After negotiations were completed for February scrap pricing, the word being spread around the industry was to expect another drop in March, perhaps down $20 on most grades. However, the weather got brutal during the month and we are hearing that many dealers will not be able to complete deliveries on obsolete grades of ferrous […]
With the reset of iron ore and ferrous scrap pricing there is an extraordinary amount of interest in trying to figure out the cost to produce a hot rolled coil at the domestic steel mills. This is a question Steel Market Update is asked on an almost weekly basis. We wrote about the subject recently […]
The following article about the Asian ferrous scrap markets comes to us from one of our contributing writers, Damon Sun of Daido International. Firstly, I believe we are at the bottom or near bottom of the current scrap market. The latest bulk scrap sales into Far East Asia were at $249 per metric ton CFR […]
Have I mentioned lately that our next Steel 101 workshop will be held in the Chicago area and will include a tour of the NLMK Indiana mini-mill? Details are on our website or you are welcome to contact our offices at: 800-432-3475 or info@SteelMarketUpdate.com. We believe this will be another excellent program as we bring […]
There appears to be a lot of uncertainty in the ferrous scrap and pig iron markets as we move into the second half of February and start taking a peak into what March scrap and pig iron pricing may look like. One of our pig iron sources advised SMU that many of the Brazilian pig […]
On Monday we will begin our mid-February flat rolled steel market analysis. The market has seen prices dropping over the past few weeks at a rate not seen for a number of years. Our survey will help us not only understand where price offers/orders are today but when we think the bottom will be reached. […]
In the twelve months of 2014, ferrous scrap exports totaled 15,308,000 tonnes (metric tons), down by 17.1 percent from the same period in 2013. In the single month of December scrap exports were 1,056,570 tonnes, down 21.5 percent from November. Figure 1 shows that the three month moving average (3MMA) has been declining slightly for […]
As we reported last week, prior to negotiations beginning for the month of February market players were predicting ferrous scrap prices would drop by $30-$50 and then $50-$70 per gross ton. Then we heard prices would drop by $100 per gross ton over the months of February and March combined. When the smoke cleared at […]
For some reason, we made an error when setting up this newsletter yesterday evening that stopped it from being published. We apologize for the delay in getting it to you. Earlier this week ferrous scrap pricing in Detroit settled at down $100 per gross ton on prime grades of scrap such as #1 busheling and […]
The domestic steel mills and their ferrous scrap suppliers traditionally negotiate pricing on scrap to be delivered during the first few days of the new month. This means the mills and their suppliers are deep into negotiations regarding February scrap purchases right now. Last week the word amongst the “scrappies,” as well as their mill […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) ferrous scrap sources are advising us that the scrap market pricing have not settled yet. It seems that every periodical wants to fan the flames of scrap price collapsing (and we do our share as well I suppose) before the final numbers are locked in. Keep that in mind when evaluating […]
Steel Market Update thought it might be worthwhile to pick out some of the comments made by Steel Dynamics CEO Mark Millett during his earnings conference call with analysts late last week. We have focused on comments made about foreign steel, scrap, energy markets and the new Columbus facility. Each of the comments made are […]
During Nucor’s earnings conference call the company’s CEO, John Ferriola told the analysts that scrap prices would drop “dramatically” during the 1st Quarter 2015. He told the analysts that steel prices have already gone down and scrap prices “have to” follow. Our scrap sources are telling us that lackluster demand at the steel mills, weak […]
A paradigm shift seems to be underway in the HRC futures market now that prices have broken through the critical support level of $600. The CRU is now at $584, which is down over 10 percent from around $665 just three months ago. With futures contracts trading at $580 per ton for the first half […]
As we reported last week, the $30 per ton ferrous scrap price increases failed to materialize once January negotiations began in earnest. A couple lucky deals were made up $20-$30 just as December ended and January began. However, those deals dried up almost as fast as the ink dried on the paper. We are hearing […]
Ferrous scrap prices were forecast to be up $30 per gross ton as little as one week ago. According to one of our East Coast dealers there were some early sales at up $20 to $30 to those steel mills who needed to buy immediately. However, those deals were few and far between and the […]
Low scrap prices and declining exports took a toll on earnings results for Schnitzer Steel Industries. Export selling prices for ferrous scrap declined by $80 per ton, or 20 percent, while domestic prices dropped $60 per ton, or 15 percent. The declines were the steepest seen by Schnitzer since 2012. The company reported a net […]
Commercial Metals Company (CMC) reported net sales of $1.7 billion for the first quarter of FY 2015, a four percent increase year-over-year. Earnings from continuing operations totaled $38.3 million. Americas Recycling recorded an adjusted operating loss of $1.1 million due to a decline in ferrous scrap shipments and margins. The America Mills segment recorded adjusted […]
We provided full year projected steel imports in tonight’s issue. Please be aware: 1) the November numbers are Preliminary Census and should be very close to accurate, 2) the December numbers are based on license data and there can be fluctuations in the Census and license data numbers. November is a good example. November license […]
Most ferrous scrap pricing deals will be negotiated between the domestic steel mills and their suppliers over the next few days. Steel Market Update sources are telling us scrap prices could move up by $10 to $30 per gross ton or more depending on product and the region of the country. Mike Marley of MetalPrices.com […]
Shredded scrap prices are up approximately $20 per ton compared to where they were the first week of December. According to Mike Marley of MetalPrices.com, shred is in tight supply in several Midwest cities due to the decline in the flows of shredded feedstock due to the lower selling prices in October and November and […]
Today’s hot rolled, ferrous scrap and iron ore futures article comes to us from Andre Marshall, CEO of Crunch Risk LLC and the instructor for Steel Market Update’s Managing Price Risk I and Managing Price Risk II workshops. Along with HRC, iron ore and BUS trading. Andre also discusses the S&P 500, copper and crude […]
October ferrous scrap exports totaled 1,473,856 net tons (1,337,061 metric tons) with Turkey, Taiwan, Korea, Canada, and Saudi Arabia being the top five countries receiving scrap from the United States. These five countries accounted for 72.4 percent of all scrap exports. Total October ferrous scrap exports were 14.9 percent higher than previous month and 1.5 […]
With buying prices down by approximately $60 per ton over the past two months, we are seeing a lack of feedstock for shredded scrap across the country. The net result is shredded scrap prices are up $5 to $10 per gross ton compared to where they were in November in most regions east of the […]
We ended the article above talking about the tight range we have seen on hot rolled coil over the past 12 months. Total price movement from low to high during that time period has been $65 per ton. The question is, will U.S. hot rolled coil prices break through the low of the past 12 […]
Today’s hot rolled, ferrous scrap and iron ore futures article comes to us from Andre Marshall, CEO of Crunch Risk LLC and the instructor for Steel Market Update’s Managing Price Risk I and Managing Price Risk II workshops. Along with HRC, iron ore and BUS trading Andre also discusses the S&P 500, copper and crude […]
Prior to the beginning of the month most scrap dealers were resigned to the fact that ferrous scrap prices would decline by $20 per gross ton and, in some remote areas, perhaps as much as $30. By the end of this past week the dust had settled and scrap prices had dropped by a minimum […]
In the first nine months of 2014, scrap exports totaled 11,586,000 tonnes, down by 19.4 percent from the same period in 2013. In the single month of September exports were 1,163,489 tonnes, this was the second lowest month of the year following August which was the highest month. That’s why, in most cases, SMU uses […]
Andre Marshall, well known commodity futures trader, CEO of Crunch Risk LLC and instructor for our Managing Price Risk I and II workshops has written today’s HRC futures article. Today he comments on the financial markets, steel, iron ore and ferrous scrap markets. Financial Markets: All time highs again in the stock markets. We are […]
China has a number of taxes on steel, both domestically and for exports. This is one of the misunderstandings many countries have (including the United States). We have been speaking about the subject with one of our key Asian trading contacts over the past few days as we asked about possible suspension of Boron added […]