We have a number of articles in tonight’s newsletter about China and Chinese steel and iron ore prices. Why do we pay so much attention to one country? China controls 50 percent of the world’s steel production. The country has somewhere around 300 million metric tons (330 million net tons) of excess capacity. They have […]
We saw some “minor” slippage in flat rolled steel pricing this past week. When reviewing Platts (SteelBenchmarker did not report prices this past week) and our own steel indices we saw movement in hot rolled, cold rolled as stable, movement in galvanized and Galvalume and plate were stable. Hot rolled prices were down $10 per […]
My apologies as I have been consumed lately with making sure we have a program staffed with the absolute best speakers at this year’s SMU Steel Summit Conference. This will be the first year we will have a manufacturer’s panel. The idea is to have three CEO’s talk about how they see business, trade and […]
Even though the U.S. Department of Commerce is reporting foreign steel imports at high levels, imported steel is getting more expensive and, in some cases, getting harder to find. SMU sources, both steel trading companies and buyers of foreign steel here in the United States, are expressing reservations about the future of foreign steel imports. […]
The U.S. Department of Commerce released the Final Census Data for foreign steel imports for the month of December 2016. We now have the 12-month moving average (12MMA) for calendar year 2016 as well as the 3-month moving average for the last 3 months (4Q) 2016. The January numbers are based on license data which […]
The Nucor Louisiana DRI plant is down for 4-5 weeks according to information just received by SMU from Nucor spokesperson Katherine Miller. Here is what she told us: “We recently had an equipment failure that has temporarily stopped production at our Louisiana DRI plant. Due to the nature of the DRI process and the cooling […]
Steel buyers are telling Steel Market Update that there are a few steel mills “looking for orders” and that flat rolled steel prices are “somewhat negotiable with tons” but, otherwise, the steel mills are doing a good job of holding the line on prices. We have seen a couple of drops in pricing due to […]
The following article is the opinion of Steel Market Update (SMU) founder and publisher, John Packard. There is a new kid in town, his/her name is Big River Steel. No other steel mills like BRS because they are taking market share and, well, everyone wants to keep all of their toys. Big River Steel Arkansas […]
The ferrous scrap markets have been all about doom and gloom up until the past couple of days. Obsolete grade and shredded scrap were reported trading down $25 per ton in Brazil. Prime grades were down $10 per ton. Our sources were telling us export prices were down and the exporters off the east coast […]
The following analysis of the steel markets in China is from Beijing Metal Import & Export Co.,Ltd and is being reproduced by Steel Market Update with permission: Please be informed that we are back in our office on Feb 03. Very sorry we didn’t update on the China steel market for more than 2 weeks […]
Over the next few weeks we will begin rolling out our program and our speakers for this year’s SMU Steel Summit Conference. I am very excited as the program is coming together very well and I believe this will be our best conference to date. We have taken the suggestions received last year as well […]
One of the theories we hold at Steel Market Update is as cycles ebb and flow so do the flat rolled steel spot prices service centers charge their customers. When markets are weak, distributors lower steel prices in order to move off older high-priced inventories and to generate cash. There comes a point when so […]
Over the weekend, we were able to discuss the status of ferrous steel scrap negotiations for February with a couple of scrap dealers as well as one individual associated with the pig iron markets. The Detroit areas mills were the first to settle and the decline in shred and obsolete grades was not as dramatic […]
Last week Steel Market Update (SMU) conducted our early February flat rolled steel market trends analysis which is just a long way of saying our survey. Our analysis began on Monday and ended on Thursday afternoon. We covered a large number of topics with manufacturing companies, service centers, steel trading companies, steel mills and suppliers […]
The U.S. Department of Commerce provided updated license and census data which indicates foreign steel imports are trending lower. December imports of foreign steel are totaling 2,685,641 tons while January is trending toward 2.7 million tons based on license data through the end of the month. Items that are trending lower are: Semi-finished steels of […]
Flat rolled steel prices may have peaked based on the results of the two steel indexes followed by Steel Market Update who reported flat rolled steel prices this past week. Platts reported prices as remaining the same on all flat rolled products but up $40 per ton on plate. Steel Market Update (SMU) collected data […]
Service center flat rolled steel inventories grew in December based on our Service Center Inventories Apparent Excess/Deficit model. November shipments totaled 2,011,000 tons, inventories of flat rolled were 4,446,000 tons (MSCI numbers) and the Apparent Excess as of the end of November 2016 was 1,000 tons. Service centers were, according to the SMU model, in […]
It is Super Bowl Sunday so I am going to keep this as short as possible. Everyone needs to remember that I lived in Atlanta for 34 years, having just moved permanently to Florida a little more than a year ago. Let’s hope for a good game and great commercials… Go Falcons! As you know […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) has been struggling to get a clear view of the current market situation as we attempt to identify which direction we see flat rolled steel prices going from here. We have been receiving mixed messages over the past two weeks and we have been advising our readers to remain vigilant and […]
Buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel are feeling good about the industry based on the results of the just completed flat rolled steel market trends analysis released by Steel Market Update (SMU). The SMU Steel Buyers Sentiment Index set another record high beating the high mark achieved just two weeks ago (an explanation of […]
Flat rolled lead times at the domestic steel mills were essentially flat to slightly shorter based on the respondents to the Steel Market Update (SMU) flat rolled market trends survey completed earlier today. Steel buyers are quick to react to shorter lead times by requesting spot price reductions in their negotiations with the steel mill […]
Average flat rolled lead times (the amount of time it takes a steel mill to produce a new order placed today) have begun to shrink which is causing steel mills to be more receptive to negotiating flat rolled spot steel prices based on those responding to this week’s flat rolled steel market trends analysis survey. […]
I debated about just changing our Price Momentum Indicator to Neutral just on hot rolled and cold rolled and leaving galvanized at Higher. The pricing pressure on coated products spot negotiations does not appear to be necessary when looking at the lead times. The question then becomes are the lead times perhaps a bit “padded,” […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) collected data from the flat rolled steel markets which indicated some changes in the index averages. Whether this is a signal of a break in prices is not yet known and something we will be working on over the next few days. We have seen data this week whereby the strength […]
Today is the last day in the month of January 2017. The following is our monthly review of key data collected by Steel Market Update during the month including a number of our own proprietary indices and indicators. SMU Price Momentum is ending the month pointing toward higher prices ahead. We do admit that there […]
The states compile their employment numbers independently of the Feds, then both are reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The results are close. In the last sixteen quarters since Q1 2013, the Feds reported total job creation of 10,239,000 and the states reported 10,103,000 a difference of only 0.13 percent. Part of this small […]
Today I attended the Port of Tampa Steel Conference. This is a 28th conference put on by the Port of Tampa and I have been to about 8-10 of them. I have found them to be a good place to learn more about key subjects affecting the trading company and import communities of which the […]
Flat rolled steel prices were essentially unchanged on the Platts and SMU indexes while SteelBenchmarker, which only produces their indices twice per month, played catch up. The three steel indexes agreed that benchmark hot rolled coil was averaging $630 per ton ($629 was the average of the three indexes) or $31.50/cwt. Cold rolled was unchanged […]
Acero Junction has started the process of running their first slabs. We, along with the rest of the world, were given a peak at the process when someone from within the mill took a video of the first “bar” which is the first step of the rolling process once the heated slab leaves the re-heat […]
Please be advised that I will be traveling to Tampa, Florida and will be at the Port of Tampa Steel Conference on Monday and Tuesday of this week. I will return to my office on Wednesday. For those of you who have not been to a steel conference, the Port of Tampa is a good […]