The following article was sent to us by one of our steel and scrap trading sources located within China. He has been actively involved in the export of ferrous scrap out of China this year and understands where that market is headed right now (and why). Here is what he shared with Steel Market Update […]
On Thursday, Steel Market Update (SMU) published an article about the scrap markets entitled “Ferrous Scrap: Sideways in July?” In the article, John Harris, the former scrap buyer for ArcelorMittal and one of our speakers at this year’s SMU Steel Summit Conference, gave his opinions on the future issues associated with the industry. On Friday, […]
The “will they or won’t they” drama around Section 232 and whether the Trump administration will place tariffs on steel imports is reaching a peak. The Department of Commerce is expected to announce its findings on the Section 232 investigation by the end of next week. According to CNBC, a draft of the report has been circulated […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) spoke with ferrous scrap executives about the outlook for the industry, not only looking at the upcoming negotiations with the steel mills for July shipments, but also the long-term view. The scrap industry is upbeat about its future as electric arc furnaces continue to take market share from integrated steel producers. […]
As if it is not enough to call every ton of imported steel “dumped,” “subsidized” or “unfairly priced,” steelmakers are now using a scare tactic by telling our politicians we need a strong domestic steel industry in the interest of national security. As a Bloomberg report pointed out, less than 3 percent of the steel consumed in the […]
Schnitzer Steel, a metals recycler and steel bar producer, reported its best third quarter since FY 2012. Total revenue increased 36 percent sequentially and 25 percent year-over-year to $477 million. Net income was up 50 percent from second quarter and 51 percent from Q3 2016 to $17 million. The improvement was primarily in the company’s […]
We are continuing our investigation to quantify the players in the global trade of both HRC and CRC. We now have data for the first quarter of this year. This information is sourced quarterly from the Iron and Steel Statistics Bureau in the UK. It takes about 10 weeks after the close of a quarter […]
We are continuing our investigation to quantify the players in the global trade of both HRC and CRC. We now have data through Q1 2017. This information is sourced quarterly from the Iron and Steel Statistics Bureau in the UK. Data is not very current because many countries are slow in reporting, but we feel […]
This is only the third time we have produced a report on global scrap trade. In the future, we will report quarterly because to understand the gyrations of the domestic scrap market we should be aware of where the U.S. stands as a global player. This data is not very current as some nations are […]
This afternoon there was a press conference in Washington hosted by the American Institute for International Steel. Many of the large press organizations attended the conference, and even though we were unable to personally attend, we did receive notes about the content and especially the questions that interested the press corps. There appears to be […]
ArcelorMittal and Marcegaglia have purchased Italian steel milll Ilva in a $2 billion deal expected to close June 30. The mill’s assets will be leased by the consortium AM Investco Italy Srl for $200 million per year with payments applied to the purchase price. AM Investco will receive the steel facility free of long-term debt […]
The prices of oil and natural gas drive the consumption of oil country tubular goods (OCTG) and related steel products. The energy markets represent a large portion of the hot rolled coil used to make welded tubular goods, as well as equipment used to drill and pump oil and natural gas. On June 12, George […]
“I bet the next increase happens later this week or at the latest next Monday,” one mill executive told Steel Market Update (SMU) earlier this week. Soon, we were hearing similar comments about new flat rolled steel prices coming from others (non-mill) in the industry. As you all are well aware by now, the U.S. […]
April 2017 steel exports totaled 857,582 net tons (777,986 metric tons), down 9.6 percent over March, but up 7.9 percent from April 2016. Last month, we saw the highest export level since November 2014. The total April export figure is below the three-month moving average (average of February 2017, March 2017 and April 2017), but […]
Apparent steel supply for the month of April totaled 9,132,068 net tons, according to the latest data released from the U.S. Department of Commerce and the American Iron and Steel Institute. Apparent steel supply is calculated by adding domestic steel shipments and finished U.S. steel imports, then subtracting total U.S. steel exports. While down over […]
While the Trump administration has proposed a complete renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement, the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI), which represents domestic steelmakers, has affirmed its support for the continuation of NAFTA, albeit with some improvements and modernization to the 23-year-old trade pact. In a letter to the United States Trade […]
We believe that misinformation (or a lack of) about regional import volumes is often used to influence purchase decisions. Our intent with this analysis of tonnage by district of entry is to describe in detail what is going on in a company’s immediate neighborhood and thus provide a negotiating advantage for our premium subscribers. We […]
The final license data for May was reported by the Steel Import Monitoring and Analysis system of the U.S. Commerce Department on June 6. An explanation of the methodology that SMU uses to analyze the trade data is given at the end of this piece. All volumes in this analysis are reported in short tons. […]
This report summarizes total steel supply from 2003 through April 2017 and year-on-year changes. It then compares domestic mill shipments with total supply to the market. It quantifies market direction by product and enables a side-by-side comparison of the degree to which imports have absorbed demand. Sources are the American Iron and Steel Institute and […]
China strongly condemned new antidumping and countervailing duties imposed Friday by the European Union on imports of hot-rolled flat steel from China. The EC applied definitive AD/CVD duties of up to 35.9 percent. Commerce ministry official Wang Hejun said in a statement on Friday, “The European Commission ignores the fact that China’s steel exports to Europe […]
Late last week we got word from a steel buyer that the Indian steel mill – Uttam – was advising their customers of their intention to discontinue exports of light gauge galvanized steel to the United States. I did contact Uttam USA offices for comment and, as of this evening, I had not yet received […]
Steel 232 Investigation—Update from the Front Lines By Lewis LeibowitzThe Law Office of Lewis E. Leibowitz To put the steel proceeding in context, I would like to acquaint you with a couple of other proceedings that are “proceeding” right now. We’ll see how all of these developments may fit together. First, there are important negotiations […]
With the shuttering of up to 150 million tons of induction and EAF steelmaking capacity in China reducing its consumption of ferrous scrap, the Asian giant has actually begun exporting scrap material. Steel Market Update (SMU) has been following the progress of the Chinese as they attempt to enter the ferrous scrap export markets. They […]
Six leading steel groups in Canada, Mexico and the United States are today urging their respective governments to ensure that negotiations on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) include key tenets that would result in growing consumption of steel in North America and increasing intra-NAFTA trade and market share for NAFTA producers. In a […]
Global manufacturing was at a six month low in May according the latest JP Morgan Global Manufacturing PMI. The composite index inched down to 52.6 from 52.7 in April. Developed nations showed solid steady expansion in manufacturing while growth in emerging nations was nearly flat. The PMI for the U.S. was at an 8 month […]
The European Union and China failed to reach an agreement at the 19th EU-China Business Summit on the issues of trade investment, steel overcapacity, and the EU’s assertion of dumping from China. China pressed its demand to be recognized as a market economy and to receive equal treatment in antidumping investigations before the World Trade […]
The Metals Service Center Institute (MSCI) submitted written testimony to the Commerce Department in support of the Section 232 Investigation of Steel Imports on National Security. MSCI president and CEO M. Robert Weidner argued that unfair trading practices and global overcapacity, particularly by China, have harmed the U.S. steel market. “MSCI believes the health of […]
The Chinese, Russians, Turks, Vietnamese, Koreans and to a lesser extent the Taiwanese ears were burning Wednesday after the “bad-mouthing” they got at the Section 232 hearing on steel. Of the 37 scheduled speakers 9 domestic companies/organizations along with four foreign entities (Russia, China, Ukraine and Eurofer) spoke on behalf of allowing foreign steel without […]
As CEOs and association representatives presented their arguments for why the administration’s Section 232 action on steel imports should go forth, AIIS international Trade Counsel Gary Horlick talked about the unintended consequences of such actions. AIIS represents 108 members that include traders, freight forwarders, stevedores, shippers, importers, exporters, railroads, port authorities, unions and other logistics […]
The Section 232 Investigation of steel imports on national security hearing was held on Tuesday. The testimonies included four representatives of foreign governments: China, Russia, the European Union, and Ukraine. Not surprising, none were in support of new import restrictions by a Section 232 action. China was represented by Yu Gu, First Secretary of the […]