Steel Market Update’s negotiations data showed just a hint of tightening in price talks between the mills and their customers this past week, perhaps in anticipation of the $40 price increase on flat rolled steel announced by the mills on Thursday and Friday. The data, gathered by SMU prior to the price increase announcements, shows […]
Mill lead times for flat rolled products continued to shorten slightly over the past few weeks. The average lead time for hot rolled is now down to three and a half weeks, cold rolled is less than five and a half weeks and coated steels are just six weeks. Plate lead times remain around four […]
By CRU Prices Analyst George Pearson The North American market has continued to see steel prices erode. We had previously anticipated that October scrap prices may be the lowest price seen over the next several years. We are now hearing that at least some market participants expect gains for November. The recent decline in scrap […]
JSW Steel divisions in Ohio and Texas both reported EBITDA losses in the second quarter of FY 2019-20. The Ohio mill increased production and revenue, which was offset by inventory writedowns and lower steel prices during the quarter. JSW Steel-Ohio produced 87,337 metric tons of hot rolled coil during the quarter, an increase from 80,037 […]
ArcelorMittal USA announced a $40 per ton ($2.00/cwt) price increase today, which is in line with our expectations that an increase was inevitable based on comments from service centers and manufacturing companies responding to our flat rolled steel market trends questionnaires over the past few weeks. By the end of the day, NLMK USA had […]
SSAB Americas saw its third-quarter profits decrease to $54.5 million from $82.2 million in Q3 2018 due to lower plate steel prices. Sales were down 2 percent from the second quarter to $490 million and 6 percent from a year ago. Demand during the quarter was relatively stable with shipments of 521,000 metric tons, up […]
Over the past couple of weeks, Steel Market Update has been suggesting flat rolled steel prices were at a bottom and the domestic steel mills would soon announce price increases. Today, ArcelorMittal USA began advising customers of their intention to raise prices by $40 per ton. By the end of the workday, NLMK USA had […]
We saw modest movement in hot rolled this week as our survey respondents, both manufacturing and service centers, were consistent in reporting a decrease in the upper end of our range while holding the line at the bottom. As we reviewed the data, the vast majority of buyers were reporting numbers in the $460-$480 range […]
By John Packard, President & CEO, Steel Market Update On Monday, I spoke to the North American Steel Alliance (NASA) in Chicago. My comments centered on a wide variety of proprietary indices Steel Market Update produces–our flat rolled and plate indices, SMU Sentiment Index, SMU Service Center Inventories and Shipments data, Mill Lead Times and […]
Nucor reported a decline in financial results as expected for the third quarter of 2019. Net earnings were $275 million, down from $386.4 million in Q2 and $676.7 million in Q3 2018. Consolidated net sales fell 7 percent from the previous quarter to $5.46 billion. Steel shipments to outside customers declined 7 percent from last […]
Except for a brief uptick this summer, steel prices have been on the decline since March and breached the $500 per ton level in mid-October—a psychological line in the sand that leaves steel buyers wondering: Have prices hit bottom? Is it time to replenish inventories? Flat rolled steel prices took a steep dive last month, […]
Another hectic week for me as I travel to Chicago on Monday and Tuesday. I will be in the office on Wednesday, Thursday and part of the day on Friday before flying to London where I will be visiting CRU offices on Oct. 28, participating in the CRU Breakfast at the British Museum on the […]
By John Packard, President & CEO, Steel Market Update The Steel Market Update Steel Buyers Sentiment Index has been a mirror of the comments made by buyers of flat rolled and plate steel over the past few days. Our Sentiment Index, which measures how buyers and sellers of steel feel about their company’s ability to […]
Flat rolled prices took a steep dive lower this week as benchmark hot rolled dropped below $500 per ton for the first time since early November 2016. The spreads between hot rolled and cold rolled/coated products continue to be close to $200 per ton and even higher for Galvalume. We are collecting a small number […]
Steel Market Update’s analysis of flat rolled and plate inventories and shipments for the month of September: Flat Rolled = 49.9 Shipping Days of Supply Plate Steels = 52.1 Shipping Days of Supply (48.2 adjusted) Flat Rolled Service center inventories of flat-rolled steel dropped significantly in September, which the decrease in on-order volumes in August […]
February was the first month for the import market share of total steel products, including semifinished, to fall below 20 percent since August 2009. The import share remained below 20 percent through August 2019 when it was 18.4 percent. Our data goes back to January 2003 in which time period the high import share was […]
Demand for sheet products spiked to over five million tons in August for the first time since August last year, though flat rolled demand remains tepid. Construction expenditures are softening and will reduce the demand for long products through the balance of 2019. This analysis by Steel Market Update is based on steel mill shipment […]
More than nine out of 10 steel buyers responding to Steel Market Update’s market trends questionnaire this week agree that mills are willing to negotiate spot prices on all types of steel products to secure orders in the current, difficult market environment. In the hot rolled segment, 96 percent of respondents said the mills were […]
Mill lead times for all flat rolled sheet products continued to see slight shortening over the past month. The average lead time for hot rolled is now down to nearly three and a half weeks, cold rolled is less than five and a half weeks and coated steels are less than six and a half […]
The U.S. exported 650,838 tons of flat rolled steel in August, according to final Census data, a 5 percent rise from July, and up 1 percent from the same month one year ago. This is the highest monthly export figure since July 2018 when 655,937 tons of steel were exported outside of the country. August […]
In September, the licensed import volume of rolled steel products was the lowest since February 2011, according to Steel Market Update’s analysis of the latest Steel Import Monitoring and Analysis (SIMA) data. Total rolled product imports in September declined by 15.5 percent year over year on a three-month moving average (3MMA) basis. This follows the […]
Prices for all steel products saw further declines this week as price momentum continues to point firmly downward. The benchmark hot rolled price set a new low for the year, below the $520 per ton level reached in June. Here is how we see prices this week: Hot Rolled Coil: SMU price range is $480-$550 […]
JSW USA has filed a challenge to a tariff exclusion denial with the U.S. Court of International Trade. In the first tariff exclusion case to reach the USCIT, JSW claims that Commerce ignored evidence presented regarding the domestic availability of steel slab. The company is requesting a refund of the tariffs it was required to pay. […]
SMU continues to pick up negative vibes through the analysis we currently are actively conducting on the flat rolled and plate steel markets. There is obviously something going on that is concerning buyers and sellers of steel. At the same time, one of the steel mills told me today that even though prices on their […]
With U.S. Steel buying almost 50 percent of Big River Steel and holding an option on the remainder over the next four years, SMU thought it an appropriate time to review the list of announced changes being made by the mills in the United States, Canada and Mexico. We reviewed this listing with the four […]
I will be out of the office this entire week traveling first to Cincinnati as we conduct our sold-out Steel 101 workshop on Tuesday and Wednesday. Later in the week I will be traveling to Minnesota (where I see temperatures are supposed to be in the 30’s for highs) for a Board of Trustees meeting […]
Our last issue sparked our readers to comment on a couple of topics. We addressed the Bayou Steel comments in another article in tonight’s issue. I will address the comments I received from U.S. Steel regarding their purchase of a portion of Big River Steel and the exposure to electrical steels (something I have never […]
Questions about demand, tariffs, trade wars and the overall health of the economy continue to put downward pressure on steel prices. Here is how we see prices this week: Hot Rolled Coil: SMU price range is $500-$550 per ton ($25.00-$27.50/cwt) with an average of $525 per ton ($26.25/cwt) FOB mill, east of the Rockies. The […]
Steel Market Update’s Buyers Sentiment Index saw a big change this week—and not for the better—with Current Sentiment dropping by 23 points to a reading of +29 and Future Sentiment dropping by 20 points to a reading of +31. Even though the +29 and +31 readings are within the optimistic range of our index, both […]
It has clearly become a buyer’s market as the vast majority of service centers and OEMs polled by Steel Market Update now report the mills actively negotiating spot prices as necessary to win orders of all types of steel products. In the hot rolled segment, 92 percent of respondents to SMU’s market trends questionnaire earlier […]