Happy New Year to our members and those viewing our steel industry newsletter for the first time. We wish everyone a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year. We are quite bullish on the North American flat rolled steel industry for the first six months of 2014. Not every segment is clicking on all cylinders – […]
Ferrous scrap prices are expected to rise as we enter the New Year. Early indications are for scrap prices to make a rather serious move as cold weather sets into the North, further reducing already weak flows of the material into the scrap yards. Prices are forecast to move a minimum of $20-$30 per gross […]
Just like in steel, paint companies and coil coaters work best with customers with whom they have a relationship, companies who clearly understand their needs and are consistent in their tonnages as well as the way they conduct their business. In order to establish this kind of a relationship a buyer should understand the […]
Although Steel Market Update, Inc. is only “officially” 5.5 years old we are actually moving into our 9th year of publishing when the calendar changes to 2014. The first 2.5 years of continuous publication came during my tenure as an agent for Winner Steel along with my association with a couple of trading companies during […]
I thought our Premium Level readers might appreciate the latest forecast from Timna Tanners, Bank of America Merrill Lynch metals and mining analyst. Timna was a little “light” in her price forecast for 2013 hot rolled coil which was originally $555 average and was upgraded during the year to $622. Tanners believes some of the […]
Finally the first data on housing starts since August! Total starts in November shot up to 1,091,000, (annualized), the highest since February 2008. Both single and multi family starts were the strongest since H1 2008. The three month moving average of starts was also very encouraging. At the present rate of increase, single family could […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) communicated with Todd Leebow, President of Majestic Steel about their just announced purchase of Flat Rolled Steel, Inc. We asked him how the Flat Rolled Steel, Inc. will be handled, what it added to their company and what plans did Majestic have as they move into the Southwestern section of the […]
The American Institute of Architects (AIA) reported the results of their analysis of member companies demand for design services. The resulting Architecture Billings Index (ABI) is one of the most watched indices associated with residential and commercial construction by the steel community. A tremendous amount of flat rolled steel as well as long products are […]
Housing starts jumped 22.7 percent in November to 1,091,000, well above an annual revised October estimate of 889,000 for October and the highest level in six years. The rate for single family housing starts leapt 20.8 percent to 727,000 while the rate for multi-family units rose 26.8 percent to 354,000. The report by the Commerce […]
Steel Dynamics issued its fourth quarter 2013 guidance on Tuesday reporting earnings in the range of $0.21 to $0.25 per diluted share, below analyst estimates ranging from $0.26 to $0.31. SDI announced a quarterly cash dividend of $0.11 per share. Earnings are expected to be comparable to those of third quarter. Higher steel pricing is […]
Worthington Industries, Inc. reported net earnings of $23.0 million and net sales of $769.9 million for the second quarter of fiscal year 2014, ending November 30, 2013. Net sales increased 24 percent from the previous year and 9 percent from the previous quarter and were attributed to higher overall volumes related to new acquisitions. Net […]
U.S. Steel announced a price increase on Monday and the market appears to be cautiously optimistic as we enter the end of 2013 and look out into the New Year. The announcement itself was termed a “non-event” by one of the construction related steel mills with whom we spoke this afternoon as increases had previously […]
Planned outages and the collapse of the storage dome at Nucor Steel Louisiana negatively impacted earnings said Nucor in its fourth quarter guidance. Earnings per diluted share are expected to be in the range of $0.30-$0.40, down from third quarter 2013 earnings of $0.46 per diluted share and fourth quarter 2012 earnings of $0.43 per […]
In recent years coil coated painted steel (where a full coil of steel is painted on a continuous coil coating line) has been replacing post-painted steel (where steel parts formed bare are then painted one-by-one). It seems unlikely at first glance that painted coil coated steel can been formed into finished parts (like roof panels […]
The AHRI released shipment data for heating and cooling equipment for the month of October 2013. This data is important to those in the steel industry as the equipment is made out of flat rolled steels. The data is also an important economic indicator for residential construction and growth. Residential Storage Water Heaters U.S. shipments […]
The Canadian housing market is in for an “exceptionally healthy” year in 2014 according to a forecast by real estate leader Re/Max, yet concerns of a “housing bubble” continue to surface. A surging housing market and high consumer debt has been aided by low interest rates intended to spur economic recovery. Canadian household debt is […]
The other day Steel Market Update wrote an article about steel buyers anticipating a flat rolled steel price increase announcement out of the domestic mills prior to the end of the year. Not everyone is a believer that will occur and we got several emails and phone calls pointing out short lead times at a […]
Commerce Department data through October 2013. Focus on private construction. The Commerce Department compiles their information based on the source of financing. These categories are, private, state + local and federal. There are a huge number of sub categories in the private and state + local construction expenditure categories, not so many in federal where […]
Net job creation in November 2013 was 203,000 of which 159,000 were service providing and 44,000 were goods producing. This was the best goods producing result since February this year. Since February 2010, manufacturing has added 554,000 jobs and construction 329,000. In November the private sector added 196,000 jobs and government added 7,000. Of the […]
Each month Steel market Update publishes a table of 38 indicators that we believe captures the essence of the steel market and its drivers. Six of these indicators deal with construction which we believe consumes about 22 percent of all steel products in the US at present. Table 1 shows the construction section of the […]
New residential sales in October soared 25.4 percent above the revised September rate of 354,000 to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 444,000. In comparison, the October 2012 annual estimate was 365,000, a 21.6 percent increase year-over-year. The surge beat economist expectations ranging from 425,000 to 429,000 sales for the period. The median sales price […]
The Empire State Manufacturing Index business conditions held steady for New York manufacturers in October. The general business index fell 5 points to 1.5 but remained in growth status. The new orders index rose 5 points while shipping fell 3 points, suggesting modest increases for both indexes for the month. New York manufacturers continued to […]
Negotiations on 2014 flat rolled steel contracts are heating up. Sources are advising Steel Market Update that there has been some movement in the negotiation process by the domestic mills which has allowed a number of the mills to close some 2014 business. We are also hearing from multiple sources of a move by buyers […]
ArcelorMittal (AM) and their 50/50 joint venture partner Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation (NSSMC) reached an agreement with ThyssenKrupp AG to acquire the ThyssenKrupp Steel USA steel mill located in Calvert, Alabama. The purchase was valued at $1.55 billion for the 4.3 million tons of flat rolling capacity along with 1 million tons of […]
The anticipation over the fate of ThyssenKrupp Steel Americas is finally over with the sale of the Calvert, Alabama mill to joint venture partners ArcelorMittal and Nippon Steel and Sumitomo Metal Corporation. The $1.55 billion sale gives ArcelorMittal a firm foothold in the Southeast and in the NAFTA auto market. Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal […]
The S&P/Case Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index rose 11.2 percent year-over-year for its highest level since 2006, according to data compiled through September 2013. On a quarter-over-quarter basis, the third quarter index rose 3.2 percent. The index is based on the annual returns of 10-City and 20-City Composites. Twelve of the 20 cities posted […]
The total number of Key Market Indicators considered at present is thirty six. The present situation of eleven of the indicators based on historical standards was positive on November 21st the same as on October 31st but there were two changes. We changed the situation of demand for commercial and industrial bank loans from green […]
Buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel products continue to be optimistic about their company’s ability to be successful in the current market environment, however at lower levels than what we had been seeing over the past few months. The Steel Market Update (SMU) Steel Buyers Sentiment Index was measured this week at +33 down […]
Existing home sales fell in October but low inventory continues to drive home prices upward said the National Association of Realtors in their November report. Existing housing inventory stood at 2.13 million homes at the end of October—a drop of 1.8 percent from last month. Home sales fell 3.2 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual […]
After three months of increases, the Architecture Billing Index dropped to 51.6 in October from 54.3 in September, indicating a slower pace of growth for construction design activity. The new project inquiry index, an indicator for future demand, rose to 61.5 from 58.6 last month. Calculated on a three month moving average, the regional averages […]