Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. “finished the year strong with record financial performance across nearly every metric,” CEO Jim Hoffman said during the service center’s earnings call on Thursday. Reliance reported record annual gross profits of $4.49 billion on record annual sales of $14.09 billion for full-year 2021. The fourth quarter was also the best […]
By Trade Attorney Lewis Leibowitz On Feb. 7, the United States and Japan announced their long-expected deal to replace most of the Section 232 tariffs on steel (25%) with a tariff rate quota or TRQ. The overall quota from Japan will be about 1.25 million metric tons per year, which is far smaller than imports […]
The U.S. has announced that a deal has been reached with Japan to ease Section 232 national security tariffs on steel imports from the key U.S. ally. The U.S. Commerce Department and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative announced the deal at around 5 pm Eastern Time on Monday, Feb. 7, as SMU had […]
The United States and Japan are expected to announce this afternoon a new deal on Section 232 regarding Japanese steel exports to the U.S., according to sources familiar with the matter. The new agreement will be a tariff rate quota, or TRQ, broadly similar to one negotiated between the U.S. and the EU last year. […]
By Trade Attorney Lewis Leibowitz The White House released a long-awaited decision on the future of special safeguard remedies for the solar industry on Friday. The decision may provide a glimpse into the trade philosophy of the Biden administration. First, a bit of background. The Trump-era tariffs began in January 2018 with decisions under the […]
By Greg Wittbecker, Advisor, CRU Group Given the fact that the standoff in Ukraine is ongoing, we thought it appropriate to stay on this theme of Russian aluminum supply and how the Russians try to overcome sanctions. The Ties that Bind Us Together – Russia and China Russia and China have a long association going […]
By Greg Wittbecker, Advisor, CRU Group Nucor and Steel Dynamics Inc. (SDI) chose to acquire major metal recycling companies just before the Global Financial Crisis. SDI purchased Omnisource for slightly more than $1 billion in November 2007. Nucor followed suit with its $1.4 billion takeover of The David J. Joseph Co. in March 2008. The […]
I was going to write something today about steel prices, lead times and the spreads between various products. There is a lot to write about there. And I’ll come back to it on another day. I’m tapping the brakes on prices today to touch on something just as important and just as disruptive: persistent shortages […]
While the United States and the European Union have been working to resolve their dispute over punitive tariffs on steel and aluminum and re-establish historical transatlantic trade flows, their focus has shifted away from Section 232 duties and towards a carbon-based sectoral arrangement. The plan: to negotiate a global agreement to address carbon intensity and steel […]
January marked the fifth consecutive month of declining steel prices, following a year-long streak of continuous price increases. Hot rolled prices declined $200 per ton throughout the month, with the SMU index averaging $1,335 per ton ($66.75 per cwt) as of Tuesday, Jan. 25. The SMU Price Momentum Indicator for sheet products remains at Lower since its mid-October adjustment. January […]
By Trade Attorney Lewis Leibowitz We are hearing a lot about “managed trade” these days from economists, pundits and politicians. It’s time to step back and think about the pros and cons of that concept. First, we should define the term “managed trade.” Trade is usually conducted between private parties for their mutual gain. Governments […]
By Greg Wittbecker, Advisor, CRU Group In early December, we first sounded the alarm about the threat to aluminum supply should sanctions be re-applied to the Russians. It’s appropriate to update the situation now given some other changes in the aluminum supply-demand equation. European Primary Production Curtailments are Bigger and Deficit is Larger Higher power […]
Craig Yarde, founder of Yarde Metals in Southington, Conn., died Jan. 25 at the age of 71. Yarde was known for his “out-of-the-box business philosophy” and entrepreneurial approach to managing the metal distribution and processing company he founded out of his home in Bristol, Conn., in 1976. After the service center was sold to Reliance […]
The U.S. steel industry has suffered tremendously from unfairly traded goods over the years. Many of the current antidumping and countervailing duty cases stem from import surges around five years ago and are coming up for review soon to determine if they should be extended. “2022 is a critical year for sunset reviews (see chart […]
Prices for four of the seven steelmaking raw materials tracked in this SMU analysis increased over the last 30 days, while three products decreased. Through Jan. 26, coking coal prices rose 26% from one month prior, aluminum prices increased 10%, iron ore prices rose 8%, and zinc prices were up 2%. In that same time […]
In another skirmish in the battle between steel and aluminum for a greater share of the automotive market, aluminum producer Novelis Inc. plans to invest $365 million to build a highly advanced recycling center adjacent to its new automotive finishing plant in Guthrie, Ky. Groundbreaking is scheduled for early 2022, with commissioning expected in 2024. Aluminum producers claim the high […]
By Trade Attorney Lewis Leibowitz The U.S. and the UK recently announced the start of talks to eliminate or at least reduce the impact of Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum. Since 2018, the UK, first as part of the European Union and since the start of 2021 the UK alone, has been subject […]
Wiley partner Alan Price will be the featured speaker on Steel Market Update’s next Community Chat webinar on Wednesday, Jan. 26, at 11 a.m. ET (10 a.m. CT). We’ll discuss the big issues facing steel when it comes to trade policy – with a particular focus on Section 232 developments: Will there be a deal […]
By Greg Wittbecker, Advisor, CRU Group One of the hot topics resonating through commodity market forecasts is the risk to demand from a faltering Chinese real estate market. The well-publicized financial difficulties of Evergrande have raised fears that the property markets could destabilize. Other developers such as Kaisa and Sinic Holdings have also struggled to […]
I want to spend some time talking about the Steel Market Update website and the value that can be found there. Over the years we have tweaked and added new content to the site as we strive to provide more information to the industry and our readers. The SMU Website There are a number of […]
I want to spend some time talking about the Steel Market Update website and the value that can be found there. Over the years we have tweaked and added new content to the site as we strive to provide more information to the industry and our readers. The SMU Website There are a number of […]
The United States and the United Kingdom have officially started talks that could ease Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum from Great Britain. The discussions would also seek to end UK measures imposed against certain U.S. exports in retaliation for the 25% security tariffs on steel and 10% tariffs on aluminum, U.S. and UK […]
Wiley partner Alan Price will be the featured speaker on Steel Market Update’s next Community Chat webinar on Wednesday, Jan. 26, at 11 a.m. ET (10 a.m. CT). We’ll discuss the big issues facing steel when it comes to trade policy – with a particular focus on Section 232 developments: Will there be a deal […]
Wiley partner Alan Price will be the featured speaker on Steel Market Update’s next Community Chat webinar on Wednesday, Jan. 26, at 11 a.m. ET (10 a.m. CT). We’ll discuss the big issues facing steel when it comes to trade policy – with a particular focus on Section 232 developments: Will there be a deal […]
Steel Market Update is pleased to share this Premium content with Executive members. For information on upgrading to a Premium-level subscription, email Info@SteelMarketUpdate.com. Producer prices expanded by 0.2% in December, seasonally adjusted, maintaining their upward climb since reaching the most recent bottom 21 months ago, reports the U.S. Labor Department. The unyielding trend continues to highlight […]
Producer prices grew by 1.0% in January, seasonally adjusted, maintaining a 22-month growth run since reaching the most recent bottom in April 2020, reports the U.S. Labor Department. Wholesale prices jumped by twice the expected level in January as inflation pressures were unabated to start the year. The Labor Department said that its Producer Price […]
After disappointing years in 2020 and 2021, the auto industry and its suppliers stand to enjoy a considerably better year in 2022, said Rod Lache, managing director and automotive analyst with Wolfe Research. “We think in the U.S. there are at least 10 million units of undersupply in the market, which represents pent-up demand and is […]
By Greg Wittbecker, Advisor, CRU Group Virtually every mention of the infrastructure spending plans and Build Back Better touts renewable energy. We thought it might be worthwhile to talk about some of the tangible effects of that on solar photovoltaic (SPV) energy generation. The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) is the best source of data […]
Steel prices declined for the fourth consecutive month in December, following a year-long streak of continuous price increases. Hot-rolled coil prices declined $130 per ton throughout the month, with the SMU index averaging $1,600 per ton ($80.00 per cwt) as of Tuesday, Dec. 21 (SMU did not published updated prices on Dec. 28). The SMU Price Momentum […]
By Greg Wittbecker, Advisor, CRU Group Happy New Year. We hope you had a healthy and happy holiday season. The aluminum market is slowing coming back to life and witnessing serious supply constraints. European primary production is withering under high power prices. The impetus behind the rally in price is simple – incredibly high spot […]