China increased steel production by three million metric tons in December. Figure 1 shows annualized monthly global steel production on a three-month moving average (3MMA) basis and capacity utilization since January 2000. Based on OECD data (see below), capacity utilization in December on a three-month moving average (3MMA) basis was 80.9 percent, down from 86.3 […]
The Conference Board report of consumer confidence in January shows stability at a high level based on 10 years of history. The composite value of consumer confidence in January, reported by The Conference Board, was 131.6 with a three-month moving average (3MMA) of 128.9. The 3MMA has decreased from 132.1 in September, but was up […]
Steel Market Update is pleased to share this Premium content with Executive-level subscribers. For more information on upgrading to a Premium-level subscription, email Info@SteelMarketUpdate.com. The first estimate of U.S. GDP growth in Q4 2019 was 2.1 percent, unchanged from Q3. On a trailing 12-month basis, GDP grew at 2.32 percent in the fourth quarter. On […]
Prices of all five of the raw materials considered in this report advanced in the last month. Table 1 summarizes the price changes through Jan. 22 of the five materials considered in this analysis. It reports the month/month, 3 months/3 months and 12 months/12 months changes on a percentage basis. All five materials had a […]
U.S. gross domestic product had positive growth in every region of the country in each of the first three quarters of 2019, according to Bureau of Economic Analysis data. The BEA reports GDP by state and region on a quarterly basis. This data is released several weeks after the national report. The latest data was […]
The South Central region of the U.S. created the most jobs in the fourth quarter of 2019, with the Pacific in second place, based on government employment data. Fourth-quarter regional employment data by state was released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) on Friday. The state data follows and confirms the employment situation that […]
Steel Market Update is pleased to share this Premium content with Executive-level members. For more information on how to upgrade to a Premium-level subscription, email Info@SteelMarketUpdate.com. Based on Steel Market Update’s analysis of 10 indicators in January, the decline in U.S. manufacturing continues. This report summarizes 10 data streams that describe the state of U.S. […]
Steel Market Update is pleased to share this Premium content with Executive-level members. For more information on how to upgrade to a Premium-level subscription, email Info@SteelMarketUpdate.com. Crude oil production set another all-time record in the U.S. in October, but the rig count continues to decline. On Jan. 3, oil prices surged briefly on news of […]
In January, we have replaced the British pound in this report with the Vietnamese dong in recognition that Vietnam is now a much bigger player in the global steel market than is the UK. The U.S. dollar has strengthened against 13 of the 16 steel trading nation currencies in the last three months. In this […]
The composite producer price index of commodities peaked in October 2018, then through December 2019 declined by 2.6 percent. This Steel Market Update report is an analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data and is intended to provide subscribers with a view of the competitive position of sheet steel, aluminum, plastic and wood. The analysis […]
The official economic statistics out of China show a decline in GDP to a level slightly lower than the depths of the global recession in 2009. China’s share of global steel production was 54.3 percent in November. Once each quarter we publish the official statistics for Chinese GDP, industrial production, consumer price inflation and fixed […]
Steel Market Update is pleased to share this Premium content with Executive-level members. For more information on how to upgrade to a Premium-level subcription, email Info@SteelMarketUpdate.com. This month we have expanded our report on steel product downstream shipments and inventories to include total manufacturing. We are (but shouldn’t be) surprised by the result, which confirms […]
December’s licensed import volume for rolled steel products was the lowest since December 2009. Year over year, total rolled product imports in December were down by 27.8 percent on a three-month moving average (3MMA) basis. This follows the 27.4 percent decrease in November, 17.7 percent decrease in October and 15.5 percent decline in September on […]
Premium subscribers to Steel Market Update have reports available on our website that break out the import tonnage into district of entry and source nation for six sheet and plate product categories. This report takes the total national tonnage of hot rolled and breaks it down into product detail. Using U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) […]
Using U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) data, Steel Market Update has taken the import tonnage of cold rolled sheet and broken it down into coil and leveled, then our report breaks out four thickness ranges and identifies how much was full hard, annealed and high strength. Through November 2019, of the total cold rolled sheet […]
The number of jobs created in December declined from the excellent November result on a seasonally adjusted basis. Net job creation in December declined to 145,000 from November’s exceptional result of 256,000. October and November were both revised down by 10,000. Rising employment and wages are the main contributors to GDP growth because personal consumption […]
Job creation decline by 21.3 percent in 2019, compared with 2018, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. The December employment reports were delayed by a week due to the holidays. In December, 20,000 jobs were created in construction and 12,000 jobs were lost in manufacturing. The private sector gained 139,000 jobs in December as […]
Indicators of economic activity through Jan. 10 data do not predict an imminent U.S. recession. In this report, we have identified eight indicators that have some predictive ability about the short-term likelihood of a recession (definition below). Viewed individually, these don’t offer much insight into the future, but viewed collectively they give subscribers a better […]
Steel Market Update is pleased to share this Premium content with Executive level members. For more information on how to upgrade to a Premium-level subscription, email Info@SteelMarketUpdate.com. Key Market Indicators showed a substantial improvement in market trends in the December data. This report is designed to be a big picture summary of data SMU has […]
Steel Market Update is pleased to share this Premium content with Executive-level members. For more informtion on upgrading to a Premium-level subscription, email Info@SteelMarketUpdate.com. The December report of Consumer Confidence from the Conference Board shows stability at a high level based on 10 years of history. Consumer confidence as reported by the Conference Board is […]
Key Market Indicators showed a substantial improvement in market trends in the December data. This report is designed to be a big picture summary of data SMU has reported in detail during the month. It summarizes 36 data streams that describe the state of the steel market and provide forward guidance for steel buyers and […]
Steel production in the U.S. declined in the period from September-November 2019, but by less than the rest of the world, excluding China, according to Steel Market Update’s latest analysis of World Steel Association data. Figure 1 shows annualized monthly global steel production on a three-month moving average (3MMA) basis and capacity utilization since January […]
In Q3 2019, Vietnam was second only to Turkey as a buyer of scrap on the global market. This Steel Market Update quarterly analysis uses data from the Iron and Steel Statistics Bureau (ISSB) in the UK. We believe that to improve our understanding of the gyrations of the domestic scrap market, we should be […]
Steel Market Update is pleased to share this Premium content with Executive-level subscribers. For more information on how to upgrade to a Premium-level subscription, email Info@SteelMarketUpdate.com. The U.S. economy continued to grow in 2019, but at a slower rate as the year progressed. The third estimate of U.S. GDP growth in Q3 2019 was 2.1 […]
The U.S. dollar has weakened against 12 of the 16 steel trading nation currencies in the last three months. In this report we examine the change in currency values of the 16 pre-eminent global steel and iron ore trading nations. The currencies of these 16 don’t necessarily follow the Broad Index value of the U.S. […]
Based on Steel Market Update’s analysis of 10 indicators, there is a faint glow in the manufacturing environment. This report summarizes 10 data streams that describe the state of U.S. manufacturing in general and the steel industry in particular. We have reported on most of these separately in our Steel Market Update publications, and therefore […]
All the laid off auto workers were back on the job at the beginning of November following the GM strike and restarts at the auto plans reportedly went smoothly. This analysis is based on data from LMC Automotive for automotive assemblies in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. The breakdown of assemblies is “Personal” (cars for […]
In Steel Market Update’s latest raw materials report, Table 1 summarizes the price changes through Dec. 18 of the five materials considered in this analysis. It reports the month/month, 3 months/3 months and 12 months/12 months changes on a percentage basis. Four of the five materials under consideration had a positive price movement in December. […]
Crude oil prices broke out to the upside in December, but the rig count continues to decline. U.S. exports of crude oil and petroleum products, including gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, naphtha, and many others, exceeded imports in September by 89,000 barrels a day, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported on Nov. 28. Thus, the U.S. […]
Steel Market Update is pleased to share this Premium content with Executive-level subscribers. For information on how to upgrade to a Premium-level subscription, email Info@SteelMarketUpdate.com. Steel production in the U.S. in 2018 was the highest since 1981, according to the World Steel Association, which released its statistical yearbook for 2018 on Dec. 16. Crude steel […]