Final Thoughts
Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
November 17, 2014
I noticed one of the analysts had reported CSN out of Brazil as shipping between 300,000-500,000 tons of flat rolled steel in the 4th Quarter 2014 into the United States. Our sources have advised us that the number is closer to 130,000 tons with a portion of the tons going directly to the CSN mill in Terre Haute, Indiana.
We are in the middle of our mid-November flat rolled market survey. We have asked the same question we did at the beginning of the month concerning the potential for the domestic mills to collect their recent price increase announcement. So far, we are seeing a slightly different result than the 75 percent which were of the opinion that the increase would not stick at the beginning of the month. If you have not yet had an opportunity to respond to our survey invitation please click on the link and gives us your opinion. I will send out a reminder email at 8 AM ET on Wednesday morning to those who have not yet completed the survey.
Iron ore prices are looking like they will break $70 (62% Fe fines in China) and the early talk is for another hit to scrap come early December (small hit). Scrap was down in November $30 to $40 per gross ton and we continue to see weakness in exports off both coasts.
Premium level members will receive a special newsletter tomorrow with two MSCI-related articles with analysis from Peter Wright and our Apparent Inventory Excess/Deficit scorecard and forecast and more. On Friday you will get access to our latest survey results which is in process right now. If you are an Executive level member and would like to entertain upgrading to Premium please contact our office: 800-432-3475 or by email: info@SteelMarketUpdate.com and we can provide what options we have available.
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John Packard, Publisher
John Packard
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Final Thoughts
Nucor said it is seeking $740 per short ton (st) for hot-rolled (HR) coil this week, up $20/st from last week. USS, meanwhile, is shooting for up $30/st for sheet products in general. (USS did not announce a target price for HR.)
Final Thoughts
We all know the American news cycle moves pretty fast. Viral today, cached tomorrow. So it is with the US presidential election on Tuesday, Nov. 5. People have election fatigue. They've moved on to other things like planning holiday parties, debating Super Bowl hopefuls, or even starting to look forward to our Tampa Steel Conference in February.
Final Thoughts
U.S. Steel plans to increase sheet prices by at least $30 per short ton (st). That's something we haven't seen for a while.
Final Thoughts
SMU's hot-rolled (HR) coil price slipped this week to $685 per short ton (st) on average. We also adjusted our sheet momentum indicators to lower for the first time since July.
Final Thoughts
When a mapmaker constructs a map, it’s always to the contours of the land. Or sea. That is, the mapmaker doesn’t say, “Look, these rocks really don’t belong here, so I’m not going to include them in the harbor map.” Uncharted rocks, sink ships (along with loose lips).