If we start with the premise that the consumer is almost 70 percent of GDP and that steel consumption is closely correlated with GDP, then consumer behavior and, in particular, debt is very relevant to our future businesses. Consumer spending is driven by income and both the perception of current debt and willingness to take […]
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 […]
As mentioned in a previous article in this newsletter, during our flat rolled steel market survey process we break out the different market segments into questionnaires that are dedicated to their industry. This allows us to compare market trends to see if they match. A good example is manufacturing demand. We asked manufacturing companies if […]
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 […]
Domestic steel mill lead times on flat rolled steel are starting to extend compared to what we measured two weeks back. For most of the year lead times have been running within a relatively narrow window (see graph). The new data is suggesting lead times may be breaking above normal patterns. Based on our latest […]
Based on the latest flat rolled steel market survey conducted by Steel Market Update since the beginning of this week, steel buyers and sellers reported the domestic mills as being less willing to negotiate hot rolled steel prices and continue to be less willing to negotiate cold rolled prices. When we reviewed the data on […]
The Steel Market Update Price MoMo Index for flat rolled steel in the U.S. remained positive for the second consecutive week after being in negative territory for the prior six weeks. MoMo, a trailing indicator, is measured as a percentage and shows the relation of the current hot rolled coil (HRC) price movements against the […]
The SMU Key Market Indicators is a Premium Level product produced by Peter Wright in collaboration with Steel Market Update. Our Executive Level members have been getting access to all of the Premium Level data for the month of July (today is the last day). This includes access to all of the Premium data which […]
The Steel Market Update Price MoMo Index for flat rolled steel in the U.S. turned positive this week after being in negative territory for the prior six weeks. MoMo, a trailing indicator, is measured as a percentage and shows the relation of the current hot rolled coil (HRC) price movements against the previous 12-week average […]
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 […]
Mill lead times are an important indicator as to the strength or weakness of the mill order books. There are a number of ways to look at mill lead times. One is to go off the lead time sheets produced by some (not all) of the domestic mills. Steel Market Update does follow the lead […]
One of the most popular items produced out of our twice monthly flat rolled steel surveys is our Mill Negotiations data. We ask active buyers and sellers of steel how willing are domestic steel mills to negotiate pricing by product at this point in time. What our most recent survey results are telling us is […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) began our mid-July flat rolled steel market analysis (survey) on Monday of this week, shortly after Severstal announced the sale of their North American operations. We included questions about the sale both as a group and in industry segments of the survey. As a group, those responding were of the opinion […]
The Steel Market Update Price MoMo Index for flat rolled steel in the U.S remained slightly negative this week for the sixth week in a row after being in positive territory for the prior ten weeks. MoMo, a trailing indicator, is measured as a percentage and shows the relation of the current hot rolled coil […]
Steel Market Update watches a number of flat rolled steel indexes and once per week we provide our readers an analysis of what movement has occurred in each during the prior week. This week we found small movements, mostly indicating higher prices, in most of the indices. Hot rolled saw two indexes moving prices by […]
At the end of May 2014 Steel Market Update calculated that the U.S. service center flat rolled steel inventories were short (apparent deficit) by -632,000 tons. At that point in time we projected that the inventory deficit would be reduced by 45,000 tons and that by the end of June the apparent deficit would be […]
The Steel Market Update Price MoMo Index for flat rolled steel in the U.S remained negative this week for the fifth week in a row after being in positive territory for the prior ten weeks. MoMo, a trailing indicator, is measured as a percentage and shows the relation of the current hot rolled coil (HRC) […]
As you may have noticed, we have been writing a series of articles highlighting the benefits of our Premium membership. Through the end of July, our Executive members will have access to our Premium content. If you have not yet explored our Premium content, such as SMU’s survey data or imports by product/port/country, I would […]
As you may have read last week, Steel Market Update is providing our Executive members access to Premium sections of our website as well as Premium supplement newsletters for the month of July. We are doing this in an effort to educate our customers on what is available at the Premium Level should you wish […]
One of the analytical reports that Steel Market Update shares with our Premium Level subscribers is our flat rolled steel “Imports by Product, Port & Country” analysis. Once per month, Steel Market Update produces our analysis of the U.S. government import data and we break out hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized and Galvalume,plates in coils […]
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 […]
Buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel responding to this week’s Steel Market Update survey reported steel mills as continuing to be receptive to negotiating flat rolled steel prices. However, we are seeing a moderation in the numbers as only 70 percent reported hot rolled coil (HRC) prices as negotiable compared to 92 percent just […]
Steel Market Update is providing our Executive members access to Premium sections of our website as well as Premium supplement newsletters for the month of July. We are doing this in an effort to educate our customers on what is available at the Premium Level should you wish to upgrade to Premium Level membership at […]
The Steel Market Update Price MoMo Index for flat rolled steel in the U.S was negative this week for the fourth week in a row after being in positive territory for the prior ten weeks. MoMo, a trailing indicator, is measured as a percentage and shows the relation of the current hot rolled coil (HRC) […]
The Steel Market Update Price MoMo Index for flat rolled steel in the U.S was negative this week for the third week in a row after being in positive territory for the prior ten weeks. MoMo, a trailing indicator, is measured as a percentage and shows the relation of the current hot rolled coil (HRC) […]
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 […]
This month will be focused on foreign steel imports. The month will kick off on Thursday evening or Friday morning (July 10th or 11th) when the US Department of Commerce is slated to report their final determination regarding the oil country tubular goods (OCTG) dumping suits. This determination is critical to those mills who support […]
An explanation of the Key Indicators concept is given at the end of this piece for those readers who are unfamiliar with it. We have made two changes this month to try to make this even more representative of the market. Both the long and flat products shipment rows have been changed from “shipments” to […]
The Steel Market Update Price MoMo Index for flat rolled steel in the U.S was negative this week for the second week in a row after being in positive territory for the prior ten weeks. MoMo, a trailing indicator, is measured as a percentage and shows the relation of the current hot rolled coil (HRC) […]
Last week Steel Market Update conducted our mid-June flat rolled steel market analysis. We sent invitations to slightly more than 600 companies which are involved in the flat rolled steel industries as buyers, sellers or toll processors of the steel. The participants in last week’s analysis came from the manufacturing industry (45 percent), service center/wholesalers […]