Last week anti-dumping suits were filed against corrosion resistant products (mostly galvanized and Galvalume) and we did see some tightening as the domestic mills try to move prices anywhere from $10 to $20 per ton on new spot offers. We are still early in the process with many buyers either not needing to buy or […]
OK, everyone is looking for signs from the steel gods to see if (or when) foreign steel imports would begin to back off from the record high levels seen every month this year. So, we will tempt fate and show our readers a small sign. The US Department of Commerce released license data this afternoon […]
In the first four months of this year bulk scrap exports were 4,421,000 tons for an annual rate of 13,263,000 tons tonnes, down by 7.2 percent from the first four months of last year. The tonnages shown in Figure 1 are based on three month moving averages for 2015 and on the twelve month monthly […]
Twice per month Steel Market Update asks both manufacturing companies and service centers/wholesalers to weigh in on the subject of service center spot price offers. In the survey concluded on Thursday of this past week, with most responses having been locked in prior to the dumping suit announcement, we found manufacturers reporting mixed results. Thirty-eight […]
For the week ending June 6, 2015, the American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) estimated the U.S. steel industry produced 1,722,000 net tons of raw steel, a 1.3 percent increase over the previous week but an 8.8 percent decrease over the same week one year ago. The estimated capacity utilization rate is 72.8 percent, up […]
Flat rolled steel prices have stabilized over the past couple of weeks, according to our analysis of the various steel indexes we follow on a regular basis. The expectation is with the increase in scrap prices and the filing of the anti-dumping suit against China, South Korea, India, Taiwan and Italy will bring a new […]
Ferrous scrap prices rose in June as obsolete flows continue to be weaker than normal and the domestic mills have come back into the market. The strength of the market has come as a surprise to dealers and mills alike. Number 1 Heavy Melt (HMS) ranged from $230 to $265 per gross ton with the […]
Exports of steel out of the United States to the rest of the world fell in April according to the latest data released by the US Department of Commerce. In a press release the American Institute for International Steel (AIIS) reported U.S. steel exports fell 8.5 percent in April after making a slight gain in […]
The US Department of Commerce release Final Census Data regarding April steel imports which were reported to be 3,501,337 net tons in total, down 3.2 percent over March data and down 6.3 percent over the level seen one year ago. Semi-finished (blooms, billets, and slabs) imports recovered 118,000 tons from the four year low we […]
According to the latest data released from the US Department of Commerce and the American Iron and Steel Institute, apparent steel supply for the month of April 2015 was 9,212,032 net tons. Apparent steel supply is calculated by adding domestic steel shipments and finished US steel imports and subtracting total US steel exports. April supply […]
The “not if but when” question has been settled as the long awaited trade case filing on galvanized steel finally occurred on Wednesday. Six domestic steel mills submitted a petition to the Department of Commerce asking for the imposition of anti-dumping and countervailing duties on certain corrosion-resistant steel products from China, the Republic of Korea, […]
The following article was the first of a two part series of articles on how the anti-dumping (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) systems work regarding any steel trade case that might be filed. Since we now have a filing on corrosion resistant steels (galvanized, aluminized and Galvalume) we thought that our readers would be interested […]
The article below was originally published on March 19, 2014 (SMU Volume 10, Issue 34) and it deals with the questions that we are sure many of you are asking yourselves this morning, how does the anti-dumping and countervailing duty systems work especially the timeline for action by the Department of Commerce and the International […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) wants to provide as much detail as possible regarding imports of coated steels into the United States. In particular, we are focusing on galvanized and Galvalume imports from China, India, Taiwan, South Korea and Italy. Galvanized: When looking at the data for 2012, 2013, 2014 and the first 4 months 2015, […]
Steel Market Update received the following letter to the editor from one of our readers regarding the running conversation we have been having in our newsletter regarding free trade and if dumping suits are justified at this time. “Thank you for the opportunity to comment on one of the Trader’s viewpoints, specifically the “China will […]
Steel Market Update has been communicating with our scrap sources during the day today (Thursday, June 4th) and we have learned that not all of the transactions/negotiations have been completed. Even so, a pattern has emerged which is showing ferrous scrap prices as moving higher by $20-$30 per gross ton compared to this time last […]
The United Steel Workers said Wednesday that the union fully supports the antidumping and countervailing petition filed on corrosion-resistant steel products. The petition, said the USW in a press release, details ”how a flood of subsidized and unfairly traded steel imports from China, India, Italy, South Korea and Taiwan has damaged the US steel industry […]
When speaking to buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel this week, one theme became abundantly clear: everyone is waiting for trade cases and, second, where scrap prices will end up for the month of June. Both are expected to support a further tightening of steel prices. Scrap is expected to rise anywhere from $10 […]
Steel Market Update found it interesting as we received a number of comments regarding Al Plummer’s letter to the editor regarding foreign steel imports, pricing and potential dumping. What was most interesting was the vast majority of the comments received were from other steel traders… One trader responded to the continued threats of filing dumping […]
For the week ending May 30, 2015, the American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) estimated the U.S. steel industry produced 1,700,000 net tons of raw steel, a 1.8 percent decrease over the previous week and an 8.6 percent decrease over the same week one year ago. The estimated capacity utilization rate is 71.9 percent, down […]
Steel Market Update sources: mill, service center and others are advising us that anti-dumping and countervailing duty (AD/CVD) trade cases on coated products will be filed yet this week. We have heard that the filing could come as early as tomorrow (Wednesday, June 3rd) or on Thursday of this week. Any trade filing on coated […]
Construction of Essar Steel’s Minnesota taconite operation is accelerating now that the project is fully financed. The $1.9 billion project near Nashwauk involves the construction of a taconite plant with a total annual production capacity of 7.0 million tons of iron ore pellets. The pellets will be initially sent to Essar Steel Algoma and to […]
Today SMU is not only going to discuss where flat rolled steel prices were this past week based on our analysis of steel pricing from our steel index as well as CRU, Platts and SteelBenchmarker, we are also going to discuss price momentum which our SMU Price Momentum Indicator currently points to higher prices over […]
Based on channel checks with our scrap sources, we are hearing that many of the steel mills have been actively buying as much scrap as possible during the month of May. The extra tonnage being added to the early May tons are being purchased at higher prices. Prices are up as much as $10 to […]
Steel Market Update closely follows the hot rolled futures market as a leading indicator of where “the money” is predicting HR steel prices to go in the future. We have added a new writer to our futures articles and he is very experienced in the trading of HRC futures, options and SWAPS. However, he has […]
Steel Market Update participated in the monthly galvanized steel conference call sponsored by HARDI for their wholesalers who supply sheet and coils to the HVAC mechanical contractors. The focus of the conference call is to discuss how the wholesalers see demand and market forces which impact galvanized steel supply and prices. This was the first […]
The following calculation is used by Steel Market Update in order to identify the spread between world hot rolled export prices as determined by SteelBenchmarker and domestic (US) hot rolled prices determined by SMU. Steel Market Update compares the world hot rolled export price to which dollars are added for freight, handling, trader margin, etc. The […]
We are seeing a further firming in the hot rolled numbers with our sources advising that most offers are in the range of $460 per ton with a few offers higher and limited offers lower unless tied to specific tonnage and sizes that fit the producing mill’s sweet spot. Lead times have moved out, for […]
The US Department of Commerce released preliminary census import data today (Tuesday) for the month of April. Steel Market Update (SMU) has analyzed the data for April and we have also revised our Trend Analysis for foreign steel imports for the month of May based on license data received through today. April Preliminary Census data […]
For the week ending May 23, 2015, the American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) estimated the U.S. steel industry produced 1,732,000 net tons of raw steel, a 1.6 percent increase over the previous week but an 6.9 percent decrease over the same week one year ago. The estimated capacity utilization rate is 73.3 percent, up […]