Steel imports are higher this year than 2016, but still below levels of 2015, according to ports on the West and Gulf Coasts. The Port of New Orleans has seen imports increase slightly over a year ago. In the first six months of 2016, imports rose to 1,186,630 tons from 1,179,037 tons in the same […]
The following article on the hot rolled coil (HRC) futures markets was written by David Feldstein. As the Flack Global Metals Director of Risk Management, Dave is an active participant in the hot rolled futures market, and we believe he provides insightful commentary and trading ideas to our readers. Besides writing futures articles for Steel […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) has been expanding our analysis of flat rolled steel service center inventories in an effort to provide a second opinion on this key subject for both buyers and sellers. We continue to review inventory levels through the use of our flat rolled steel market trends questionnaire that we distribute twice per […]
Flat rolled steel buyers are fairly optimistic about their chances for success in the current market, though the various metrics Steel Market Update uses to gauge future demand are sending mixed signals. One likely cause is the uncertainty injected into the market by the Trump administration’s now-delayed Section 232 investigation. According to the latest SMU […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) regularly receives questions from those who have already registered to attend our SMU Steel Summit Conference, as well as those who are contemplating attending (there is still time and space). In order to help both groups, here are some of the Frequently Asked Questions about our conference: General Conference Questions Q: […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) regularly receives questions from those who have already registered to attend our SMU Steel Summit Conference, as well as those who are contemplating attending (there is still time and space). In order to help both groups, here are some of the Frequently Asked Questions about our conference: General Conference Questions Q: […]
The lack of a committed market direction by service centers, coupled with strong imports and inventories that SMU believes are balanced to slightly bloated at the distributors, has prompted us to move our SMU Price Momentum Indicator to Neutral from Higher. In an interesting development, twice as many manufacturing companies reported that flat rolled steel […]
In their pursuit of free and fair trade, U.S. steelmakers are often called protectionist—a label they increasingly resent. Steel industry trade groups, including the American Iron and Steel Institute and the Steel Manufacturers Association, have urged the Trump administration to take a harder stance on steel imports. Trade action, including new tariffs or quotas under […]
In their pursuit of free and fair trade, U.S. steelmakers are often called protectionist—a label they increasingly resent. Steel industry trade groups, including the American Iron and Steel Institute and the Steel Manufacturers Association, have urged the Trump administration to take a harder stance on steel imports. Trade action, including new tariffs or quotas under […]
Flat rolled and plate steel prices were essentially flat this past week as both Steel Market Update and Platts saw hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized and Galvalume steel prices remaining the same as the previous week. With Section 232 being put on the back burner, the flood of foreign steel imports (prompted by the original […]
Responses to two questions in Steel Market Update’s latest flat roll market trends analysis elicited a clear consensus from our participants: The Trump administration’s delay in acting on Section 232 could open the door to more foreign steel imports. But the government should not necessarily penalize foreign countries just because they export a high rate […]
Ryerson Holding Corp. turned in a strong performance in Q2 despite conflicting business and industry conditions, said President and CEO Eddie Lehner. Margins took a hit as steel import levels rose and nickel and carbon hot rolled prices moved lower. “Ryerson saw some mix-shift impact to margins,” said Lehner, “as sheet and stainless related demand […]
Gilbert Kaplan, nominee for undersecretary for international trade at the Department of Commerce, was questioned today by the Senate Finance Committee on how he will approach trade issues for the nation. As undersecretary, Kaplan would be responsible for promoting U.S. trade and enforcing trade laws. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) pressed Kaplan on whether he supported […]
Despite getting pressure to adjust our SMU Price Momentum Indicator due to uncertainty associated with the Section 232 investigation and the lack of a recommendation to date, along with small signs of a need by one or two steel mills for orders on galvanized, SMU is continuing to reference flat rolled steel prices as moving […]
The following article is from responses left to a question we had in our early August flat rolled steel market trends questionnaire. We inquired about how buyers and sellers of steel felt regarding steel prices with Section 232 somewhat sidelined for awhile. Results were mixed. Nearly half of the respondents to Steel Market Update’s latest […]
The SMU Steel Buyers Sentiment Index continues to represent buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel as being optimistic about their companies’ ability to be successful in both the current market environment as well as three to six months into the future. As a single data point collected by Steel Market Update as part of […]
Over the course of this week, Steel Market Update has been canvassing active participants in the flat rolled steel markets as we try to capture any changes in market trends. The more than 100 respondents we had this week provided us a snapshot on how steel mills are handling price negotiations. As a group, respondents […]
Olympic Steel celebrated a particularly strong second quarter. Net sales jumped 30 percent year-over-year to $356.2 million on higher shipping volume and selling prices. Net income grew 35 percent for the quarter to $4.8 million. Carbon flat product sales increased 37 percent to $237 million from Q2 2016 sales of $173 million. Shipments increased 13 […]
Steel Market Update has seen a bit of a yo-yo effect to flat rolled and plate steel prices over the past few weeks. Since the word got out that the Section 232 decision would not be announced any time soon, the market has taken a step back to evaluate where prices will go from here. […]
As a monthly average, prices on all flat rolled steel products recovered in July following a dip in June. The month of July ended with SMU’s Price Momentum Indicator continuing to point higher as the market waits to see if and when the Trump administration will act on Section 232 trade measures that could further […]
After a strong start to 2017, global steel prices have trended downward due to weaker demand and falling raw materials pricing. In the U.S., the impending Section 232 investigation has left the market in a state of uncertainty. All the more reason steel buyers should have a strategy for mitigating risk, says Ryan Huff, Associate […]
On Monday, August 28, the steel event of the year will kick off in Atlanta. With less than four weeks to go and 575 steel and manufacturing executives already registered, expectations are for this conference to truly be the most dynamic steel conference in North America for 2017. Welcome to the Steel Market Update Steel […]
On Monday, Aug. 28, the steel event of the year will kick off in Atlanta. With four weeks to go and 560 steel and manufacturing executives already registered, expectations are for this conference to truly be the most dynamic steel conference in North America for 2017. Welcome to the 7th Steel Market Update (SMU) Steel […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) spoke with steel trading companies and steel mills late last week in order to gauge the “mood” of the steel suppliers. We found a mostly composed group who are looking at business for the long term (although their customers may be more fickle depending on the news of the day). A […]
At a Section 232 briefing to the Ways & Means Committee on Thursday, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross acknowledged the complexity of initiating broad trade action against imports of steel and aluminum. A “voluntary” agreement to address steel overcapacity was suggested that would allow countries to negotiate a solution to overcapacity and the resulting import surges. […]
At a Section 232 briefing to the Ways & Means Committee on Thursday, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross acknowledged the complexity of initiating broad trade action against imports of steel and aluminum. A “voluntary” agreement to address steel overcapacity was suggested that would allow countries to negotiate a solution to overcapacity and the resulting import surges. […]
I had to smile on Friday when Brett in my office forwarded an email to me from one of the steel mills. Here is part of what this mill executive had to say: “I occasionally write to John just to vent. It doesn’t help him, but it makes me feel better. Section 232 is the […]
Now that it appears the Trump administration will not be acting anytime soon on the much-anticipated Section 232 trade action, what are the implications for the steel market? Steel prices are likely to decline, say some observers, though how much and how quickly is open to debate. The Wall Street Journal reported this week that […]
Foreign steel imports continue to trend well over the 3.0 million net tons mark as steel buyers placed heavy tonnage once the Section 232 investigation was announced in March (March orders = June/July delivery). The U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) released preliminary census for June and license data for July earlier this evening. According to […]
The following calculation is used by Steel Market Update to identify the theoretical spread between foreign hot rolled steel import prices (delivered to USA ports) and domestic (USA) hot rolled coil prices (FOB Domestic mills). We want our readers to be aware that this is only a “theoretical” calculation as freight costs, trader margin and […]