As we entered the month of August we found flat rolled steel prices trending higher. Prices began rising 10 weeks earlier (late May) after U.S. Steel announced the first of three rounds of price increases. On May 21st the Steel Market Update (SMU) hot rolled coil average price was $565 per ton ($28.25/cwt) and by […]
Steel Market Update first attempt at a Monthly Newsletter was received very well. Our first issue went out at the beginning of August recapping the key events, prices and trends for the prior month (July). We have received a number of calls and emails wanting more information about how their company can subscribe to our […]
SMU was speaking with one of the steel mills this morning who was lamenting about the drop in spot galvanized base prices from the $37.50/cwt level to down around $36.00/cwt base prices. Two conversion mills were mentioned as being the culprits leading the charge. Not everyone (yet) is participating but this mill executive thought it […]
We are starting to spot slight gyrations in the other indexes that we monitor on a regular basis. Most of the items reported this past week were unchanged from the week prior. It is important to remember there are differences in both the collection techniques of the various indexes as well as different FOB […]
By the end of August SMU had adjusted our Price Momentum Indicator from Higher to Neutral, SMU Steel Buyers Sentiment Index averaged +40 which is higher than the average from June and July and well within the optimistic range of our Index. Benchmark hot rolled prices moved essentially sideways as the numbers show below. […]
On July 22nd the Ternium Guerrero plant suffered an explosion during maintenance at the electric arc furnace (EAF) which resulted in the deaths of 11 employees. Late last week Paulo Rocca, Ternium CEO, announced the company was investing $225 million on plant safety, environmental measures, maintenance and remodeling of the Guerrero facilities. In a […]
ISM Manufacturing Index (PMI) Expands for 3rd Consecutive Month Tempe, Arizona) — Economic activity in the manufacturing sector expanded in August for the third consecutive month, and the overall economy grew for the 51st consecutive month, say the nation’s supply executives in the latest Manufacturing ISM Report On Business. The report was issued today by […]
DEARBORN, Mich. September 3, 2013 – Severstal, one of the world’s largest steel and mining companies, today announced it has appointed Saikat Dey Chief Executive Officer of its subsidiary Severstal North America (“SNA”), a leading flat rolled steel producer in the U.S. Dey replaces Sergei Kuznetsov, who departed after four years as CEO of the […]
When is Sunday really Monday and Tuesday suppose to be Wednesday…? One of the changes SMU is making is to date our newsletters on the day they are actually produced and sent. So, you will note that tonight’s newsletter is dated, Tuesday, September 3rd as opposed to Wednesday, September 4th. SMU will produce three Executive […]
The Association of Steel Distributors (ASD) will host a Regional Meeting at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Cleveland, Ohio on Thursday, September 12th. The keynote speaker for the evening is Ohio Governor, John Kasich. Go to the ASD website for more information and registration: www.SteelDistributors.org. The ASD will also host their Annual Fall Conference at the […]
Financial Markets: Since last week’s writing the SP 500 has since rallied to test the old support above at 1670 to then fail and drop to 1627 before rebounding in the last two days to 1642. As I mentioned, we are likely in a retracement move down to the 1550 target before we can find […]
We had one of our members ask about the accuracy of the Steel Market Update (SMU) Price Momentum Indicator as we move between Higher, Neutral and Lower Momentum forecasts. Here is a graph of SMU hot rolled pricing (average) and our Momentum forecasts:
West Chester, OH, August 28, 2013—AK Steel (NYSE: AKS) said today that members of the United Auto Workers Local 3044 have ratified a four-year labor agreement covering about 195 hourly production employees at the company’s Rockport (IN) Works. “We are pleased to have reached a competitive labor agreement at our Rockport Works ahead of the […]
The Far East and Southeast Asian ferrous scrap markets have been on the uptrend since the end of July. Since mid-July, scrap prices have risen approximately $20-$25/metric ton. This coincides with Tokyo Steel in Japan increasing scrap prices twice by approximately $24/MT. The increase in scrap prices were reactionary as steel stockists ramped purchases from […]
July imports rose slightly compared to June but were below the three month and twelve month moving averages. The SMU forecast for August imports is down slightly from July based on license data from this past week. We anticipate August imports to be 2.3-2.4 million tons. Below is the press release from the American Institute […]
HARDI held their monthly steel conference call earlier today. The purpose of the call is to keep the HVAC wholesalers who sell galvanized sheet and coil in touch with market conditions and trends which could impact their businesses. The consensus of opinion, based on the comments made during the conference call, is prices remain stable […]
Steel Market Update sources are forecasting slightly lower shredded scrap prices in the Midwest and Ohio Valley as we prepare to move into September. Prime grades (such as #1 busheling) are forecast to be sideways to down slightly and cut grades are forecast to move sideways across most areas of the country. This is what […]
Our apologies to those who waited to register for our Steel 101 workshop which is being held in Blytheville, Arkansas. We have sold out the workshop and have a fairly significant waiting list. We are working on our schedule for next year when we anticipate holding four workshops around the country. We are also taking […]
We are picking up a very mixed bag over the past two days regarding spot flat rolled pricing. As we go through the process we ask ourselves is the spot pricing market glass half full (meaning prices will go higher from here) or half empty (meaning prices will move lower). We don’t have a clear […]
ArcelorMittal Cleveland will take down their C-6 blast furnace according to a company spokesperson who communicated with Steel Market Update this afternoon. The blast furnace is scheduled to go down on September 5 and is scheduled to be down approximately ten weeks, according to the company. The company is conducting a partial reline of the […]
A quick note to advise SMU will publish through Thursday evening and then will be down for the Labor Day Holiday Weekend. We will be back up on Tuesday, September 2nd. Tuesday, September 2nd will also be the beginning of our next steel market survey. As always your business is truly appreciated by all of […]
Flat rolled steel service centers held 2.17 months of inventory on their floors, according to the results from our latest steel market survey completed on Thursday of last week. This is essentially unchanged from the 2.15 months measured at the beginning of the month and in line with the MSCI data reported at the end […]
We got a taste of everything this past week from the various steel indexes we monitor on a regular basis. Platts, which recently has been on the leading edge of higher flat rolled steel prices, scaled their numbers back on both hot rolled and cold rolled this week. CRU budged ever so slightly higher on […]
The percentage of service centers raising spot flat rolled steel prices dropped according to our most recent analysis of the flat rolled steel market. With flat rolled price ranges and averages stagnating at relatively high levels (compared to the lows for the year) distributors’ pricing appears to be leveling off as well. The service center […]
On Friday, August 23rd, Steel Market Update adjusted our SMU Price Momentum Indicator from “Higher” to “Neutral.” This change is meant to be an indicator of the direction we expect flat rolled steel prices to move over the next 30 days. Prior to Friday our Indicator was set at Higher for 10.5 weeks going back […]
Buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel expressed their growing optimism through our Steel Market Update (SMU) steel survey. The SMU Steel Buyers Sentiment Index registered +42 which is the highest level so far this year exceeding the previous high of +38 posted at the beginning of the month. Our index is now at the […]
We have been receiving a number of calls and emails regarding our Steel Summit Conference. Seems like we are disappointing a large number of people by not producing the conference this year. We will make up for it next year. Early indications for September is for shredded scrap to drift another $10 per gross ton […]
Lead times slipped slightly across the board compared to where we saw them at the beginning of August. The lead times reported by those responding to our Steel Market Update (SMU) steel survey dropped from 4.5 weeks on hot rolled (weighted average) to 4.11 weeks. This is still well above where we were reporting lead […]
The new Steel Market Update Executive Newsletter is our existing newsletter updated and with some new twists. Besides the Executive Newsletter we have launched our SMU Monthly Newsletter and will be launching an upgrade (mostly to our website) which will comprise our Premium Newsletter and website access. We had a meeting with our website developers […]
A short review of where we are in the process of launching of our new SMU website and newsletters. Over the past two weeks we have actually been doing twice the normal work as we produce both our existing newsletter which comes out of our existing website, and then the new “Executive” level newsletter which […]