The latest statistics from the Air Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI) show that December shipments of heating and cooling equipment in the US inched higher from the previous month but declined from last year’s levels.
Domestic production of raw steel increased again last week, according to the most recent data from the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI). Output moved higher for the second straight week after declining for more than a month to start the year.
What’s something going on in the market that no one is talking about? That’s a question on our survey, and was also posed to many who graced the stage at our Tampa Steel Conference. Perhaps another way to phrase that is “not talking about publicly” or connecting the dots of steel market chatter to find a uniting central issue. I thought one respondent to our survey really summed up the current moment: “Right now it is all politics.”
Last week, steel consumers prevailed in a rare victory over US petitioners in trade cases on tin mill steel products. The US International Trade Commission (ITC) voted 4—0 that Cleveland-Cliffs, the sole remaining domestic producer of tin mill products (used to make containers such as “tin cans”) was neither injured nor threatened with injury by imports of competing products from Canada, China, and Germany. Imports from South Korea were found to be “negligible,” and the investigation on Korean imports was terminated.
ArcelorMittal indicated that a sale of U.S. Steel to Nippon Steel could lead to it taking full control of AM/NS Calvert, its joint venture sheet mill in Alabama. "Typically, in such situations, when there is a selling partner, they sell it to the other partner in the joint venture, right. So I could imagine such a situation would develop,” Mittal said.
Based on initial license data for January, steel imports appear to have risen to a six-month high, and flat-rolled steel imports to a seven-month high.
Russel Metals has invested a lot in recent years, and it’s not done yet.
The US Midwest premium continued to trade between 18.8–19.4 cents per pound (¢/lb) this week. There remains a host of macroeconomic and geopolitical risks in the current environment, but none have affected the short-term outlook for the premium. Current trading for April reached 20 ¢/lb which is on par with CRU’s current forecast for Q2’24. Dates closer to the end of the year have fallen to 21.2 ¢/lb.
Rig counts in the US and Canada were mixed for the week ended Feb. 9, with US totals moving up and Canadian holding unchanged week on week (w/w), Baker Hughes’ latest data shows. US The number of active rotary rigs in the US inched back up by four to 623. Oil rigs were unchanged at […]
Algoma Steel Group Inc. suffered another incident at its steel mill in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, this week.
There seems to be bit of high-stakes chicken going on in the domestic sheet market. Prices have been moving lower for most of the year, and our hot-rolled (HR) coil price on Tuesday fell below $1,000 per short ton (st) on average. Crossing that threshold does not seem to have resulted in a flurry of buying activity.
More supply coming online and an unchanging demand environment – two key themes for 2024 – could soon bring the steel sheet storm to a market near you.
ArcelorMittal swung to a loss in the fourth quarter largely because of costs associated with a deadly coal mining disaster last year in Kazakhstan. The Luxembourg-based steelmaker sold its Kazakhstan operations in December and no longer owns and operates coal mines as a result of the move, according to comments released along with earnings data on Thursday.
The US Environmental Protection has announced more stringent air quality standards that could impact domestic steel producers.
US hot-rolled coil (HRC) prices were again lower this week, pushing the price premium domestic hot band carries over imported products lower vs. the prior week.
What are folks in the steel industry talking about? SMU polled steel buyers on a variety of subjects this past week, including domestic steel prices, import offers, buying activity, and more. Rather than summarizing the comments we received, we are sharing some of them in each buyer’s own words.
2023 was the third-lowest year for steel imports in the last decade, according to an SMU analysis of data from the US Department of Commerce.
Domestic steel shipments increased in December on-year but were down from the previous month, according to the latest data released by the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI).
Consumer confidence in the US rose in January and accelerated to a two-year high, The Conference Board reported. Results came amid slacking inflation and expectations that the Federal Reserve could soon start cutting interest rates. The headline Consumer Confidence Index rose to 114.8 in January from a downwardly revised 108.0 in December. The index, which […]
It was another steady drip lower, down $20/st to $980/st. In other words, the kind of on-and-off declines we’ve been seeing since the start of the year.
Sheet prices fell across the board this week as SMU’s hot-rolled (HR) coil price slipped below $1,000 per short ton (st) on average for the first time since November.
Domestic manufacturing activity continued to draw back in January, receding for the 15th straight month, according to the latest Institute for Supply Management (ISM) Manufacturing PMI report.
The recession many predicted did not materialize in 2023, leading industry experts in several key end-user markets for steel cautiously optimistic for 2024.
At the final hour, the trade case investigating unfairly traded imports of tin mill products has been terminated.
Former President Donald Trump discussed, if re-elected, placing a 60%-or-more tariff on all Chinese imports in an interview with Fox News on Sunday.
Domestic production of raw steel recovered a bit last week, according to the most recent data from the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI). The result was the first increase in roughly a month.
SMU’s latest survey results make it clear that the sheet market has hit an inflection point and headed lower. But while some market participants think that sheet prices might bottom within the next month or so, others expect a more protracted downturn.
I participated in the 35th annual Tampa Steel Conference last week, a conclave of steel producers, consumers, traders, logisticians, and (a few) trade lawyers. I participated in a panel discussion concerning challenges in managing supply chains in these troubled times. Things appear to be heading in the wrong direction in this field. Supply chains were shown to be vulnerable to pandemics in 2020 and 2021, and, in 2022 and 2023, to regional conflicts and weather slowing or stopping the free movement of goods through trade bottlenecks (the Suez Canal, the Panama Canal, the Bosporus, etc.)
Rig counts in the US and Canada were mixed, with US totals slipping and Canadian counts moving higher week on week (w/w) for the week ended Feb. 2, Baker Hughes’ latest data shows.
Just like doing business in any part of the steel supply chain, there are risks and unknowns in trading steel. But trading companies play an important part, helping businesses navigate the risks and unknowns as they pop up.