Steel Market Update (SMU) concluded our 5th flat rolled steel market survey earlier today. After evaluating the responses we found buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel continue to be optimistic about their company’s ability to be successful both in the current as well as the future steel markets (3-6 months out). The SMU Steel […]
February and its 20 shipping days is now behind us. It is time to take a look at how the data for the month played out. SMU Price Momentum Indicator ended the month just as it had begun the month (as well as the New Year), pointing toward lower flat rolled steel prices in the […]
Based on the most recent flat rolled steel market survey results, steel mill lead times stabilized this past week after having declined almost non-stop since August 2014. The question now is will the mill lead times begin to move out from here or remain stuck at these less than desirable levels (from a mill perspective […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) Steel Buyers Sentiment Index was measured at +53 earlier today based on the results of our most recent flat rolled steel analysis conducted this week. The +53 is 7 points higher than what we reported at the beginning of the month. Our Steel Buyers Sentiment Index measures how buyers and sellers […]
On Monday we will begin our mid-February flat rolled steel market analysis. The market has seen prices dropping over the past few weeks at a rate not seen for a number of years. Our survey will help us not only understand where price offers/orders are today but when we think the bottom will be reached. […]
Buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel are less optimistic about their company’s ability to be successful in the current market conditions than what we saw just two weeks ago. The buyers and sellers who participated in this week’s flat rolled steel market analysis reported concerns regarding falling steel prices, bloated inventories and shrinking margins. […]
SMU Price Momentum Indicator has been stuck pointing lower for a number of months, ended the month of January as it did at the end of November and December. We saw SMU Steel Buyers Sentiment Index improve by +1 point in January over the month of December. However, when looking at Sentiment based on a […]
Buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel continue to be optimistic about their company’s chances of being successful in both the current market conditions as well as three to six months into the future. However, there have been some clouds building as our 3MMA has been trending lower over the past four months. We have […]
The first measurement of our Steel Buyers Sentiment Index in the New Year provided us some mixed results. Current Sentiment, which is how steel buyers and sellers feel about their company’s ability to be successful in the current market environment, was measured at +54. This is well within the optimistic range of our Index but […]
The following is an overview of some of the key steel data collected by Steel Market Update during the month of December 2014. This is separate from our Key Market Indicators which was produced for our Premium level subscribers (although shared with all of our readers on Friday of this past week). Steel Market Update […]
Everyone wants to know how the steel industry did from our perspective over the calendar year 2014. We decided to take a look at the year using quarterly averages as a way of smoothing out the data and giving us a clearer picture of key data and commodity and steel pricing trends. As you can […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) released their Steel Buyers Sentiment Index this afternoon. Sentiment, which is a measure as to how buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel feel about their company’s ability to be successful in the current market environment, rose 4 points from the beginning of December and is now at +56. Positive (+) […]
SMU Steel Buyers Sentiment Index came in at +52 this week. This is the same reading we got back in the middle of November 2014 The +52, which is within the optimistic range for our index, was 10 points less enthusiastic than what we measured at the beginning of November. One year ago our current […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) benchmark hot rolled coil pricing averaged $634 per ton ($31.70/cwt) for the month of November. CRU HRC averaged $635 per ton ($31.75/cwt) while Platts averaged $640 per ton ($32.00/cwt). Hot rolled prices at $630 per ton as of the last week of the month, were $5 per ton lower than where […]
Buyers and sellers of steel are beginning to feel the strain of reduced demand (whether seasonal or otherwise), stable to falling steel prices and a very competitive service center spot market which impacts distributors margins. The bottom line is those actively involved in the flat rolled steel industry in the United States and Canada are […]
The way our market surveys work is we invite approximately 600 companies to participate. Each individual receives and email invitation with a link to the survey which is hosted on SurveyMonkey.com. The first few questions are posed to the entire group. We asked questions related to our SMU Steel Buyers Sentiment Index, general demand and […]
It may be a different day but buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel are still singing the same optimistic song regarding their company’s chances of being successful in the current (and future) steel environment. Steel Market Update has been conducting our early November flat rolled steel market survey all week and this afternoon we […]
For the majority of the month of October, the SMU Steel Price Momentum Indicator was referencing lower prices for the next 30 to 60 day period. At the end of the month, we revised our Indicator to Neutral due to AK Steel, US Steel and Nucor having made $20 per ton price increase announcements. It […]
Steel buyers and sellers continue to be optimistic about their company’s ability to be successful in the current market conditions. However, there are some signs of strain growing, either due to seasonal pressures or margin squeezes, that may be giving pause to some within the industry. Even so, the results from the mid-October flat rolled […]
Buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel continue to be optimistic regarding their company’s ability to be successful in the current market environment as well as out three to six months into the future. Steel Market Update reported their Sentiment Index as +64 on Thursday, October 9th. The + 64 reading is unchanged from their […]
One of the first things that we noticed when looking at the graph below is all of the “neutral” arrows (yellow arrows in SMU Pricing Momentum) going across the full spectrum of the table shown. We went back to see at what point did we move our Momentum to Neutral and found we made the […]
Buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel are becoming more optimistic about their company’s ability to be successful based on current market conditions according to Steel Market Update and their Steel Buyers Sentiment Index. SMU Steel Buyers Sentiment Index rose to +64 or +11 points higher than where it was measured during the beginning of […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) conducted our mid-September flat rolled steel market analysis this week. We invited slightly more than 600 companies to participate in the latest survey which analyzes various trends which affect the flat rolled steel market. One set of questions had to do with the consolidation of the steel mills as SDI and […]
After setting a record optimistic high of +68 at the beginning of August 2014, SMU Steel Buyers Sentiment Index has now declined for the second time and stands at +53. The most recent measurement is still well within the optimistic parameters for our index. Even so, we are concerned with the 15 point dip that […]
SMU Steel Buyers Sentiment, which measures how buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel feel about their company’s ability to be successful in the current market environment, continues at very optimistic levels. However, our Index has seen some erosion of enthusiasm as our Index has dropped 9 points since we recorded our record high of […]
Last week, Steel Market Update (SMU) conducted our early August flat rolled steel market survey. We emailed invitations to approximately 600 companies who are actively involved in either buying or selling flat rolled steels. This past week 45 percent of the respondents were from steel service centers, 43 percent were manufacturing companies, 7 percent were […]
This afternoon, Steel Market Update reported the SMU Steel Buyers Sentiment Index +68 for early August 2014. This is the highest level ever recorded and the most optimistic we have seen buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel since the Sentiment Index began in November 2008. Positive numbers (above zero) indicate an optimistic attitude exists […]
Even though our Steel Market Update Steel Buyers Sentiment Index dropped 3 points to +62 this week, it is still well within the optimistic range and close to the record high which was set at the beginning of this month. This continued optimism is reflected when looking at Sentiment based on a 3-month moving average […]
The SMU Steel Buyers Sentiment Index produced a new record high this week as those responding to our market questionnaire pegged Sentiment at +65. Sentiment is now +8 points higher than the +57 produced during the middle of June and is up +11 points from just one month ago. Last year at the beginning of […]
The fact that steel prices have been moderating and, in some cases, moving lower has not dented the enthusiasm buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel are showing based on the Steel Market Update Steel Buyers Sentiment Index. The latest market analysis produced during the middle of June is pegging Sentiment at +57, up 3 […]