An ousted president, deadly violence, military insurgence and a possible secession—the crisis in the Ukraine has been moving at an alarming speed in the last several weeks. As the Ukraine struggles to create a new government, economic sanctions are increasingly being considered by the global powers to sway preferred outcomes. The US and the EU […]
Russia and the Ukraine are major steel producers and exporters of steel to the rest of the world. Under the current political upheaval associated with these two countries, Steel Market Update thought it might be interesting for our readers to understand what steel products are being imported from the two countries into the United States. […]
Total steel imports in January were 3,205,246 net tons (NT), the highest levels Steel Market Update has recorded since we began keeping track of monthly import data in mid-2009. January tonnage is a 27.9 percent increase over December figures and well above both the three month moving average (3MMA) and twelve month moving average (12MMA). […]
Iron ore spot prices in China plummeted for the third week. During the past three weeks 62% Fe fines dropped by 6 percent and 58% Fe by 5 percent, according to data compiled by The Steel Index (TSI). Since the beginning of the year iron ore has fallen by 12 percent and is at the […]
Steel Market Update has been in constant contact with one of our Asian trading sources who is a trader of iron ore to Chinese steel mills and exporter of finished steel out of China around the world. We have been discussing the iron ore “bubble” which continues to inflate and our source believes it will […]
Chinese imports of iron ore in January were 86,830,000 metric tons (MT), an increase of 18.3 percent from the previous month and an increase of 32.5 percent from January 2012. Total iron ore imports for 2013 were adjusted to 819,410,000 MT. January imports of steel scrap were 160,000 MT, down 48.4 percent from December and […]
Scrap exports closed out the year of 2103 at 18,470,000 tons, down by 2,888,702 tonnes or 13.5 percent from 2012. Turkey alone was down by 1,169,000 and the Far East as a whole was down by 942,000 tonnes or 9.9 percent. Figure 1 shows the three month moving average of total exports and of the […]
We have posted the latest imports by product, port and country in the Premium section of the website. The most recent data is through the end of 2013. Some of the highlights include totals for hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized and “other metallic coated” which is primarily Galvalume. This report provided information which can help […]
Andre Marshall of Crunch Risk, LLC shared the following information about iron ore and busheling futures trading for the past week. Iron Ore: As always traders make a big deal about the Chinese post New Year’s holiday making a big buying push upon their return, but it appears whatever buying has been done hasn’t been […]
Apparent steel supply for December was 8,662,212 net tons (NT), a 4.14 percent increase compared to the same month one year ago. This was due to a slight increase in domestic shipments and a decrease in exports. The net trade balance from the difference between imports and exports was a surplus of 1,635,411 net tons […]
December 2013 U.S. exports for all steel products fell 7.2 percent over November to 871,384 net tons (NT). Compared to December of the previous year when total exports were 969,783 NT, December 2014 exports were down over 10.1 percent. December tonnage was below both the 3 and 12 month moving average (MMA). The primary countries […]
POSCO announced the completion of a second continuous galvanizing line in Altamira, Tamauliapas, that will serve the flourishing automobile industry in Mexico. The new facility has an annual capacity of 500,000 tons and will produce galvanized steel sheet used in exterior panels of high end automobiles. Products from 2CGL will include ‘GI Ace’ and 780mPa […]
Shipments of sheet and strip products in 2013 as a whole were 49,608,408 tons, a decrease of 1.7 percent from the total for 2012. Shipments in Q4 averaged 4,100,162 tons / month, a decrease of 2 percent from Q3 but an increase of 3.7 percent from Q4 last year. Comparing YTD shipments for 2013 to […]
Steel analyst Charles Bradford of Bradford Research spoke at the Port of Tampa Steel Conference this past week. He presented a relatively upbeat analysis of the domestic steel industry. He began by referring to a recent McKinsey and Company report which basically said, “The steel industry has had it, it’s over. The industry doesn’t make […]
Transactions in the ferrous scrap market are beginning to become clearer and what scrap dealers are seeing is not making them happy. Prices in the Detroit market, which tends to be one of the first markets to settle, saw an across the board decrease of $30 per ton on all grades. Busheling and shredded prices […]
The Empire State Manufacturing Index rose 10 points to 12.5, indicating acceleration in business activity and reaching its highest level since May 2012. Prices paid and prices received rose in double digits in January with prices paid soaring 21 points to 36.6 indicating higher input costs. The six month outlook is optimistic with orders up […]
According to scrap experts, most of the domestic mills canceled their January orders at the close of business this past Friday when shipment of the past due scrap had not already been made. Cancellations are standard operating procedure by the domestic mills when they believe scrap prices will drop once the new month’s negotiations are […]
Using December license data, total 2013 imports are projected to have been 32,146,101 net tons (NT). This is a decrease of 4.0 percent from the 33,474,544 NT imported in 2012, however when compared to 2011 figures, 2013 total imports were up 12.7 percent. Looking back to 2007, prior to the recessionary period and where trade […]
January 24th 2014. The Turkish Lira is in freefall. What does this mean for the US ferrous scrap industry? This is a hard question to answer because we don’t know what we don’t know. What we do know is that the Turkish Lira has declined by 20.1% against the US $ in the last 12 […]
The Institute for Supply Management Purchasing Manufacturers Index (PMI) registered 51.3 percent in January. Although the index slid 5.2 percentage points from December, it is still an indicator of growth in the manufacturing sector. Most of the indices that make up the PMI fell in January. The new orders index took a significant dive of […]
The JPMorgan Global Manufacturing PMI registered 52.9 in January, almost unchanged from December’s high of 53.0 and signaling the fourteenth straight month of expansion. Production and new orders continued upward which helped increase employment levels. New export business slowed in January. Sharp discrepancies in growth were seen between developed and emerging markets. The UK, Japan […]
According to scrap experts, most of the domestic mills canceled their January orders at the close of business this past Friday when shipment of the past due scrap had not already been made. Cancellations are standard operating procedure by the domestic mills when they believe scrap prices will drop once the new month’s negotiations are […]
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 […]
Using December license data, total 2013 imports are projected to have been 32,146,101 net tons (NT). This is a decrease of 4.0 percent from the 33,474,544 NT imported in 2012, however when compared to 2011 figures, 2013 total imports were up 12.7 percent. Looking back to 2007, prior to the recessionary period and where trade […]
As we approach the end of January the expectation is for the domestic steel mills to cancel any remaining ferrous scrap orders that the yards have been unable to ship due to the weather, shortage of trucks or rail cars or just due to the dealer(s) being unable to complete the order on time. The […]
January 24th 2014. The Turkish Lira is in freefall. What does this mean for the US ferrous scrap industry? This is a hard question to answer because we don’t know what we don’t know. What we do know is that the Turkish Lira has declined by 20.1% against the US $ in the last 12 […]
The Eurozone is expected to have mild yet fragile growth throughout 2014 according to the EUROFER Q1-2014 Economic and Steel Market Outlook compiled by the EUROFER Economic Committee (EC). Indicators are pointing towards increased growth for industrial production, an important component for carbon flat rolled steel production in Europe. GDP has been edging up since […]
HSBC Holdings and Markit released the preliminary (flash) Purchasing Managers’ Index this morning. The reading of 49.6 disappointed the financial markets as any reading below 50.0 indicates the Chinese manufacturing economy is contracting. Meanwhile, world benchmark iron ore spot prices have been falling over the past few weeks with The Steel Index (TSI) reporting 62% […]
HSBC Holdings and Markit released the preliminary (flash) Purchasing Managers’ Index this morning. The reading of 49.6 disappointed the financial markets as any reading below 50.0 indicates the Chinese manufacturing economy is contracting. Meanwhile, world benchmark iron ore spot prices have been falling over the past few weeks with The Steel Index (TSI) reporting 62% […]
Light vehicle production in NAFTA in 2013 totaled, 16,141,347 units, the best year since 2002 and an increase of 6.0 percent on 2012 (Source Wards Automotive.). In 3 months through December production was up by 6.9 percent year over year. Light trucks which include crossovers are surging faster than cars, the year over year growth […]