The following article was written by contributing writer David Phelps. Mr. Phelps is recently retired from his duties as the Director of the American Institute for International Steel. In that capacity he had occasion to interact with the domestic steel mills. The following article contains the viewpoint of Mr. Phelps regarding Big River Steel and […]
Imports of foreign steel increased during the month of February compared to the prior month. Steel Market Update carefully monitors total steel imports, slab imports, hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized and Galvalume imports as well as plate (coiled and sheet) and oil country tubular goods (OCTG). The U.S. Government recently released preliminary census data for […]
Imports of foreign steel increased during the month of February compared to the prior month. Steel Market Update carefully monitors total steel imports, slab imports, hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized and Galvalume imports as well as plate (coiled and sheet) and oil country tubular goods (OCTG). The U.S. Government recently released preliminary census data for […]
The following article was written by contributing writer David Phelps. Mr. Phelps is recently retired from his duties as the Director of the American Institute for International Steel. In that capacity he had occasion to interact with the domestic steel mills. The following article contains the viewpoint of Mr. Phelps regarding Big River Steel and […]
As our regular readers know, Steel Market Update projects imports of foreign flat rolled sheet, plate and oil country tubular goods (OCTG) as well as semi-finished (mostly slabs) steels for the month in progress. The projection is based on U.S. Department of Commerce license data which can be misleading and our projection should also be […]
In February total building permits exceeded total starts by 38,000 units which would seem at first glance to be a good sign. However digging down into the data reveals a much more complex situation in this market. The two sub sectors, single and multi-family units are behaving differently. Single family permits were 12,000 less than […]
Total service center carbon steel shipments in February declined by 225,000 tons but this was because shipping days declined by two to twenty. Tons per day (t / d) shipments rose from 158,500 tons in January to 161,600 in February. Intake was 162,820 t / d leading to a monthly surplus of 24,400 tons and […]
Late on Monday afternoon, ArcelorMittal moved to raise spot flat rolled steel pricing. In an email to their customers, AM reported that, “Inventories on sheet products appear to be in balance of slightly lean compared to our second quarter consumption forecast. As a result, we are quite surprised by the recent erosion in pricing that […]
Nucor says weather and imports affected steel sales for first quarter 2014. Nucor revised its forecast for first quarter results downward from its guidance in fourth quarter 2013. Nucor expects a $0.53 decrease per diluted share in the first quarter ending April 5, 2014 as compared to fourth quarter 2013 earnings. Results are expected to […]
Each month the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) puts out its series of producer price indexes for thousands of goods and materials. The latest release on Friday reported February results. These statistics are a useful way to evaluate any changes in the competitive position of steel against competing materials. See below for the official description […]
Canada was the highest volume exporter of all carbon and low alloy steel products to the US in both the last 12 and 3 month periods through January with 4,956,812 and 1,172,616 tons respectively (Figure 1). Mexico came in 4th in 12 months after Brazil and Korea but was bumped into 5th place by Russia […]
As our regular readers already know, Steel Market Update has begun to project steel imports for the current month based on U.S. Department of Commerce license data. We advise our readers to be familiar with the US DOC license program (called SIMA) and the nuances with the program which were addressed in an article by […]
Apparent supply is defined as domestic mill shipments to domestic locations plus imports. The three month moving average of the total tonnage of sheet and strip supply was 4,383,635 tons per month in the period November through January. This was down by 3.8 percent from the August through October period and up by 0.2 percent […]
Total January 2014 US steel exports were 963,060 net tons (NT), a 10.5 percent increase over December 2013 figures but down 10.6 percent compared to January 2013. Total exports in January were above the three month moving average but below the twelve month moving average. The top countries receiving US exports were Canada at 54.8 […]
Total steel imports in January were 3,205,246 net tons (NT), the highest levels Steel Market Update has recorded since we began keeping track of monthly import data in mid-2009. January tonnage is a 27.9 percent increase over December figures and well above both the three month moving average (3MMA) and twelve month moving average (12MMA). […]
There are situations at two mills which are causing sleepless nights for some flat rolled steel buyers. AK Steel, through the loss of their Ashland blast furnace, is helping tighten the Midwest market and keeping steel prices from plunging perhaps further than they may have otherwise. As one of our steel sources put it to […]
Steel Market Update covers subjects in a variety of ways for our specific member groups. In the article below, Peter Wright provides a deeper analysis of preliminary steel import license numbers for flat rolled steel products which normally goes to our Premium Level customers: This month we decided to start this piece with a review […]
While attending the FMA Toll Processing Conference I ran across someone associated with Feralloy Processing Company who spoke to me about the upgrades they had made to one of their levelers. I requested more information and learned that the company had recently purchased and installed a Butech Bliss patent pending Synergy hydraulic operated roller leveler […]
Based on local news reports as well as information from Steel Market Update flat rolled sheet sources, the blast furnace issue at AK Steel Ashland was due to a break out at the bottom of the vessel. A break out is when molten pig iron penetrates the outer wall of the blast furnace. Since the […]
Olympic Steel reported a net loss of $1.4 million for the fourth quarter 2013. Net sales for the quarter were $290.5 million, nearly even with Q4 2012 sales of $291.7 million Full year results showed an increase in net income to $7.6 million. Full year sales declined 8.7 percent to $1.3 billion in 2013, shy […]
Total service center carbon steel shipments jumped by 662,100 tons in January which was a smaller start-of-year bounce than either 2012 or 2013. January tons per day shipments increased by 24,000 to 158,500 tons. In January 2012 and 2013, tons per day shipments increased by 35,000 and 38,000 tons, respectively. Intake was 167,100 tons, leading […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) participates in a monthly galvanized steel conference call with the HARDI wholesalers, manufacturing companies and service centers associated with the HVAC related organization. The wholesalers in the Upper Midwest, East Coast and as far west as Wichita, Kansas reported having lost 5-6 days of shipments due to inclement weather in their […]
The European Union was formed in 1992 with the signing of the Maastricht Treaty on European Union (TEU). In an effort to instill fiscal discipline and encourage trade and free flow of labor and capital without giving up sovereignty, member countries would participate in a monetary union while remaining fiscally independent. The caveat was countries […]
Scrap prices for February deliveries to the domestic mills have settled in most areas of the country. In Chicago and the Upper Midwest we are seeing prices down from the previous month as #1 HMS (heavy melt scrap) is at $390 per gross ton, shredded scrap ranges from $400-$410 per gross ton (average $405) and […]
December 2013 U.S. exports for all steel products fell 7.2 percent over November to 871,384 net tons (NT). Compared to December of the previous year when total exports were 969,783 NT, December 2014 exports were down over 10.1 percent. December tonnage was below both the 3 and 12 month moving average (MMA). The primary countries […]
POSCO announced the completion of a second continuous galvanizing line in Altamira, Tamauliapas, that will serve the flourishing automobile industry in Mexico. The new facility has an annual capacity of 500,000 tons and will produce galvanized steel sheet used in exterior panels of high end automobiles. Products from 2CGL will include ‘GI Ace’ and 780mPa […]
Shipments of sheet and strip products in 2013 as a whole were 49,608,408 tons, a decrease of 1.7 percent from the total for 2012. Shipments in Q4 averaged 4,100,162 tons / month, a decrease of 2 percent from Q3 but an increase of 3.7 percent from Q4 last year. Comparing YTD shipments for 2013 to […]
Imports of total flat rolled products increased in January to 990,803 tons from 852,840 in December. Total long products increased from 412,848 to 552,093 tons. Total sheet products as a sub set of flat rolled increased from 677,510 to 775,337 tons. Semi finished declined from 604,558 to 532.813 tons. An analysis of the 3 month […]
Essentially all of the domestic steel mills have finished maintenance on their blast furnaces. U.S. Steel is bringing back online their Fairfield furnace, Berkeley has completed the expansion of its hot strip mill and other domestic steel mill maintenance projects from 4th Quarter 2013 have been completed. Supply is available and now it is time […]
We are beginning to capture signs of a fracture in the resolve of the service centers to push higher steel prices into their end user accounts. With flat rolled steel spot prices trading within a fairly narrow and stable range for the past 10 weeks according to our SMU price indices, it should not come […]