I am excited for you, our customers. I have been working closely with the CRU Group, and our members will begin to see some subtle changes to the articles we write. One will be the use of CRU data on such items as our Foreign vs. Domestic Price Spread articles, which we will publish in […]
Flat rolled and plate steel prices remained essentially unchanged over the past seven days. As one steel buyer commented to Steel Market Update last week, the steel mills seem to be content at the current price levels and they don’t want to be seen as getting “greedy.” This doesn’t mean they won’t try to get […]
Steel Market Update canvassed flat rolled and plate steel buyers over the past two days and discovered hot rolled coil is by far the strongest product, followed by demand for plate. Both are connected to the energy markets, which are very strong right now. Our sources are also telling us construction, especially commercial construction, is […]
Beginning in July 2018, Steel Market Update has been recruiting flat rolled and plate steel service centers to participate in our monthly analysis. Our goal is to produce a quality data stream out of the service centers, which can help answer questions regarding future demand from the steel distributors. We provided data sources with our […]
I (and the SMU team) are firmly ensconced in trying to learn all we can about our new owners the CRU Group, while at the same time answering questions from them about our products and services and how we can provide the most value to our members. One of the first things that came up […]
Both manufacturing companies and steel service centers reported a rebound in support for higher spot prices out of the distributors to their end customers. Respondents to our inquiries on the subject reported to SMU that the elimination of the exclusion status for Canada, Mexico and the European Union was the main culprit impacting flat rolled […]
Steel Market Update’s sources reported that the June ferrous scrap trade produced slightly higher prices on prime grades of about $10 per ton and little change on obsolete grades. “There was a significant supply of shredded and cut grades offered into the market, which is not unusual for a June trade. Under market conditions like […]
It is clearly in the crosshairs. What we are referring to is the record for attendance at a SMU Steel Summit Conference. We set the record in 2017 with 667 registrations and 650 attendees (17 were unable to come due to Houston hurricane). Registrations just broke through the 600-person barrier and with 78 days to […]
With 77 days still to go, it is clearly in the crosshairs. What we are referring to is the record for attendance at a SMU Steel Summit Conference. We set the record in 2017 with 667 registrations and 650 attendees (17 were unable to come due to Houston hurricane). Registrations just broke through the 600-person […]
I am finally home long enough to gather my thoughts and hopefully get back to providing some insights into the flat rolled, plate and scrap markets from my perspective. There is obviously a lot of uncertainty connected to the Section 232 tariffs in both steel and aluminum. The Trump administration appears to have an intense […]
The SMU Steel Buyers Sentiment Index, which measures how buyers and sellers of flat rolled and plate steels feel about their companies’ ability to be successful both now and three to six months into the future, was slightly lower this week. Demand has stayed strong, and buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel generally remain […]
I have just returned from three days in Memphis where we conducted our Steel 101: Introduction to Steel Making & Market Fundamentals workshop. We had a packed house of motivated steel people from a wide variety of companies. Nucor Hickman and Nucor-Yamato did a great job of hosting our group as we toured both steel […]
This is not a “kiss and tell story” but rather an explanation of why I, John Packard, founder and owner of Steel Market Update, decided to sell my business to the CRU Group. CRU, known globally for its news, analysis and pricing information, was not the only suitor interested in SMU, but they were the […]
This is not a “kiss and tell story” but rather an explanation of why I, John Packard, founder and former owner of Steel Market Update, decided to sell my business to the CRU Group. CRU, known globally for its news, analysis and pricing information, was not the only suitor interested in SMU, but they were […]
Although the average price for hot rolled, cold rolled and coated steels declined slightly this week, the overall momentum is still pointing to higher prices, according to Steel Market Update data. Here is how we see prices this week: Hot Rolled Coil: SMU price range is $840-$930 per ton ($42.00/cwt-$46.50/cwt) with an average of $885 […]
It has been an incredibly long day as we went on two mill tours and taught a Steel 101 classroom session. As I write my final thoughts for this evening, we are on our way back to Memphis where we will muster our strength and head out to our Steel 101/Nucor cocktail party and dinner […]
With the Trump administration eliminating the Section 232 tariff exclusions for Canada, Mexico and the European Union, it is our opinion that the squeeze on supply coupled with higher prices due to the tariff will provide cover for the domestic steel mills to raise flat rolled and plate steel prices. SMU last moved our Price […]
Steel Market Update ferrous scrap sources expect a sideways to slightly higher domestic market, while the export markets see some pricing pressure. The following is what one of our scrap and pig iron sources had to say about the domestic market as of this weekend: “The U.S. scrap market should be characterized as firm for […]
Steel Market Update will be conducting our early June flat rolled and plate steel market analysis beginning at 8:30 a.m. ET on Monday. If you receive an invitation to participate, please take a few moments to open the email and answer the first question at the bottom of the message. That will take you to […]
It has been an incredibly busy day. The Trump administration was busy taking care of our “friends…” Canada, Mexico and the European Union are no longer excluded from the 232 tariffs. I got a note from a mill friend of mine who laid out the scenario as he saw it: “The irony of this whole […]
There was little movement in flat rolled steel prices over the past seven days most likely due to the Memorial Day holiday weekend. Steel buyers returned to their offices after the long holiday weekend and advised Steel Market Update of what they are seeing out of the domestic steel mills. Last week, we saw a […]
Welcome back to those who were off for the Memorial Day Holiday here in the United States. If you are extending your time off, well I’m jealous as we are back in the thick of it here at Steel Market Update. As expected, we didn’t see much movement between the flat rolled steel prices we […]
Based on the latest license data from the U.S. Department of Commerce reported earlier this week, we are expecting the trend for May steel imports to total 2.5 million to 2.6 million net tons. We continue to see strength in plate imports, in both coil and sheet. Finished imports are trending toward 2.1 million net […]
The SMU Steel Summit Conference is steaming toward 550 registrations as we forge ahead to our goal of 800 attendees. We have 234 individual companies registered as of this morning. We did not break through the 500+ registration mark last year until the end of July. Some more interesting facts for those thinking of attending […]
A large manufacturing company that buys a tremendous amount of hot rolled in the spot markets explained to SMU what they were seeing out of the domestic steel mills this week: “The market is relatively calm at the moment. Steel prices have been hovering in the same range for the last four to five weeks. […]
This morning, World Trade Online reported Brazil as “pushing back on Section 232 quota deal with the U.S.” I did some research on my own to see if traders associated with Brazil, Argentina or other markets that may have verbal agreements with the Trump administration regarding quotas were having issues due to negotiations with the […]
Lewis Leibowitz, trade attorney and contributor to Steel Market Update, offers the following update on trade issues in Washington: Greetings from the West Coast. I just attended the National Association of Foreign Trade Zones Spring conference. Foreign trade zones have been targeted by the Trump administration in the tariff proclamations, including the Section 232 tariffs on steel […]
I spent most of today canvassing the flat rolled and plate steel markets. A portion of the results of my inquiries can be found in our pricing article (indexes) and Tim Triplett’s article entitled, “SMU Q&A: No Signs of a Price ‘Breakout’ Either Way.” Many steel buyers are confused by the lack of clarity in […]
Service centers held essentially the same number of months of supply of flat rolled steel inventories at the end of April as they did as of the end of March 2018. SMU Service Center Months of Supply Index for flat rolled (sheet) steel is 2.7 months based on responses from 95 percent of the steel […]
Flat rolled prices increased slightly on most products this past week, according to the steel price indexes followed by Steel Market Update. Plate prices were seen as being slightly lower than what was published one week ago. Benchmark hot rolled has been relatively stable over the past few weeks. SteelBenchmarker, which only publishes prices twice […]