The Steel Market Update Price MoMo Index for flat rolled steel in the U.S. turned negative this week after being in positive territory for the previous four weeks. MoMo, a trailing indicator, is measured as a percentage and shows the relation of the current hot rolled coil (HRC) price movements against the previous 12-week average […]
Based on our conversations with steel buyers and analysis of the data we received from steel mills, service centers and end users, we saw some slippage in flat rolled steel prices this week. Not enough to change our position (Neutral) on the market. But, there was enough to make us sit up and take notice. […]
For the week ending August 23, 2014, the American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) reported that the U.S. steel industry produced 1,932,000 net tons (NT) of raw steel, a 0.7 percent increase over the previous week and a 4.0 percent increase over the same week one year ago. The estimated capacity utilization rate is 80.3 […]
According to Baker Hughes data from August 22, 2014, the U.S rig count for this week is 1,896 rigs exploring for or developing oil or natural gas. This count is a decrease of 17 rigs when compared to last week, with oil rigs down 25 to 1,564 rigs, gas rigs up 9 to 330 rigs, […]
The latest Architecture Billings Index (ABI) score was released on Wednesday morning, reporting that the latest index was the highest since July 2007. The ABI score for July was 55.8, a jump up from June’s score of 53.5. Note that the index is centered around 50, with scores above 50 indicating an aggregate increase in […]
The Steel Market Update Price MoMo Index for flat rolled steel in the U.S. remained positive this week for the fourth consecutive week after being in negative territory for the prior six weeks. MoMo, a trailing indicator, is measured as a percentage and shows the relation of the current hot rolled coil (HRC) price movements […]
“Everyone wants business,” is how the conversation began with one of our Midwest service center sources. “Everyone has steel to sell,” is what he told us. However, he admitted that the bottom has not dropped out of this market. That feeling of concern was heard in a number of places. Flat rolled steel prices seem […]
Canadian shipments for all steel products in the month of July were 482,400 net tons, an increase of 0.3 percent from the month before and an increase of 5.0 percent from July 2013. Inventories at the end of the month stood at 1,467,800 tons, up 5.5 percent from last month and up 0.4 percent from […]
For the week ending August 16, 2014, the American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) reported that the U.S. steel industry produced 1,919,000 net tons (NT) of raw steel, a 1.2 percent increase over the previous week and a 3.3 percent increase over the same week one year ago. The estimated capacity utilization rate is 79.8 […]
According to Baker Hughes data from August 15th, 2014, the U.S rig count for this week is 1,913 rigs exploring for or developing oil or natural gas. This count is an increase of 5 rigs when compared to last week, with oil rigs up 1 to 1,589 rigs, gas rigs up 5 to 321 rigs, […]
Below is the latest press release issued by the The Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI) on residential and commercial heating and cooling equipment shipments through June 2014. You may read the press release on their website here. Residential Storage Water Heaters U.S. shipments of residential gas storage water heaters for June 2014 increased 6.0 […]
The following is a “hypothetical” calculation of the spread between world hot rolled export prices and domestic (USA & Canada) hot rolled prices. Actual HRC price spreads can vary based on freight costs, trader margins and other factors. SMU compares the world export price with adders for freight, handling, trader margin, etc. against the spot […]
The Steel Market Update Price MoMo Index for flat rolled steel in the U.S. remained positive this week for the third consecutive week after being in negative territory for the prior six weeks. MoMo, a trailing indicator, is measured as a percentage and shows the relation of the current hot rolled coil (HRC) price movements […]
For the week ending August 9, 2014, the American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) reported that the U.S. steel industry produced 1,896,000 net tons (NT) of raw steel, a 0.3 percent decrease over the previous week but a 2.0 percent increase over the same week one year ago. The estimated capacity utilization rate is 78.8 […]
According to Baker Hughes data from August 8th, 2014, the U.S rig count for this week is 1,908 rigs exploring for or developing oil or natural gas. This count is an increase of 19 rigs when compared to last week, with oil rigs up 15 to 1,588 rigs, gas rigs up 3 to 316 rigs, […]
Based on the latest flat rolled steel market survey conducted by Steel Market Update since the beginning of this week, steel buyers and sellers reported the domestic mills as being less willing to negotiate hot rolled steel prices and continue to be less willing to negotiate cold rolled prices. When we reviewed the data on […]
Total steel imports dropped during the month of June from the 4.0 million plus tons received during the month of May to 3,611,305 net tons. However, June imports were well above the 12 month moving average (see table below) and were 46.8 percent higher than June of this past year. The biggest drop was in […]
Below is a press release from The American Institute for International Steel (AIIS) regarding their response To Russia’s agricultural import restrictions: Falls Church, VA. August 7, 2014. Russia’s retaliatory ban on U.S. and EU food imports announced yesterday signals a significant worsening in diplomatic and economic relations between the countries involved, and could presage further […]
A recent report from the World Steel Association named the top 50 steel producing companies for 2013. ArcelorMittal was the worlds largest producer with 96.1 million metric tons of steel produced, followed by Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation producing 50.1 million tons. Third place, with 45.8 million tons, went to Hebei Steel Group, followed […]
The Steel Market Update Price MoMo Index for flat rolled steel in the U.S. remained positive for the second consecutive week after being in negative territory for the prior six weeks. MoMo, a trailing indicator, is measured as a percentage and shows the relation of the current hot rolled coil (HRC) price movements against the […]
Steel Market Update is conducting one of our flat rolled steel market surveys this week. Part of our survey deals with hot rolled pricing, cold rolled pricing, galvanized and Galvalume pricing and what is available in the spot market this week. We are market conditions as being firm but not too firm. Steel executives, buyers […]
For the week ending August 2, 2014, the American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) reported that the U.S. steel industry produced 1,901,000 net tons (NT) of raw steel, a 1.0 percent decrease over the previous week but a 2.4 percent increase over the same week one year ago. The estimated capacity utilization rate is 79.0 […]
According to Baker Hughes data from August 1st, 2014, the U.S rig count for this week is 1,889 rigs exploring for or developing oil or natural gas. This count is an increase of 6 rigs when compared to last week, with oil rigs up 11 to 1,573 rigs, gas rigs down 5 to 313 rigs, […]
The following is a “hypothetical” calculation of the spread between world hot rolled export prices and domestic (USA & Canada) hot rolled pricing. Actual HRC price spreads can vary based on freight costs, trader margins and other factors. SMU compares the world export price with an adder for freight, handling, trader margin, etc. against the […]
The Steel Market Update Price MoMo Index for flat rolled steel in the U.S. turned positive this week after being in negative territory for the prior six weeks. MoMo, a trailing indicator, is measured as a percentage and shows the relation of the current hot rolled coil (HRC) price movements against the previous 12-week average […]
The past couple of days have been ones full of mixed messages. As we report in our article about HARDI wholesalers (see below) their buyers reported galvanized prices as having increased by $20 per ton since the middle of July. We are hearing from a multitude of sources that flat rolled prices have firmed on […]
The American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) reported their final raw steel production numbers for the month of June 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 […]
For the week ending July 26, 2014, the American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) reported that the U.S. steel industry produced 1,920,000 net tons (NT) of raw steel, a 1.4 percent increase over the previous week and a 3.7 percent increase over the same week one year ago. The estimated capacity utilization rate is 79.8 […]
Balance appears to be the word of the week, well at least for this past week while we were canvassing the flat rolled steel industry during our mid-July survey. Steel Market Update invited slightly more than 600 people representing approximately 590 companies to participate in our survey. Of those responding 44 percent were manufacturing companies […]
Preliminary steel import data was updated late last week by the US Department of Commerce, reporting total June imports at 3,585,781 net tons, down 11.1 percent over May levels and down 4.1 percent over April levels. Compared to the same month one year ago, total June 2014 steel imports are up 45.8 percent or 1,125,697 […]