Prices
December Foreign Steel Imports Trending to Low 2 Million Net Tons
Written by John Packard
December 29, 2015
The US Department of Commerce released the latest license data regarding foreign steel imports into the United States for the month of December 2015. Based on licenses data December is trending toward the low 2 million net tons to as much as 2.6 million net tons. However, we have noticed that the trend recently has been for license data to overstate the monthly totals by 200,000-300,000 net tons. A good example is November 2015 which had licenses for 2.7 million net tons and the month actually came in at 2,350,942 net tons.
We are of the opinion that December will be the same to slightly lower than November as the daily license data rate is well below that of November, as you can see by the table below.
Here is what the license data is telling us:
John Packard
Read more from John PackardLatest in Prices
Final Thoughts
Most steel buyers think that steel prices will continue to rise into the 2026. But they don’t see the kinds of big gains that have characterized past market upturns, according to the results of SMU’s latest steel market survey.
SMU Survey: Mills less negotiable on spot prices
Most steel buyers responding to our market survey this week reported that domestic mills are considerably less willing to talk price on sheet and plate products than they were in recent weeks.
Price gap between US HRC, most imports narrows slightly
In dollar-per-ton terms, US product is on average $141/st less than landed import prices (inclusive of the 50% tariff). That’s down from $148/st last week.
SMU price ranges: Sheet ticks higher, plate stable
Sheet steel indices increased across the board this week, while plate prices held steady. All five of SMU’s price indices are higher than they were two weeks ago, and all but one are above levels recorded four weeks ago.
Nucor lifts HR spot price by $10/ton
Nucor has raised its weekly spot list price on hot-rolled coil by $10 per short ton (st) after keeping it unchanged since Aug. 25.