The pendulum appears to have swung back in buyers’ favor as service centers and OEMs report most mills willing to negotiate to secure spot orders of all types of steel products. In the hot rolled segment, 82 percent of respondents to Steel Market Update’s market trends questionnaire this week said the mills were open to […]
Mill lead times saw a small uptick following the mill price increases announced in late June and July, but have since reverted back to relatively short levels. Lead times for steel delivery are a measure of demand at the mill level. The shorter the lead time, the less busy the mills, and the more likely […]
On Jan. 7-8, 2020, Steel Market Update will conduct our next Steel 101: Introduction to Steel Making & Market Fundamentals workshop in Ontario, Calif. This workshop will include a tour of the California Steel Industries mill. Why do companies send employees to our Steel 101 workshops? Because they receive a broader understanding of: How steel […]
On Jan. 7-8, 2020, Steel Market Update will conduct our next Steel 101: Introduction to Steel Making & Market Fundamentals workshop in Ontario, Calif. This workshop will include a tour of the California Steel Industries mill. Why do companies send employees to our Steel 101 workshops? Because they receive a broader understanding of: How steel […]
Total rolled product imports in August were down by 11.8 percent on a three-month moving average (3MMA) basis year over year. This follows the 15.3 percent decline in July on the same basis. This early look at August’s import volume is based on Commerce Department license data (see explanation below.) This import analysis includes all […]
This analysis breaks down the imported tonnage of six flat rolled products into the district of entry and the source nation. We believe that misinformation (or lack of) about local import volumes is often used to influence purchase decisions. Our intent with this analysis is to describe in detail what is going on in a […]
Steel price momentum has shifted Lower for hot rolled steel. With scrap prices down in September, the market may have passed a tipping point. Here is how we see prices this week: Hot Rolled Coil: SMU price range is $550-$600 per ton ($27.50-$30.00/cwt) with an average of $575 per ton ($28.75/cwt) FOB mill, east […]
Do plans by U.S. mills to add millions of tons of new steelmaking capacity over the next few years make a price-killing supply glut inevitable? That’s a question very much open to debate, as shown by the spirited exchange between three leading analysts during Steel Market Update’s Steel Summit Aug. 28 in Atlanta. Despite some […]
The U.S. exported 620,598 tons of flat rolled steel in July, according to final Census data, a 4 percent rise from June, but down 5 percent from the same month one year ago. July exports were in line with the 2019 average of 611,019 tons, but down significantly compared to recent years. It was this […]
I am technically on vacation this week so my Final Thoughts will be brief, and I will rely on Senior Editor Tim Triplett to handle these duties for the balance of this week. I have heard from a number of buyers this week telling me that their business is slowing, and the interest by end […]
Steel Market Update will produce our Service Center Inventories and Shipments “Flash Report” on flat rolled and plate steels for data providers on Monday, Sept. 9. Also on Monday, we will begin our early September flat rolled and plate steel market trends analysis. On Friday, we will provide data providers with a link to a […]
Steel Market Update is making adjustments to our Price Momentum Indicators on hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized and Galvalume steels. The pressure behind rising steel prices seems to be subsiding as lead times at most mills are reasonable (especially considering the maintenance schedules in place for September and October). Steel buyers are beginning to tell […]
Ferrous scrap prices are starting to settle as of today. Initial checks with some of our scrap sources found prime grades down $40 and obsolete grades down $30 in portions of the Midwest. We learned the Cleveland area mills bought busheling down $20 to $300/gross ton. We also learned of a purchase of HMS at […]
Prices were mixed this week, although we are starting to see signs of weakness in hot rolled, while cold rolled and coated were slightly stronger. We are evaluating price momentum on all products and will have more to say on that subject on Thursday. Here is how we see prices this week: Hot Rolled Coil: […]
For the 1,078 individuals who attended our conference on Monday through Wednesday of this week—first, we thank you for your business, your support, your kind words and for carrying the message back to your respective companies. We had a great conference. There can always be improvements. We constantly strive for perfection, so look for an […]
Demand for long products continues to be very strong, driven by the construction industry. Demand for sheet products is declining due to the weakness in manufacturing. This analysis by Steel Market Update is based on steel mill shipment data from the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) and import-export data from the U.S. Department of […]
The import market share of all steel products including semifinished has been below 20 percent every month since January. Steel Market Update data goes back to January 2003 in which time period the high import share was 38.8 percent in January 2015. Between January 2014 and February 2019, there were only four months when the […]
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 […]