We are not producing our flat rolled and plate steel price ranges and averages this evening as we are tied up with our conference. We will produce new pricing on Tuesday of next week, after the Labor Day Weekend Holiday. On the elevator up to my room this evening (Tuesday, Aug. 27) was a gentleman […]
JSW USA is delaying construction of an electric arc furnace at its Baytown facility due to current market conditions. “While JSW USA is fully under way in modernizing the Plate Mill at Baytown, Texas, given the current market conditions and the prevailing policy environment, the company has for now decided to put on hold the […]
The steel industry enjoyed a profitable first half of 2018 due to a strong economy and tariffs on imports that drove up domestic prices. The welcome windfall prompted several companies to commit large investments toward expansion and modernization of their facilities. In all, about 31 million net tons of new steel capacity could potentially come […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: I received several questions about the cases initiated earlier this year covering the ongoing antidumping and countervailing duty investigations of fabricated structural steel (FSS) from Canada, Mexico and China. I thought it might be time to try to […]
If the price increases announced by the mills over the past two months were gaining real traction, it should be showing up in lengthening mill lead times. According to Steel Market Update data, the impact on lead times has been mixed and minimal. Lead times for steel delivery are a measure of demand at the […]
There has been little change in the tone of price talks over the past two weeks. The majority of buyers continue to report that mills generally are willing to negotiate to secure spot orders, even as they work to collect recent price increases on flat rolled and plate products. Since late June, the mills have […]
ArcelorMittal announced that it will lay off 100 workers at its Weirton, W. Va., tin plate plant. The company joins its competitors, U.S. Steel and NLMK USA, in cutting back production in recent weeks. ArcelorMittal said in a statement: “In order to maintain its position as a competitive and sustainable tin plate producer, ArcelorMittal Weirton […]
By CRU Principal Analyst Josh Spoores and CRU North America Analyst Ryan McKinley North America, primarily the U.S., was an outlier to global price trends for scrap and sheet products this month. Multiple mill price increases for sheet have been primarily successful, although current prices remain well below the most recent mill targets of $630 […]
Steel prices were the same or lower this week, depending on the product. Price momentum is still pointing Higher for flat rolled, but with less confidence. Are we at a tipping or inflection point? Here is how we see prices this week: Hot Rolled Coil: SMU price range is $570-$600 per ton ($28.50-$30.00/cwt) with an […]
Premium subscribers to Steel Market Update have reports available on our website that break out the import tonnage into district of entry and source nation for six sheet and plate product categories. This report takes the total national tonnage of hot rolled and breaks it down into product detail. Using U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) […]
Since late June, the nation’s steelmakers have raised prices three times on flat rolled and twice on plate products, managing to reverse the 40 percent decline in steel prices that began last summer. Steel prices have increased more than 12 percent since bottoming in early July. The mills have seized the momentum heading into the […]
Written by: John Packard, President & CEO, Steel Market Update Seven days to go… Seven days before the beginning of the 2019 SMU Steel Summit Conference in Atlanta. I have spoken to almost every single speaker, interfaced with the CRU Events team in London as well as our SMU team. All is going as planned. […]
The upturn in steel prices appears to have some staying power as both service centers and their manufacturer customers reported rising prices in the first half of July, according to findings from Steel Market Update’s latest market trends questionnaire. As seen in the chart below, the majority of service centers (54 percent) said they are […]
The upturn in steel prices appears to have some staying power as both service centers and their manufacturer customers reported rising prices in the first half of July, according to findings from Steel Market Update’s latest market trends questionnaire. As seen in the chart below, the majority of service centers (54 percent) said they are […]
Electric arc furnace minimills may have a cost advantage in steel production today, but there are still 19 traditional blast furnaces going strong in the United States. Blast furnaces dominate about three-fourths of global steelmaking, but only three steel producers in the U.S. currently are using BF or basic oxygen furnace technology: U.S. Steel, ArcelorMittal […]
Flat rolled price increases seem to be slowing, based on what we learned from steel buyers this week. We did see some uptick, but only modest movement. Here is how we see prices this week: Hot Rolled Coil: SMU price range is $550-$620 per ton ($27.50-$31.00/cwt) with an average of $585 per ton ($29.25/cwt) FOB […]
As with any mill announcement, be it price, changes in production or in the case of the U.S. Steel’s announcement about how they are going to handle contracts going forward, there are always mixed opinions from steel buyers and from the other steel mills. This afternoon, Steel Market Update, as an index provider, spent a […]
As with any mill announcement, be it price, changes in production or in the case of the U.S. Steel’s announcement about how they are going to handle contracts going forward, there are always mixed opinions from steel buyers and from the other steel mills. This afternoon, Steel Market Update, as an index provider, spent a […]
North America’s plate mills have announced their second round of price increases in less than three weeks, seeking another $40 per ton ($2/cwt). Nucor’s Plate Mill Group was the first to inform customers of the change on Friday, prompting similar announcements by most other mills on Monday. SSAB Americas advised customers it is increasing transaction […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: Last week, the Department of Commerce, for the first time, initiated an investigation into “circumvention” of antidumping and countervailing duty orders (AD/CVD) on corrosion-resistant steel (CORE) from Taiwan and China. This follows determinations on CORE from Korea, Taiwan […]
Nearly 1,000 executives are registered with just two weeks to go before the start of the 2019 SMU Steel Summit Conference. We continue to see strong interest in this year’s event, which will be held in Atlanta on Aug. 26-28. Once again, the Georgia International Convention Center will be the home of this, our 9th […]
Year to date, June, total cut-to-length plate imports were down by 5.1 percent, but the Great Lakes region was down by 43.3 percent and the Gulf region was up by 201.4 percent. SMU now offers a comprehensive series of import reports ranging from the first look at licensed data to the very detailed look at […]
Steel Market Update offers a comprehensive series of import reports ranging from the first look at licensed data to a detailed look at volume by district of entry and source nation. This report, on cut-to-length plate, is designed to plug the gap between the two. We will report data for regional imports for each of […]
Year to date, June, total coiled plate imports were down by 18.4 percent, but the Great Lakes region was down by 28.5 percent and the Gulf was up by 44.4 percent. SMU now offers a comprehensive series of import reports ranging from the first look at licensed data to the very detailed look at volume […]
Steel Market Update offers a comprehensive series of import reports ranging from the first look at licensed data to a detailed look at volume by district of entry and source nation. This report, on coiled plate, is designed to plug the gap between the two. We will report data for regional imports for each of […]
Nucor’s Plate Mill Group informed customers on Friday that it is raising the price of carbon, alloy and heat-treated plate by $40 per ton ($2/cwt), effective immediately on all new and unconfirmed orders. This is Nucor’s second price hike on plate products in the past two weeks, following on a $40 increase July 26. Steel […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: JSW Steel USA, an affiliate of a major Indian steel producer, is the first company to challenge the Section 232 steel product exclusion procedure. The company filed a lawsuit July 30 naming the Department of Commerce as the principal […]
For the past three days, I have been studying the nominations of 21 young individuals who were nominated by their companies for the 2019 SMU NexGen Leadership Award, which this year is being sponsored by the Steel Manufacturers Association. The process has been exhilarating to say the least. I decided many years ago that as […]
For a steel industry that is hoping to collect higher prices on flat rolled and plate products, the mills seem surprisingly willing to negotiate, according to the findings from Steel Market Update’s latest market trends questionnaire. Well, then again, when you announce $120 per ton of base price increases (or more, depending on what your […]
Lead times for steel delivery are slightly longer for hot rolled, galvanized and plate steels following price increases announced by the major mills. The average lead time for hot rolled is now approaching four and a half weeks, cold rolled nearly six weeks, and coated steels around six and a half weeks. Plate lead times […]