On Wednesday of this week I participated in the monthly HARDI conference call (see article in tonight’s newsletter). During the call one of the executives from an east coast HVAC wholesaler told the group that he didn’t believe prices could or would move much higher from here. I disagreed with him. One of the justifications […]
Steel buyers and steel mill sellers are beginning to come to the same conclusion, the steel mills have the momentum and flat rolled steel prices are beginning to rise. What may be surprising steel buyers, especially those who do not read publications like Steel Market Update, is the pace and the strength of the market […]
On Monday, November 7, 2016 ArcelorMittal USA began advising their customers of their intention of raising steel base prices to specific minimum levels. The announcement came from an internal memo (or email from the various sales representatives of the mill) which stated, “Effective immediately, the following minimum base prices will be applicable to all new […]
After ArcelorMittal USA announced specific minimum base price levels on Monday we had three steel mills come out with flat rolled steel price announcements on Tuesday. However, none of the mills advised of specific base price levels but rather announced dollar per ton increases. The three mills are Nucor, AK Steel and NLMK USA. Nucor […]
At the end of August Cliffs Natural Resources Chairman, President and CEO, Lourenco Goncalves spoke at the SMU Steel Summit Conference in Atlanta. During his “fireside chat” with SMU founder and publisher, John Packard, Goncalves was upbeat about the future of the steel industry and of the United States. Later, in comments made before SMU […]
On Monday the U.S. Department of Commerce initiated an investigation against China for trying to circumvent antidumping and countervailing duty orders. The DOC was responding to petitions filed by the domestic steel industry on cold rolled. The DOC also initiated an investigation on CORE (corrosion resistant) which SMU will cover in a separate article. There […]
On Monday the U.S. Department of Commerce, responding to petitions from ArcelorMittal, Nucor, US Steel, AK Steel, Steel Dynamics and California Steel, initiated an inquiry of circumvention of the antidumping (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) orders against China. The probe will be for hot rolled and cold rolled substrate supplied by China to Vietnam for […]
The U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) released Final Census Data on imports of foreign steel for the month of September 2016. Imports totaled 2,775,565 net tons which is 9.5 percent below the August import numbers. The U.S. continues to see strong imports of semi-finished steels (slabs/billets) which are used by the domestic steel mills. Hot […]
We are setting up this issue of Steel Market Update to be published at 11 PM Eastern Time. By then the polls will be closed in most, if not all, of the lower 48 states of the union. We may well know who will be the new President of the United States. Either way, whether […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) ferrous scrap sources advised us over the weekend that strength in the Ohio Valley, as well as in the export markets, has led to ferrous scrap prices trading higher than originally thought. Talks continue in many of the regions of the country which have not yet completed scrap pricing negotiations for […]
Flat rolled steel prices have begun their ascent as the $30 per ton price increase begins to be collected by the domestic steel mills. Both Platts and Steel Market Update have hot rolled prices moving up by $10 per ton this past week with SMU at $480 and Platts at $485 per ton by week’s […]
Two more days and we will all (I hope) be able to breathe once again. This is the last Sunday before the election here in the United States when we will decide who will be President and, just as important, who will control the House and Senate. The world is watching so I hope that […]
Imports of foreign steel came in at 2,744,669 net tons for the month of September based on the U.S. Department of Commerce Preliminary Census Data while October is trending at almost the exact same number with 2,774,493 net tons of foreign steel import license requests as of the 1st day of November. When comparing the […]
I have had a number of conversations with steel mills and steel buyers regarding when the next flat rolled steel price increase would be announced by the domestic mills? My opinion is the mills will use the new ferrous scrap settlement prices combined with stronger order books as the reasons for going out after perhaps […]
It does not feel like a “rocket” market. By that we mean we are seeing prices skyrocketing at a breakneck pace. Don’t get us wrong. Prices have indeed changed coarse and the Momentum is for prices to trend higher over the next month of two. We just need to be careful as different products and […]
Steel Market Update has been discussing the subject of steel prices with service centers from around the country and there seems to be an almost unanimous belief that new price increase announcements will be made between now and Thanksgiving (November 24th). Here is a sample of what the service centers have told SMU over the […]
On Thursday (October 27, 2016) Cliffs Natural Resources conducted their 3rd Quarter 2016 earnings conference call with analysts. During the call Cliffs CEO Lourenco Goncalves made statements regarding steel service centers which he reported as importing “illegal steel,” thus hurting the domestic steel industry. He also pointed out that service center inventories were “dangerously low” […]
The following “letter to the editor” was prompted by comments made by Lourenco Goncalves CEO of Cliffs Natural Resources during his earnings conference call with analysts and reported on by Steel Market Update (and others). The comments below were made by an executive at a domestic steel service center in response to Mr. Goncalves: I’m […]
After already publishing the article below on our website for our members, we received a note from our primary Chinese price source advising us that prices rose in China today by approximately $61 per metric ton. We were told, “Price on 2.5mm [.0985″] is USD450/mt fob st. lsd. A lot of buyers did not cover […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) reported a shift in steel pricing “Momentum” at the end of October as our Steel Price Momentum Indicator was adjusted first to Neutral and then to Higher. Our expectation is for domestic flat rolled steel prices to increase over the next 30-60 days. Sentiment, however, has been trending lower with our […]
I want to spend a few moments to discuss an issue that I know is a sore point to the CEO’s at the steel mills. Lourenco Goncalves brought it up in a discussion we had this morning and that is why service centers (and others) do not sign or allow comments made to Steel Market […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) is adjusting our Price Momentum Indicator to “Higher” from Neutral. It is our opinion that flat rolled steel prices in the United States and Canada will move higher over the next 30 to 60 days. There are a number of reasons why we have chosen to make this move now, here […]
All eyes this week will be on the scrap dealers and their steel mill customers as they haggle over where ferrous scrap prices will trade for the month of November. The opinion of many in the steel industry is that as scrap prices increase, it will both support the flat rolled steel price announcements already […]
Flat rolled steel prices are bottoming out and we are already seeing the potential for hot rolled being the first product to move higher. In the table below are the three steel indexes followed by Steel Market Update. Platts was the first index to report hot rolled prices as moving higher this past week. At […]
Our next flat rolled steel market trends analysis will not begin until next Monday, November 7th. We will begin our November surveys on the 7th and the 21st of the month. If you would like to be added to our invitee list please send me an email: John@SteelMarketUpdate.com. We currently have about 575 people on […]
With all of the domestic steel mills announcing $30 per ton price increases either late last week or early this week, the industry is waiting to see if there was a surge of orders and how those orders have impacted lead times. Everyone knows if lead times begin to extend then buyers will have no […]
Steel Market Update has been working on developing new sources to complement some of our original sources out of China. The following information is part of a report we receive once per week from two steel trading companies located in Asia and actively involved with the Chinese steel industry. The first note is from one […]
We continue to watch flat rolled steel prices as anytime the mills announce a price increase it takes time to develop the “target” price. You have to remember that there is a range of prices – not everyone was paying $470 per ton for hot rolled coil before the price increase announcements were made. Some […]
The flat rolled steel markets are in a state of confusion as both buyers and sellers of steel decide what is a fair price for hot rolled, cold rolled and coated steels based on existing market conditions both in the United States but also the rest of the world. Even though there have been price […]
On Friday morning US Steel got the ball rolling by announcing a $30 per ton price increase on all spot sales of flat rolled steel (hot rolled, cold rolled and coated products). Before the afternoon was out two other steel mills followed: Nucor and California Steel Industries. On Monday a number of mills were heard […]