Total mill shipments of steel products slipped in April following a slight uptick the month prior. April’s mill shipments totaled 8.12 million tons, 2.6% decline from March’s 8.34 million tons. Apparent supply also fell in April, down 4.7% versus the prior month. This analysis is based on steel mill shipment data from the American Iron and Steel […]
Flat Rolled = 54.7 Shipping Days of Supply Plate = 55.2 Shipping Days of Supply Flat Rolled US service center flat rolled inventories rose in May as many service centers reported signs of slowing demand. At the end of May, service centers carried 54.7 shipping days of supply on an adjusted basis, according to SMU […]
Nucor Corp. expects to post the most profitable quarter in its history, the company said, for its second-quarter ending July 2 earnings guidance. The Charlotte, N.C.-based steelmaker expects earnings of $8.75 to $8.85 per diluted share in the second quarter, according to figures released on Wednesday, June 15. That’s up from the previous record of […]
High steel prices continued to benefit Canadian flatrolled steelmaker Algoma Steel Group as it posted strong results for its fiscal 2022 fourth quarter and full year ended March 31. “Our strong results for the fiscal fourth quarter capped off an incredible year at Algoma, one that produced record revenues, profitability and cash flows. Relentless execution […]
Sheet prices are falling at the fastest clip we’ve seen since before the war in Ukraine. Let’s call it the great rewind. But where are we rewinding to – earlier this year or 2019, the last “normal” market we had before the disruptions caused by the pandemic and the war? First come context: SMU’s average […]
Hot-rolled coil prices have suffered their biggest week-over-week decline since before the war in Ukraine sent tags sharply higher. Steel Market Update’s average hot-rolled coil price stands at $1,100 per ton ($55.50 per cwt), down $90 per ton from $1,190 per ton last week and down $265 per ton from $1,365 per ton in mid-May. […]
The European Union is adjusting its steel safeguard measures, according to a document filed at the World Trade Organization. The EU’s safeguard instrument is entering its fifth year of application. The liberalization rate, which is meant to progressively allow more import competition into the market while the domestic industry adjusts to it, had previously been […]
Antidumping and countervailing duty (“trade remedy”) cases provide a rare glimpse into tariffs on imported goods that entered the US before they were subject to these burdensome duties. In the opinion of some, retroactively applied tariffs are always unfair to importers and their downstream US customers. Others disagree, believing that they deter imports competing with […]
Editor’s note: SMU contributor Bryan Tice is a partner at Metal Edge Partners, a firm engaged in Risk Management and Strategic Advisory. In this role, he and the firm design and execute risk management strategies for clients along with providing process and analytical support. Prior to Metal Edge Partners, Bryan held a variety of commercial […]
Mills are struggling to fill July order books, and some might still have room in June – that’s the feedback we’re getting from market participants and in our survey. You can check the full details in Brett Linton’s writeup of our latest lead time figures. One consequence of slipping lead times: We’re hearing from more […]
By CRU Senior Analyst Ryan McKinley, from CRU’s Steel Sheet Products Monitor, June 8 The CRUspi plummeted again month-on-month in June by over 12.3%, which is a larger drop than in May. This makes it the third-largest percentage point drop on record and the second largest in terms of total points. The supply shock caused by […]
Steel Market Update’s latest market check indicates steel mill lead times continue to decline for sheet products as they move closer to historical norms. Plate lead times have been relatively flat since mid-May. Lead times over the past two weeks have been roughly in line with what we were seeing in the early weeks of […]
May was a good month for market participants surveyed by SMU, most of whom reported meeting or beating expectations then. Approximately 55% of survey respondents said they met their business forecasts last month, 25% said they exceeded them, and only 20% said they missed forecast. The big question will be June, which has seen steel price […]
The big news of the day is that hot-rolled coil prices slipped below $1,200 per ton ($60 per cwt) for the first time since the start of the Ukraine war. The big question remains how far they’ll fall and how fast. There are no immediate signs of what might stop the declines. The Detroit-area scrap […]
Flack Global Metals (FGM) will open a new metals service center near the port of Houston in the fourth quarter of this year, the company announced Tuesday. “FGM Houston” will be located on the campus of North Shore Steel and is FGM’s first physical location. The 60,000-square-foot facility will service flat-rolled steel, aluminum, and stainless […]
Severstal is no longer shipping “anything” to the United States, a company spokeswoman said. The Russian steelmaker instead intends to “continue working with our partners who are not tied with obligations to US,” she said in an email to Steel Market Update. The comments come after the US Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets […]
Sheet steel prices continue to decline from the March/April bump, while plate prices are easing at a slower rate, according to SMU’s price indices published last Tuesday. Plate prices typically carry a premium over hot rolled prices because plate is a value-added product and requires more time on the mill. Hot rolled coil averaged $1,255 per ton […]
Several of you, including some senior executives, have told me recently that I’m being too pessimistic about pricing. I’m not sure what to say about that. It gives me no joy to write about prices falling. No doubt it hurts those holding inventory to see it devalued. But me not writing about prices falling doesn’t […]
Sheet and plate prices continue to fall. That’s not a surprise, as there is little reason for them to do otherwise. What is surprising when you step back is just how quickly prices have fallen, and how much further they could continue to fall. SMU’s hot-rolled coil price now stands at $1,255 per ton ($62.75 […]
Sheet and plate prices continued to slip this week on expectations of lower scrap costs in June, increased import competition, and so-so demand, market participants said. Hot-rolled coil prices were down $35 per ton as were plate prices. Coated products were off by $25 per ton. Cold-rolled prices were up $10 per ton – or effectively […]
Production is revving up at the new JDF/HDM spiral-weld pipe mill in Houston, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony scheduled for later in June. Originally slated to be built on or near the campus of Steel Dynamics Inc.’s new sheet mill in Sinton, Texas, joint venture partners JD Fields and Turkey’s HDM Steel Pipe opted for new […]
Steel Dynamics Inc. (SDI) sees a “myriad of opportunities” on the M&A front but disagreements over valuations have prevented some of those deals from moving forward, the company’s top executive said. “It’s a matter of determining what is a great strategic fit at a reasonable value. … People’s aspirations of value are a little steep […]
Commercial Steel Products LLC (CSP) has acquired Ace Steel Supply Inc. (Ace) in a stock purchase agreement. The deal between the two steel service centers represents an alignment of mutual strategic interests, CSP said. Dallas-based CSP is a supplier of steel products, including tubular, flat-rolled, and structural steel. Its acquisition of Houston-based Ace will enhance […]
Nucor Corp.’s $3 billion acquisition of CHI Overhead Doors, its largest deal ever, represents a shift away from the company’s traditional roots as a steelmaker. “We absolutely want to pivot from being just a steelmaker to a manufacturing company,” Nucor president and CEO Leon Topalian said. That’s notable because Nucor is the largest steelmaker in the […]
Steel Market Update’s latest check of the market indicates steel mill lead times are slowly reverting back towards historical norms for most sheet products, while Galvalume and plate lead times inched up compared to two weeks prior. Lead times are now in line with levels seen in the beginning of 2022. Buyers surveyed this week […]
Major capital investments come to the aluminum can sheet market By Greg Wittbecker, Advisor, CRU Group This month, the market has seen two new projects announced in the flat-rolled aluminum product sector: • Novelis will spend $2.5 billion for a new state-of-the art rolling mill in Bay Minette, Ala. • Ball Corporation will partner with […]
The US Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration has adjusted the antidumping duty margins on imports of hot-rolled steel flats from Japan after an administrative review covering the one-year period ended September 30, 2020. Commerce calculated a weighted-average dumping margin of 24.07% for mandatory respondents Nippon Steel Corp., Nippon Steel Nisshin Co., and Nippon Steel […]
Nucor has signed a definitive purchase agreement to acquire Steel Technologies LLC’s pickle line facility and associated equipment in Ghent, Ky., where the steelmaker also operates a sheet mill. Charlotte, N.C.-based Nucor said Steel Technologies would continue to own and operate slitting equipment at the Ghent location in a letter to customers dated Wednesday, May […]
Nucor Corp. will begin to ramp up the $650 million expansion and upgrade of its Gallatin sheet mill in Ghent, Ky., next month, a company spokeswoman confirmed. The Charlotte, N.C.-based steelmaker will take a one-week outage from Tuesday, May 31, to Tuesday, June 7, for final equipment installation. The ramp will begin after that, she […]
Prices are down across the board this week. That’s not new if you’ve been paying attention lately. Price increases are often announced. Decreases rarely are. What’s new is Nucor’s almost aggressively transparent pricing strategy – announcing not only price increases but also flat and decreasing prices. That is new on the sheet and plate side […]