SMU Sources Forecast Scrap to Rise by $40 by the Beginning of the New Year Steel Market Update (SMU) scrap sources are forecasting ferrous scrap prices to rise by approximately $40 per ton by early January. December scrap prices are projected to be flat (sideways) to up slightly from November scrap pricing levels. However, scrap […]
Steel Market Update will publish our second Premium Supplement Newsletter on Monday. Included will be our SMU Key Market Indicators and forecast, September imports by product, port and country and articles related to our most recent steel market analysis not available elsewhere. If you are interested in upgrading one of your memberships to the Premium […]
There is a lot of interest in what direction spot flat rolled prices will move from here. It appears there is a split between some of the domestic steel mills regarding the most recent price announcements made by AK Steel and Severstal NA. We understand that spot prices on hot rolled are hitting a bit […]
Total steel mill product exports in September were 1,022,050 net tons, a 10.93 percent decrease from October tonnage of 1,147,411 NT. September exports are reported to be at their lowest levels since December 2012. Semi-finished exports were reported to be 2,678 NT, down 93.55 percent from August tonnage of 86,065 NT, but this is most […]
Lead times shrunk on three of the four flat rolled products followed by Steel Market Update. We saw hot rolled lead times fall back to 4.0 weeks from 4.36 weeks reported at the beginning of November. We also saw cold rolled lead times retreat to 6.0 weeks from 6.39 weeks and Galvalume shrunk to 6.22 […]
I appreciate all of you who took the time to respond to my question regarding CRU and our continuing to publish CRU numbers in our CPI (Comparison Price Indices). There were enough respondents who wanted us to continue so we have bit the bullet and renewed our relationship with CRU for another year. The majority […]
Buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel products continue to be optimistic about their company’s ability to be successful in the current market environment, however at lower levels than what we had been seeing over the past few months. The Steel Market Update (SMU) Steel Buyers Sentiment Index was measured this week at +33 down […]
Each month the Bureau of Labor Statistics puts out its series of producer price indexes, for thousands of goods and materials. The latest release on Thursday reported October results. These statistics are a useful way to evaluate any changes in the competitive position of steel against competing materials. For the purpose of this report, SMU […]
ThyssenKrupp AG put out a press release late this afternoon postponing their annual financial statements which were originally scheduled for this Thursday, November 21st. The reason being provided is the company is involved in “..exclusive negotiations on the potential sale of the US steel plant in Calvert/Alabama (ThyssenKrupp Steel USA). The talks also include a […]
Flat rolled steel prices rose modestly this past week with averages adjusting higher by anywhere from $5 to $15 per ton. We are seeing a slightly larger spread between the highs and the lows. We are also seeing a larger spread in lead times out of the domestic steel mills based on our survey results […]
The Metal Service Center Institute (MSCI) released their service center shipment and inventory data for the month of October 2013. Total steel shipments (all products) were reported to be 3,791,600 tons. October, which had 23 shipping days compared to September with 20 days, had a daily shipping rate of 164,900 tons down from September’s 169,000 […]
Based on Steel Market Update proprietary analysis of the recently released MSCI shipment and inventory data, we have determined that the Apparent Deficit of flat rolled steel for October now totals 361,000 tons. This is a reduction of 21,000 tons compared to the end of September. At the end of October 2012, service centers had […]
Canadian service centers saw their daily shipping rate (all products) fall from 23,800 tons per day in September to 22,100 tons per day in October. The distributors shipped a total of 486,800 tons of steel during October according to the MSCI. This represents a 1.2 percent improvement over October 2012. The number of shipping days […]
I have a question for our members – I have just received the new bill for what it will cost me to publish the CRU indices in our Sunday night comparison of various indexes. Before I agree to pay what I believe to be an excessive amount for the right to publish their numbers I […]
We saw all of the indices capturing higher flat rolled steel prices this past week. Benchmark hot rolled range from $665 to a high of $675 per ton as price assessments rose from $5 to $15 per ton compared to the prior week. The SMU Price Momentum Indicator continues to point toward higher prices over […]
Hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized and Galvalume spot prices continued to remain firm this past week – even as many of the domestic mills have not “officially” announced support for the price increases made by AK Steel and Severstal NA on the 7th of November. According to Steel Market Update (SMU) sources in both the […]
Last week Bhushan Steel, an Indian steel mill known for its exports of coated steel products to the United States, suffered a devastating explosion and fire which has killed at least one person and injured five others. The blast occurred when Bhushan was attempting to commission a blast furnace. Reports out of India suggest that […]
The U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) released Final Census Data on steel imports for the month of September. Total imports (all products) were reported to be 2,818,675 net tons which is down slightly from the 2,878,367 net tons received during the month of August. Compared to last September (2012) there were 215,624 more tons received […]
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) reported today that for the month of September 2013, U.S. steel mills shipped 7,879,747 net tons, a 5.6 percent decrease from the 8,343,075 net tons shipped in the previous month , August 2013, and a 8.9 percent increase from the 7,233,375 net tons shipped in […]
We have had a number of inquiries (and a couple of payments) from our existing members wanting to upgrade to Premium Level. If this is something you are considering please contact our office. If you are a single member we will prorate from your existing membership. If you are a corporate member pricing will depend […]
Financial Markets When I last wrote I commented that it was likely we would head back up solidly into the 1775-1800 zone on S+P 500 before attempting any retracement. Well, today we closed 1790. We should meet some pretty good resistance here which we will likely test for a couple of weeks. With yearend approaching, […]
Iron Ore Resilient is the word best used to describe this market with Iron Ore still $136.6/MT on the index. A third ISM number out of China above 50, this time for October, has some traders quite buoyed by the growth potential there. Growth out of China is as clear as mud as always, but […]
Cleveland, 14th November – The President of the United States today visited ArcelorMittal’s Cleveland facilities, where he met employees at the hot dip galvanising line and gave a speech on the economy. The President was welcomed to the plant by Lakshmi Mittal, Chairman and CEO. Speaking before the President, Mr Mittal said: “It’s a […]
Negotiations on 2014 flat rolled steel contracts are heating up. Sources are advising Steel Market Update that there has been some movement in the negotiation process by the domestic mills which has allowed a number of the mills to close some 2014 business. We are also hearing from multiple sources of a move by buyers […]
We are working into the night to get all of our existing members into the new website. Transition is always a fun project and our company has grown over the past 5+ years. So, this project has been a real challenge for us to complete. There are bound to be bugs in the system. Sometimes […]
As of 8 PM ET on Tuesday evening – here is where we are regarding the launch of our new website. We are integrating the PayPal system into the new site and the design team is reworking the Events section and the way we will take payments for our workshops, conferences, etc. These last two items […]
With two mills announcing price increases this past week and the balance either following on a verbal basis or still considering what their position will be has made this week a transitional week. One where new prices are being quoted and customers move to place previously quoted orders – or are sitting back and waiting. […]
Our existing website is about as basic as one can get when it comes to housing our pricing and other data. The existing site has no ability to provide data in a graphic form and our tables are cumbersome and pretty low-tech. This is not the image we want to project as we build toward […]
All of the indices continue to show strength at the domestic steel mills as prices remained relatively steady to rising this past week. Even with the minor drop in hot rolled and galvanized by our own index which we attribute to just the way the data fell this past week. Steel Market Update continues to […]
Service centers are attempting to collect higher flat rolled spot steel prices from their end user customers and each other. Steel Market Update has seen a dramatic rise in the percentage of service centers raising spot prices to their customers during the last 30 days. Based on responses from service centers the percentage of distributors […]