January prepainted flat rolled steel imports increased over both the previous month and the same month one year prior. The four prepainted products tracked by Steel Market Update rose a combined 18,188 net tons (NT) or 86.6 percent over the previous month and were up 16,236 NT or 70.7 percent over January 2013 tonnage. In […]
Our Premium Level members have access to a special report we create from various data points and end up with import data by product, by port of arrival (USA) and by country of origin. Prior to this month we were keeping tabs on hot rolled imports, cold rolled imports, galvanized imports and Galvalume (other metallic) […]
As our regular readers already know, Steel Market Update has begun to project steel imports for the current month based on U.S. Department of Commerce license data. We advise our readers to be familiar with the US DOC license program (called SIMA) and the nuances with the program which were addressed in an article by […]
Metallurgical coal and iron ore prices were the topic of conversation in a call hosted by Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Platts earlier today. Met coal prices have been on a downward trend with a 10 percent correction in just the last two weeks and are currently at the lowest level since 2007. Lower […]
Apparent supply is defined as domestic mill shipments to domestic locations plus imports. The three month moving average of the total tonnage of sheet and strip supply was 4,383,635 tons per month in the period November through January. This was down by 3.8 percent from the August through October period and up by 0.2 percent […]
Prices continue to erode on all flat rolled steel and buyers expect the trend to continue as iron ore, met coal and scrap prices retreat in their markets. One domestic flat rolled steel buyer pointed out, “The cost of production is coming down.” The expectation is that lower scrap prices will translate into lower hot […]
Flat rolled steel prices moved lower over the past week. The biggest move was in hot rolled which dropped by $15 per ton pushing our average on benchmark hot rolled coil pricing to $620 per ton ($31.00/cwt). Here is how we are seeing prices this week: Hot Rolled Coil: SMU Range is $600-$640 per ton […]
March scrap prices have settled with most areas of the country moving lower. The key Chicago area saw prices as follows: #1 Heavy Melt = $370 to $380 with $385 average down $15 per gross ton.Shredded scrap = $388 down $17 per gross ton.#1 Busheling = $388-$400 with an average of $394 per gross ton […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) has been writing about the building of the iron ore bubble in China for some time now. Our iron ore trading contact in Asia has been warning us of the massive inventories being built and now the crackdown by the Chinese government and banks on bad loans to both public and […]
Total January 2014 US steel exports were 963,060 net tons (NT), a 10.5 percent increase over December 2013 figures but down 10.6 percent compared to January 2013. Total exports in January were above the three month moving average but below the twelve month moving average. The top countries receiving US exports were Canada at 54.8 […]
Apparent steel supply for January was 9,386,260 net tons, a 1.1 percent increase compared to the same month one year ago. Although steel imports were up and exports decreased over these periods, the decrease in domestic shipments negated any big changes in total apparent supply. The net trade balance between steel imports and exports was […]
Met coal prices are plummeting and oversupply is the problem, says Goldman Sachs. On Friday, Goldman cut its metallurgical coal average price estimate for 2014 to $141 per metric ton from $150 due to higher Australian output and slower demand from China along with “limited U.S. supply rationalization.” Bank of America Merrill Lynch agrees that […]
For the week ending March 8, 2014, the American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) reported that the U.S. steel industry produced 1,840,000 net tons (NT) of raw steel, a 1.1 percent decrease over the previous week and a 0.7 percent decrease over the same week one year ago. The estimated capacity utilization rate is 76.5 […]
Zinc and aluminum prices are something to keep an eye on when you’re involved with coated products such as galvanized or Galvalume steels. At current zinc price levels, the amount of zinc needed to coat 0.060″ thick G90 coil costs approximately $1.98 per cwt (based on zinc calculation shared with SMU from a domestic coating […]
Total steel imports in January were 3,205,246 net tons (NT), the highest levels Steel Market Update has recorded since we began keeping track of monthly import data in mid-2009. January tonnage is a 27.9 percent increase over December figures and well above both the three month moving average (3MMA) and twelve month moving average (12MMA). […]
The pace of the decline slowed this past week with a number of the indexes showing mild to no erosion in flat rolled steel pricing. Benchmark hot rolled steel prices dropped into the mid $630’s. The spread between hot rolled and cold rolled steel pricing was an unusually high $121 per ton. Plate prices continue […]
Steel Market Update has been writing about the iron ore pricing and inventory bubble growing in China. We have been forecasting that it is only a matter of time before the bubble will burst and iron ore prices will collapse. The issues are a slowing Chinese steel sector, pollution issues plaguing the Chinese government, bank […]
Steel Market Update has been writing about the iron ore pricing and inventory bubble growing in China. We have been forecasting that it is only a matter of time before the bubble will burst and iron ore prices will collapse. The issues are a slowing Chinese steel sector, pollution issues plaguing the Chinese government, bank […]
The futures market stabilized this week as renewed buying interest has returned. It seems that the recent spot weakness is being shrugged off by most market participants as buyers are looking down the curve to add length. Recent history has shown us that waiting for the physical market to bottom is too late to pick […]
Steel Market Update has become aware of price negotiations on benchmark hot rolled within the past couple of weeks which took base prices below $600 per ton ($30.00/cwt). We have also learned of situations at two mills which took light gauge galvanized product below $36.00/cwt base pricing. In both cases, the offers were for large […]
Iron ore spot prices in China plummeted for the third week. During the past three weeks 62% Fe fines dropped by 6 percent and 58% Fe by 5 percent, according to data compiled by The Steel Index (TSI). Since the beginning of the year iron ore has fallen by 12 percent and is at the […]
Steel prices were flat to slightly lower this week based on direct contact with buyers and our ongoing flat rolled steel market survey results. Here is how we are seeing prices this week: Hot Rolled Coil: SMU Range is $620-$650 per ton ($31.00/cwt- $32.50/cwt) with an average of $635 per ton ($31.75/cwt) FOB mill, east […]
For the week ending March 1, 2014, the American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) reported that the U.S. steel industry produced 1,861,000 net tons (NT) of raw steel, the highest production level since the week of October 5, 2013. The latest production figure is a 1.6 percent increase over the previous week but a 0.7 […]
Steel Market Update covers subjects in a variety of ways for our specific member groups. In the article below, Peter Wright provides a deeper analysis of preliminary steel import license numbers for flat rolled steel products which normally goes to our Premium Level customers: This month we decided to start this piece with a review […]
The domestic steel mills did not announce any flat rolled steel price increases during the month of February. The last price increase announcement was made by USS/POSCO to their West Coast customers on January 30th. The last announcement on the East Coast was ArcelorMittal Dofasco which adjusted prices to take into account the lost value […]
Every week Steel Market Update analyzes a number of the flat rolled steel price indexes and provides the analysis to our Executive and Premium Level members. For our Monthly subscribers we produce an analysis of what happened to steel prices in total during the course of, in this case, the month of February. The numbers […]
A week ago the predictions regarding March scrap settlement prices were for prices to be down $20-$30 per gross ton (or more). However, as Steel Market Update got deeper into understanding the market we found, due to weather and other issues, flows into the scrap yards have been slow which has caused the scrap suppliers […]
During the fourth week of February Steel Market Update conducted our third monthly forecast projecting the number of foreign imports due into the United States during the month of February. What Steel Market Update does each week (except the first week of the month) is to review the U.S. Department of Commerce import license data […]
The American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) reported their final raw steel production numbers for the month of January 2014. This estimation is different than the weekly raw steel production as it is based on 75 percent of the domestic mills reporting vs. 50 percent for the weekly estimates. Total raw steel production for the […]
The US Department of Commerce said it will maintain anti-dumping and countervailing duties on oil country tubular goods (OCTG) imported from China, in announcement made earlier this month (February). The recent decision closed loopholes in the 2009 AD/CV duties imposed by the International Trade Commission, which allowed pipe made in China but finished in other […]