Final Census data shows that total foreign steel imports increased 16% from May to June, reaching 2.93 million tons. As stated in our preliminary import analysis, this is now the highest monthly import level of 2021, surpassing the April high. The last time monthly import levels exceeded this rate was January 2020 when 3.16 million tons […]
Steel Market Update’s check of the market this week shows no significant change in lead times for deliveries of spot orders from the mills. Average lead times for hot rolled orders remain above 10 weeks, while those for cold rolled and coated products are still above 12 weeks – at least twice as long as […]
Steel prices have moved steadily and predictably upward week after week for the past year. But Steel Market Update’s check of the market on Monday and Tuesday delivered some mixed signals for the first time since August of 2020. Hot rolled coil prices moved up again by another $30 per ton, falling just short of […]
Steel prices have moved steadily and predictably upward week after week for the past year. But Steel Market Update’s check of the market on Monday and Tuesday delivered some mixed signals for the first time since August of 2020. Hot rolled coil prices moved up again by another $30 per ton, falling just short of […]
JSW Steel (USA) Inc. has increased base prices for plate by at least $120 per ton ($6 per cwt). The U.S. subsidiary of India’s JSW Group said the price hike was effective immediately for all new, non-contract orders. “This increase applies to our as-rolled and normalized plate products. Our full published extras will also remain […]
U.S. offshore wind energy is expected to grow rapidly, but bottlenecks in the market and a crucial lack of infrastructure mean that President Biden’s optimistic offshore wind target of 30GW by 2030 will almost certainly be missed, reports IHS Markit. Wind towers are a promising growth market for steel plate. IHS Markit expects U.S. offshore […]
In a trading update for Q2 2021, Evraz reported favorable market conditions and a 6.1% increase in sales over the first quarter. Although demand remained high in North America throughout the quarter amid a rapid economic recovery from the pandemic, fewer imports and relatively low levels of distributor inventory impacted overall sales in the region. […]
Spot tons of flat rolled steel are still in short supply, report respondents to Steel Market Update’s check of the market this week. Any tons that are available command a rising premium. Flat rolled prices increased by another $10-40 per ton, with some reporting hot rolled offers as high as $1,900, though HRC saw a […]
Preliminary Census data shows that total foreign steel imports are up 15% from May to June, reaching 2.90 million tons. This is now the highest monthly import level of 2021, surpassing the April high of 2.64 million tons. The last time imports were this high was January 2020 when imports totaled 3.16 million tons. July import licenses through […]
2021 SMU Steel Summit Conference – Revised Agenda as of July 27, 2021 The 2021 SMU Steel Summit Conference will be held at the Georgia International Convention Center on Aug. 23-25. The convention center is conveniently located next to the Atlanta International Airport (ATL). The center and the hotels surrounding the convention center are on […]
SSAB Americas aims to increase plate prices by $150-200 per ton ($7.50-$10 per cwt) effective immediately. The $150-per-ton price hike applies to as-rolled mill plate and coil as well as to cut-to-length plate more than 72 inches wide, the steelmaker said in letters to customers on Monday, July 26. The $200-per-ton increase is for all […]
Record steel prices = record profits for steel mills. And so it was record second-quarter profits all around, with even better expected in the third quarter. We’re not going to guess whether spot prices will continue upward for the balance of Q3. But contract prices, which lag spot prices, will. And that alone should be […]
Record steel prices = record profits for steel mills. And so it was record second-quarter profits all around, with even better expected in the third quarter. We’re not going to guess whether spot prices will continue upward for the balance of Q3. But contract prices, which lag spot prices, will. And that alone should be […]
Hyundai Steel has made what is probably its last offer for imported plate for 2021 delivery to Gulf Coast ports, according to market participants. And there might be only one more offering to West Coast ports, sources said. Plate made by the South Korean steelmaker is being offered to Houston and New Orleans – the primary Gulf Coast […]
Steel Market Update’s check of the market this week shows that lead times for deliveries of spot orders from the mills have shortened slightly on all flat rolled products. The dip of a half-week or less is not highly significant, however, as average lead times for hot rolled orders remain above 10 weeks, while those […]
This evening we published our SMU Mill Lead Times by Product analysis. I recently received a few questions on the subject: How do we gather our lead time data? Do we take into consideration the lead times being published by the individual domestic steel mills? How do we feel the information we report is indicative […]
One of the largest expansions in Nucor’s history – its $1.35 billion plate mill in Kentucky – is poised to come online at an opportune time should Congress pass a bipartisan infrastructure spending bill. The Charlotte, N.C.-based steelmaker anticipates the mill will be commissioned in late 2022 despite some delays in equipment deliveries, company executives said. And […]
Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co.’s sales soared to a record of $3.42 billion in the second quarter on shipments of 1.424 million tons. Sales were up 20.4% from the previous quarter and up 69.3% from the same period last year. The record-setting results for the largest service center in North America were due primarily to the […]
Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. reported the best quarterly results in the company’s history with net income of $795 million on revenues of $5.0 billion in the second quarter. That’s a huge turnaround from the pandemic-plagued quarter last year when the company lost $108 million on revenues of just $1.1 billion. “In the second quarter of 2021, we […]
Nucor set a new quarterly earnings record in the second quarter and expects to notch another in the third. The Charlotte, N.C.-based steelmaker – America’s largest – reported a profit of $1.51 billion in the second quarter of this year, up 60% from $942.2 million in the first quarter, and up nearly 14-fold from $108.9 million in the […]
SSAB Americas reported record profits on shipments totaling 494,000 metric tons in the second quarter, up 2% from the previous quarter and up 6% when compared to the same year-ago period. Demand for heavy plate remained strong across most consumer segments, the company said. Sharp increases in steel prices pushed revenues up 32% from the […]
At least two North American plate producers have announced price increases of $120-160 per ton ($6-8/cwt). Nucor – the largest steelmaker in the U.S. – in a leading move announced the increase along with the opening of its September order book for plate. The increase – announced on Tuesday, July 20 – marks at least the third […]
Flat-rolled steel prices continue to shoot upward – with no signs of the summer doldrums, the chip shortage or fears of a correction blunting their momentum. U.S hot-rolled rolled coil prices now stand at $1,850 per ton ($92.50 per cwt), up $30 per ton from a week ago. Cold-rolled coil and galvanized base prices notched similar […]
Flat-rolled steel prices continue to shoot upward – with no signs of the summer doldrums, the chip shortage or fears of a correction blunting their momentum. U.S hot-rolled rolled coil prices now stand at $1,850 per ton ($92.50 per cwt), up $30 per ton from a week ago. Cold-rolled coil and galvanized base prices notched similar […]
Steel Market Update does not forecast steel prices. That’s a fact that can sometimes get lost in all the pricing data we publish. Please don’t let the good news and happy headlines you’ve been reading in SMU every week make you complacent. It’s convenient to listen to the many readers quoted in this newsletter who […]
Steel Market Update does not forecast steel prices. That’s a fact that can sometimes get lost in all the pricing data we publish. Please don’t let the good news and happy headlines you’ve been reading in SMU every week make you complacent. It’s convenient to listen to the many readers quoted in this newsletter who […]
One of the products developed by Steel Market Update over the past four years is our flat rolled and plate steel service center inventories and shipment analysis. I discussed it briefly in Thursday’s newsletter, but I want to go into more detail as I believe it is a report that many of you will want […]
One of the products developed by Steel Market Update over the past four years is our flat rolled and plate steel service center inventories and shipment analysis. I discussed it briefly in Thursday’s newsletter, but I want to go into more detail as I believe it is a report that many of you will want […]
Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. has joined the ranks of North American steel mills planning steep cuts to greenhouse gas emissions over the next 10 years. The iron ore miner, pellet producer and flat-rolled steelmaker aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 25% by 2030 versus 2017 levels. The company said it would do so by using less […]
Flat Rolled = 47.6 Shipping Days of Supply Plate = 44 Shipping Days of Supply Flat Rolled U.S. service center flat rolled inventories increased again in June, though service centers continue to report that they are unable to meet customer demand. At the end of June, service centers carried 47.6 shipping days of supply, up from the […]