I am back, well sort of… (I took some vacation days this past week. Did you miss me?) I will be traveling to Washington, D.C., where I will be speaking with the board of directors of the Steel Manufacturers Association. This will be interesting as there are no prepared remarks, just SMA President Phil Bell […]
The chairman of Mexican steel producer Altos Hornos de Mexico SAB was arrested on Tuesday in an anti-corruption probe, resulting in the freezing of AHMSA accounts and a possible disruption to steel production in Mexico. The investigation involves the sale by AHMSA of an idled fertilizer plant in 2014, allegedly worth $50 million, to oil […]
By CRU Principal Analyst Josh Spoores In the U.S. Midwest market, sheet prices have continued to decline on increased domestic, and now North American, supply. In addition to rising supply, falling scrap costs have also allowed EAF-based mills to remain competitive at these lower prices. It has now been one week since Canada and Mexico […]
Prices declined further on all types of steel products in the past week, according to Steel Market Update sources. Demand appears soft as buyers wait to see if import offers pick up now that President Trump has cut tariffs on Canada, Mexico and Turkey. Here is how we see prices this week: Hot Rolled Coil: […]
Average lead times for spot orders of hot rolled, galvanized and plate steels continue to shorten as mill production, at more than 80 percent capacity, appears to be outpacing demand. Hot rolled lead times are now approaching three and a half weeks, cold rolled less than six weeks, and galvanized and Galvalume slightly above six […]
Steel Market Update data on negotiations and pricing corroborate the same trend. More than eight out of 10 flat rolled steel buyers responding to SMU’s market trends questionnaire this week reported that the mills are willing to talk price to win their business. Thus, it’s no surprise that steel prices continue to move lower. About […]
I am flying back to Florida after completing my second speaking engagement this week. I think I’ve logged 10,000 miles over the past few weeks flying to Atlanta (twice), Chicago, Iowa, Minnesota after having previously flown to Monterrey, Mexico, and Los Angeles. I am looking forward to not going anywhere for a week (I am […]
Steel prices declined yet again this week with some hot rolled offers falling below the $600 per ton level, according to Steel Market Update data. The market will be watching intently in the coming weeks to see if imports from Canada and Mexico add to the downward price pressure, now that President Trump has removed […]
By CRU Principal Analyst Josh Spoores and Analyst Ryan McKinley Steel imports to the U.S. from Canada and Mexico prior to the S232 tariffs were near 12 Mt on an annualized basis. Data from this past March and April show arrivals closer to 7.5 Mt annually. With the end of the S232 on the U.S.’s […]
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) […]
Demand for long products and tubular goods have shown strong growth, but sheet products are declining. This analysis by SMU staff is based on data from the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) and the U.S. Department of Commerce (DoC). The analysis summarizes total steel supply by product from 2003 through March 2019 and year-on-year […]
I am in Atlanta speaking at a supplier conference for an OEM both today and again on Thursday. As expected, the questions were about Mexico and Canada and where prices go from here. There were also questions about our index versus the CRU index (different methodologies). I am looking forward to revising and doing it […]
So, I don’t even need to be in the office to know what question(s) I am going to be asked all this week. Now that President Trump has removed the Section 232 tariffs from Canada and Mexico (without a quota, but instead a promise of no surge), everyone wants to know how this will affect […]
Although not a disaster, steel demand has fallen short of expectations so far in 2019, contributing to the downtrend in steel prices. The benchmark price for hot rolled steel has declined by double digits since the beginning of the year. Steel Market Update’s canvass of the market over the past week reveals that many service […]
Final Census data shows that steel imports into the U.S. were well below average in March at 2.26 million tons, but have trended up sharply in April and May. Based on license data, April imports jumped by more than 28 percent to nearly 2.9 million tons, largely due to a 450,000-ton increase in semi-finished imports, […]
I have moved from our Steel 101 workshop in Iowa to Minnesota where I met with a large flat rolled service center this afternoon. The service centers are consistently reporting to SMU that the domestic steel mills are just plain producing too much steel. With scrap down and the marginal cost to produce a hot […]
Flat rolled and plate steel prices continued their slide this week. There continues to be a wide spread between hot rolled base pricing and that of cold rolled and coated steels. The changes in pricing shown below do not reduce the spreads, which have been running $150-$170 per ton. Normal spreads should be closer to […]
Steel Market Update is sharing this Premium content with Executive-level members in this issue. For more information on how to upgrade to a Premium-level subscription, email info@SteelMarketUpdate.com. Rolled product imports declined by 24.4 percent in April year over year on a three-month moving average (3MMA) basis. This early look at April’s import volume is based […]
U.S. steel exports in March totaled 589,057 net tons (534,384 metric tons), down 1.7 percent from February and down 32.2 percent from levels one year ago. This is the third lowest monthly export level seen in our 10+ year history, behind December 2018 at 519,099 tons and September 2018 at 584,858 tons. The total March […]
Good afternoon/evening from Davenport, Iowa. Davenport is where the Mississippi River flooded the downtown area a couple of weeks ago. Water levels are down four feet from their highest point, and the flood waters reached the parking lot of our hotel before receding back across the railroad tracks. The river is still in flood stage […]
There is no more debate, service centers are moving off inventories at deeper discounts to their end customers than they did just a few weeks ago. The lower spot prices to service center customers were captured during the Steel Market Update flat rolled and plate steel market trends analysis conducted this past week. As you […]
More than 40 percent of respondents to Steel Market Update’s market trends questionnaire this past week said they are confused by the current steel market and price direction. Judging by their comments, it’s unclear to many why steel prices are declining at a time when the economy is so strong, imports are down and the […]
Data in Steel Market Update’s Steel Buyers Sentiment Index continues to trend more pessimistic with Current Sentiment hitting its lowest reading in two and a half years. Industry executives appear less optimistic in light of declining steel prices, uncertain demand and contentious negotiations with U.S. trading partners. The goal of the index is to measure […]
With steel prices moving down or sideways and demand softening in some markets, it’s no surprise that most mills are willing to talk price to win business in the current environment. Eight out of 10 of the flat rolled steel buyers responding to Steel Market Update’s questionnaire this week report that prices are in play […]
Average lead times for spot orders of steel have shortened in the past month, suggesting that the mills are not as booked as they would like to be at this time of year. Hot rolled lead times now average less than four weeks, cold rolled less than six weeks, and galvanized and Galvalume slightly above […]
Steel buyers are still trying to get a sense for what is driving this market and market pricing. We are seeing weakness in prices even though foreign steel imports are down, import price offers are higher than domestic steel prices and demand is pretty good for most of the market segments using sheet or plate […]
I got a call earlier today asking about a steel publication changing the direction of some of their flat rolled pricing. I responded that I don’t read the other trade publications, and I don’t follow their indices. I do not want to be influenced as I go through the always difficult, and sometimes tedious, process […]
President Trump has announced that he intends to increase the Section 301 tariffs on Chinese finished goods to the full 25 percent by the end of this week (current rate on first batch is 10 percent). He also intends to increase the number of products to be hit. His statement was the Chinese were dragging […]
Olympic Steel reported a 19 percent increase in its first-quarter sales, netting $446 million, thanks in part to its January acquisition of manufacturer McCullough Industries. Net income for the quarter totaled $2.1 million, down from 7.6 million in the same quarter of 2018. Returns from Olympic’s manufacturing segment are considerably higher than service center margins, […]
Earlier this week the U.S. Department of Commerce released the latest foreign steel import license data. Based on this data, the trend is for 2.8 million net tons of foreign steel imports to arrive in the United States during the month of April. This is essentially unchanged from March, but higher than the 2.4 million […]