China has a number of taxes on steel, both domestically and for exports. This is one of the misunderstandings many countries have (including the United States). We have been speaking about the subject with one of our key Asian trading contacts over the past few days as we asked about possible suspension of Boron added […]
An explanation of the Key Indicators concept is given at the end of this piece for those readers who are unfamiliar with it. The total number of indicators considered has been increased by one this month to thirty six. We have added the price of coking coal FOB the Australian East Coast to the raw […]
On Thursday of this past week Nucor announced their earnings and conducted their quarterly earnings conference call with analysts. SMU has highlighted a number of subjects touched on during the conference call. The following information (minus the headers) was taken directly from The Street transcript of the call: Potential for Light Flat Rolled Trade Cases […]
Statistical data out of China is always questioned for a number of reasons, not least is, “Is the data politically motivated.” Other suspicions arise because China gets their data out faster than any other major economy and the data is never revised. Figure 1 shows published data for the growth of GDP, industrial production and […]
Nucor beat guidance forecasts with earnings of $245 million for the third quarter of 2014, up from $147 million in both Q2 2013 and Q3 2013. Consolidated net sales increased 8 percent to $5.70 billion. Strong third quarter earnings were attributed to improved performance in sheet steel, structural, bar, and plate steel that was partially […]
Total service center carbon steel shipments in September increased by 21,100 to 3.498 million tons. Shipping days were unchanged at 21. On a tons per day basis, (t/d) shipments increased from 165,600 tons in August to 166,600 in September. In each of the last four months t/d shipments for each particular month was the best […]
Following the post-recession recovery, shipments of hot rolled steel from US mills to domestic locations have been trending in a range for three years. Shipments of hot dipped galvanized sheet and strip declined strongly in Q2 through Q4 2012 and have climbed slightly in 2014. Cold rolled shipments have shown little direction for almost two […]
Licensed data for September was updated on October 3rd through the Steel Import Monitoring System of the US Commerce Department. The SMU publishes several import reports ranging from this very early look using licensed data to the very detailed analysis of final volumes by district of entry and source nation which is published in our […]
Our Price Momentum Indicator has been stuck in “Neutral” since the last day of June 2014. We are now entering our 4th month and hot rolled steel prices have barely budged from the center line (OK, there have been some mild gyrations but no clear cut path up or down during the past three months). […]
Steel Market Update spent the last two days canvassing end users and service centers to see where flat rolled steel prices are at the moment and where they might be heading from here. We heard from many service centers and end users that business conditions and demand for their products are doing quite well. We […]
To cap off its 30th anniversary, California Steel Industries, Inc. (CSI) announced production of the first pipe from the new electrical resistance welded (ERW) pipe mill at CSI Tubular Products (CSITP). The announcement coincided with celebration, invitation-only tour of the $100 million pipe mill at CSITP. The new mill will feature API (American Petroleum Institute, […]
Essar Steel Algoma announced a “turnaround performance” in their second quarter FY 2015 guidance for the period ending September 30, 2014. The company expects second quarter steel shipments to equal 680,000-690,000 tons with EBITDA of CDN $75-85 million, compared to 530,000 tons and CDN $12.4 million EBITDA in Q1. Second quarter EBITDA projections far exceed […]
On Wednesday, Steel Market Update (SMU) participated in a monthly steel conference call hosted by the Heating, Air-conditioning , Refrigeration Distributors International (HARDI). HARDI wholesalers supply galvanized sheet and coils to the mechanical contractors involved in residential, multi-family and commercial construction segments of the construction industry. Consolidation was the first topic of discussion with AK Steel […]
US Steel Hamilton Works will be put up for sale within two months according to court filings by US Steel Canada’s President and General Manager Michael McQuade. Lake Erie Works is expected to be placed for sale by March 15, 2015. A statement by US Steel Canada Director, Government and Public affairs follows: “From the […]
Essar Steel’s Canadian entities have been struggling with financing this year and now that Essar Steel Algoma problems appear resolved, Essar Steel Minnesota LLC (ESML) finds itself in dire need of capital. The $1.8 billion taconite plant under construction in Nashwauk, Minn., failed to raise the $361 million in equity needed in time to secure […]
Total service center carbon steel shipments in August decreased by 61,400 tons to 3.477 million tons. Shipping days also decreased from 22 to 21. On a tons per day basis (t/d) shipments increased from 160,900 tons in July to 165,600 in August. All three months June, July and August had the best t/d shipments of […]
Nucor is expecting higher profitability for its sheet steel, structural, bar and plate operations for third quarter. In their quarterly guidance, Nucor noted that manufactured goods, including energy and automotive, are their strongest markets. The high level of imports continues to pressure prices downward. Growth in the residential market has benefited the fabricated construction products […]
The following article was produced by Peter Wright, contributing writer and Steel 101 instructor for Steel Market Update. Economy.com reported as follows on the August U.S. vehicles sales volume: the year-to-date pace of 16.4 million units SAAR is the best since 2006, when it was 16.55 million. The strong recovery of the U.S. auto industry […]
Steel Dynamics Inc. announced today the completion of the acquisition of Severstal Columbus for a purchase price of $1.625 billion. “I would like to enthusiastically welcome the Columbus employees, community, and customers into the Steel Dynamics family,” stated Mark D. Millett, Chief Executive Officer. “The successful completion of the Columbus acquisition is an important milestone […]
Essar Steel Algoma has received permission from the Ontario Superior Court of Justice for a recapitalization and refinancing plan that was approved by shareholders in a September 10, 2014 meeting. The Plan of Arrangement allows for a capital infusion of up to $100 million from the Essar Global Fund Ltd to complete scheduled capital improvements […]
Nucor announced this morning that they have reached an agreement to purchase all of the equity in Gallatin Steel for $770 million. Gallatin Steel is located in Ghent, Kentucky and has the capacity to produce approximately 1.8 million tons of hot rolled steel. Gallatin is an electric arc furnace (EAF) mini mill and complements Nucor’s […]
Apparent supply is defined as domestic mill shipments to domestic locations plus imports. Sources are the American Iron and Steel Institute and the Department of Commerce with analysis by SMU. The three month moving average (3MMA) of the total tonnage of sheet and strip supply in the period May through July was 4,942,917 tons, up […]
The supply of sheet products had strong positive growth in the 3 months period May – July year over year (y/y) led by cold rolled which was up by 19.4 percent, (Table 1). In total on this basis sheet products were up by 14.8 percent. The sources of this analysis are the Commerce Department trade […]
An explanation of the Key Indicators concept is given at the end of this piece for those readers who are unfamiliar with it. The total number of indicators considered at present is thirty five, the Chicago Fed Mid-West Manufacturing Index is still on hold to enable the staff to complete a major re-vamp of the […]
There were no surprises raised during the most recent HARDI steel conference call conducted earlier this morning (Tuesday, August 26th). There were no surprises because on the previous call, held in July, the galvanized steel group members discussed the potential for new coating extras as zinc prices rose above $1.00 per pound. As anticipated back […]
“Everyone wants business,” is how the conversation began with one of our Midwest service center sources. “Everyone has steel to sell,” is what he told us. However, he admitted that the bottom has not dropped out of this market. That feeling of concern was heard in a number of places. Flat rolled steel prices seem […]
Total service center carbon steel shipments in July increased by 11,600 tons to 3.539 million tons. Shipping days also increased, from 21 to 22. On a tons per day basis, (t/d) shipments decreased from 168,000 tons in June to 160,900 in July but the latest data has the best shipments of any July since 2008. […]
One of our contributing writers (and Steel 101 instructor) Peter Wright, analyzes foreign steel import data once every couple of months in order to see how accurate the license data is trending versus the Final Census data which is produced once per month (2 months behind receipt of foreign steel). We recently received Final Census […]
Each month the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) puts out its series of Producer Price Indexes (PPI) for thousands of goods and materials. The latest release on Friday reported July results. These statistics are a useful way to evaluate any changes in the competitive position of steel against competing materials and rail vs truck transportation. […]
In the week of August 2nd the four week moving average (4WMA) of raw steel production as reported by the AISI exceeded 1,900,000 tons per week, for the first time since June 16th 2012, (Figure 1). However, capacity utilization at 79.2 percent (4WMA) is still nowhere near where it was before the recession. Capacity is […]