Stelco’s strategy to get into the merchant pig iron (MPI) market is getting high marks from the experts. As one of the Canadian steelmaker’s strategic growth initiatives, it plans to construct a new pig iron making facility at its Lake Erie Works to coincide with a blast furnace reline scheduled for Q2 2020. Stelco claims […]
U.S. Steel and ArcelorMittal USA raised flat rolled by an additional $30 per ton ($1.50/cwt) on Friday as the mills seek to maintain the upward momentum on steel prices. Other mills are likely to follow suit. The latest announcements follow on two earlier increases of $40 per ton in late October and early November. U.S. […]
U.S. Steel and ArcelorMittal USA raised flat rolled by an additional $30 per ton ($1.50/cwt) on Friday as the mills seek to maintain the upward momentum on steel prices. Other mills are likely to follow suit. The latest announcements follow on two earlier increases of $40 per ton in late October and early November. U.S. […]
Steel Market Update is please to share this Premium content with Executive-level subscribers. For information on how to upgrade to a Premium-level subscription, email Info@SteelMarketUpdate.com. Manufacturing output shows contraction in nine of the 10 indicators analyzed by Steel Market Update, which helps to explain the current weakness in steel demand in some sectors. This report […]
Crude oil prices have been stable since mid-June, but the rig count continues to decline. The total number of operating rigs exploring for oil has declined by 211 or 23.8 percent since the end of last year. The spot price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) FOB Cushing, Okla., has been very consistent since mid-June ranging from […]
Premium subscribers to Steel Market Update have access to reports 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 […]
Using U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) data, Steel Market Update has taken the import tonnage of cold rolled sheet and broken it down into coil and leveled; then it breaks out four thickness ranges and identifies how much was full hard, annealed and high strength. Through September 2019, of the total cold rolled sheet and […]
The mills may have announced two increases in flat rolled steel prices in the past month, but you couldn’t tell from comments by members of the Heating, Air Conditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International. The distributors of galvanized steel to the HVAC sector report little impact on prices so far, though demand remains healthy despite some […]
Steel Market Update’s analysis of flat rolled and plate inventories and shipments for the month of October: Flat Rolled = 53 Shipping Days of Supply Plate = 57 Shipping Days of Supply Flat Rolled Sheet steel prices declined rapidly throughout October, and the SMU Service Center Inventories Report shows that service centers pared down inventories […]
The composite producer price index of all commodities peaked in October last year and in 12 months through September has declined by 3.2 percent. This Steel Market Update report is an analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data and is intended to provide subscribers with a view of the competitive position of sheet steel, aluminum, […]
Demand for steel sheet products declined by more than the seasonal norm in September. 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 Commerce (DoC). The analysis summarizes total steel supply by product from 2003 […]
October’s licensed import volume of total rolled steel products continued the decline from September and was the lowest since February 2011. Rolled product imports in October were down by 17.7 percent on a three-month moving average (3MMA) basis year over year. This follows the 15.5 percent decline in September. This early look at October’s import […]
Canadian integrated steelmaker Stelco managed to improve on its revenues and operating income from the second to the third quarter, but still reported an $11 million loss in Q3 adjusted net income. The company plans to expand its product mix by adding pig iron production and shipments in 2020. Third-quarter revenue of CAD $475 million […]
By Principal Analyst Josh Spoores, from CRU’s Steel Sheet Products Monitor Global sheet prices remain in a downtrend for November, though are starting to recover in some markets. Overall, CRU’s Global Flat Products Price Indicator (CRUspi flats) fell 3.3 percent m/m in November to 137.7, the lowest level recorded since October 2016. This indicator of global […]
Allegheny Technologies Inc. and NLMK USA have signed a one-year agreement to extend and expand carbon steel hot rolling conversion services for NLMK at ATI’s Hot-Rolling and Processing Facility (HRPF) in Brackenridge, Pa., through December 2020. ATI expects 2020 volumes to increase significantly compared to 2019 levels and provide guaranteed volumes and fixed fee-per-ton revenues, […]
Steel Market Update is pleased to share this Premium content with Executive-level members. For more information on upgrading to a Premium-level subscription, email Info@SteelMarketUpdate.com. 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 […]
Steel Market Update was working on an article predicting a flat rolled price increase very soon when we received notice about 5 p.m. ET this evening that the Nucor Sheet Mill Group was raising base prices of flat rolled by a minimum of $40 per ton, effective immediately. This is the second flat rolled price […]
Despite the Oct. 28 plate price increase announcement out of Evraz ($40/ton), plate prices continue to be under pressure. [Please note: This article was completed just prior to the Nucor $40 price increase announcement, which was made on plate products at 4 p.m. this afternoon.] A large plate buyer told SMU they had just received […]
By CRU Senior Analysts Ryan McKinley (USA), Ryan Smith (Australia) and Erik Hedborg (UK) Part three of our three-part series: What’s next for U.S. iron ore production? In parts one and two of our series, we examined the U.S. iron ore industry and reviewed recent market developments. We also explored the dependency of U.S. iron […]
This report is designed to be a big picture summary of data we have reported in detail during the month. It summarizes 36 data streams that describe the state of the steel market and provide forward guidance for steel buyers and sellers. See the end of this piece for an explanation of the Key Indicators […]
Nucor Steel Arkansas opened its new cold mill complex at a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Friday, Oct. 25. The $230 million specialty cold mill will expand Nucor’s capability to produce high strength, high-strength low-alloy and motor lamination steel products for the automotive industry. “As a world leader in steel manufacturing technology, Nucor is particularly focused on […]
Four more mills–Nucor, U.S. Steel, USS-Posco and Algoma Steel–raised prices on their flat rolled products by $40 per ton ($2/cwt) Friday, following on similar announcements by ArcelorMittal and NLMK USA the day before. The mills are hoping to reverse the slide that has taken the benchmark price of hot rolled steel from more than $700 […]
By CRU Prices Analyst George Pearson The North American market has continued to see steel prices erode. We had previously anticipated that October scrap prices may be the lowest price seen over the next several years. We are now hearing that at least some market participants expect gains for November. The recent decline in scrap […]
Nucor and U.S. Steel raised prices on their flat rolled products by $40 per ton ($2/cwt) today, following on similar announcements by ArcelorMittal and NLMK USA yesterday. The mills are hoping to reverse the slide that has taken the benchmark price of hot rolled steel from more than $700 per ton to less than $500 […]
Speculation that steel prices were near the bottom and the mills were contemplating a price increase has proven out as ArcelorMittal and NLMK USA both announced flat rolled price increases today of $40 per ton. Other mills are expected to follow. ArcelorMittal informed its commercial team today that it is raising base prices on light […]
Speculation that steel prices were near the bottom and the mills were contemplating a price increase has proven out as ArcelorMittal became the first to hike flat rolled prices today by $40 per ton. Other mills are expected to follow. ArcelorMittal informed its commercial team today that it is raising base prices on light flat […]
Crude oil prices have returned to the levels prior to the attack on the Saudi Aramco Abqaiq crude oil processing facility on Sept. 14. The spot price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) FOB Cushing, Okla., exceeded $60 per barrel for one day on Sept. 16 when it reached $63.10 before falling back to $52.76 on […]
Steel price volatility was persistent in 2019, said CRU Principal Analyst Josh Spoores at the FMA/ASD Executive Networking Series held in Pittsburgh last week. U.S. economic growth was below the historical trend throughout 2019, but has improved since April, according to the Chicago Fed National Activity Index. Activity in two key steel sectors, fabricated metal products and […]
Nucor reported a decline in financial results as expected for the third quarter of 2019. Net earnings were $275 million, down from $386.4 million in Q2 and $676.7 million in Q3 2018. Consolidated net sales fell 7 percent from the previous quarter to $5.46 billion. Steel shipments to outside customers declined 7 percent from last […]
Based on Steel Market Update’s analysis of 10 indicators, U.S. manufacturing output is now contracting and articles manufactured from iron and steel are down by 6.1 percent year over year. This report summarizes 10 data streams that describe the state of U.S. manufacturing in general and the steel industry in particular. In data released in […]