February 2017 steel import licenses are suggesting that foreign steel imports will be markedly higher than February 2016. Last year the U.S. imported 2.2 million tons of foreign steel. Right now, based on import licenses collected through February 21, 2017, the trend is for imports to reach 2.6 to 2.7 million net tons. This would […]
We had three price announcements and at least one verbal announcement on flat rolled steel since the week began. Everyone is wondering if the other steel mills will follow and what will the base prices be when the dust settles? Based on what we have been hearing from steel buyers today, the suggested minimum base […]
This report summarizes total steel supply from 2003 through December 2016 and year on year changes. It then compares domestic mill shipments and 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 […]
Steel mill lead times, the time it takes for a new order to be produced by the domestic flat rolled steel mills, remain essentially unchanged from what Steel Market Update reported at the beginning of February. The lead times being reported are compiled by Steel Market Update as part of our flat rolled steel market […]
The respondents to our latest SMU Flat Rolled Steel Market Trends Analysis are reporting steel mills as actively negotiating prices on all flat rolled with the possible exception of Galvalume. Seventy-nine percent of the respondents reported steel mills as willing to negotiate hot rolled spot pricing. We need to go back to our mid-October 2016 […]
Flat rolled steel spot prices have recently given back some of the gains made since the first price announcements were announced by U.S. steel mills in late October. In the past 13 weeks flat rolled prices increased by $160 per ton or more depending on product and the starting point for any specific steel buyer. […]
The Metal Service Center Institute (MSCI) released shipment and inventories data for the steel service centers located in the United States. They reported higher shipment rates coupled with lower flat rolled inventories (higher overall for all products) which is very supportive for prices to tighten over the next 30 days. U.S. steel service centers (all […]
We believe that miss-information (or lack of) about regional import volumes is often used to influence purchase decisions. Our intent with this analysis of tonnage by district of entry is to describe in detail what is going on in a company’s immediate neighborhood and thus provide a negotiating advantage for our premium subscribers. We are […]
Flat rolled prices held their own this week and remained at, or very near, last week’s levels. At the moment we are seeing the mills as willing to negotiate prices on some items but, at the same time we are see some strengthening as scrap prices have firmed up over the past week and may […]
ArcelorMittal NAFTA segment results declined in fourth quarter 2016. Steel shipments decreased by 6.6 percent to 5 million tonnes from third quarter driven by an 8.5 percent decrease in flat volumes due to destocking in the United States. NAFTA sales were down 11.1 percent from the prior quarter to $3.8 billion due to lower average […]
We saw some “minor” slippage in flat rolled steel pricing this past week. When reviewing Platts (SteelBenchmarker did not report prices this past week) and our own steel indices we saw movement in hot rolled, cold rolled as stable, movement in galvanized and Galvalume and plate were stable. Hot rolled prices were down $10 per […]
Even though the U.S. Department of Commerce is reporting foreign steel imports at high levels, imported steel is getting more expensive and, in some cases, getting harder to find. SMU sources, both steel trading companies and buyers of foreign steel here in the United States, are expressing reservations about the future of foreign steel imports. […]
Licensed data for January was reported by the Steel Import Monitoring System of the US Commerce Department on January 7th. An explanation of the methodology that we at SMU use to analyze the trade data is given at the end of this piece. All volumes in this analysis are reported in short tons. Total rolled […]
Steel buyers are telling Steel Market Update that there are a few steel mills “looking for orders” and that flat rolled steel prices are “somewhat negotiable with tons” but, otherwise, the steel mills are doing a good job of holding the line on prices. We have seen a couple of drops in pricing due to […]
The U.S. Department of Commerce provided updated license and census data which indicates foreign steel imports are trending lower. December imports of foreign steel are totaling 2,685,641 tons while January is trending toward 2.7 million tons based on license data through the end of the month. Items that are trending lower are: Semi-finished steels of […]
Flat rolled steel prices may have peaked based on the results of the two steel indexes followed by Steel Market Update who reported flat rolled steel prices this past week. Platts reported prices as remaining the same on all flat rolled products but up $40 per ton on plate. Steel Market Update (SMU) collected data […]
Flat rolled lead times at the domestic steel mills were essentially flat to slightly shorter based on the respondents to the Steel Market Update (SMU) flat rolled market trends survey completed earlier today. Steel buyers are quick to react to shorter lead times by requesting spot price reductions in their negotiations with the steel mill […]
Average flat rolled lead times (the amount of time it takes a steel mill to produce a new order placed today) have begun to shrink which is causing steel mills to be more receptive to negotiating flat rolled spot steel prices based on those responding to this week’s flat rolled steel market trends analysis survey. […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) collected data from the flat rolled steel markets which indicated some changes in the index averages. Whether this is a signal of a break in prices is not yet known and something we will be working on over the next few days. We have seen data this week whereby the strength […]
Today I attended the Port of Tampa Steel Conference. This is a 28th conference put on by the Port of Tampa and I have been to about 8-10 of them. I have found them to be a good place to learn more about key subjects affecting the trading company and import communities of which the […]
Flat rolled steel prices were essentially unchanged on the Platts and SMU indexes while SteelBenchmarker, which only produces their indices twice per month, played catch up. The three steel indexes agreed that benchmark hot rolled coil was averaging $630 per ton ($629 was the average of the three indexes) or $31.50/cwt. Cold rolled was unchanged […]
January foreign steel import license data released by the U.S. Department of Commerce earlier this week is suggesting total steel imports will be in line with November and December at approximately 2.8 million net tons. We continue to see a drop in the level of hot-rolled tons coming into the U.S. market as fewer countries […]
The market did not collapse after our article about potential cracks in hot rolled. In fact, the hot rolled prices actual increased by $5 per ton while the other items remained intact at last week’s levels. Although SMU did collect data on hot rolled that was lower than the week prior, the lower offers were […]
SMU Price Momentum Indicator has been pointing to Higher flat rolled steel prices since late October (12 weeks). Based on our analysis of last week’s steel market trends survey as well as direct contact with buyers today, SMU Price Momentum has not changed and our expectation is for prices to move higher over the next […]
Are cracks starting to develop in the floor of steel prices? Are any cracks a harbinger to a reversal of flat rolled steel prices? It is too early to tell. However, buyers and sellers of steel need to be aware of that the markets may be in the early stage of change. Since the beginning […]
Only two of the steel indexes followed by Steel Market Update reported prices this past week (SteelBenchmarker only reports twice per month). We saw mixed results with Platts taking their hot rolled average to $630 per ton (up $20) while our SMU HRC index average was up $5 per ton to $625 per ton. Platts […]
Steel mill lead times, the amount of time it takes for steel mills to produce new orders of hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized or Galvalume products, continue to remain extended according to the results of Steel Market Update flat rolled steel market trends analysis conducted during the course of this week. Hot rolled lead times […]
Flat rolled steel buyers reported the domestic steel mills as not willing to negotiate prices on flat rolled steel products. This is a continuation of the position we reported beginning in November after the initial flat rolled steel price increase announcements being made in late October. Only 17 percent of the respondents to our flat […]
Flat rolled steel prices continued their march higher this week in reaction to the latest price announcements made by the U.S. steel mills earlier this month. Where steel prices go from here will depend on lead times, the domestic mill order books and how much inventory is available. We will have a glimpse at each […]
Late today the U.S. Department of Commerce released updated foreign steel import license data for the months of December and January. Since we are now half way through the month our interest is mainly with the month of January as we are trying to determine if there is any pull-back in flat rolled steel tonnages. […]