Editor’s note: Leading paint suppliers have announced price increases effective in January, which will impact the market for prepainted steel and aluminum (see related article). The following SMU Steel Buyers Basics article authored by Mario Briccetti and reprinted from March 2014 explains how the cost of the paint calculates into the cost of prepainted products. […]
The possibility for steel prices to have, at the very least, bottomed and improving weather conditions across the United States and Canada have sparked an improvement in our Steel Market Update (SMU) Steel Buyers Sentiment Index. The index, which has been monitoring buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel since 2008, was reported earlier today […]
Steel Market Update began our latest analysis of the flat rolled steel market on Monday of this week. We found mill lead times remained very similar to those reported at the beginning of March. The ArcelorMittal flat rolled steel price announcement was not made until late Monday afternoon and by then 50 percent of the […]
As mentioned in the Lead Times article, SMU began the process of analyzing the flat rolled steel market early on Monday morning – prior to any flat rolled price increase announcements being made. More than likely the survey results regarding mill negotiations represented by the graphic below are going to have about half the respondents […]
The Steel Market Update Price MoMo Index for flat rolled steel in the U.S remained negative this week for the 8th consecutive week after being in positive territory for the prior 15 weeks. MoMo, a trailing indicator, is measured as a percentage and shows the relation of the current hot rolled coil (HRC) price movements […]
Based on the most recent MSCI flat rolled steel data Steel Market Update has calculated that U.S. service centers dwindled their “Excess” inventories from +150,000 tons at the end of January to +28,000 tons at the end of February. Our forecast from last month was for service center excess to drop to +80,900 tons. So, […]
The indexes are beginning to spread out, especially on benchmark hot rolled coil pricing. Steel Market Update saw HRC prices down $15 per ton this past week, SteelBenchmarker was $16 per ton lower (but they only produce prices twice per month), CRU down $5 and Platts held the line even with the previous week. The […]
I once asked a friend, who works for a large steel mill, how many different grades of steel they produced – he estimated the number at 1,000! On top of that, each grade can come in any gauge, any width and many may be coated. Mills make an almost unlimited number of different individual types […]
The Steel Market Update Price MoMo Index for flat rolled steel in the U.S remained negative this week for the 7th consecutive week after being in positive territory for the prior 15 weeks. MoMo, a trailing indicator, is measured as a percentage and shows the relation of the current hot rolled coil (HRC) price movements […]
In an earlier article I talked about price risk in steel and several strategies to hedge that risk. Another, perhaps more important, steel buyer risk is continuity of supply. Steel making is a difficult and dangerous activity, and a global one. Unfortunately suppliers often make (and don’t catch) unusable product. Also, every year there seems […]
On Monday of this week, Steel Market Update (SMU) began our early March flat rolled steel market analysis. We sent invitations to just under 600 companies associated with the industry. Of the companies responding 44 percent were manufacturing companies (end users), 40 percent were steel service centers/wholesalers (distributors), trading companies represented 6 percent of the […]
Buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel continue to be optimistic regarding business prospects both in the current market environment as well as looking out 3 to 6 months into the future. Even so, our index was 2 points lower than the +39 measured during the middle of February and at +37 is the lowest […]
Domestic mill lead times continue to be better than they were at this time last year. Hot rolled lead times averaged 3.94 weeks, according to our survey respondents. This is better than the 3.28 week average of one year ago. Cold rolled lead times were reported to be at an average of 6.08 weeks (4.65 […]
On Monday of this week Steel Market Update sent invitations to just under 600 companies to participate in our flat rolled steel market survey. The respondents to our survey consist of manufacturing companies (44 percent of the respondents), service centers/wholesalers (41 percent) and trading companies (6 percent), with the balance being steel mills, toll processors […]
The Steel Market Update Price MoMo Index for flat rolled steel in the U.S remained negative this week for the 6th consecutive week after being in positive territory for the prior 15 weeks. MoMo, a trailing indicator, is measured as a percentage and shows the relation of the current hot rolled coil (HRC) price movements […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) began collecting responses for the mid-February flat rolled steel market survey during the week of February 17th. Even with weather related issues being felt around the country, our Buyers Sentiment Index was measured at a robust +39 at that time. That result was one point lower than from our last measurement […]
The Steel Market Update Price MoMo Index for flat rolled steel in the U.S remained negative this week for the 5th consecutive week after being in positive territory for the prior 15 weeks. MoMo, a trailing indicator, is measured as a percentage and shows the relation of the current hot rolled coil (HRC) price movements […]
In order to keep their operations running smoothly, steel buyers have to manage the difference between their company’s predicted use of steel and the actual demand. Since flat rolled steel lead times from Steel Mills can be many weeks, buyers have to maintain large safety stock inventories to handle this discrepancy. That does not mean, […]
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 at present is thirty-six. Please refer to Table 1 for the view of the present situation and the quantitative measure of trends. The present situation of […]
The Steel Market Update Price MoMo Index for flat rolled steel in the U.S remained negative this week for the 5th consecutive week after being in positive territory for the prior 15 weeks. MoMo, a trailing indicator, is measured as a percentage and shows the relation of the current hot rolled coil (HRC) price movements […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) conducted our mid-February flat rolled steel market survey this past week. Our surveys are by invitation only and our current invitee list consist of 586 companies. The vast majority of the individuals or companies associated with our survey have been vetted by SMU management to insure that we are working from […]
Steel prices continue to drop on most, if not all, of the indexes followed by Steel Market Update. Benchmark hot rolled coil was referenced at $645 per ton by both Steel Market Update and Platts. CRU had HRC pegged a few dollars higher at $649 per ton. SteelBenchmarker, which is part of World Steel Dynamics, […]
Domestic mill lead times hardly budged according to our most recent SMU steel market survey of the flat rolled steel market. Those participating in our survey put the average hot rolled lead time at 3.70 weeks. This is down slightly from the 3.89 weeks measured at the beginning of the month. The three month moving […]
All flat rolled steel prices, with the exception of cold rolled (and plate which we do not currently measure), were reported as being more negotiable at the domestic mills this past week. This result is based on the Steel Market Update proprietary flat rolled steel market survey which was concluded last Thursday (February 20th). Eighty-eight […]
Buyers who read Steel Market Update may know all about the subject of conflict minerals and the large impact it has had on purchasing departments. However, many buyers may not be familiar with the requirements of the law in this matter. In 2010, the US Congress enacted the Dodd-Frank financial reform law. A little know […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) began collecting responses earlier this week from the companies invited to participate in our twice monthly flat rolled steel market analysis. Even with weather related issues being felt around the country, our Buyers Sentiment Index was measured at a robust +39 this week. This result is one point lower than from […]
Based on the most recent MSCI flat rolled steel data Steel Market Update has calculated that U.S. service centers grew their “Excess” inventories from +2,000 tons at the end of December to +150,000 ton at the end of January. The “Apparent Excess” is based on a proprietary model which projects future shipments and inventory levels […]
The Steel Market Update Price MoMo Index for flat rolled steel in the U.S remained negative this week for the 4th consecutive week after being in positive territory for the prior 15 weeks. MoMo, a trailing indicator, is measured as a percentage and shows the relation of the current hot rolled coil (HRC) price movements […]
The move by the domestic mills to reach $700+ per ton hot rolled is nothing but a blur in the rear view mirror according to the various steel indexes followed by Steel Market Update. Flat rolled steel prices fell across the board on hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized and Galvalume steels this past week. The […]
For the last couple of weeks we have been discussing various kinds of ethical issues that come up in the steel business. This week we will deal with the issue of when flat rolled steel is rejectable. Buyers and sellers often find that they disagree about the quality of the steel. Generally this problem is […]