By CRU Senior Analysts Erik Hedborg and Andrew Gadd The death toll after the tailings dam accident at Vale’s Córrego do Feijão mine continues to climb, as 84 people are now confirmed dead and close to 300 are still missing. Five people have been arrested; three managers at the Córrego do Feijão mine site and […]
Steel Market Update has confirmed that ArcelorMittal joined the other major mills in raising flat rolled steel prices this week. ArcelorMittal notified its commercial team that it is raising base prices a minimum of $40 per ton on all light flat rolled sheet products, effective immediately. The increase applies to all new and unacknowledged orders […]
We have seen Nucor, U.S. Steel, NLMK USA and ArcelorMittal move spot flat rolled base prices up $40 per ton effective immediately. That is what was announced this week. The reality is not yet clear, and the prices referenced in tonight’s pricing assessment only marginally take the increases into account as negotiations are very early […]
Major domestic steelmakers have announced a $40 per ton ($2/cwt) hike in the price of hot rolled, cold rolled and galvanized steel products, fueling the debate over whether current market conditions can support an increase or if the latest announcement is bound to flop like the last one in October. West Coast mills California Steel […]
By CRU Iron Ore Senior Analyst Erik Hedborg The tragic dam accident in Brazil together with a cyclone off the Australian coast lifted iron ore prices in the past week. On Tuesday, Jan. 29, CRU has assessed the 62% Fe, CFR China fines price at $78.60 /t, up $2.60 /t w/w. The tragic accident in […]
U.S. steelmakers operated at 81.1 percent of their capability in the week ending Jan. 26, producing 1,922,000 net tons of raw steel. It has been a year since the mills produced that much in a single week. It was also the second week this month that steel production was above 1.9 million tons. Steel production […]
U.S. Steel is the latest mill to announce a price increase. Like Nucor, U.S. Steel notified its sales organization on Monday that its base pricing for all new flat rolled spot orders would increase by a minimum of $40 per net ton, effective immediately. U.S. Steel’s last price change on flat rolled was also a […]
Following on last week’s announcement by West Coast mills, Nucor’s Sheet Mill Group today also announced a $40 per ton ($2/cwt) increase on hot rolled, cold rolled and galvanized steel products, effective immediately on new and unconfirmed orders. The price hike comes as no surprise as Nucor and other mills east of the Rockies were […]
Steel Market Update sources disagree on whether ferrous scrap prices will see a small decline or move sideways in February. But the market remains unusual for this time of year when scrap prices normally increase as the mills restock ahead of new-year steel demand. Scrap prices surprised the market with a $30-40 per ton decrease […]
By CRU Steel Editor Linda Lin, Shanghai, China Through late December and the first half of January, Chinese exporters were able to realize a small increase in steel export prices for the first time since August. The m/m increase in HR coil was limited to $2 /t, while rebar prices rose by $6 /t. Price […]
A dam belonging to Brazil mining company Vale collapsed on Friday, killing numerous people and leaving hundreds missing. The dam, holding byproducts from the Feijao mining operation Brumadinho in Minas Gerai, released a torrent of sludge on the dam complex and nearby farms and neighborhoods. Approximately 300 Vale employees were working at the site when […]
There has been a downward reversal in raw materials prices in the last month. Table 1 summarizes the price changes through January of the five materials considered in this analysis. It reports the month/month, 3 months/3 months and 12 months/12 months changes and tells us that price movements have been negative for all materials except […]
The plate markets have been acting quite differently than the hot rolled markets for some time. As hot rolled prices have eroded, plate prices have stabilized, with discrete plate trading around $1,000 per ton, delivered to the mill’s customer. We are seeing the dynamics of the plate markets changing, and SMU wants to be careful […]
Gaurav Chhibbar 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 Gaurav’s previous role, he was a trader at Cargill spending time in Metal and […]
Gaurav Chhibbar 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 Gaurav’s previous role, he was a trader at Cargill spending time in Metal and […]
All is quiet on the eastern front (the western front announced increases yesterday – so, not so quiet there). Steel buyers have been telling Steel Market Update over the past few days that their inventories are stable to high, they are not comfortable with all of the uncertainty and concerned with the lack of transparency […]
California Steel Industries (CSI) and USS-POSCO Industries (UPI) announced price increases of $40 per ton ($2.00/cwt) on Monday, hoping to stem the slide in flat-rolled steel prices that began last summer. The announcements do not include plate. In its Jan. 21 letter to customers, CSI stated that it is opening its order book for flat-rolled […]
On Monday, California Steel Industries (CSI) and USS/POSCO (UPI) advised customers of their intention to take spot prices on flat rolled products produced by the two mills up by $40 per ton ($2.00/cwt). This is the first price announcement out of either mill since October 2018. So far, there have not been any announcements out […]
Raw steel production by U.S. steelmakers in the week ending Jan. 19 totaled 1,912,000 net tons for a capability utilization of 80.7 percent. Steel production was up 1.1 percent from the prior week and up 11.5 percent from the same week last year when the utilization rate was 73.6 percent, reported the American Iron and […]
By Stephen Miller Pig iron prices have declined by about $35/MT for sales concluded last week for delivery to the U.S. The latest sales are in the vicinity of $350/MT CFR. This has been a long time coming since the last confirmed cargoes were booked at $385/MT in November. Prior to November, many market participants thought […]
By CRU Principal Analyst Josh Spoores Scrap prices in the U.S. fell $30 /lt m/m in January, the first time since 2006 that prices have declined in the month. The fall was also the largest December to January decrease in at least two decades for obsolete grades. The unusual decline occurred because supply outpaced demand […]
Steel Market Update spoke with a number of foreign steel trading companies who service the North American market today. There was one very clear theme no matter who I spoke with – steel buyers are not willing to take any risk on foreign steel with spreads less than $60 per ton. A second common theme: […]
The following calculation is used by Steel Market Update to identify the theoretical spread between foreign hot rolled steel prices (delivered to U.S. ports) and domestic hot rolled coil prices (FOB domestic mills). We want our readers to be aware that this is only a “theoretical” calculation as freight costs, trader margin and other costs […]
The following article on the hot rolled coil (HRC) futures market was written by David Feldstein. As the Flack Global Metals Chief Market Risk Officer, Dave is an active participant in the hot rolled futures market, and we believe he provides insightful commentary and trading ideas to our readers. Besides writing futures articles for Steel […]
When we looked at the hot rolled coil market this week, it became apparent there were a number of pressures on that particular product. Pressures from short lead times, for one. Some of our sources reported HRC lead times around 2-3 weeks. We also have at least one mill looking for market share with numbers […]
Raw steel production by U.S. steelmakers in the week ending Jan. 12 totaled 1,891,000 net tons for a capability utilization of 79.8 percent. Steel production was up 0.8 percent from the prior week and up 10.3 percent from the same week last year when the utilization rate was 73.6 percent, reported the American Iron and […]
Analysts at the CRU Group share their latest information on the global iron ore and coking coal markets. Iron Ore Prices Steady on Short Supply Weak seaborne supply kept iron ore prices elevated during the past week. The market is also closely following the development of the fire at Rio Tinto’s Cape Lambert port, which […]
The North American steel sheet market in 2018 was heavily influenced by effects from the Section 232 tariffs. These tariffs greatly increased U.S. sheet prices, while at the same time helped to further reduce imports. Our forecast today calls for a more measured rate of increase for underlying industrial growth, while prices will more closely […]
Steel Market Update faces unique challenges as we strive to “fairly” report market intelligence to the broader steel community. We understand that the consumers of our information are buyers, sellers and producers of steel and steel products. Of concern to our readers is the need to better understand flat rolled and plate steel prices and […]
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 Since the beginning of the year, the forward curve in CME HR futures has shifted down roughly $25/ST on average for […]