The domestic steel mills are not canceling any remaining open July scrap orders which is an indication that the mills are busy, need the scrap and do not anticipate being able to buy scrap for less money in August than they did in July. SMU scrap sources are telling us demand is good and supply […]
Andre Marshall of Crunch Risk LLC has the honors this week to discuss the financial and HRC, iron ore and scrap futures markets in an attempt to make sense out of what can sometimes feel like total chaos. Financial Markets: Well we’re at all time highs again, having hit an intraday on the September S&P […]
Steel Market Update asked one of our Steel Summit Conference speakers, Mike Marley of MetalPrices.com to comment on why scrap prices moved lower as the month of July progressed compared to the early indications of higher ferrous scrap prices during the first few days of the month. Here is his response: There were a couple […]
The hot rolled steel futures market has perked up in the past few weeks with recent bullish events in the physical market supporting prices. After months of trading in a strong backwardation, prices on the nearby months July, August and September have pushed higher trading near parity with spot prices, between $650-665 per ton. Further […]
The following article on the Asian scrap markets was written by Damon Sun one of Steel Market Update contributing writers and an active participant in the Asian ferrous scrap markets: From last week onwards, the Far East Asian scrap markets have been weakening on the containerized sales, but the bulk scrap sales have insisted and […]
May ferrous scrap exports totaled 1,708,695 net tons (1,550,104 metric tons) with Turkey, Taiwan, Korea, Canada, and Egypt being the top five countries where scrap was sent. These countries accounted for 69.1 percent of all scrap exports. Total May ferrous scrap exports were 15.7 percent higher than previous month but 27.8 percent lower than the […]
Our ferrous scrap sources are advising Steel Market Update that June saw the bottom to scrap prices and July will see prices move sideways (no change) to as much as up $20 per gross ton. If scrap prices do indeed rise by as much as $20 per ton, this could be important for steel buyers […]
The HRC futures market has been stuck in a rut over the past couple of weeks in terms of both volumes and price volatility. The market remains backwardated with the spot price now at 670 and the July futures value around 650, Q3 630 and Q4 630. While prices in the physical market have softened […]
A reminder right up front that Steel Market Update will not publish on Thursday and Sunday evenings due to the 4th of July holiday here in the United States. We will return to our regular schedule beginning on Tuesday of next week. If, by chance, there is some breaking news which needs to be covered […]
Our ferrous scrap sources are advising Steel Market Update that June saw the bottom to scrap prices and July will see prices move sideways (no change) to as much as up $20 per gross ton. If scrap prices do indeed rise by as much as $20 per ton, this could be important for steel buyers […]
The HRC futures market has been stuck in a rut over the past couple of weeks in terms of both volumes and price volatility. The market remains backwardated with the spot price now at 670 and the July futures value around 650, Q3 630 and Q4 630. While prices in the physical market have softened […]
April ferrous scrap exports totaled 1,476,282 net tons (1,339,262 metric tons) with Turkey, Taiwan, Korea, Mexico, and China being the top five importing countries. These countries accounted for 73.2 percent of all scrap exports. Total April ferrous scrap exports were 0.7 percent higher than previous month and 36.7 percent higher than the same month one […]
The past few weeks have been dire for the futures market in terms of volumes or price volatility. While the physical market has peaked for now, the futures market remains in a strong backwardation with prices for second half the year and calendar year 2015 stuck between 620-630 per ton. While the global picture, particularly […]
We have been working on trying to get a handle on scrap prices and adjustments in the costs the domestic steel mills will have for scrap during the month of June. SMU sources advised us that with the exception of prime grades of scrap most mills cancelled their remaining orders at the end of the […]
Ferrous scrap negotiations have begun between the U.S. and Canadian steel mills with most mills expecting lower prices. One way we know if the mills believe prices will fall is they will cancel any remaining orders from May that have not yet been completed from their scrap suppliers in the hopes of being able to […]
Ferrous scrap price negotiations are beginning with at least one deal getting done in Detroit within the past few days at down $22 per gross ton. However, as one scrap dealer explained to us earlier today, scrap prices are all over the board. There are steel mills who are bringing furnaces back online and others […]
The past couple of weeks have been a bit brutal for the US hot rolled coil (HRC) forward curve. While the spot market is appearing to run out of steam the HRC forward curve has broken down particularly the second half 2014 periods and calendar 2015 periods. May and June have withstood this recent selling […]
Iron ore spot prices in China have been falling and may continue to decline to the lows last seen in September 2012 when prices for 62% Fe fines reached into the $80’s (currently trading at $97.5/dmt). Steel Market Update has been reviewing the relationship between iron ore and ferrous scrap prices using shredded scrap as […]
Shredded scrap prices were still volatile in some markets as it searched for a bottom in the Ohio Valley and elsewhere at the end of last week. Detroit was reported to be the first market to settle with the mills there paying $15 per gross ton less than the prior month paying approximately $380 per […]
March ferrous scrap exports totaled 1,466,528 net tons (1,330,413 metric tons) with Turkey, Taiwan, Korea, Egypt, and Mexico the top five countries receiving U.S. scrap. These countries received 69.3 percent of all scrap exports. Total March ferrous scrap exports were 11.1 percent higher than previous month but 32.3 percent lower than the same month one […]
The hot rolled coil (HRC) futures market has been trading sideways over the past couple of weeks, taking cues from the physical market that looks to have slowed its ascent. Trading volumes have been fairly average, with traders and hedgers seemingly more comfortable on the sidelines until a new catalyst sparks the market to break […]
Shredded ferrous scrap prices are now projected to be down $15 to $20 per gross ton in the Chicago market according to SMU sources. At the same time prime grades (like #1 busheling) are expected to tread sideways (remain the same as prior month). If, once the deals are completed, all runs true to the […]
With the various flat rolled indexes reporting hot rolled pricing approaching $680 per ton in the mill spot market we are quite close to the $685 announced by Nucor on April 4th and matched by a number of the domestic steel mills. The question now is will the mills attempt to move prices up to […]
The hot rolled futures market over the past week has consolidated gains on the nearby months. May and June have traded to a high of $685 and $680, reflecting optimism in continued short term strength in the physical market. The back end of the curve is not experiencing as strong buying interest, as the Q3 […]
Steel Market Update began this week with an article on Sunday evening titled, “This Could Be a Tumultuous Week.” Looking back over the past five days that title was an understatement. This week has been tumultuous times ten. Why? U.S. Steel can’t seem to catch a break. They now have steelmaking operations temporarily suspended at […]
The recent upturn in the physical market has continued to fuel the upswing in steel futures prices as nearby periods have surged this past week. The May and June HRC contracts have traded to highs of $660/ton while second half periods have traded up to $643. The nearby prices have improved over $40 during the […]
With the expected steel price hikes finally coming to fruition the futures market has reacted strongly as offers were lifted and bids take a step up. After months of a down trending physical market sentiment has taken a clear turn to bullishness. The nearby months (March and April) traded to lows around $615 last week […]
Early indications are for April ferrous scrap prices in the Midwest to rise once we enter the next round of steel mill negotiations with their scrap suppliers. Steel Market Update (SMU) scrap sources are pegging the potential increase at $10 to $15 per gross ton. Other industry sources have it as moving even higher. Scrap […]
Ferrous scrap exports totaled 898,156 metric tons (990,046 net tons or NT) for the month of January, a 42.7 percent decrease in exports from December 2013. This is a 41.4 percent decrease over the same month last year when tonnage was 1,689,288 NT. Global exports haven’t been this low since January of 2006 when they […]
The following article on the financial, hot rolled coil futures, busheling scrap futures and iron ore markets is written by Andre Marshall, CEO of Crunchrisk, LLC and our Managing Price Risk 1 and 2 instructor. Financial Markets: Today was not a good one, a repeat of last week when the market retraced on the back […]