There are a number of ways to connect with new potential customers (prospects). The most effective is when customers come to you either through a marketing effort you and your company or, better yet came from a recommendation from one of your customers. Another way you can also reach new potential customers is by conducting […]
So, the question of the week is – will the $20 per ton price increase announced by most of the mills, first, be followed by those who have not yet announced, and second, will the mills even attempt to make it stick. A $20 per ton increase does not represent strong, confident steel producers. Usually […]
I adjusted the SMU Price Momentum Indicator from Lower to Neutral in recognition of the attempt by the domestic steel mills to reverse the price trend and move prices higher. A Neutral indicator means prices could move in either direction (or remain stable) over the next 30 days. I understand two mills have made very […]
AK Steel became the first mill since mid-August 2014 to announce an increase on flat rolled steel products. This evening AK Steel advised through a press release (which is normal for them) the following: WEST CHESTER, OH, October 28, 2014 — AK Steel (NYSE: AKS) said today that it will increase current spot market base […]
There has been a flurry of activity as buyers and sellers of steel anticipate a possible price increase announcement (which came late this afternoon in the form of a $20 increase out of AK Steel). Buyers reported the domestic mills as being aggressive this week and we saw our price averages negatively impacted as prices […]
This article was written just prior to the AK Steel announcement of a $20 per ton price increase which we received after 5 PM this afternoon. Steel Market Update reported in a recent issue (SMU Oct. 23rd) recently that this is the time of the year that the domestic steel mills traditionally move to stem […]
As expected, the Russian hot rolled tonnage won’t be missed for very long as Brazil, Turkey and other countries look to fill the void. The upside for buyers is the replacement mills produce a superior product to what was coming in from Russia. At the moment we are being advised by current Russian buyers that […]
This is good. There is a debate going on within the industry regarding the need for a price increase and whether the customers (tail) are wagging the dog (mill). One buyers ask SMU, “Knowing their history of lacking price discipline…taking advantage of their fear and uncertainty of not filling mill and talking the market down […]
Flat rolled steel prices continued to erode this past week based on SMU analysis of the CRU, Platts and SteelBenchmarker steel indices for the week ending October 24, 2014. Hot rolled prices now average $645 per ton, down $3 per ton from the prior week. If you remove SteelBenchmarker from the average, since they did […]
On Thursday of this past week Nucor announced their earnings and conducted their quarterly earnings conference call with analysts. SMU has highlighted a number of subjects touched on during the conference call. The following information (minus the headers) was taken directly from The Street transcript of the call: Potential for Light Flat Rolled Trade Cases […]
Total September steel imports were just shy 3.9 million net tons according to the Preliminary Census numbers just released by the U.S. Department of Commerce. Total steel imports were up 5.2 percent over August data, and up 38.0 percent year over year. Semi-finished imports (mostly slabs) were up 6.3 percent month over month and 47.3 […]
As one of our scrap sources out on the East Coast put it on Friday, talk within scrap circles is very negative for November and the market is poised for another move lower. “Domestic demand for November scrap seems lackluster and export demand at this point – I think everyone knows the story there – […]
Steel Market Update is beginning to see weakness in demand based on the results of our last two flat rolled steel market surveys. The manufacturing companies are the first to report the weakness and service centers are beginning to follow. Our Premium (and free trial) level members can review the Power Point presentation that we […]
Steel buyers and sellers continue to be optimistic about their company’s ability to be successful in the current market conditions. However, there are some signs of strain growing, either due to seasonal pressures or margin squeezes, that may be giving pause to some within the industry. Even so, the results from the mid-October flat rolled […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) conducted our mid-October flat rolled steel market survey this week. Based on the results of that survey, we found lead times essentially unchanged from one week ago and basically the same as one year ago. Hot rolled averages 4.2 weeks, cold rolled 6.09 weeks, galvanized 6.11 weeks and Galvalume 6.58 weeks. […]
Buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel are advising Steel Market Update that the domestic steel mills are receptive to negotiating prices on all products. Based on the most recent SMU flat rolled steel market survey results, 94 percent of the respondents reported the mills as willing to discuss hot rolled pricing. This is up […]
Steel Market Update is hearing the rumors about the potential for a new flat rolled steel price increase. The rumors are mostly coming from the service center and financial community. But, our readers, if paying attention, should not be surprised by the rumors and the real possibility that the mills will attempt to cut their […]
Paul Lowrey of Steel Research Associates was discussing the size of the market segments with SMU back in September during our Steel Summit Conference in Atlanta. He was making sure that we were aware that the energy markets are now the largest steel consuming segment of the steel industry, especially if you take into consideration […]
Steel Dynamics admitted in their conference call with analysts earlier today, that the timing is not right for a trade case against cold rolled and coated steels (the question asked was about Chinese the answer did not reference any specific country). We thought our readers would be interested in the complete dialogue between two of […]
Based on the analysis of the responses we received so far this week on our survey coupled with channel checks we found flat rolled steel prices slipped on cold rolled, galvanized and Galvalume while remaining the same on hot rolled. We found that it is too early to see if the termination of the Russian […]
On Friday, October 16, 2014, the U.S. Department of Commerce terminated the Russian Hot Rolled Suspension Agreement. The agreement, which goes back to 1990 with numerous revisions over the years, covers all carbon flat rolled shipments out of Russia on the following ASTM numbers: A36 (plate), A568, A569, A572, A607 and A715. A few of […]
On Friday, Steel Market Update adjusted our hot rolled coil price range from $630-$670 per ton to $620-$660 per ton. This action was taken after multiple buyers from across the country produced information regarding numerous mills taking aggressive positions for new hot rolled orders. We mentioned in our Thursday evening newsletter that we were considering […]
On Friday, Steel Market Update adjusted our hot rolled coil price range to $620-$660 per ton and our average was adjusted to $640 per ton. All of the other indexes also moved lower on hot rolled coil and the average of the four steel price indexes moved lower by $8 per ton to $647 per […]
Steel Market Update received the following from a member of the financial community regarding consolidation and its impact on the steel industry both short and long term. I am reproducing the email in its entirety and you are welcome to add your comments: “Hope you are well. Wanted to touch base on your recent steel […]
We have selected the hotel we will be using for our next Steel 101 workshop (January 20-21, 2014). The hotel will be the Charleston Harbor Resort & Marina and we have a great off-season rate. We should have more details on the hotel and have the reservations system set up by the middle of this […]
The market believed that consolidation of the steel mills would result in a much more disciplined industry, especially regarding flat rolled steel prices. Larger steel mills and fewer players would mean less negotiating and better control of production facilities. That is what the market wanted to believe. However, it is not easy for a leopard […]
The Metal Service Center Institute (MSCI) reported steel shipment and inventory data for U.S. and Canadian service centers earlier this week. The headline you will read in most periodicals is inventories rose even with steel shipments rising by 8.3 percent over last year and 1 percent over the prior month. However, the headlines are speaking […]
Besides working on flat rolled steel pricing for most of the week, I have also been interviewing companies by email and over the phone to learn more about demand and how demand is holding up as we get deeper into 4th Quarter 2014. This becomes an even more important topic when considering rising inventories at […]
Although we heard from a number of buyers mixed messages regarding the spot markets. Some buyers are seeing the market as continuing to weaken while others feel the mills have dug in their heals and prices are firm (at least in their region of the country). We have heard rumors of one, or more, mills […]
SMU was reading a blog post put up by Metal Miner this morning regarding the consolidation of the steel industry. The main premise of the guest article from James May of Steel-Insight out of Canada, was 81 percent of the hot rolled production in the United States and Canada is controlled by four companies: ArcelorMittal, […]