The Steel Market Update (SMU) Price Momentum Index (MoMo) for hot rolled steel in the United States remained positive this week for the 12th consecutive week, following a 21 week negative streak. MoMo, a trailing indicator, is measured as a percentage and shows the relation of the current U.S. hot rolled coil price movements against the […]
Last week Steel Market Update conducted our second flat rolled steel market trends analysis for the month of March. We commit four days to canvass buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel. Then we put the vast majority (but not all) of the results into a Power Point presentation which we share with our Premium […]
Steel Mill lead times are important keys to watch. As lead times extend buyers have to place more orders and spend more time balancing their inventories in order to satisfy their customers. Longer lead times also support domestic steel mill pricing and create opportunities for steel mills to raise steel prices (which is exactly what […]
Buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel report to Steel Market Update whether the domestic steel mills are willing to negotiate pricing on hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized and Galvalume steels. The less willing the mills are to negotiate prices the stronger the market (and potentially the higher prices go from here). Hot rolled negotiations […]
Last month we forecast that February carbon flat rolled shipments would be down 5 percent year over year and that the steel receipts would be 10 percent lower than their 3 year average. We projected total shipments at 2,151,000 tons and the MSCI reported shipments of 2,154,700 tons. We projected inventories would end the month […]
Buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel continue to smile when asked about their company’s ability to be successful both in the current market environment as well as looking out into the future three to six months. The result has taken the SMU Steel Buyers Sentiment Index higher and we are approaching record levels in […]
The Steel Market Update (SMU) Price Momentum Index (MoMo) for hot rolled steel in the United States was positive this week for the eleventh consecutive week, following a 21 week negative streak. MoMo, a trailing indicator, is measured as a percentage and shows the relation of the current U.S. hot rolled coil price movements against the […]
Mill lead times, especially on cold rolled and coated products, continue to be a concern as buyers navigate/negotiate pricing and deliveries on future orders. The longer the lead time the more steel that is needed in the pipeline at both manufacturing companies and distributors. The longer lead times provide ammunition to the domestic steel mills […]
The Steel Market Update (SMU) Price Momentum Index (MoMo) for hot rolled steel in the United States was positive this week for the tenth consecutive week, following a 21 week negative streak. MoMo, a trailing indicator, is measured as a percentage and shows the relation of the current U.S. hot rolled coil price movements against the […]
Steel mill lead times on all four flat rolled products have become more extended according to those who responded to our most recent flat rolled steel market analysis. As lead times extend, steel buyers have to place more orders in order to protect their inventories. The more orders placed, the better chance for the domestic […]
Buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel reported to Steel Market Update this past week that the domestic steel mills are less willing to negotiate steel prices. We believe this is due to strengthening order books, extending lead times, positive Sentiment and improving demand. The only product not following the rest of the market is […]
A quick note to our Premium level and free trial subscribers: We have just published the results from this week’s flat rolled steel market trends analysis (survey) on our website. It is available to you once you have signed into the www.SteelMarketUpdate.com website. The power point presentation can be found under the analysis tab. A […]
Earlier this week Steel Market Update (SMU) began canvassing the flat rolled steel markets in order to better appreciate how buyers and sellers of steel are viewing their company’s ability to be successful in the market today (Current) as well as out three to six months (Future). Their responses result in the publication of the […]
The Steel Market Update (SMU) Price Momentum Index (MoMo) for hot rolled steel in the United States was positive this week for the ninth consecutive week, following a 21 week negative streak. MoMo, a trailing indicator, is measured as a percentage and shows the relation of the current U.S. hot rolled coil price movements against the […]
Steel prices continued their three month hike higher as SMU benchmark hot rolled price index (average) for the month was $408 per ton. Even with some minor stumbles noted in hot rolled and cold rolled during the second half of the month, our Price Momentum Indicator is still pointing toward higher prices over the next […]
The following article is one of the key proprietary products produced for our Premium level members. We wanted to share it with all of our readers this evening to give everyone a feel for how we are seeing the steel economy based on “the numbers.” An explanation of the Key Indicators concept is given at […]
The Steel Market Update (SMU) Price Momentum Index (MoMo) for hot rolled steel in the United States was positive this week for the eighth consecutive week, following a 21 week negative streak. MoMo, a trailing indicator, is measured as a percentage and shows the relation of the current U.S. hot rolled coil price movements against the […]
As part of your Premium level service, Steel Market Update (SMU) analyzes the service center shipment and inventory data and provides a short term forecast for carbon flat rolled steel shipments, inventories and how they will impact pricing over the next four months. This is done through a proprietary model and the results provided are […]
Steel Market Update conducted our mid-February flat rolled steel market trends analysis over the past four days. The SMU Steel Sentiment Indices are one of a group of proprietary products which are derived from this particular analysis which we conduct twice per month. When reviewing the data we found that our “Current” Sentiment Index dropped […]
Steel Market Update conducted our flat rolled steel market trends analysis this week, a portion of which is dedicated to understanding domestic mill lead times from a group perspective. These lead times shown in the graphic below have nothing to do with the mill lead time sheets produced by the domestic mills. The data shown […]
Hot rolled continues to be the weakest product according to those responding to this week’s flat rolled steel analysis. We found 82 percent of our respondents reporting the domestic mills as willing to negotiate hot rolled pricing. This is much higher than the 54 percent we reported two weeks ago and takes us back to […]
The Steel Market Update (SMU) Price Momentum Index (MoMo) for hot rolled steel in the United States was positive this week for the seventh consecutive week, following a 21 week negative streak. MoMo, a trailing indicator, is measured as a percentage and shows the relation of the current U.S. hot rolled coil price movements against the […]
Over the past few weeks Steel Market Update has been reviewing the lead times being published and/or provided to their customers in order to see if there are any significant changes. As a general statement we have found cold rolled and coated steels (galvanized, Galvalume, galvannealed) have extended lead times and are the tightest of […]
The Steel Market Update (SMU) Price Momentum Index (MoMo) for hot rolled steel in the United States was positive this week for the sixth consecutive week, following a 21 week negative streak. MoMo, a trailing indicator, is measured as a percentage and shows the relation of the current U.S. hot rolled coil price movements against the […]
Buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel and the companies that use the products are becoming more optimistic about both the short term and medium term success for their companies. Earlier this week we began the process of collecting data regarding various trends involved with the flat rolled steel industry. One of the key proprietary […]
Many of you have read that hot rolled is the weakest product and that there is a significant spread between domestic hot rolled base prices and those of cold rolled and galvanized steel. Even with the energy markets being in the so-called “crapper” impacting the hot rolled order books, we are seeing stronger steel mill […]
As we mentioned in our previous article, flat rolled steel mill lead times have moved out by a week on hot rolled and as much as two weeks on cold rolled and galvanized. Galvalume lead times have remained decent but have not extended at this time but, that is to be expected for seasonal reasons. […]
The Steel Market Update (SMU) Price MoMo Index for hot rolled steel in the United States was positive this week for the fifth consecutive week, following a 21 week negative streak. MoMo, a trailing indicator, is measured as a percentage and shows the relation of the current U.S. hot rolled coil (HRC) price movements against the […]
An explanation of the Key Indicators concept is given at the end of this piece for those readers who are unfamiliar with it. The total number of indicators considered in this analysis is currently 36. Please refer to Table 1 for the view of the present situation and the quantitative measure of trends. Readers should […]
One of the important keys to understanding the strength or weakness of the flat rolled market in the United States is to follow the steel mill lead time announcements made to their customers. We can then compare them against prior weeks (and the results of our market trends report which is conducted twice per month) […]