Flat rolled steel prices inched higher this past week on the indexes followed by Steel Market Update (SMU). We saw just about everyone take benchmark hot rolled prices higher by $5 per ton. SMU took our HRC average from $600 to $605, Platts took theirs from $605 to $610 and SteelBenchmarker took theirs from $603 […]
We are seeing a strengthening in the resolve of the steel mills as most (but not all) steel buyers were reporting an attempt to take numbers up or to restrict orders by having mills move to an “inquire only” position. Even so, we continued to get some pricing at the lower end of our range […]
The U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) released Preliminary Census Data on May indicating foreign steel imports totaled 3.6 million net tons. They also released license data for June and we are seeing the trend indicating the month will be close to 3.8 million net tons (license data through the 27th of June). The numbers for […]
Flat rolled steel prices had another mixed week of results based on our analysis of the steel indexes reporting last week. Hot rolled prices were up slightly on both the Steel Market Update (SMU) index as well as Platts. SMU saw the market as averaging $600 per ton, while Platts had it at $605 per […]
Steel mill flat rolled lead times, which have generally trended downward this spring, my be showing early signs of lengthening, reflecting new strength in demand for domestic steel products. Mills were successful in collecting a price increase earlier in the month. Despite SMU data that shows service center inventories at “comfortable” levels, some distributors may […]
Steel buyers report that mills are considerably less willing to negotiate prices on spot orders than they were a month, or even two weeks, ago. The findings of the latest SMU survey of service centers and manufacturers indicates that only about half find mills willing to negotiate on hot roll spot buys, compared with more […]
The U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) released foreign steel license data on Tuesday of this week. The trend, based on the first 20 days of this month, is for June imports to be at record highs for the year. Total steel imports are trending toward 3.7-3.9 million tons which would be the highest level since […]
We saw mixed results this week as hot rolled prices rose a very modest $5, cold rolled was down $15, galvanized was up $10 and Galvalume remained the same even as the lower end dropped $10 per ton and the upper end rose $10 per ton. Definitely a mixed week as the market tries to […]
Two of the three steel indexes followed by Steel Market Update saw flat rolled prices as rising last week and steel plate prices sideways or down. The third index, SteelBenchmarker only produces their average steel prices twice per month and they saw the market as being lower on all products last week. Hot rolled averages […]
Steel Dynamics, Inc., reported lower earnings guidance for the second quarter due to operational issues at two of its plants. An upgrade to Steel Dynamics’ galvanizing line at Butler required a three week outage, diminishing second-quarter pretax earnings by $15 million. In addition, quality issues related to start-up of the new Galvalume and paint line […]
Flat rolled steel prices moved higher this week as the effects of last week’s price increase announcements begun to take place. Prices on all but plate moved up by $15 to $20 per ton. As one mill pointed out to SMU earlier today many of the orders that are being placed this week are smaller […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) has been in contact with dozens of steel buyers and executives over the past 24 hours discussing the status of the flat rolled price increases, steel mill lead times and other items of interest to the steel community. Most steel buyers reported the flat rolled price increases as being in effect […]
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 […]
Domestic steel mills announced flat rolled steel (hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized, Galvalume) price increases early last week. However, as is sometimes their want, especially when lead times are shorter than they would like, most of the mills gave their customers time to place orders at the existing prices quoted prior to the announcements. It […]
The slide in flat rolled steel prices was curtailed compared to previous weeks as prices on hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized, Galvalume moved sideways to slightly lower while plate was sideways to slightly higher. All of the major flat rolled steel mills in the United States announced flat rolled price increases on Monday and Tuesday […]
Flat rolled lead times have continued to decline over the past 10 weeks, according to this week’s SMU Flat Rolled Steel Market Trends questionnaire. Buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel report shorter lead times than in early May. Lead times on all products are considerably shorter than one year ago. Shorter lead times are […]
Lead times are declining, which reflects a possible softening of demand, thus domestic mills appear to be more willing to negotiate spot pricing on hot rolled, cold rolled, hot-dipped galvanized and Galvalume steels than they were earlier in the year. About 70-80 percent of steel buyers responding to this week’s flat rolled steel market trends […]
All of the major flat rolled steel producers have approached their customers and advised them of their intention to increase hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized and Galvalume prices by a minimum of $30 per ton. As of this evening (Tuesday, June 6, 2017) we have seen price announcements out of California Steel Industries, USS Posco […]
Flat rolled prices were mixed this week as the domestic steel mills announced their $30 per ton price increase and steel buyers placed whatever orders they were allowed to under the existing pricing agreements. We saw a tightening of the range on hot rolled while cold rolled was unchanged, galvanized was down $5 per ton, […]
On Friday, the U.S. Department of Commerce released Final Census Data on foreign steel imports for the month of April 2017. As expected, the month was another large one with imports totaling 3,350,983 net tons. This is above both the 3-month and 12-month moving averages. License data for the month of May approached 3.6 million […]
Flat rolled steel prices continued their decline this past week. We saw numbers sliding on all products on the indexes followed by Steel Market Update. Steel prices dropped on hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized and Galvalume as well as plate products. Benchmark hot rolled pricing dropped $15 per ton to an average of $580 per […]
Flat rolled prices continued their skid despite the Memorial Day Holiday. Prices were lower by $5 to $15 per ton depending on product. Steel buyers continue to be concerned about the direction of prices and how long this downward spiral will last. We have more on the comments received today as we canvassed both end […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) spend the majority of today discussing the flat rolled steel markets with steel buyers from around the country. The main topic of conversation was pricing, which is anticipated will drop over the next 30 days and Section 232 which is expected to end that drop… Flat rolled steel buyers reported most […]
Flat rolled steel prices dropped last week as all three of the indexes followed by Steel Market Update (SMU) reported lower pricing. Benchmark hot rolled prices dropped by double digits last week with SMU and Platts at $595 per ton as the week ended and SteelBenchmarker dropping $12 per ton to $611 per ton. The […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) has been contacted by end users, distributors and steel mills regarding an article published by another trade publication on Galvalume. The article, which was published on Thursday, May 18, 2017, quoted Keith Medick, president and CEO of Union Corrugating Company, as he made the point that there is not enough light […]
“There’s been further erosion with EAF’s dropping spot to $570-$580, not necessarily tied to volume,” is what one large service center told us this afternoon. “[I am] afraid this market at risk of bigger drops than was anticipated.” Flat rolled price averages were lower across all products followed by Steel Market Update with the exception […]
The U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) reported foreign steel import license data earlier today. May licenses continue at a 3.6 million net ton pace which is quite disturbing (and probably not well timed based on the Section 232 hearing happening on Wednesday). However, almost one-third of the imports are attached directly to the steel mills […]
Flat rolled steel prices continued to slip lower this past week according to the steel indexes followed by Steel Market Update. Benchmark hot rolled prices slipped $5 per ton on both Platts and our own index. SteelBenchmarker did not report prices as they only produce prices twice per week. The hot rolled average is quickly […]
Flat rolled lead times have been shrinking over the past eight weeks according to the results of this week’s SMU Flat Rolled Steel Market Trends questionnaire. Buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel are reporting shorter lead times than what we measured at the beginning of May and lead times on all products are much […]