Steel Dynamics reported higher flat rolled prices resulted in an 11 percent increase in earnings in the third quarter. Net earnings were $284 million on net sales of $2.1 billion. Adjusted net income, including a $5 million litigation settlement charge, was $157 million for the quarter. SDI steel production was at 85 percent capacity in […]
Nucor Corporation reported net earnings of $270 million for third quarter, up from 233.8 million in Q2 and 227.1 in Q3 2015. Consolidated net sales in third quarter increased 1 percent to $4.29 billion from the previous quarter and 2 percent from a year ago. Average sales price per ton increased 11 percent QoQ. Tons […]
The trend for lower shipments and inventories out of the steel distributors in the United States continued during the month of September, according to just released Metal Service Center Institute (MSCI) data. The MSCI reported total steel shipments declined 6.6 percent compared to one year ago while inventories dropped 17.2 percent YOY. September MSCI carbon […]
September was another month in which shipments by service centers failed to live up to long term expectations. Carbon steel shipments decreased by 317,800 tons, mostly as a result of the number of shipping days declining from 23 in August to 21 in September. However tons per day shipments also declined being down from 139.7 […]
On Friday this week the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released its series of producer price indexes, for more than 10,000 goods and materials. For an explanation of this program see the end of this piece. The latest release this week reported results through September. We run this analysis every three or four months to […]
The conversation has begun regarding when flat rolled steel prices will end their slide and reverse course. Flat rolled steel prices have been in a steep decline since mid-June 2016 when benchmark hot rolled prices peaked at $635 per ton ($31.75/cwt, SMU index average) FOB domestic mill. Since then steel prices have retreated $145 per […]
Flat rolled steel prices continue to move lower as benchmark hot rolled broke through $500 per ton and is now averaging $490 per ton. We were relatively conservative in our range this week as we did capture at least one order placed for moderate tonnage at $440 per ton and we are hearing that the […]
We believe that misinformation about regional import volumes is often used to influence purchase decisions. Our intent with this analysis of tonnage by district of entry is to describe in detail what is going on in a company’s immediate neighborhood and thus provide a negotiating advantage for our premium subscribers. We are now publishing monthly […]
This report summarizes total steel supply from 2003 through August 2016 and year on year changes. It then compares domestic mill shipments and total supply to the market. It quantifies market direction by product and enables a side by side comparison of the degree to which imports have absorbed demand. Sources are the American Iron […]
Steel Market Update ferrous scrap sources advised us over the weekend that scrap negotiations have wrapped up between the dealers and the domestic mills and that steel mills, once again, have walked away the winners as scrap prices dropped across the country. However, the weakest areas are those furthest away from the east coast where […]
Licensed data for September was reported by the Steel Import Monitoring System of the US Commerce Department on October 4th. An explanation of the methodology that we at SMU use to analyze the trade data is given at the end of this piece. All volumes in this analysis are reported in short tons. Total rolled […]
On Thursday, September 22, 2016 four steel mills: ArcelorMittal USA, Nucor, AK Steel and US Steel submitted petitions asking the US Department of Commerce to review imports of cold rolled and corrosion resistant steels (galvanized and Galvalume) arriving in the United States from Vietnam as actually being a way for China to circumvent antidumping and […]
SAULT STE. MARIE – Essar Steel Algoma Inc. (“Essar Steel Algoma” or the “Company”) obtained an Order today from the Ontario Superior Court of Justice extending the stay of proceedings under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) to January 31, 2017. The Court further approved an amendment and extension to the existing Debtor-in-Possession financing facility […]
Earlier today Steel Market Update (SMU) participated in the monthly steel conference call hosted by HARDI. The call is for those wholesalers who supply galvanized sheet and coil to the HVAC mechanical contractors. During the course of the discussion it became clear that the wholesalers are quite concerned about the drop in galvanized spot prices […]
It’s official! On Sunday we reported rumored plans of an expansion at Nucor Steel Arkansas and this afternoon the company made a formal announcement. Nucor’s press release follows: Nucor Corp. announced that it is adding an additional cold mill at its Nucor Steel Arkansas division. The specialty cold mill complex will expand Nucor’s capability to […]
Nucor Corporation announced today that it has agreed to acquire Independence Tube Corporation (ITC), a leading independent manufacturer of hollow structural section (HSS) steel tubing, for $435 million, or approximately 6x average EBITDA over the 2013-2015 period. “Independence Tube is a natural fit with Nucor. Their business model is similar to ours with extremely efficient […]
The following analysis of the Metal Service Center Institute (MSCI) shipping and inventories data is what is normally shared with our Premium level members. Carbon steel shipments increased by 436,300 tons in August and almost reversed the decline of 443,300 in July. These gyrations are mostly driven by the number of shipping days in the […]
Nucor expects higher earnings in third quarter compared to second quarter due to improved performance at its raw materials division and steel mills. In its third quarter guidance, Nucor said higher average selling prices that have benefited in part from contract sales priced on a lagging quarterly basis would improve profitability of the company’s sheet […]
This report summarizes total steel supply from 2003 through July 2016 and year on year changes. It then compares domestic mill shipments and total supply to the market. It quantifies market direction by product and enables a side by side comparison of the degree to which imports have absorbed demand. Sources are the American Iron […]
The Department of Commerce announced an affirmative preliminary decision in the investigation of dumping of imports of stainless steel and strip from China. The China-wide rate assigned was 76.64 percent due to a failure of producers and exporters to respond to Commerce’s request for information. Non-selected separate rate respondents received a dumping rate of 63.86 […]
Steel Market Update is reintroducing our monthly analysis of foreign steel imports into the United States by product, port and country. This report will be available to our Premium level members shortly after the U.S. government releases the Final Census data for each month. The data was just released for the month of July, you […]
Licensed data for August was reported by the Steel Import Monitoring System of the US Commerce Department on September 6th. An explanation of the methodology that we at SMU use to analyze the trade data is given at the end of this piece. Total rolled product licensed imports in the single month of August were […]
The prices for flat rolled steel have dropped over the past few weeks which is creating a situation where the domestic steel mills want to recoup a portion (or all) of the reductions by negotiating lower ferrous scrap pricing. The mills are asking for $20 per gross ton across the board (HMS, shred, prime grades) […]
Olympic Steel, a leading national metals service center, announced the promotion of Andrew Greiff to Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Office, as of August 19, 2016. Greiff joined Olympic Steel in 2009 and was promoted to President, Specialty Metals in 2011. In that role he managed sales and distribution of stainless steel and aluminum […]
On Wednesday of this week HARDI hosted their monthly steel conference call. Steel Market Update participates in these calls which are dedicated to a better understanding of the galvanized steel market. The participants are wholesalers, service centers and manufacturing companies who either buy or sell galvanized sheet products used in the HVAC industry. SMU advised […]
Canadian shipments for all steel products in the month of July were 318,700 net tons, a decrease of 14.8 percent from the month before and a decrease of 14.9 percent from July 2015. Inventories at the end of the month stood at 1,100,800 tons, down 1.8 percent from last month and down 25.6 percent from […]
We normally reserve our expanded service center data analysis for our Premium members but felt this would be a good piece to share with all of our members. Based on Steel Market Update (SMU) analysis of the recently released MSCI service center inventory and shipment data, total service center carbon steel shipments declined by 443,300 […]
The Canadian International Trade Tribunal has renewed its dumping finding against China, Brazil and Ukraine and its subsidy finding against India in regards to the import of hot rolled steel sheet and strip. The CITT decision extends antidumping and subsidy duties another five years. In a press release from Essar Steel Algoma, applauding the decision, […]
The SMU monthly import analysis describes the total tonnage by product. It is intended to be a big picture commentary that describes how import volumes are changing and by implication what effect they are having on the macro market. It does not provide any regional information nor does it tell us the country of origin. […]
Steel Market Update is reintroducing our monthly analysis of foreign steel imports into the United States by product, port and country. This report will be available to our Premium level members shortly after the U.S. government releases the Final Census data for each month. The data was just released for the month of June. Since […]