The U.S. Department of Commerce updated July license data as of 5 PM today (Tuesday, July 21st). At the moment, the license data is “suggesting” that July imports will exceed those of June (June had 22 days and July has 23 days) by 100,000 to 200,000 tons. The daily license request rate for July is […]
Last chance for early bird registration for our 5th Steel Summit Conference which will be held in Atlanta on September 1 & 2. If you can’t register online this evening and want to get the special rate (which is a $200 savings off the full rate) shoot us an email and request an invoice: info@SteelMarketUpdate.com. […]
On Friday, Steel Market Update (SMU) adjusted our Price Momentum Indicator from Higher to Neutral. Now why did we go and do that? We have been stuck in a very tight trading range on most flat rolled steels since late April of this year. Benchmark hot rolled, which is used by most in the […]
Stability is perhaps the most frightening for steel buyers and sellers alike. At least there is an expectation of good times (or bad) when prices are moving on a weekly basis in one direction or the other. What we have seen since the middle of May is a slight “jiggle” as prices bounce up and […]
We will begin our mid-July flat rolled steel market analysis (survey) on Monday at 8 AM ET. If you receive an invitation, please click on the link and spend a few minutes helping us better understand the flat rolled steel markets, trends and pricing. If you are not on the invite list but would like […]
The U.S. International Trade Commission voted today to continue their investigation of coated products (corrosion-resistant) which are primarily focused on hot dipped galvanized and Galvalume steels from China, India, Taiwan, South Korea and Italy. It was a foregone conclusion that the ITC would find enough of a threat for “material injury” to continue the investigation. […]
The Metal Service Center Institute (MSCI) will report June inventories and shipments on Friday of this week. The world is keenly interested in how much steel the distributors are holding on their floors and how June will compare not only to May’s totals but to June 2014 totals as well. The real test, however, will […]
“I have not heard anyone all that concerned about supply disruptions other than the industry media. It seems there is plenty of material to go around and anyone who took a position is hoping that there will be an interruption so that their inventory will become more profitable.” Ohio Valley Service Center Earlier today, SMU […]
Why are we writing about an iron ore vessel? In a little more than a week, Steel Market Update founder and publisher, John Packard, will board the M/V James R Barker along with Interlake Steamship Vice President Brendan O’Conner. The ship’s itinerary calls for the vessel to self-load approximately 58,000 tons of iron ore pellets […]
So, just when you think everything is going along very smoothly somebody or something throws you a curve. In business you should be used used to it, you should expect them. we had one thrown at us on Tuesday and Wednesday when an upgrade we were making to our software unexpectedly impacted our Steel Summit […]
Not too hot (prices aren’t rising at a breakneck pace – or at all for that matter), not too cold (and they aren’t dropping either – at least not yet), just about right (Goldilocks pricing). Of course this perspective will vary depending on your view of the market and your ability to pass through the […]
Normally, when the market is starting to heat up and the first of the domestic steel mills announces a price increase, it is matter of a day or two before the others either follow the lead or make a new announcement at a level higher or lower than the first announcement made. The April and […]
Steel Market Update found the results of one of the group of questions about service center spot sales from this past week’s flat rolled steel survey quite interesting. There have been two price increase announcements by all of the domestic mills and a third laying there from US Steel and our results suggests – well, […]
The U.S. Department of Commerce released the latest foreign steel import license data late this afternoon. The license data is suggesting that July steel imports will be higher than the 3.1 million net tons suggested by today’s adjustment to June’s license data. This is not a positive for the steel market. Two items of interest […]
I am scheduled to be in Two Harbors, Minnesota on July 27th. I anticipate touring an iron ore mine prior to boarding the M/V James R Barker along with Interlake Steamship Company Vice President, Brendan O’Conner. Once the vessel self loads approximately 58,000 tons of iron ore pellets we will move across Lake Superior, through […]
Up, down and sideways is how to describe the various flat rolled price indexes this past week. Hot rolled prices averaged $465, down $1 from the week prior. However, the SMU index was up $5 per ton to $470, CRU was down $7 per ton to $461 and Platts remained stationary at $465 per ton […]
Last week Steel Market Update (SMU) conducted our early July flat rolled steel market analysis (survey). We invited just under 600 companies to participate in our questionnaire which covered such items as Sentiment, pricing trends, purchasing trends, inventories, lead times, negotiations and more. We placed two questions early during the survey process where we ask […]
Something different from Steel Market Update this week. I would like for you to forward our newsletters to your friends, customers, suppliers or anyone who might have an interest in the steel industry. We continue to offer an incentive to companies that recommend our newsletter to others. As long as the new customer provides us […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) has been measuring “Sentiment” or, how buyers and sellers feel about their company’s ability to be successful both in the current market environment as well as three to six months into the future. We concluded our analysis earlier today and have determined that those involved in the flat rolled steel industry […]
Earlier this week US Steel came out with a $40 per ton price increase. Since then the other mills have been eerily quiet not yet jumping on the bandwagon. It is normal for the smaller mills to wait and see if the larger mills will follow the lead. So far this week, they have not. […]
Even with a new price increase announcement out of US Steel (+$40) lead times remain flat compared to what we saw during the middle of June. All of the products, hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized and Galvalume lead times are shorter than what we reported at the beginning of July 2014. Hot rolled lead times […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) continues to collect data from manufacturing and distributors suggesting that the domestic steel mills are willing to negotiate flat rolled steel pricing for new spot orders. The weakest product is hot rolled steel where 76 percent of our respondents reported the mills as willing to negotiate steel prices. Prior to this […]
A month ago one of our dealer sources echoed the views of many in the ferrous scrap business, he expected nothing worse than a sideways (no change) market for July scrap prices. He pointed to stronger demand at the steel mills and continued weak collection of obsolete scrap grades. We will hear more from him […]
Social medita is becoming an even larger forum for getting information to those who want it – and who want it quickly. We use our own blog which you can access from the Home Page (or any other page) from our website. We blog about lots of items which do not make it into the […]
The domestic steel mills are determined to keep pricing momentum on their side as US Steel became the first mill to announce a new round of price increases on flat rolled products. The US Steel announcement, which was made via the use of an internal memo to their sales group leaked to the industry, advises […]
Flat rolled steel prices have been struggling to keep momentum and move higher. We have not yet seen full compliance with the second price increase and now we have a new round of price increases beginning with the $40 per ton announced by US Steel this morning. We did see some minor changes to hot […]
Spot iron ore prices have been tumbling as the Chinese steel industry slows and the Big Three iron ore mining companies continue to dig up more and more ore. According to The Steel Index (TSI) iron ore spot prices for 62% Fe fines dropped below $50/dmt for the first time since the middle of April […]
Since SMU did not publish on Sunday evening we wanted to get the information regarding flat rolled steel price indices from last week. We saw prices tighten up amongst the various indexes which reported pricing last week (SMU, CRU and Platts). However, as with the week before, price momentum was flat going into the 4th […]
Final Census Data for May foreign steel imports was released by the U.S. Department of Commerce (US DOC) earlier today. Imports for May were 107,000 net tons lower than the month of April. The May 2015 number is 600,000 net tons lower than the 4,033,351 net tons received during the month of May 2014. June […]
At the end of July, Steel Market Update founder and publisher, John Packard, will travel from Two Harbors, Minnesota to Indiana Harbor, Indiana on the M/V James R Barker. The James R Barker is an iron ore supply ship owned by Interlake Steamship Company. The 1004 foot long vessel will carry approximately 63,000 tons of […]