SMU sources have advised us that there were two vessels of pig iron sold out of Brazil to the United States at $200 per metric ton NOLA. This represents a $12 per ton increase over last sales ($188 per metric ton). Shipment of the pig iron is anticipated for April/May out of Brazil. Fifteen years […]
Steel buyers are becoming resigned to the fact that steel prices bottomed back in December and the expectation is for prices to go higher from here – even benchmark hot rolled coil. Last week the domestic steel mills announced a $30 per ton price increase. Since then the discussion within the industry has been where […]
In Sunday evening’s issue of Steel Market Update we warned our readers that something was happening in China that could impact US steel prices. We have been working on this project ever since and this is what we have learned from multiple sources around the world: Iron ore and steel prices are surging in China. […]
Steel prices have surged in the Chinese domestic market over the past few days. Steel Market Update reported in our Final Thoughts on Sunday evening that something was up and buyers needed to be aware of what is going on around them – both here in North America as well as around the world. Volatility […]
As negotiations between the domestic steel mills and their ferrous scrap suppliers conclude we are seeing scrap prices rise with the Chicago markets “catching up” with some of the other regions. Dealers are reporting robust sales, especially to sheet mills as they are picking up spot market share from the integrated mills. Chicago area prices […]
One of the key items Steel Market Update reports on twice a month to our Premium level members is the manufacturing view of service center spot pricing and the distributors’ view of how their companies are handling spot pricing into the end users. From this report we are able to determine if domestic mill price […]
The US Department of Commerce released final census data for January foreign steel imports earlier today. January imports came in at 2,648,218 net tons, about 300,000 more tons than what we saw for the month of December 2015. Even so, January 2016 imports were well below the 4,393,498 tons received during January 2015. February 2016 […]
Ted Cruz said it best the other night while debating Donald Trump, “breathe, breathe, breathe….” While speaking to one of my longtime steel buying contacts we began discussing the mentality to this market as there are many “unknowns” such as exactly what the heck is going on in China. We were discussing the difference between […]
The market is weighing the latest attempt by the domestic steel mills to raise flat rolled steel prices. Virtually every mill has come out with spot market price increase announcements of $30 per ton on hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized and Galvalume steels. However, there are a couple of mills that have very little spot […]
Steel mill lead times on all four flat rolled products have become more extended according to those who responded to our most recent flat rolled steel market analysis. As lead times extend, steel buyers have to place more orders in order to protect their inventories. The more orders placed, the better chance for the domestic […]
Buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel reported to Steel Market Update this past week that the domestic steel mills are less willing to negotiate steel prices. We believe this is due to strengthening order books, extending lead times, positive Sentiment and improving demand. The only product not following the rest of the market is […]
One of the first things that happen as flat rolled steel prices begin to firm the lower end of the range of pricing available begins to move higher. This is what happened to our numbers this past week. In many cases the lower end of the range moved up while the upper end of the […]
Steel Market Update posted one of our articles from Thursday evening’s issue of our newsletter (Steel Market Update Publisher Quoted Around the World) and in the process comments were made that started a debate on a subject SMU has addressed in the past: the purchase of foreign steel slabs by domestic steel mills. After the […]
A quick note to our Premium level and free trial subscribers: We have just published the results from this week’s flat rolled steel market trends analysis (survey) on our website. It is available to you once you have signed into the www.SteelMarketUpdate.com website. The power point presentation can be found under the analysis tab. A […]
On Friday the Wall Street Journal wrote an article about the AK Steel price increase announcement and Steel Market Update was quoted in the article. The article was picked up by the Dow Jones and NASDAQ news feeds. Here is a copy of the article for those who may be interested. I have been an […]
Earlier this week Steel Market Update (SMU) began canvassing the flat rolled steel markets in order to better appreciate how buyers and sellers of steel are viewing their company’s ability to be successful in the market today (Current) as well as out three to six months (Future). Their responses result in the publication of the […]
There has been some confusion in the marketplace as many mills were waiting for Nucor and SDI to come out with new price announcements after SSAB and ArcelorMittal led the way earlier this week. On Tuesday, NLMK USA representatives began verbally informing their customers that their spot prices on hot rolled, cold rolled and galvanized […]
The following article on the hot rolled coil (HRC), busheling scrap (BUS), and financial futures markets was written by Dave Feldstein. As Flack Steel’s director of risk management, David Feldstein is an active participant in the hot rolled coil (HRC) futures market and we believe he will provide insightful commentary and trading ideas to our […]
It was only a few weeks ago that many within the ferrous scrap community felt when the negotiations were over for the month of March and the smoke cleared scrap prices would be essentially unchanged from February. That was then, this is now. One of the larger players in the market told us earlier today, […]
With the US Department of Commerce making their initial (preliminary determination) ruling on antidumping (AD) we thought our readers might enjoy a deeper dive into understanding cold rolled exports out of the seven countries affected by the ruling. We decided to begin looking at CR imports beginning in 2010, which was one of the years […]
Steel Market Update had to go back into our records to dig out when foreign steel imports were reported to be less than 2.3 million net tons. The reason we were searching was based on our analysis of the U.S. Department of Commerce foreign steel import license data released earlier this week. Based on license […]
When speaking to one of my steel sources earlier today I was told, “Three months ago no one cared about the steel market. Now you have to pay attention.” They went on to reference our coverage and how others in the industry need to be reading what we are producing at Steel Market Update. Obviously, […]
This evening the U.S. Department of Commerce released their Preliminary Determinations on cold rolled from Brazil, China, India, Japan, Korea, Russia and the United Kingdom. Each country was found to be exporting cold rolled into the United States at less than fair value. However, the degree of the penalties ranged from a low of 2.17 […]
Spot flat rolled steel prices were adjusted higher by Steel Market Update based on the data being collected out of our ongoing flat rolled steel survey as well as through direct contact with steel buyers. We found a tight cluster of hot rolled offers in the $400 to $410 range. Our average increased due to […]
SSAB, which is known primarily as a plate supplier, announced a $30 per ton price increase on plate and hot rolled coil in the United States and a $40 per ton price increase on hot rolled. The SSAB increases were sent via an emailed letter to their customers. The letter began, “Please be advised that […]
Steel prices continued their three month hike higher as SMU benchmark hot rolled price index (average) for the month was $408 per ton. Even with some minor stumbles noted in hot rolled and cold rolled during the second half of the month, our Price Momentum Indicator is still pointing toward higher prices over the next […]
The US Department of Commerce provided the domestic steel industry a “win” according to early reaction to the just released preliminary determination of antidumping (AD) against China, Brazil, Japan, Russia, India, Korea and the United Kingdom. I have to imagine some will be surprised at the high penalties assigned to a number of countries (see […]
Flat rolled & Plate prices have been moving mostly sideways over the past few weeks as little has happened to propel prices higher (or lower) from here. Hot rolled prices have been stuck in the $400-$410 per ton range with SteelBenchmarker at the lower end of the range while SMU ($405) and Platts ($407.50) rounding […]
Happy Academy Award (Oscar) Night… We will begin our early March flat rolled steel market trend analysis on Monday morning. If you receive an invitation to participate please take a few moments to click on the button contained in the message which will take you to our questionnaire. If you would like to participate in […]
Steel Market Update has been speaking with various scrap sources to see what the market trend looks like as we head into March ferrous scrap pricing negotiations. Virtually all dealers are of the opinion that the market looks to be sideways (same pricing as February) with maybe a little “lean” toward the upside. The dealers […]