Twice per month, Steel Market Update (SMU) conducts an analysis of the flat rolled steel markets and trends associated with those who buy and sell hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized, Galvalume and steel plate. One of the key areas we review is how steel service centers are handling spot pricing to their end user customers. […]
Flat rolled steel prices moved higher, while steel plate prices slipped this past week, according to the steel indexes followed by Steel Market Update. Benchmark hot rolled price averages exceeded $600 per ton ($30.00/cwt) on both Platts ($620 per ton) and Steel Market Update (SMU), which was a little lower at $605 per ton. SteelBenchmarker […]
After price increase announcements, it is important to follow steel mill lead times (and other keys) as a way of seeing if the increases are being seriously considered by steel buyers. The farther and faster lead times move out, the more support for the price increases announced by the domestic steel mills. Steel Market Update […]
According to the buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel, the domestic steel mills are willing to negotiate spot steel prices. The percentages of those reporting the mills as willing to negotiate has shrunk, but continues to be well above 50 percent. This is a bit of a surprise considering the price announcements made in […]
We have been watching the market very carefully looking for signs of a complete change in momentum, which would spur prices to move higher over time. We are finding hot rolled and cold rolled prices strengthening at the lower end of the range, and there have been some adjustments to coated products on a weekly […]
Flat rolled steel prices were seen as bouncing higher, according to the Platts steel indices. Platts had hot rolled up $22 per ton to $613.75 (we rounded it to $614), while SteelBenchmarker was down $10 to $600 per ton. Steel Market Update reported HRC down $5 to $580 per ton. We saw a similar change […]
It has only been one week since ArcelorMittal USA increased flat rolled steel prices. As the week progressed, it became obvious that steel mills were reacting to the price announcements in different ways. We heard from steel buyers that some mills withdrew open quoted pricing and repriced at new levels at least $40 per ton […]
The trend for foreign steel imports into the United States continues to be right at 3 million net tons for the month of October. The U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) updated license data collected for the month of October through today, Oct. 24. We take the license data for the first 24 days of the […]
Many of the domestic steel mills raised prices on Tuesday and Wednesday of this past week. ArcelorMittal USA lead the way by announcing specific “minimum” base prices on hot rolled ($625 per ton), and cold rolled and galvanized steels ($825 per ton each). The other mills all announced $40 per ton price increases (which to […]
Flat rolled steel lead times continue to shorten up, a trend under way since early August, according to the service centers and manufacturers who responded to Steel Market Update’s flat rolled steel market trends questionnaire this week. On average, lead times have dipped to nearly three weeks for hot rolled, slightly less than six weeks […]
On Monday of this week, Steel Market Update began collecting data for our mid-October flat rolled steel market trends analysis. We invited over 600 companies to participate in our questionnaire. The vast majority of the respondents are either service centers or manufacturing companies. Based on the data collected we found that prior to any of […]
Flat rolled steel prices continued their slow slog south (prices are moving lower). The pace has not accelerated, but there are questions as to whether some of the mills are cutting “quiet” deals in order to fill their fourth-quarter order book without giving the steel away. One service center put it to us this way: […]
Prior to the ArcelorMittal USA price increase announcement, Steel Market Update analysis of steel prices found flat rolled steel prices continuing their slow slog south (prices are moving lower). The pace has not accelerated, but there are questions as to whether some of the steel mills are cutting “quiet” deals in order to fill their […]
The U.S. government has advised the steel industry that it will delay its preliminary determination on the circumvention trade suit against Vietnam until Oct. 30. The suit alleges Vietnam was assisting China to circumvent the U.S. antidumping and countervailing duties assigned to China in 2015/2016. Domestic steelmakers say the U.S. government should no longer recognize […]
The U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) provided license data through Oct. 17 (today) regarding the amount of foreign steel slated to come into the United States during the month of October. Based on the license data, the trend is for yet another 3 million net ton (or higher) month. There are some significant changes to […]
Demand for steel sheet products continued to expand through August. This report summarizes total steel supply by product from 2003 through August 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 […]
The pace of the slide affecting flat rolled and plate steel prices quickened this past week. Steel Market Update (SMU) analyzed the price movements reported by Platts, SteelBenchmarker and SMU and found that almost every product was lower by the end of the week than it was the previous week. Benchmark hot rolled broke through […]
Some key price levels have been left in the dust when it comes to flat rolled and plate prices. On Friday of this past week, Steel Market Update (SMU) reduced the lower end of the range on hot rolled and our average dropped below $600 per ton. This week our HRC took a hit on […]
On Tuesday of this past week, Steel Market Update (SMU) advised our readers that our range on hot rolled pricing was $580-$630 per ton with an average of $605 per ton ($30.25/cwt). As the week progressed, we received more information that has caused us to drop the lower end of our range to $560 per […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) found steel prices mixed this past week on not only our own index, but also that of Platts. In the past, we have seen this when there is limited buying due to a slowdown in business or in relationship to an expansion of inventories. Benchmark hot rolled was lower this past […]
Flat rolled steel lead times have shortened up slightly since mid-September, according to the service centers and manufacturers who responded to Steel Market Update’s market trends questionnaire this week. Lead time, which is the amount of time it takes for the domestic steel mills to produce a new order from the time the order was […]
Steel mills are even more open to price discussions than they were a couple weeks ago, which may be a reflection of weakening prices, say steel buyers who replied to Steel Market Update’s latest flat rolled market trends questionnaire. More than 100 executives responded to this week’s questionnaire. Steel buyers’ perceptions of their suppliers’ attitudes […]
Flat rolled steel prices continue to “drift,” with some items drifting lower, some staying the same and cold rolled actually increasing by $5 per ton. One commercial officer at a steel mill told SMU that in his view the range has shrunk for the products they produce. Even so, “We are finding business, and it […]
Flat rolled steel prices slipped across the board this past week. All three steel indexes followed by Steel Market Update (SMU) saw prices as being down from as little as $1 per ton to as much as $20 per ton. Benchmark hot rolled continues to close in on $600 per ton with SMU down $5 […]
As was mentioned in the previous issue of Steel Market Update, foreign steel imports for September continue to trend toward another 3.0 million net ton month based on SMU analysis of import license data. If imports come in around 3.0 million tons it would be the lowest level since February 2017 when total steel imports […]
When asked to comment on spot flat rolled steel prices this week, the president of a medium-sized service center told SMU, “Drifting. Demand seems down.” He went on to report that even with AK Steel and ArcelorMittal reporting extending lead times, the market “feels soft.” Other steel buyers reported that their perception of the market […]
One of the surprises over the past year has been the amount of foreign steel imports still arriving in the United States despite antidumping (AD) and countervailing duties (CVD), a Section 337 complaint, a circumvention complaint and the Trump directive for the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) to investigate steel as it relates to national […]
On Friday, Steel Market Update (SMU) adjusted our Price Momentum Indicator to Lower from Neutral. It is our opinion that flat rolled steel prices will move lower over the next 30 days for the following 10 reasons: First, when the head of commercial of a domestic steel mill tells SMU that “transaction pricing cannot go […]
Flat rolled steel prices have begun to uniformly move lower based on what we have been collecting for steel price averages from ours and other steel indexes. Both Platts and Steel Market Update (SMU) had benchmark hot rolled as moving lower by $10 per ton this past week. Cold rolled prices were $10 lower on […]
Flat rolled steel lead times have been relatively flat going back to early May 2017, according to the service centers and manufacturing companies who participated in the Steel Market Update (SMU) flat rolled market trends survey this week. Lead time, which is the amount of time it takes for the domestic steel mills to produce […]