I made a decision many years ago that when the domestic steel industry (multiple mills) announced price increases that I would automatically move the SMU Price Momentum Indicator to Neutral. Since we are already at Neutral it is important to understand that at this point prices could move up, down or absolutely nowhere from where […]
I will be in Chicago on Monday and Tuesday of this week attending the IHS Global Insight forecasting conference. If you would like to meet with me during the conference send me an email: John@SteelMarketUpdate.com and we will arrange a convenient time. I will be in Chicago on Monday and Tuesday of this week attending […]
Canadian shipments for all steel products in the month of August were 478,700 net tons, an increase of 4.2 percent from the month before but a decrease of 6.8 percent from August 2012. Inventories at the end of the month stood at 1,388,800 tons, a decrease of 5.0 percent from last month and a decrease […]
According to just released MSCI data, total steel shipments out of the U.S. service centers were reported to be 3,632,900 tons during the month of August 2013. The daily shipping rate rose from 157,500 tons per day in July to 165,100 tons per day in August. Compared to August 2012 shipments (all products) were lower […]
A new generation of solar panels has been developed by ArcelorMittal. Instead of using glass plate, a thin semi-conductor coating is layered directly on steel substrate to produce electricity via solar radiation. The photovoltaic technology using steel is more environmentally friendly process than solar modules using glass panels, said ArcelorMittal. The new technology will allow […]
The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) is initiating an investigation into dumping of hot-rolled carbon steel plate and high-strength low-allow steel plate originating or exported from Brazil, Chinese Taipei, Denmark, Indonesia, Italy, Japan and the Republic of Korea. The investigation, announced on September 5, was prompted by complaints by Essar Steel, Sault Ste. Marie, […]
Year to date through July, net imports of steel sheet products have been steadily declining as those of long products have been steadily increasing, (Figures 1 and 2). Net imports are defined as imports minus exports and at times can be negative for individual products when exports exceed imports. In the case of flat rolled […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) has been advised that ArcelorMittal USA is attempting to raise Tinplate prices by 12 percent for calendar year 2014. Tinplate, which is used to make cans and other product packing devices, is commonly sold on an annualized contract basis to a fairly limited number of buyers. Last week we received an […]
Service Center Deficit Will Help Keep Mill Prices Firm Flat rolled inventories are at a 466,000 ton deficit according to Steel Market Update proprietary analysis of the recently released MSCI service center inventory data. The 466,000 ton deficit is the largest one we have measured since August 2009 when it was measured at 604,000 tons. […]
JSW Steel Ltd. is considering selling its U.S. mill in Baytown, Texas said reports by Bloomberg. JSW, India’s third largest steel maker, hopes to pay off some of its debt and boost earnings margins by selling the USA asset. In its fourth quarter earnings statement in March 2013, the company reported a decline of 61.56 […]
Service Center Deficit Will Help Keep Mill Prices Firm Flat rolled inventories are at a 466,000 ton deficit according to Steel Market Update proprietary analysis of the recently released MSCI service center inventory data. The 466,000 ton deficit is the largest one we have measured since August 2009 when it was measured at 604,000 tons. […]
According to just released Metal Service Center Institute (MSCI) data, total steel inventories at the distributors as of the end of July were 7,642,600 tons. This is 12.2 percent below the 8,953,900 tons held by service centers at the end of July 2012. The daily shipment rate dropped to 157,500 tons per day (22 day […]
Canadian shipments for all steel products in the month of July were 459,400 net tons, an increase of 1.3 percent from the month before but a decrease of 2.5 percent from July 2012. Inventory at the end of the month stood at 1,462,600 tons, a decrease of 1.5 percent from last month and a decrease […]
In three months through May exports of flat products declined as those of long products remained unchanged (see graphic below). Compared to May last year total exports were up by 311 tons. This result breaks down to flat products down 21,166 tons, longs down 29,114 tons and tubulars up 43,176 tons. In all three cases […]
Imports of semi finished, and hot worked steel imports through July 2013 Imports of the combined tonnage of billets, blooms and slabs have been trending down for 12 months as have also the combined imports plate and sheet. Total long products have been trending up for all of 2013. These conclusions are based on a […]
Every so often it is interesting to just review the comments made to Steel Market Update (SMU) during our steel market survey. Occasionally we can catch a raw gem. In the comment below a large Midwest based service center discusses their service center spot business (supplying steel from one service center to another): “Lean […]
Written by: John Packard Service centers continue to raise spot flat rolled prices to their end customers, according to our most recent steel market survey. Seventy seven (77) percent of the service centers responding to our early August questionnaire advised their company as raising prices compared to two weeks ago. The remaining distributors reported keeping […]
Written by Sandy Williams The Steel Manufacturers Association (SMA) has asked U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman to protect domestic steel plate from an onslaught of imports from Europe. “We urge USTR to undertake a diplomatic initiative targeted at the European countries that are rapidly increasing their shipments of CTL plate and other products to the […]
Written by: John Packard Are we seeing early signs of prices weakening? The combination of our survey, which began on Thursday of last week and concluded earlier today, and our channel checks with both manufacturing and distributors produced a wider range in pricing than we had been seeing in recent weeks. Is this the beginning […]
Written by: Damon Sun, Daido International The Far East markets will be rather quiet this week. Finished demand is still rather poor. Mills were able to lift construction steel prices up about $10/mt, but scrap prices moved up $20/mt. Rebar prices in Taiwan and in S. E. Asia have retreated/sideways from last week and […]
Written by: Sandy Williams Essar Steel Algoma reported an EBITDA of $9.7 million and a net loss of $25.1 million for the third quarter ending December 31, 2012. Essar said lower selling prices were offset by higher volumes and lower costs compared to the same three month period in 2011. Selling prices and costs decreased […]
Written by: Peter Wright Canadian service center tons per day shipments in February were also down overall and for all individual product groups compared to February a year ago. Their total daily shipments were 76.3 percent of the pre recession level, ranging from 102.2 percent for plate to 70.2 percent for sheet. Of all steel […]
Written by: Peter Wright Rolled steel imports through February 2013. The Steel Import Licensing system is so predictive of the final numbers that it’s quite valid to incorporate licensed tonnage into a current report. This means that by mid month a detailed import report can run for the previous month. License data does not include […]
The following article is from one of our close trading sources located in Asia. This person is actively trading iron ore and ferrous scrap into China and is also trading steel out of China into Europe. He is able to provide us a view of the Asian market not normally seen by outsiders. Here is […]
Written by: Sandy Williams Start up of the Esmark Yorkville cold-rolling plant is on hold waiting for “a less volatile steelmarket” according to Esmark. Esmark acquired the renamed Ohio Cold Rolling Company from defunct RG Steel along with a 50 percent interest in the nearby tin plate production plant Ohio Coatings Co. in October 2012. […]
Written by: Sandy Williams Klockner and Co. is undergoing a major restructuring program to shrink its European line to a profitable core by eliminating 60 sites, 40 of which have already been sold or closed. Klockner EBITDA before restructuring was €139 million in 2012 (down from €227 million in 2011) and €62 million after restructuring. […]
Large steel buyers with whom Steel Market Update had direct contact with over the past few working days paint a picture of the domestic mills still uncomfortable leading on pricing. Although that may be changing as word starts to spread on the newest scrap pricing. We saw a widening of the range on hot rolled […]
Written by: Sandy Williams Despite a record year for sales, Olympic steel reported a disappointing fiscal year with net earnings of $2.3 million after a non-cash goodwill impairment charge of $6.6 million in the fourth quarter. In comparison, net earnings for 2011 were $25.0 million. Net sales for 2012 were a record $1.4 billion, up […]
Written by: Sandy Williams Reliance Steel reported an 18 percent drop in net income of $80.4 million in fourth quarter 2012. Net income for the year rose 17.4 percent year over year to 403.5 million. Sales of $1.89 billion for the fourth quarter were 7.1 percent lower than a year ago and down 8.1 percent […]
Canadian distributors shipped a total of 522,300 tons (all products) during the month of January. This is down 6.9 percent (actual) from the previous year. The daily shipping rate was 23,700 tons per day, a marked improvement from December’s 16,900 tons per day but barely above November’s 23,600 tons per day. On a seasonally adjusted […]