with a gain in jobs that exceeded analysts’ expectations. The May result was revised down by 7,000 and June was revised up by 9,000 positions. Using a three-month moving average (3MMA), the July result was 195,000 jobs, which was pulled down […]
The weekly U.S. rig count took a slight dip, according to Aug. 4 data from oilfield services company Baker Hughes, Inc. The oil rig count declined by 1 to 765 rigs, while the gas rig count declined by 3 to 189 rigs, for a total of 954. The miscellaneous rig count was unchanged. Compared to […]
In this report, updated July 28, we examine the latest prices for iron ore, scrap, coking coal and zinc. To put the raw materials analysis into perspective, we begin with Figure 1, which shows the spread between Chicago #1 busheling and hot rolled coil ex works Indiana through July 21, both in $/net ton. On […]
Construction spending is suffering from a decrease in public investment said Ken Simonson, chief economist at the Associated General Contractors of America. “Construction spending is still increasing overall but growth has become much more uneven across categories in recent months,” said Simonson. “There has been a steep decline in public investment in nearly all types […]
As a monthly average, prices on all flat rolled steel products recovered in July following a dip in June. The month of July ended with SMU’s Price Momentum Indicator continuing to point higher as the market waits to see if and when the Trump administration will act on Section 232 trade measures that could further […]
Foreign steel imports continue to trend well over the 3.0 million net tons mark as steel buyers placed heavy tonnage once the Section 232 investigation was announced in March (March orders = June/July delivery). The U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) released preliminary census for June and license data for July earlier this evening. According to […]
The following article on the hot rolled coil (HRC) futures markets was written by David Feldstein. As the Flack Global Metals director of risk management, 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 […]
Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. is expecting flat up to a 3 percent increase in pricing in third quarter after experiencing pricing pressure in second quarter. Recent price increases in June and July have held, and Reliance expects demand to carry prices higher, whether or not Section 232 action is taken. “The absence of meaningful […]
A mild recession will impact residential and nonresidential construction in 2019, predicts the HARDI/ITR July quarterly report. Steel Market Update is a member of an association connected to the construction industry called the Heating, Air-conditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International. HARDI and ITR Economics, an economic forecasting company, work together to gather economic data to provide […]
Data from July 7, 2017, shows the U.S. rig count for the week was 950 rigs exploring for or developing oil or natural gas, reports oilfield services company Baker Hughes, Inc. This is down 2 rigs compared to last week, with oil rigs down 1 to 764 rigs, gas down 1 to 186 rigs, and […]
The U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) released new foreign steel import license data on July 18. The trend for July is for steel imports to remain quite high, in the mid 3-million-net-ton range. We expect imports to be lower than June’s 3.9 million net tons, but above the 12-month and 3-month moving averages. Finished steel […]
The value of the U.S. dollar is in free fall on the international foreign exchange markets. Through July 18, the Broad Index value of the U.S. dollar had depreciated by 7 percent since January 3. Comparing on a rolling three-month basis, the index has declined every single day since January 20. (Please see the end […]
Since our last report, the price of crude oil has continued to decline and the price of natural gas has been stable. The number of operating rigs exploring for both oil and gas has continued to increase. The prices of oil and natural gas drive the consumption of energy-related steel products including oil country tubular […]
Below is the latest data released by the the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI) regarding residential and commercial heating and cooling equipment shipments through May 2017. You may read the press release on their website here. Residential Storage Water Heaters U.S. shipments of residential gas storage water heaters for May 2017 increased 5.5 percent […]
The U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) released license data for the month of June as well as the first 11 days of July. The bottom line is imports of foreign steel into the U.S. continue to be worrisome (to the domestic steel mills) and the early trend is for July 2017 to be another three […]
The U.S. employment situation continues to be good. Net job creation in June, including revisions for April and May, was 269,000, and the latest number of job openings was the highest on record. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) net job creation report released on Friday exceeded economists’ expectations and was another example of why […]