Based on Steel Market Update (SMU) analysis of the recently released MSCI service center inventory and shipment data, total service center carbon steel shipments decreased by 41,100 tons in May to 3.050 million tons. The number of shipping days was he same at 21. On a tons per day (t/d) basis shipments decreased from 147,200 […]
Production in the month of May, at 139,154,000 metric tons, was up by 3.2 percent from April and the three month moving average (3MMA) that we prefer as a measure was up by 4.5 percent. Capacity is 2.3 billion tonnes per year and the 3MMA of capacity utilization in May was 70.5 percent. This report […]
Light vehicle (LV) sales in May were 17.5 million units, about the same as April but down from 17.8 million in May last year. All sales numbers in this analysis are at a seasonally adjusted annual rate. Figure 1 shows the auto and light truck components since January 2004. In May, auto sales were the […]
While in New York City this past week Steel Market Update was asked if the spread between ferrous scrap prices and that of hot rolled coil was at historical highs? We were also asked if the spread between hot rolled and cold rolled/coated base prices were also at historical highs. We asked SMU contributing writer […]
The price of oil and natural gas have much to do with sales of oil country tubular goods (OCTG) and related steel products. The energy markets represent a large portion of the hot rolled coil used to make pipe and tube, storage facilities as well as equipment used to drill and pump oil and natural […]
On Wednesday this week the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released its series of Producer Price Indexes (PPI) for more than 10,000 goods and materials. For an explanation of this program see the end of this piece. The latest release this week reported results through May. We run this analysis every three or four months […]
The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) introduced a new data set for GDP by state and region last year and back dated it to Q1 2005. On Tuesday this week the data was updated through Q4 2015. Even though we might consider this to be historically “old” we think it’s worth reporting because it is […]
SMU received a couple of inquiries about sheet shipments and one of our Premium customers had a specific question about the data presented in one of our Premium supplemental issues last week. We thought that we should share the data and then present at the end the question and our response for all of our […]
Licensed data for May was reported by the Steel Import Monitoring System of the US Commerce Department on June 3rd. An explanation of the methodology that we at SMU use to analyze the trade data is given at the end of this piece. Total rolled product licensed imports in the single month of May were […]
This report summarizes total steel supply from 2003 through April 2016 and year on year changes. It then compares domestic mill shipments and total supply to the market. It quantifies market direction by product and enables a side by side comparison of the degree to which imports have absorbed demand. Sources are the American Iron […]
We normally reserve Employment articles for our Premium members but felt this would be a good piece to share with our Executive members as well. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported on Friday in their analysis of non-farm employment that 38,000 jobs were added in May, a result so poor and unexpected as to […]
This Key Markets Indicator report is something we produce for our Premium level clients. However, we thought that our Executive level readers would appreciate knowing why we continue to be bullish on the direction of the market based on our analysis of the Key Market Indicators. An explanation of the Key Indicators concept is given […]
An explanation of the Key Indicators concept is given at the end of this piece for those readers who are unfamiliar with it. The total number of indicators considered in this analysis is currently 34. Please refer to Table 1 for the view of the present situation and the quantitative measure of trends. Readers should […]
Each month the Commerce Department issues its Construction Put in Place (CPIP) data, usually on the first working day covering activity two months earlier. April data was released on Wednesday June 1st. Construction Put in Place is based on spending work as it occurs, estimated for a given month from a sample of projects. In […]
Sources for the following article are the Conference Board and SMU analysis. Please see the end of this piece for an explanation of the indicator. Consumer Confidence declined from 96.1 in March to 94.7 in April and to 92.6 in May. Included below is the official news release from the Conference Board. The three month […]
Figure 1 shows published data for the growth of GDP, industrial production and consumer prices through the first quarter of 2016. The GDP and industrial production portions of this graph are three month moving averages. The growth of GDP was 6.7 percent in the first quarter, down from 6.8 percent in the fourth quarter, and […]
Both auto and light truck sales in the US dropped abruptly in March but recovered to different degrees in April. Auto sales declined from 7.4 million units in February at a seasonally adjusted annualized rate (SAAR) to 6.9 million in March then recovered partially to 7.1 million in April. Light trucks declined from 10.2 million […]
One of the most important indices a steel buyer (or seller) can follow is that of the value of the U.S. dollar vs. the currency of the key steel trading nations. As the dollar value rises or falls, commodities, including steel, tend to be affected. Currency update articles are normally reserved for our Premium Members […]
Production in the month of April at 134,874,000 metric tons was down by 2.0 percent from March but the three month moving average (3MMA) that we prefer as a measure was up by 2.0 percent. Capacity is 2.3 billion tonnes per year and capacity utilization in April was 70.5 percent. There has been a significant […]
The following analysis was done by Peter Wright who writes a number of analytical articles for Steel Market Update. The energy markets are key markets for steel so it is important for our readers to understand oil and gas prices as well as the tubular products associated with drilling and transportation of oil and gas. […]
The article below was published to our Premium members yesterday afternoon, but we felt it would be nice to share with our Executive members too. If you would like more information about a Premium membership or would like to upgrade, contact us at info@SteelMarketUpdate.com. Based on Steel Market Update (SMU) analysis of the recently released […]
Based on Steel Market Update (SMU) analysis of the recently released MSCI service center inventory and shipment data, total service center carbon steel shipments decreased by 84,700 tons in April to 3.091 million tons. This decrease was driven by the number of shipping days, down by 2 to 21. On a t/d basis shipments increased […]
This report summarizes total steel supply from 2003 through March 2016 and year on year changes. It then compares domestic mill shipments and total supply to the market. It quantifies market direction by product and enables a side by side comparison of the degree to which imports have absorbed demand. Sources are the American Iron […]
Each month the Commerce Department issues its Construction Put in Place (CPIP) data, usually on the first working day covering activity two months earlier. March data was released on Monday May 2nd. Construction Put in Place is based on spending work as it occurs, estimated for a given month from a sample of projects. In […]
The annualized GDP growth rate in the first estimate of the first quarter of 2016 was 0.54 percent, down from 1.38 percent, in the fourth quarter of 2015. Normally there are two revisions of the first estimate and sometimes three. Revisions to the four quarters of 2015 were +0.4 percent, +1.59 percent, +0.5 percent and […]
Sources for the following article are the Conference Board and SMU analysis. Please see the end of this piece for an explanation of the indicator. Consumer Confidence declined from 96.1 in March to 94.2 in April. Included below is the official news release from the Conference Board. The three month moving average (3MMA) declined from […]
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported on Friday in their analysis of non-farm employment that 160,000 jobs were added in April, down from 208,000 in March. February and March were revised down by a total of 19,000. An explanation of the BLS report is included at the end of this piece. The three month […]
Licensed data for April was reported by the Steel Import Monitoring System of the US Commerce Department on May 3rd. An explanation of the methodology that we at SMU use to analyze the trade data is given at the end of this piece. Total rolled product licensed imports in the single month of April were […]
The Broad Index value of the US $ peaked on January 20th at 126.2, and on April 15th (latest figure available) was rated at 119.7, a decline of 5.2 percent. This is the lowest value since November 3rd 2015 (Figure 1). On March 15th the Fed held rates constant and cut its projection for the […]
Source World Steel Association with analysis by SMU. Global steel production in the 12 months of 2015 totaled 1.595 billion tonnes with a capacity of 2.33 billion tonnes. The WSA has made no downward revision to capacity as production fell in the course of 2015 through February this year making capacity utilization look increasingly dismal. […]