Boom, zinc has collapsed taking a big hit on Wednesday when it dropped to $1.05 per pound. At the beginning of 2018, zinc was trading over $1.60 per pound. The $1.05 per pound level was last seen in late fourth-quarter 2016. Yesterday, during the HARDI steel conference call, coating extras for galvanized steel were discussed. […]
Steel Market Update expects to welcome nearly 900 executives to our Steel Summit Conference in Atlanta Aug. 27-29. There is still time to sign up if you would like to be one of them. To register, visit: www.SteelMarketUpdate.com/Events/Steel-Summit or by contacting our office at 772-932-7538. See the full conference program below: Making Sense Out of […]
On Friday morning I will be speaking with John Ferriola, Nucor’s CEO, going over some of the topics we will discuss during our one-on-one on stage at this year’s SMU Steel Summit Conference. I would like to offer our readers an opportunity to send me your thoughts on what you would like to learn from […]
If nothing else, foreign steel imports are resilient. After June imports came in at 2,491,574 net tons, July headed right back to 3.2 million net tons on the back of the domestic steel mills who imported approximately 800,000 of slabs. Now, based on August license data through today (Tuesday, Aug. 14), the domestic mills are […]
The SMU Steel Summit Conference Events App for the 2018 event is now available for all registered attendees, sponsors and exhibitors to download and use. The app is where you find all the most up-to-date information about the conference, how to find and network with other attendees, participate in interactive segments of the conference, and […]
ArcelorMittal USA probably surprised some customers with their announcement of a $30 per ton price increase on cold rolled and coated products. My opinion is ArcelorMittal is trying to increase the spread between the hot rolled base price and that of cold rolled and coated products. I also think they are trying to boost base […]
Flat rolled and plate steel distributors, as well as the manufacturers who purchase spot material from the distributors and wholesalers, are reporting a softening of spot pricing. That is the spot pricing service centers are offering their manufacturing customers. Last week, Steel Market Update conducted our early August flat rolled and plate steel market analysis. […]
Once again, the President of the United States has inserted himself into the free trade of steel as he has announced the doubling of tariffs on Turkey. When I spoke to traders on Friday, they did not know how quickly the new tariffs would go into place. Trade attorney Lewis Leibowitz answered some of the […]
The following report is normally provided to data providers and Premium level members of Steel Market Update: Steel Market Update began collecting flat rolled and plate inventories information from our participating service centers beginning on Monday of this week. The following is our “Flash” report, which is derived from at least 50 percent of the […]
With 58 percent of the service center data providers reporting, Steel Market Update is seeing inventories trending lower. Our “flash” report has inventories at 2.5 months of supply–down from 2.7 months of supply reported at the end of July. Of those reporting, 43 percent said their inventories are lower than the previous month. About 35 […]
The next workshop we have scheduled after the SMU Steel Summit Conference is our new Steel 201: Introduction to Advanced High Strength & Other New Steels. This will be a unique workshop in many ways. We will have two tours, one of the Research and Innovation Center (RIC) at AK Steel (which is also where […]
The next workshop we have scheduled after the SMU Steel Summit Conference is our new Steel 201: Introduction to Advanced High Strength & Other New Steels. This will be a unique workshop in many ways. We will have two tours, one of the Research and Innovation Center (RIC) at AK Steel (which is also where […]
Steel Market Update, with the help of AK Steel, has developed a new steel training workshop that we are calling Steel 201: Introduction to Advanced High Strength and Other New Steels. The Steel 201 Workshop will cover the following: Day One (Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2018) Welcome to AK Steel and introductions (Kirk Reich, President & […]
As many of you are aware, I receive numerous questions on the steel, steelmaking and commodity markets on an almost daily basis. I endeavor to answer the questions that I am able as quickly as I can. Those questions asked that fall outside of my wheelhouse, I will try to locate someone who can help. […]
Steel Market Update has a NEW steel training workshop that is meant for both those new to the industry as well as those who have been in the industry for some time and would like a deeper pool of knowledge about the industry. The workshop is called Steel 201: Introduction to Advanced High Strength & […]
A reminder that Steel Market Update readers, as well as those who have attended a past SMU Steel Summit or a training workshop, have a unique opportunity to participate in a webinar about the North American steel market conducted by our parent company, CRU. The webinar entitled, “Mid-Year Update on the North American Steel Market,” […]
Registrations continue for the 2018 SMU Steel Summit Conference. We have broken through 800 and are nearing 825 registered steel and manufacturing executives as of Tuesday, July 31, 2018. To put that into perspective, we had 534 people registered as of July 31, 2017, and we ended up with 650 total attendees, which was a […]
Some quick comments I received as I moved around the market today talking about steel prices: JSW Ohio (Acero Junction mill) just got in 50,000 tons of slabs and is in the market. Credit issues are becoming an issue for companies as their customers are reaching their limits sooner due to the high cost of […]
We have an exceptional new steel training event coming up in September as Steel Market Update works with AK Steel to conduct our first Steel 201: Introduction to Advanced High Strength & Other New Steels workshop. The dates of this unique opportunity to see both a fully integrated steel mill and the AK Steel Research […]
The SMU Steel Summit Conference Events App for the 2018 event is now available for all registered attendees, sponsors and exhibitors to download and use. The app is where you find all the most up-to-date information about the conference, how to find and network with other attendees, participate in interactive segments of the conference, and […]
We are now 29 days away from the start of the 2018 SMU Steel Summit Conference. We will have more than 800 executives from manufacturing, steel distribution, steel mills, trading companies, toll processors as well as companies who supply those industries. One of the ways Steel Market Update is able to keep costs down for […]
We have an exceptional new steel training event coming up in September as Steel Market Update works with AK Steel to conduct our first Steel 201: Introduction to Advanced High Strength & Other New Steels workshop. The dates of this unique opportunity to see both a fully integrated steel mill and the AK Steel Research […]
It is hard to believe that we are now under 30 days until the start of the 2018 SMU Steel Summit Conference. We have eclipsed our most optimistic goal having reached 805 registrations late last week. With 29 days to go (and fingers crossed there are no hurricanes this year), you can expect 820-850 people […]
I understand from steel buyers there are some mills looking for business – especially on galvanized. There has been some very minor slippage ($10/ton) with some mills’ base pricing. Not enough to drive numbers lower than what we published on Tuesday. There are some service centers getting aggressive with coated steel spot pricing to their […]
It’s a beautiful day here in Minnesota, and here I am looking out the window at a wonderful lake. Yet, I’m working all day. Oh well… We did a quick analysis of the attendees registered for our conference. I thought potential attendees might be interested in what was discovered: 44% – Manufacturing Companies35% – Service […]
On Sept. 11 & 12, Steel Market Update, in conjunction with AK Steel, will conduct our first Steel 201: Introduction to Advanced High Strength & Other New Steels Workshop. Everything about this workshop is special: It is the first workshop that we be held at the research facility at a fully integrated steel mill (AK […]
On Sept. 11 & 12, Steel Market Update, in conjunction with AK Steel, will conduct our first Steel 201: Introduction to Advanced High Strength & Other New Steels Workshop. Everything about this workshop is special: It is the first workshop that we be held at the research facility at a fully integrated steel mill (AK […]
As of this weekend, we have registered 775 executives in manufacturing, steel distribution, steel mills, trading companies, toll processors, transportation companies, as well as suppliers to these industries, for our SMU Steel Summit Conference. We are now 125 above last year’s record. With 35 days to go we should reach, and hopefully exceed, our goal […]
Zinc prices were trading at $1.18 per pound this afternoon. Earlier this week, the metal traded as low as $1.13 per pound, but has since rallied off those one-year lows. Even so, the $1.18 per pound level is lower than at any point over the past 12 months (see graphic below). Does SMU expect galvanized […]
My life these days is consumed by our upcoming SMU Steel Summit Conference, our brand-new Steel 201: Introduction to Advanced High Strength & Other New Steels workshop and the next SMU Steel 101: Introduction to Steel Making & Market Fundamentals workshop, as well as writing articles and trying to stay on top of the flat […]