Falls Church, VA, February 12, 2013 – Steel exports continued to fall in December, declining another 2.9 percent compared to November after declining nearly 16 percent in November compared to October, according to government data. “Steel exports softened at the end of 2012 due to economic uncertainty in many international markets, very much mirroring the […]
In one corner we have ArcelorMittal scratching and clawing and trying to hold on to at least a portion of their price increase. One week ago they were trying to collect $650. As the week progressed the number slipped a bit. This week…well, it slipped some more. In the other corner we have a group […]
Written by: John Packard “The key to the steel industry is you have to put steel in the hands of people who want to make money with it.” Quote attributed to Service Center Executive. Earlier this week Steel Market Update (SMU) wrote an article about the break-down of the pricing cycle as service centers were […]
We have room for one (1) more person in our next Steel 101 workshop which will be held in the Columbus, Mississippi area (Starkville, MS) and include a tour of the Severstal Columbus steel mill. We will close registration on Wednesday of this week. You will note our new banner ad at the top of […]
According to Baker Hughes data from February 8th, 2013, the U.S rig count for this week is 1,759 rigs exploring for or developing oil or natural gas. This number represents a decrease of 5 rigs from last week. Compared to last year the 1,759 count is a decrease of 230 rigs. Canadian rigs increased by […]
This week, the SMU Fair Value HRC (hot rolled coil) Model has spot HRC pricing above Fair Value for the first week after three consecutive weeks of being below the Fair Value price. This is due to the SMU average spot HRC index increasing $10 to $620 per ton and scrap inputs slightly decreasing $5 […]
The U.S. Department of Commerce released final census data for the month of December and found that total steel imports were down 9 percent when compared to the previous month. Major drops were reported in hot dipped galvanized (HDG) which fell by 30 percent compared to November, cold rolled which dropped by 17 percent and […]
Written by: John Packard Steel Market Update did not move our Price Momentum Indicator out of Neutral where we have been “stuck” for the past 10 – now going on 11 weeks. The market lacks clear direction – or maybe a better way to view it is the market lacks personality. This is perhaps best […]
Prices crept up on most of the indexes watched by Steel Market Update on a regular basis – even the straggler, Steel Orbis, raised their indices last week. CRU and Steel Orbis are at the low end of the range for Benchmark hot rolled with SMU and SteelBenchmarker somewhere in the middle and Platts at […]
I am finding the current market conditions a bit “unusual.” Foreign prices appear to be within the range which would allow domestic mills to get price increases. Read Andre Marshall’s article on the Futures markets above. The whole world market is not quite right at the moment. The world scrap markets suggest China is the […]
Written by: Sandy Williams & John Packard with assistance from John Eckstein & Peter Wright. During our normal conversations with a number of our sources the Conflict Minerals Trade Act was mentioned in relation to a particular service center group. The discussion was centered on purchasing decisions being tied to suppliers in compliance with the […]
Utilizing a trailing average hot rolled coil (HRC) price, the SMU Price MoMo Index for flat rolled steel in the U.S. remained below zero percent this week for the fourth week after eight consecutive weeks of positive momentum readings. MoMo is based upon the current hot rolled coil price weighed against the previous 12 week […]
Written by: Peter Wright The Economic Outlook for 2013 CBO expects that economic activity will expand slowly this year, with real GDP growing by just 1.4 percent. That slow growth reflects a combination of ongoing improvement in underlying economic factors and fiscal tightening that has already begun or is scheduled to occur—including the expiration of […]
Based on the results of this week’s SMU steel market survey, lead times have moved out slightly at the domestic steel mills compared to where they were during the middle of January. We are now seeing hot rolled lead times averaging 3.5 weeks, cold rolled and galvanized at just over 5 weeks and Galvalume at […]
Written by: Andre Marshall, Crunchrisk LLC Financial Markets: Big news today was that the Euro cratered on the back of Draghi’s comments about the Euro from, in USD terms, $1.357 to $1.34. Unless, of course, you think that ArcelorMittal losing $3.99 billion in the Quarter was bigger news. Ouch! I don’t think any of us are […]
According to the results to our most recent SMU steel survey, those actively involved in the buying and selling of steel are mildly optimistic about their company’s ability to be successful in the current market conditions. The Steel Market Update (SMU) Steel Buyers Sentiment Index was measured at +27 which is unchanged from the middle […]
Reliance Steel & Aluminum announced Wednesday morning a definitive merger agreement whereby Reliance will acquire all outstanding shares of Metals USA Holdings Corporation for approximately $1.2 billion. This will make Reliance the largest service center chain in North America with assets over $6.5 billion and annual sales in excess of $10.0 billion. The transaction is […]
Our beginning of February steel market survey will continue until Thursday afternoon. If you have received an invitation please click on the link to the survey. All responses are kept confidential. I will send out a reminder email on Wednesday morning at 8 AM ET (which will also contain your personalized link to the survey). […]
The American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) reported their estimated raw steel production data for the week ending February 2, 2013. According to AISI estimates the U.S. steel industry produced 1,801,000 net tons of raw steel last week. This represents a decrease of 0.3 percent compared to the week earlier and is 7.4 percent lower […]
Even as prices “firm” a bit from where they were one week ago, our SMU Price Momentum Indicator remains stuck in Neutral for the 10th consecutive week due to the following factors. We always prefer to give the domestic mills an opportunity to sell their price increases into the marketplace, so we automatically move to […]
A number of domestic steel mills are reported to have purchased their February scrap needs at prices below January price levels. The price levels range from down $5 on some products in the east to as high as down $30 per gross ton on some items in the Ohio Valley. The average appears to be […]
The bottom end of our range exhibited some “tightening” over the past week – although not as much as one might expect in light of the size of the price increase announcements made by the domestic mills. Based on survey results the bottom end of the range for our benchmark hot rolled coil is no […]
A quick note to those who are new readers – the small “thumbnail” graphics in our articles are “clickable.” When you click on them they will expand to full size so you can examine them in more detail. Today is Super Bowl Sunday – so we are going to publish a little earlier than normal […]
Dear Editor, Once again, both Nucor and US Steel in their quarterly earnings calls partially blamed imports for their less than stellar results, and frankly, this is getting old. For the record, it is NOT illegal to import steel into the United States. It might be illegal if those imports were dumped (meaning sold below […]
According to Baker Hughes data from February 1st, 2013, the U.S rig count for this week is 1,764 rigs exploring for or developing oil or natural gas. This number represents an increase of 11 rigs from last week. Compared to last year the 1,764 count is a decrease of 233 rigs. Canadian rigs increased by […]
This week, the SMU Fair Value HRC (hot rolled coil) Model has spot HRC pricing below Fair Value for the third week in a row after nine consecutive weeks of higher HRC prices. This is due to the SMU average spot HRC index remaining the same at $610 per ton and scrap inputs remaining the […]
After speaking with Platts on Friday – Mr. Surma of US Steel was correct in his call with analysts, there is one index which has hot rolled coil (Midwest) at $630 this week. A split has developed amongst the indexes as various price points have been gathered over the past week to ten days (depending […]
Written by: Peter Wright Raw steel production in 2012 was 97.8 million tons, up by 3.5 million tons from 2011. Steel mill shipments direct to the construction industry in 2012 were 15.6 million tons, (Figure 1). Shipments from service centers and converters to the construction industry are not classified but by proportion are about 12 […]
Written by: John Packard & Sandy Williams Steel Market Update is adding more strength to our newsletter and website team. Peter Wright will be joining SMU in a writing/analysis capacity with special emphasis on the development of steel and economic indicators which will be of value in forecasting future steel needs in both the flat […]
Our next Steel 101 workshop is looking like another well-rounded group with representatives from the manufacturing sector, service centers, metal building, scrap companies, steel mills and one of our own (Sandy Williams). We have had freight and railroad companies express interest, trading companies, the AIIS, rebar companies, full-line service centers, electrical companies, mining companies, steel […]