A quote from one of our Steel Summit 2015 keynote speakers, “Although the price of oil seems to be more tied to the dollar, there is some supply and demand factors that can impact the magnitude of the impact of the dollar’s value on the per barrel price. Therefore, we have to watch what the […]
This piece, written by Peter Wright, combines our own data analysis with recently published opinions about the iron ore, metallurgical coal and zinc markets that we find credible. Iron Ore: The Platts IODEX of 62% Fe delivered North China recovered to $61.25 per dry metric ton (dmt) on May 22nd but by July 10th had […]
Figure 1 shows historical gas and oil prices since January 2000. The daily spot price of West Texas Intermediate fell below $100/barrel in August and by January 23rd was down to $44.80. By June 15th, the price of WTI had recovered to $59.53. In the last 30 days through July 13th WTI has declined again […]
Contract negotiations are currently underway between the United Steel Workers and steel companies US Steel and ArcelorMittal. The companies each met with USW bargaining committee members in Pittsburgh to begin working out details of new three-year contracts to replace the current ones expiring Sept. 1. USW Committee members are expecting the first proposal from ArcelorMittal […]
According to Baker Hughes data from July 17, 2015, the U.S rig count for the week was 857 rigs exploring for or developing oil or natural gas. This is down 6 rigs when compared to last week, with oil rigs down 7 to 638 rigs, gas rigs up 1 to 218 rigs, and miscellaneous rigs […]
We have two data sources for this report. These are the Federal Reserve and the Oanda forex trading platform. An explanation of these sources is given at the end of this report. Oanda is current every day but the Federal Reserve daily broad index (BI) is normally about eight days in arrears. This month the […]
The U.S. Department of Commerce released the latest foreign steel import license data late this afternoon. The license data is suggesting that July steel imports will be higher than the 3.1 million net tons suggested by today’s adjustment to June’s license data. This is not a positive for the steel market. Two items of interest […]
Contract negotiations have kicked off between the United Steelworkers and US Steel Corp. USW officials and US Steel representatives met in Pittsburgh to begin ironing out the details of a new three year contract to replace the current one due to expire Sept. 1. The talks come at a time when the steel industry is […]
According to Baker Hughes data from July 10, 2015, the U.S rig count for the week was 863 rigs exploring for or developing oil or natural gas. This is up 1 rig when compared to last week, with oil rigs up 5 to 645 rigs, gas rigs down 2 to 217 rigs, and miscellaneous rigs […]
Below is the latest release issued by the the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI) regarding residential and commercial heating and cooling equipment shipments through May 2015. 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 2015 increased 10.2 percent, […]
Earlier this week US Steel came out with a $40 per ton price increase. Since then the other mills have been eerily quiet not yet jumping on the bandwagon. It is normal for the smaller mills to wait and see if the larger mills will follow the lead. So far this week, they have not. […]
A month ago one of our dealer sources echoed the views of many in the ferrous scrap business, he expected nothing worse than a sideways (no change) market for July scrap prices. He pointed to stronger demand at the steel mills and continued weak collection of obsolete scrap grades. We will hear more from him […]
Mexican steelmakers are feeling the pressure from unfairly traded steel. In a joint statement on last week, Altos Hornos de Mexico (AHMSA), De Acero, Tubacero and ArcelorMittal accused Russia, China and Turkey of dumping steel at prices below production costs. In a full page newspaper ad, the steel companies urged President Enrique Pena Nieto to […]
The Institute of Supply Management released their June report on July 1st. An explanation of the ISM index is given at the end of this piece. After seven straight months of decline the index gained 1.3 points in May and a further 0.7 points in June to end at 53.5 with a three month moving […]
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) analysis of non-farm employment reported that 223,000 jobs were added in June which was in line with expectations. April and May were revised down by a total of 60,000. Monthly job gains have averaged 221,000 over the past three months. In the 12 months prior to June, employment growth […]
Global manufacturing in June slowed close to a two-year low according to the JP Morgan Global Manufacturing PMI. The Index posted at 51.0 from 51.3 in May, but manufacturing output remained in expansion (above the neutral 50 point) for the 31st consecutive month. Manufacturing growth, on average, continued to grow in North America and Europe […]
According to Baker Hughes data from June 26, 2015, the U.S rig count for the week was 859 rigs exploring for or developing oil or natural gas. This is up 2 rigs when compared to last week, with oil rigs down 3 to 628 rigs, gas rigs up 5 to 228 rigs, and miscellaneous rigs […]
Worthington Industries closed fourth quarter FY 2015 with net sales of $846 million and net earnings of $28.9 million. Quarter earnings were negatively impacted by pre-tax impairment, restructuring and other charges, totaling $6.5 million. Earnings in Q4 2014 were $33.2 million. Steel processing net sales dropped 4 percent y/y to $540 million due to lower […]
This piece, written by Peter Wright, combines our own data analysis with recently published opinions about the iron ore, metallurgical coal and zinc markets that we find credible. Iron Ore: The Platts IODEX of 62 percent Fe delivered North China recovered to $61.25 on March 22nd, continued its upward trend in June then on June […]
Global steel production in 12 months through May totaled 1.672 billion metric tonnes with a capacity of 2.2 billion tonnes according to the World Steel Association. Capacity utilization on a three month moving average, (3MMA) basis was 72.2 percent unchanged from April. China accounted for 50.2 percent of global production in May. Asia as a […]
Figure 1 shows historical gas and oil prices since January 2000. The daily spot price of West Texas Intermediate fell below $100 per barrel in August and by January 23rd was down to $44.80. By June 15th, the latest daily figure available from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) the price of WTI had recovered to […]
Both these data points are reported in the Federal Reserve G17 data base. The IP index was reported as 105.102 for May, down by 0.18 from April and down from the all-time high of 106.309 in November last year. The three month moving average, (3MMA) in May was 105.40, down by 0.23 from April. January […]
We are starting to see signs that the June import numbers could be significantly below those of April and May which were both at 3.5 million net tons. The daily import license rate for June is at 109,662 tons per day and if the actual imports were to come in at that rate the month […]
Below is the latest release issued by the the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI) regarding residential and commercial heating and cooling equipment shipments through April 2015. You may read the press release on their website here. Residential Storage Water Heaters U.S. shipments of residential gas storage water heaters for April 2015 decreased 8.8 percent, […]
According to Baker Hughes data from June 12, 2015, the U.S rig count for the week was 859 rigs exploring for or developing oil or natural gas. The last time the active U.S. count was this low was back on January 17, 2003 at 845 rigs. This week’s total rig count is down 9 rigs […]
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) analysis of non-farm employment reported that 280,000 jobs were added in May and the March and April result was revised up by a total of 32,000. Economists had expected U.S. employers to add 220,000 jobs last month. The three month moving average, (3MMA) of gains through May was 207,000 […]
The US Department of Commerce release Final Census Data regarding April steel imports which were reported to be 3,501,337 net tons in total, down 3.2 percent over March data and down 6.3 percent over the level seen one year ago. Semi-finished (blooms, billets, and slabs) imports recovered 118,000 tons from the four year low we […]
According to Baker Hughes data from June 5, 2015, the U.S rig count for the week was 868 rigs exploring for or developing oil or natural gas. The last time the active U.S. count was this low was back on January 24, 2003 at 862 rigs. This week’s total rig count is down 7 rigs […]
Steel Market Update found it interesting as we received a number of comments regarding Al Plummer’s letter to the editor regarding foreign steel imports, pricing and potential dumping. What was most interesting was the vast majority of the comments received were from other steel traders… One trader responded to the continued threats of filing dumping […]
Global manufacturing advanced slightly in May according to the JP Morgan Global Manufacturing Survey. The Global PMI registered 51.2 last month, compared to 51.0 in April. International trade remained weak, however, as new export business decreased for the first time in two years. Production and new orders picked up in May after hitting lows in […]