By CRU Senior Analyst Erik Hedborg, from CRU’s Steelmaking Raw Materials Monitor Iron ore prices held steady in the past week as Chinese demand remained robust while seaborne supply registered another strong week. After struggling for most of 2020, shipments from Vale’s Northern System reached the highest level of the year in the past week. […]
Raw materials prices have seen varying trends in the past month or two as the coronavirus has had varying effects on different commodities in different parts of the world. Iron ore prices have stayed relatively high due to strong demand in China, where COVID-19 restrictions have been eased. Virus-related disruptions to Brazilian mining operations have […]
Nucor’s Plate Mill Group informed customers on Friday that it has raised prices for carbon and alloy plate and heat-treated plate by $40 per ton, effective immediately. Nucor’s move follows a similar announcement by ArcelorMittal USA on Thursday. This is the second round of plate price changes in the past month. SSAB raised its prices […]
By CRU Prices Analyst George Pearson, from CRU’s Steel Monitor In the U.S. Midwest market this week, sheet prices were somewhat mixed with HR coil near steady w/w while HDG coil fell by $19 /s.ton to $650 /s.ton and CR coil inched up by $4 /s.ton to $697 /s.ton. Our full HDG coil price, reflecting […]
U.S apparent steel supply fell to 6.54 million net tons in April, according to recent U.S. Department of Commerce and American Iron and Steel Institute data. This is the lowest supply level in our limited 10-year history. Apparent steel supply, a proxy for demand, is determined by combining domestic steel shipments and finished U.S. steel […]
ArcelorMittal USA informed customers today that it has raised the spot base price of all carbon, HSLA, alloy, heat treated, and specialty plate products by a minimum of $40 per ton. The increase takes effect immediately. This is the latest change to steel plate prices in the past month. SSAB raised its prices by $40 […]
SMU contributor Tim Stevenson is a partner at Metal Edge Partners, a firm engaged in Risk Management and Strategic Advisory. In this role, he and his firm design and execute risk management strategies for clients along with providing process and analytical support. In Tim’s previous role, he was a Director at Cargill Risk Management, and […]
By Anh Nghiem, CRU Steel Prices Lead, from CRU’s Steelmaking Raw Materials Monitor The iron ore price was stable last week but increased sharply on Monday after the news on suspension of mining activities at Vale’s Itabira mining complex during the weekends due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. The mine produced 36 Mt […]
By CRU Senior Analyst Ryan McKinley, from CRU’s Metallics Monitor The CRU metallics price indicator (CRUmpi) increased slightly in June, rising by 2.9 percent m/m to 208.3. The reduction in lockdowns and other Covid-19-related restrictions across the globe allowed scrap to become more readily available as demand increased in major importing markets. In the near term, we […]
United States steel exports slumped to a 21-year low in April, down 39 percent from March and down 33 percent from one year prior, according to recent U.S. Department of Commerce data. April steel exports totaled 403,949 net tons, just a hair above the December 1998 low. Recall that March export levels were at a five-month […]
Steel prices have been clawing their way back since hot rolled hit a low of $460 per ton in late April, moving up by $10 in the past week and recovering roughly $55 over the past five weeks to the current $515 per ton. The mills have managed to collect some, but certainly not all, […]
Both Nucor and Steel Dynamics have revised their galvanized coating extras due to the decline in zinc prices. SMU has done an analysis on the old and new Nucor galvanized extras, provided below. Nucor extras declined by an average of 16 percent. The comparison below shows old and new Steel Dynamics galvanized extras, which declined […]
By CRU Senior Analyst Erik Hedborg, from CRU’s Steelmaking Raw Materials Monitor In the past week, iron ore has fallen by $11 /dmt, the largest price drop since August 2019. The price fall comes after declining steel margins and slightly lower steel production levels in China. At the same time, offloading activities at Chinese ports have […]
Steel mill utilization by domestic producers has remained fairly stable within a tight range in the low 50s since production was curtailed in March and April due to the coronavirus. The American Iron and Steel Institute’s weekly production data shows no signs yet of the recovering economy. Steel production in the week ending June 6 […]
Recently released Census data shows final April steel imports totaling 2.77 million net tons, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. This is just 1,700 tons higher than the preliminary April import figures SMU reported in late-May and up 58.4 percent over March figures. Finished imports in April were 1.32 million tons, down 13 percent […]
Imports of rolled products through May, year over year, were not affected by the pandemic, but the longer-term decline continued, according to the latest Commerce Department data. Year over year, total rolled product imports in May were down by 24.8 percent on a three-month moving average (3MMA) basis. This was the seventh consecutive month where […]
This week’s SMU comparison of foreign and domestic hot rolled prices shows that U.S prices remain advantageous over foreign imports, but at a slightly lesser level compared to mid-May figures, according to SMU and CRU indices. The price gap between domestic HRC compared to German imports is just over $100 per ton, while the Italian […]
Ferrous scrap prices, which were widely expected to move higher again in June, traded “mostly sideways” as supplies increased while demand continued to lag, report Steel Market Update sources. In May, ferrous scrap prices settled up $30 per ton for shredded and up $40-50 per ton for busheling as coronavirus shutdowns disrupted scrap generation and […]
Steel prices saw little movement this week, except for a small bump in hot rolled and a slightly bigger bump in Galvalume, as the market marches in place while it waits to see what happens to demand in June as more companies ramp up production following the coronavirus shutdowns. Steel Market Update’s Price Momentum Indicators […]
Mill utilization by domestic steelmakers improved slightly for the second week in a row–perhaps an early hint of an improving economy and growing demand. Steel production in the week ending May 30 totaled 1,206,000 net tons with the mills operating at an average utilization rate of 53.8 percent. Production was up 1.3 percent from the […]
Steel production worldwide plunged by 13 percent in April, compared with April 2019, as the coronavirus pandemic took its toll on economies all over the globe. The World Steel Association estimates that crude steel production totaled just 137.1 million metric tons last month, though it advised that the April figures are estimates due to the […]
The following article on the hot rolled coil (HRC) steel and financial futures markets was written by Jack Marshall of Crunch Risk LLC. Here is how Jack saw trading over the past week: Steel There’s been more muted trading as the market reflects lower volumes and takes a more cautious wait-and-see approach. Lately the focus […]
By CRU Prices Analyst George Pearson, from CRU’s Steel Monitor In the U.S. Midwest, sheet prices have continued to strengthen while plate prices have weakened further. HR coil prices increased for the third consecutive week, albeit by just $5 /s.ton to $487 /s.ton. The volume-weighted average of transactions remains below recent mill targets of $500 […]
Recently updated license data shows preliminary April steel imports were 2.77 million net tons, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. This is a downward adjustment of 200,000 tons compared to the license data reported last week. Finished imports in April are at 1.32 million tons, down 13 percent over the previous month. Nearly 230,000 […]
Steel prices gained some strength across the board following the mills’ price increase announcements on flat rolled and plate products last week. The benchmark price for hot rolled has managed to get back to the $500 per ton mark, even as the market continues to struggle with shaky demand due to the coronavirus. The increases, […]
Mill utilization by domestic steelmakers improved slightly in the week ending May 23 as steel production totaled 1,191,000 net tons with the mills operating at an average rate of 53.2 percent. Production was up 0.8 percent from the prior week when the utilization rate was 52.7 percent, reported the American Iron and Steel Institute. While […]
Ferrous scrap remains in limited supply, prompting predictions that scrap prices will settle still higher in June, on top of the big increase in May. Steel Market Update sources forecast an increase of $10-20 per ton for obsolete grades and $20-30 per ton for prime grades in June from May levels. Higher scrap prices may […]
By CRU Senior Analyst Erik Hedborg, from CRU’s Steelmaking Raw Materials Monitor Iron ore prices contracted in the past week as China’s “Two Sessions” concluded with a disappointing outlook while Brazilian exports registered their strongest week of the year. On Tuesday, May 26, CRU assessed the 62% Fe fines price at $97.0, a $1.3 /t […]
By CRU Economists Jumana Saleheen and Economist Yingrui Wang, from CRU’s Steel Metallics Monitor Special Feature: China will set out its major economic objectives and policy goals for 2020 at the National People’s Congress. We expect fiscal stimulus of 5-8 percent of nominal GDP to be announced, half the size of the stimulus that followed […]
The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in weaker global demand for steelmaking raw materials. However, the cost of producing and delivering many of these commodities has also fallen. Strong demand in China is helping to buoy prices for iron ore and other materials. Table 1 summarizes the price changes through May 21 of the five materials […]