The various indexes we follow on a regular basis all had prices on benchmark hot rolled moving lower this past week. Platts took the biggest leap moving from $675 to $660 in one week. SMU dropped $5 per ton to $660. Plate prices rose at Platts but dropped with CRU. The result is we are […]
On January 14, Steel Market Update (SMU) adjusted our Price Momentum Indicator from Higher to Neutral. This means we see steel market pricing at this moment as either in transition or moving sideways over the next 30 days. With ferrous scrap prices now weakening, lead times shortening and all of the available capacity back in […]
The two strongest products during the month of January were cold rolled (fully annealed) and plate. Both of these products saw spot price appreciation during the month. Hot rolled was a mixed bag with SMU now holding the lowest average at $665 per ton as of last week. At one point during the month every […]
Steel Market Update follows a number of indexes and their average price points on hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized, Galvalume as well as plate. Steel Market Update (SMU) found prices slipping on three of the four products we currently index – hot rolled, galvanized and Galvalume. CRU also picked up some modestly weaker numbers as […]
During the month of January Steel Market Update (SMU) adjusted our Price Momentum Indicator from Higher to Neutral. Benchmark hot rolled prices averaged $673 per ton ($33.65/cwt) according to the Steel Market Update index. CRU posted their monthly average at $676 per ton ($33.80/cwt). You can find the balance of our weekly and monthly averages […]
The following HRC futures article is written by Andre Marshall, CEO of Crunchrisk, LLC and the instructor of our new Managing Price Risk 2 – Strategies & Execution workshop. Well the S+P 500 took a turn down starting Thursday and Friday of last week, dropping from 1850 down to a 1770 low yesterday. We have […]
For the first time in what seems like forever, the four indexes followed by Steel Market Update, as well as our own, have benchmark hot rolled coil at the same average during the same week. Hot rolled coil was reported by all indexes this past week at $675 per ton ($33.75/cwt). The similarities stopped there, […]
The most straightforward way for a flat rolled steel buyer to fix the cost of steel out into the future is to simply buy steel now and hold it in inventory. The downside to this strategy is, of course, the inventory holding cost. A second way to fix the price of steel is to negotiate […]
One of our readers asked us on Monday morning, why the discrepancies between the CRU, Platts and SMU indices? During the discussion we were reminded that the discrepancies did not always exist. We pulled up a graph with the three hot rolled index price points from the three indexes and as you can see the […]
Two of the indexes followed by Steel Market Update (three including our own indices) saw prices as beginning to drop for the first time in many weeks. The average hot rolled number dropped $3 per ton to $678. The cold rolled results were mixed with SMU and SteelBenchmarker (which is only published twice per month) […]
Many, perhaps most, steel buyers negotiate a new price for flat rolled steel each time they place a purchase order. Other buyers will negotiate a price for all their steel needs over a fixed period (as much as a year) and then, when they require steel, release purchase orders at this fixed price. However, there’s […]
Financial Markets: The equities markets have stabilized after their reaction to the poor jobs number in December last week. The S+P closed at 1836 today, exactly 3 points higher than where I reported it last week. We are likely headed higher as it will take a lot more than a poor jobs report to scare […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) has adjusted our Price Momentum Indicator from Higher to Neutral. This means we see steel market pricing at this moment as either in transition or moving sideways over the next 30 days. With ferrous scrap prices now weakening, lead times shortening and all of the available capacity back in the market […]
Flat rolled steel prices began to rise this past week according to the steel indices releasing data for the week. Benchmark hot rolled now averages $681 per ton with the range being $675 to $685 per ton (although the $675 is from SteelBenchmarker who did not report new numbers last week). Cold rolled is approaching […]
Andre Marshall, CEO of Crunchrisk, LLC has the duties of outlining the hot rolled futures and busheling scrap futures markets for our readers (as well as taking a look at the financial markets, iron ore and commodities in general): On the March S+P future we closed at 1833, this is up from the 1806 level […]
The year 2013 for hot rolled steel futures was a story of two halves, with the beginning of the year trading in a strong contango and the second half of the year stuck in backwardation. The beginning of the year was characterized by low prices and significant volatility while the second half of the year […]
Platts took all of their flat rolled sheet indices higher this past week and they now reference benchmark hot rolled at $685 per ton – $15 per ton higher than Steel Market Update and $17 per ton higher than CRU. With the New Year Holiday sandwiched in the middle of this past week SMU did […]
SMU Price Momentum Indicator ended the month of December where it began, indicating higher flat rolled steel prices over the next 30 days. The domestic steel mills did not disappoint as they raised base price levels to $35.00/cwt on hot rolled and $40.50/cwt on cold rolled and coated (plus extras, FOB mill) for the mills […]
This past week we saw little movement in pricing on most flat rolled steel products due to the Holidays and a general lack of new orders flowing through the system. Benchmark hot rolled is in a fairly tight range at $667 on the low side (CRU) to $675 on the high side (Platts/Steelbenchmarker). The hot […]
Steel Market Update continues to expand and one of the areas we are looking to expand into is the world of plate. As we enter the New Year we will begin indexing discreet plate pricing as we do hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized and Galvalume steels. We also are changing our CPI (Comparison Price Indices) […]
Financial Markets: Well two weeks back the S+P held that 1775 zone it tested. It has since rallied back to new highs yesterday at 1806.75, this for the March future. Yesterday the Fed announced the beginning of the easing of the easing, or bond buyback program. The Fed will start to taper their bond buying […]
The spread between the various indices followed by Steel Market Update narrowed this past week with only $5 separating the indexes on benchmark hot rolled coil pricing. Platts dropped $5 per ton and met Steel Market Update at $675 per ton while all of the other indices came in at $670 per ton. Cold rolled […]
One month ago the domestic steel mills and their manufacturing and service center contract customers were locked in a battle over where pricing would be beginning in January 2014 with many mills firming opposed to the negotiated CRU minus and buckets deal made common over the past couple of years. When we polled our respondents […]
The S+P has stumbled in the last week, if you can call retracing 1.5% off the highs in a 175 percent 6 year rally stumbling! As I mentioned two weeks back, we were likely to test resistance at 1800 for a bit before retracing slightly. Since this market doesn’t even recognize retracements anymore, we didn’t […]
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 […]
After two months of sideways movement, November saw our SMU Pricing Momentum Indicator shift to reflect higher steel prices as the trend over the next 30 days. Our proprietary SMU Steel Buyers Sentiment Index remained within optimistic range of the index at +36.5. Sentiment was down one point from the prior month and three points […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) follows four other indices besides our own and provides the data to our members on a weekly basis. Recently, we asked our readers if they would like for us to continue providing CRU data and the responses indicated there continues to be an interest in their numbers. We have agreed to […]
I appreciate all of you who took the time to respond to my question regarding CRU and our continuing to publish CRU numbers in our CPI (Comparison Price Indices). There were enough respondents who wanted us to continue so we have bit the bullet and renewed our relationship with CRU for another year. The majority […]
I have a question for our members – I have just received the new bill for what it will cost me to publish the CRU indices in our Sunday night comparison of various indexes. Before I agree to pay what I believe to be an excessive amount for the right to publish their numbers I […]
We saw all of the indices capturing higher flat rolled steel prices this past week. Benchmark hot rolled range from $665 to a high of $675 per ton as price assessments rose from $5 to $15 per ton compared to the prior week. The SMU Price Momentum Indicator continues to point toward higher prices over […]