Based on the results of our first steel market survey of the New Year, lead times at the domestic steel mills remained at moderately higher than normal. Benchmark hot rolled lead times remained above 4.0 weeks (average). Based on the average of the responses received during the survey process HRC lead times were measured at […]
We will publish our next Premium Level Supplement Newsletter on Monday of next week. The supplement will contain currency data and information derived from this week’s steel market survey. We will also publish our Premium Level Power Point of the survey results for our Premium Level members either late on Friday or over the weekend. […]
This is the first “official” week of the New Year and all eyes are on the domestic mills to see if they can continue to hold the line – take that back – if they can break the stalemate we saw during the month of December and push flat rolled steel prices higher from here. […]
Total light vehicle inventories fell 192,000 units from the end of November to the end of December 2013. Total automotive inventories stood at 3.4 million units at the end of December, for a day’s supply of 68 based on SAAR sales of 15.5 million units. The day’s supply at 68 is about 10 percent higher […]
One of our readers asked us last week if we had ever done an analysis of steel prices and lead times. The answer (now) is yes, we have… So the question we posed to ourselves – is there are relationship between mill lead times (as captured in our SMU steel market survey) and flat rolled […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) would like to share some of the data we collected during the past 12 months. Below is a review of flat rolled steel pricing for 2013, scrap pricing during the year, SMU Steel Buyers Sentiment Index and more… Benchmark Hot Rolled Pricing in Review Benchmark hot rolled ended 2012 at $635 […]
On Wednesday, January 2, 2014, ArcelorMittal Dofasco out of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada advised their customers through the use of an internal memo that their flat rolled steel prices would change. The company noted the changes were being made, “Due to recent changes in the exchange rates and market conditions for Flat Rolled products…” The company […]
In the United States approximately 60 percent of the steel produced is through electric arc furnaces (EAF) used by so-called “mini-mills.” Electric arc furnaces use primarily scrap along with pig iron or DRI (direct reduced iron) to charge the furnaces. All of the long products (rebar, bar, angles, beams) are produced through EAF technology and […]
In spite of new price increase announcements being made by the domestic mills just prior to Christmas, the flat rolled pricing cycle flattened out during the month of December with essentially no movement on all four of our product groups: hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized and Galvalume steels. Hot rolled and cold rolled prices went […]
We have been advised by our developers that they think they have solved the mobile issues which were impacting our members ability to read the newsletter on their smart phones. I personally have an iPhone and was having problems reading the newsletter (image was being cut off). As of yesterday this was rectified – although […]
The first couple of days of January did capture a few sales of shredded scrap into the Midwest/Ohio Valley markets. Early reports are a number of orders were taken to the domestic steel mills at higher numbers ranging from a low of up $15 to a high of up $25. This is at the low […]
The year 2013 for hot rolled steel futures was a story of two halves, with the beginning of the year trading in a strong contango and the second half of the year stuck in backwardation. The beginning of the year was characterized by low prices and significant volatility while the second half of the year […]
Platts took all of their flat rolled sheet indices higher this past week and they now reference benchmark hot rolled at $685 per ton – $15 per ton higher than Steel Market Update and $17 per ton higher than CRU. With the New Year Holiday sandwiched in the middle of this past week SMU did […]
We are finally back to a full “normal” week and we should be able to gather much better market intelligence as we begin our next flat rolled market analysis with our survey invitations going out at 8 AM ET on Monday morning. Most buyers should be back in their offices on Monday so we anticipate […]
Based on our channel checks over the Holidays we found little to no movement in flat rolled steel prices as buyers sat on the sidelines (or were on vacation) waiting for the New Year to begin. Steel Market Update published our latest prices on Tuesday afternoon in our website. Here is how we are seeing […]
SMU Price Momentum Indicator ended the month of December where it began, indicating higher flat rolled steel prices over the next 30 days. The domestic steel mills did not disappoint as they raised base price levels to $35.00/cwt on hot rolled and $40.50/cwt on cold rolled and coated (plus extras, FOB mill) for the mills […]
The Empire State Manufacturing Index showed disappointing manufacturing conditions for December. The survey by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York reported the general index at 1.0, up three points from November but indicating almost no change in activity for the month. The future outlook index was slightly less optimistic than November with all indices […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) spoke with Ryan Letz, CEO/President of Willbanks Metals a hot rolled and plate distribution and value-add services company located in Fort Worth, Texas. The Letz brothers had just announced the purchase of the assets and the book of business of First Process Steel, Inc. out of Tulsa, Oklahoma with the following […]
Happy New Year to our members and those viewing our steel industry newsletter for the first time. We wish everyone a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year. We are quite bullish on the North American flat rolled steel industry for the first six months of 2014. Not every segment is clicking on all cylinders – […]
Ferrous scrap prices are expected to rise as we enter the New Year. Early indications are for scrap prices to make a rather serious move as cold weather sets into the North, further reducing already weak flows of the material into the scrap yards. Prices are forecast to move a minimum of $20-$30 per gross […]
Flat rolled steel prices remained range bound over the past few days due to the Holidays and most buyers being out of the office. At the same time, U.S. Steel, NLMK USA, Nucor and ArcelorMittal USA have all come out with new base price guidance for new orders. The expectation from most buyers is for […]
This past week we saw little movement in pricing on most flat rolled steel products due to the Holidays and a general lack of new orders flowing through the system. Benchmark hot rolled is in a fairly tight range at $667 on the low side (CRU) to $675 on the high side (Platts/Steelbenchmarker). The hot […]
According to the most recent U.S. Department of Commerce import license data, Chinese exports of cold rolled into the United States are beginning to surge. Based on license data through the 24th of December, cold rolled imports from China totaled 76,419 net tons of the 159,416 net tons requesting licenses. Since October 2012 the previous […]
On Monday, December 23, 2013 Nucor Sheet Mill Group advised their flat rolled customers that “due to higher raw material prices, the Nucor Sheet Mill Group will increase base pricing to the following levels, effective immediately:” Hot Rolled = $35.00/cwt ($700 net ton) Cold Rolled = $40.50/cwt ($810 per ton) Galvanized = $40.50/cwt ($810 per […]
In a letter to their customers dated today, Monday, December 23, 2013 – NLMK USA opened their February order book and advised their customers of their “minimum” new base price levels: Hot Rolled $35.00/cwt ($700 per ton)Cold Rolled $40.50/cwt ($810 per ton)Coated $40.50/cwt ($810 per ton)Specialty $25/ton increase on all high […]
Although Steel Market Update, Inc. is only “officially” 5.5 years old we are actually moving into our 9th year of publishing when the calendar changes to 2014. The first 2.5 years of continuous publication came during my tenure as an agent for Winner Steel along with my association with a couple of trading companies during […]
With the announcements by NLMK USA, Nucor and ArcelorMittal USA on Monday, it is quite clear that the flat rolled steel mills are marching to the same drummer when it comes to carbon sheet pricing. All of the announcements made on Monday reflected the same base price levels: Hot Rolled = $35.00/cwt ($700 per ton) […]
If you look under the “Analysis” tab there will be a drop down menu where you can access Imports/Exports – there is then a sub menu where the last item is imports by product, port and country. This is available only to Premium Level members. The October numbers are on the website. If you have […]
I thought our Premium Level readers might appreciate the latest forecast from Timna Tanners, Bank of America Merrill Lynch metals and mining analyst. Timna was a little “light” in her price forecast for 2013 hot rolled coil which was originally $555 average and was upgraded during the year to $622. Tanners believes some of the […]
On Monday, December 16th we began collecting data for our last Steel Market Update flat rolled steel market analysis. The way the system works is over the years Steel Market Update (SMU) has vetted a number of companies (many of whom John Packard did business with in the past). Our current list has approximately 600 […]