Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: A rather eventful week in D.C. has brought to the fore a new proposal from House Democrats to pass an infrastructure bill. Readers will recall “Infrastructure Week” last year, which featured a tense White House meeting that ended […]
Steel production in the week ending June 13 totaled 1,210,000 net tons with the mills operating at an average utilization rate of 54.0 percent. Production was up 1.3 percent from the prior week when the utilization rate was 53.3 percent, reported the American Iron and Steel Institute. While improved, the current week’s production still represents […]
U.S apparent steel supply fell to 6.54 million net tons in April, according to recent U.S. Department of Commerce and American Iron and Steel Institute data. This is the lowest supply level in our limited 10-year history. Apparent steel supply, a proxy for demand, is determined by combining domestic steel shipments and finished U.S. steel […]
Steel mill utilization by domestic producers has remained fairly stable within a tight range in the low 50s since production was curtailed in March and April due to the coronavirus. The American Iron and Steel Institute’s weekly production data shows no signs yet of the recovering economy. Steel production in the week ending June 6 […]
Census Bureau data for downstream steel product shipments lags but supports American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) data for crude steel production. The Census Bureau provides monthly data on manufacturing inventories, shipments and new orders for total U.S. manufacturing and for individual industries, one of which is steel products. Therefore, the Census Bureau provides a […]
Mill utilization by domestic steelmakers improved slightly for the second week in a row–perhaps an early hint of an improving economy and growing demand. Steel production in the week ending May 30 totaled 1,206,000 net tons with the mills operating at an average utilization rate of 53.8 percent. Production was up 1.3 percent from the […]
Mill utilization by domestic steelmakers improved slightly in the week ending May 23 as steel production totaled 1,191,000 net tons with the mills operating at an average rate of 53.2 percent. Production was up 0.8 percent from the prior week when the utilization rate was 52.7 percent, reported the American Iron and Steel Institute. While […]
In the week ending May 16, steel production totaled 1,181,000 net tons with the mills operating at an average capability utilization rate of 52.7 percent. Production was down 1.9 percent from the prior week when output totaled 1,204,000 tons at a utilization rate of 53.7 percent, reported the American Iron and Steel Institute. Mill utilization […]
Has steel production turned a corner? After a series of sharp declines since the coronavirus shutdowns in mid-March, the mill utilization rate actually saw a small uptick last week. In the week ending May 9, steel production totaled 1,204,000 net tons with the mills operating at an average capability utilization rate of 53.7 percent. Production […]
U.S apparent steel supply rose to 8.66 million net tons in March, according to recent U.S. Department of Commerce and American Iron and Steel Institute data. Although up over the previous month, March supply remains on the low-side historically and is the fourth lowest supply level seen in the past three years. Apparent steel supply, […]
Raw steel production is starting to show the full effect from the pandemic shutdowns and the capacity curtailments by domestic steelmakers. In the week ending May 2, steel production totaled 1,144,000 net tons with the mills operating at an average capability utilization rate of 51.1 percent, down 8.5 percent from the previous week, and down […]
After a brief pause, raw steel production continued to slide last week. Production in the April 25 week totaled 1,250,000 net tons with the mills operating at an average capability utilization rate of 55.8 percent, down 2.1 percent from the previous week, and down 33.9 percent from the same week last year, reported the American […]
By John Packard and Tim Triplett Steel Market Update has been asked: How does the COVID-19 pandemic compare to the Great Recession, in terms of its impact on the steel market? The full effect of the coronavirus crisis on the U.S. economy and steel demand is still to play out, of course, but some comparisons […]
U.S. raw steel production actually inched up last week after a series of declines that has taken the average mill capacity utilization rate down by 25 percentage points since early March. Production in the April 18 week totaled 1,277,000 net tons with the mills operating at an average capability utilization rate of 57.0 percent, down […]
U.S. raw steel production continued to plummet last week as domestic steelmakers took further steps to adjust output to weak steel demand as the economy struggles with the coronavirus. Production in the April 11 week totaled 1,256,000 net tons with the mills operating at an average capability utilization rate of 56.1 percent, down from a […]
President Trump’s move to greatly ease automotive emissions targets may impact the environment, for better or worse, but likely not steel suppliers to the auto industry. The Trump administration has finalized its Safer Affordable Fuel-Efficient (SAFE) Vehicles Rule for Model Years 2021-2026, following through on the president’s promise to reverse the Obama-era rules that he […]
February apparent U.S. steel supply slipped to 8.5 million net tons, according to data from the American Iron and Steel Institute and U.S. Department of Commerce. Recall that January apparent supply saw a drastic jump over December and was quite high compared to the last few years. The latest data shows suppy has fallen back […]
U.S. raw steel production plunged by another 8.1 percent in the week ending April 4, on top of a nearly 10 percent drop the prior week, as the coronavirus crisis eats into steel demand. Production in the April 4 week totaled 1,534,000 net tons with the mills operating at an average capability utilization rate of […]
Infrastructure is finally getting some attention again, despite and because of the cornavirus. Congress and the White House are calling for an infrastructure bill to be included in the fourth COVID-19 relief package. “With interest rates for the United States being at ZERO, this is the time to do our decades long awaited Infrastructure Bill,” Trump […]
Domestic raw steel production plunged by nearly 10 percent in the week ending March 28 as the coronavirus took a toll on the economy and steel demand, reported the American Iron and Steel Institute. Steelmakers have announced a series of furnace idlings in the past few weeks that took an estimated 5 million tons of […]
Business remains surprisingly strong for wholesalers who sell galvanized steel products to the HVAC sector, considering the devastating impact of the coronavirus on the economy. In a conference call this morning, members of the Heating, Air Conditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International (HARDI) said the construction industry has dodged the worst of the virus’ effects so […]
John Packard is taking some time off… By most readings of the government guidelines, steel is considered an “essential” industry during this virus crisis. Mills that produce steel products, and by extension service centers that distribute them, are critical to getting the economy back on track. For some steel-consuming sectors, however, their “essentialness” may be […]
A battle is brewing among legislators, manufacturers and steel producers regarding whether tariff measures should be suspended on imports under Section 301 and Section 232 during the coronavirus crisis. Republican members of the Senate Finance Committee urged President Trump to ease tariff restrictions during the pandemic. In a letter on March 25, the committee exhorted […]
Raw steel production saw its third weekly decline of 1 percent or more, taking the mill capability utilization rate below 80 percent for the first time since mid-December 2019 as the coronavirus crisis begins to affect steel demand. Production for the week ending March 21 totaled 1,852,000 net tons, for a utilization rate of 79.4 […]
The American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) is urging the Trump administration to identify the steel manufacturing sector and its workers as “essential” when drafting and enforcing shelter-in-place orders and other directives in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. “As the Secretary of Commerce determined in 2018, steel is important to national security well beyond obvious […]
Weekly raw steel production saw its second decline of 1 percent or more in the week ending March 14, suggesting that the coronavirus may be affecting steel demand. Production last week totaled 1,878,000 net tons with the mills operating at 80.5 percent of their capability. That’s down 25,000 tons or 1.3 percent from the prior […]
Mill shipments of sheet products in January were the highest since August 2019. This analysis is based on steel mill shipment data from the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) and import-export data from the U.S. Department of Commerce (DoC). This month we are producing a new report for long products and will follow this […]
Demand for long products declined by 3.5 percent in the three months through January, but rebar was up by 9.6 percent. This analysis is based on steel mill shipment data from the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) and import-export data from the U.S. Department of Commerce (DoC). It summarizes total steel supply by product […]
U.S. raw steel production in January rose to a 10-month high at 8,439,441 net tons, reported the American Iron and Steel Institute in Washington. January production was above the 2019 average of 8,061,679 tons and up 1.8 percent compared to the same month last year. The last time production was this high was March 2019 […]
Apparent U.S. steel supply jumped to 9.5 million net tons in January, according to data from the American Iron and Steel Institute and U.S. Department of Commerce. January apparent supply is now on the high-side compared to the last few years, a nice recovery from November’s three-year low and other late-2019 lows. Apparent steel supply, […]