According to our latest flat rolled steel market survey which was conducted last week, steel mill lead times have continued to move out on every single one of the flat rolled products. The extended mill lead times are one of the primary reasons behind the increases in flat rolled steel prices, pressure on deliveries, allocations […]
The steel indexes followed by Steel Market Update showed flat rolled steel spot prices continuing their climb higher as all products moved by double digits. Both Platts and SMU took hot rolled prices up by $15 per ton, although there is a $15 per ton spread between the two indexes. Based on the SMU index, […]
Steel prices continued to rise over the past week. A number of buyers are reporting mills as being on allocation (or not open at this time) which is keeping prices very close to the announced levels made over the past two weeks. In some cases, buyers are reporting mills as asking for premiums above the […]
The following is a quick update on the status of the flat rolled trade cases (hot rolled, cold rolled and corrosion resistant) and what are the next important dates to remember. The corrosion resistant, which covers galvanized, Galvalume and related products such as galvanneal and aluminized, are scheduled to have the Final Determination by the […]
All of the steel indexes we follow reported flat rolled steel prices this past week with each showing major double digit gains for the domestic steel mills hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized, Galvalume and plate. Hot rolled prices surged with each index reporting at least a $34 per ton increase (+$35 for Platts and +$40 […]
Mill Steel Company, one of the nation’s largest distributors of flat-rolled carbon steel, announced the appointment of Pam Heglund to President. Heglund will be the first female president of a steel service center of this size. Heglund was Mill Steel’s first intern, starting at the company in 2000 and serving the past five years as […]
This was one of the most difficult weeks to analyze flat rolled steel prices due to a number of factors. There were some “deals” available a few days ago (but after last Tuesday when we last indexed pricing) that no longer exist. How much weight do we give those deals? There are a number of […]
Licensed data for March was reported by the Steel Import Monitoring System of the US Commerce Department on April 5th. An explanation of the methodology that we at SMU use to analyze the trade data is given at the end of this piece. Total rolled product licensed imports in the single month of March were […]
This report summarizes total steel supply from 2003 through February 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 and […]
Steel buyers were pulling out their hair earlier today due to the number of mills holding tons off the market as they try to determine what the new pricing should be on hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized and Galvalume products. As of early this afternoon (Thursday) steel buyers were informing Steel Market Update of a […]
Steel mill lead times on all four flat rolled products have become more extended, according to those who responded to our most recent flat rolled steel market analysis. As lead times extend, steel buyers have to place more orders in order to protect their inventories. The more orders placed, the better chance for the domestic […]
Flat rolled prices continue to tighten and lead times continue to be extended, based on our analysis of the flat rolled steel markets and pricing this week. Buyers are reporting a shrinking of the range of offers available out there. So, even though we have a range of $440-$460 per ton on hot rolled, we […]
NLMK USA was the first mill to raise prices, going up $40 per ton. I am hearing comments from both sides on whether the price increases are a good or bad thing. My personal opinion is prices got a little “over-done” last year and dropped too low. A hot rolled number closer to $500 may […]
According to ArcelorMittal USA comments made during the Association of Steel Distributors meeting over the weekend which SMU attended, a trade case on steel plate imports will be filed within the next few weeks. ArcelorMittal along with Nucor and SSAB have been working on the documentation for an extended period of time and our understanding […]
Flat rolled steel prices continue to climb and there is quite a range out there when looking at the various indices. It is SMU opinion that the variances are due to collection techniques and the amount of data available to any specific index at the time they produce their numbers. SMU and Platts take into […]
March saw flat rolled steel prices rising throughout the month. SMU benchmark hot rolled average for the month was $427 per ton. This was slightly lower than Platts which revised their HRC number on the 30th which took their average up to $432 per ton. Both Platts and SMU monthly averages were higher than the […]
Flat rolled steel prices continue to firm and many buyers are convinced there could be more price increases to come with a tightening foreign market and higher offers for foreign steel coupled with the expectation that ferrous scrap prices will increase by a minimum of $30 per gross ton for April delivery. SMU has been […]
Due to the Easter Holiday we did not publish our Comparison Price Indices article over the weekend. However, you didn’t miss anything as here is what we are seeing for hot rolled, cold rolled, coated products and plate from the indexes we followed this past week. Last week hot rolled moved higher by $10 per […]
Flat rolled steel pricing momentum is clearly on the side of the domestic steel mills. You have a number of the integrated mills essentially out of the spot markets and lead times are extended. Even hot rolled lead times are moving out despite weakness in the energy markets. SMU Price Momentum Indicator continues to point […]
Flat rolled steel buyers are telling Steel Market Update that the domestic mills are getting more aggressive about collecting all, or at least a portion of the latest price increase. Hot rolled continues to be the weakest product, but even in HRC we are seeing the numbers starting to move and we expect them to […]
AK Steel followed the rest of the steel mills as they announced a $30 per ton price increase just 17 days after announcing their last flat rolled increase. This is the third price increase out of AK Steel so far this year. With the latest round of increases, AK Steel minimum base price levels are: […]
Flat rolled steel prices continue their march higher this past week. At least that is what our index is telling us. However, when we look at other indexes we do not always get the same picture. There seems to be a split in the numbers with some indexes showing benchmark hot rolled averaging $414 per […]
The following article was written by SMU founder and publisher, John Packard with the assistance of Platts Content Director, Metals Americas, Joseph Innace. Shortly after Steel Market Update (SMU) became a real company I understood the need for the flat rolled steel industry to have an pricing index which was independent and not tied as […]
Steel Mill lead times are important keys to watch. As lead times extend buyers have to place more orders and spend more time balancing their inventories in order to satisfy their customers. Longer lead times also support domestic steel mill pricing and create opportunities for steel mills to raise steel prices (which is exactly what […]
Buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel report to Steel Market Update whether the domestic steel mills are willing to negotiate pricing on hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized and Galvalume steels. The less willing the mills are to negotiate prices the stronger the market (and potentially the higher prices go from here). Hot rolled negotiations […]
Earlier this week Nucor Plate Group and SSAB announced price increases on plate products (with SSAB also including hot rolled coil) of $40 per ton. Over the past few months we have seen the plate mills lead the charge with sheet mills following close behind. This week was no different. Three mills announced flat rolled […]
With the announcement of the Preliminary Determination regarding dumping (AD) of hot rolled steel into the United States by Australia, Korea, Japan, Brazil, the Netherlands, United Kingdom and Turkey, the next step in the process is for the US Department of Commerce to travel overseas and verify the information received from the countries involved. Looking […]
The U.S. Department of Commerce updated foreign steel import license data earlier this week. The trend is for March steel imports to come in around 2.4-2.7 million net tons or in line with what we saw during the months of January and February 2016. Since we are still early in the month, we are less […]
Flat rolled steel prices continued to move higher over the past week. We are seeing even the weakest product, hot rolled, gaining traction as lead times move out due to the shutdown of US Steel and AK Steel mills (Granite City and Ashland). SMU was advised by both steel mills and steel buyers that orders […]
The U.S. Department of Commerce (US DOC) is scheduled to release their Preliminary Determination of Antidumping (AD) against Australia, Brazil, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, Turkey and the United Kingdom. This is the third and final Preliminary Determination to be announced on flat rolled steel products. Previously we saw rulings on corrosion resistant (galvanized/Galvalume) and cold […]