The U.S. Department of Commerce released August Preliminary Census Data showing August imports as being 3,016,157 net tons (2.7 million metric tons). August imports are down 200,000 tons compared to July and were below both the 3 month and 12 month moving averages. When looking at flat rolled items we found a small reduction in […]
The following press release came out late this afternoon and we caught it early this evening. The announcement is about the hot rolled trade cases and whether the US International Trade Commission (ITC) found enough evidence to determine that the probability exists that the U.S. steel industry was “materially damaged” by hot rolled exports from […]
Flat rolled steel buyers reported a weakening flat rolled steel market this week. Large buyers are now able to buy spot hot rolled at $410-$420 per ton with medium sized buyers seeing prices closer to $420-$440 per ton. We are seeing cold rolled and coated products as doing a little better as they have been […]
Flat rolled and plate prices continued to slip as all of the indexes followed by Steel Market Update reported pricing this week. The CPI benchmark hot rolled average dropped $2 to end the week at $446 per ton ($22.30/cwt). We now have SMU with the lowest average at $440 per ton followed by Platts ($445), […]
The key word that we are hearing from steel buyers and mills alike is the market is QUIET, very, very quiet. Lead times referenced continue to be short. Inventories continue to be high. We did not collect any huge changes in our key product averages. We are hearing that extras on many products are being […]
The U.S. Department of Commerce released the latest license data for the month of September through the 15th of September late this afternoon. For the first time in many months we are seeing a large change in the license requests at this point in the month. Earlier this month it appeared that licenses were trending […]
This report compares domestic mill shipments and total supply to the market. It quantifies market direction by product and enables a side by side comparison showing the degree to which imports have absorbed demand. Sources are the American Iron and Steel Institute and the Department of Commerce with analysis by SMU. Table 1 shows both […]
The flat rolled steel indexes followed by Steel Market Update saw prices as being relatively flat this past week with the exception of Platts which is playing catch-up as they move their prices to be more in line with the other indexes. SMU kept all of our indices the same as the prior week as […]
SMU adjusted our flat rolled price indices on Thursday of last week due to information we gathered after the conclusion of our Steel Summit Conference. We noted then that the market has been very slowly leaking, with the bottom of our hot rolled range hitting $420 per ton. One of the mills with which we […]
This data is normally reserved for our Premium members, but we wanted to give our Executive readers a view of what a Premium subscription includes. This is one of many additional data points available to our Premium level members. Licensed data for August was updated on September 4th through the Steel Import Monitoring System of […]
Due to the Labor Day Holiday in the United States, Steel Market Update did not produce our Comparison Price Indices article on Sunday evening. Since many of our readers look forward to this information we are publishing last week’s numbers this evening. Hot rolled coil was dropped below $450 per ton on two indexes – […]
After leaving our Steel Summit Conference, SMU began canvassing our flat rolled steel sources to see if there had been any further changes in prices of flat rolled steels (hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized and Galvalume). We found three of the items dropped (hot rolled, cold rolled and galvanized) while Galvalume rose slightly. Here is […]
Domestic steel mill lead times continued to be relatively short based on the consolidated results of our most recent flat rolled steel market analysis just completed earlier today. It is our opinion the short lead times are influencing negotiations and most likely explain the weakness we saw in our flat rolled prices that were just […]
Steel mills in the United States are more willing to negotiate flat rolled steel prices on essentially all products than they have been over the past three or four months. This statement is based on the results of our most recent flat rolled steel market analysis which was just completed earlier today. Ninety-seven percent of […]
This week’s averages are heavily influenced (more than normal) by our on-going survey since all of our SMU team is involved in the Steel Summit Conference. We are being careful while at the conference not to discuss specific pricing or competitive situations. We will continue to evaluate market prices as the week progresses and advise […]
Earlier today the U. S. Department of Commerce released the latest license data through the 1st of September. Based on license data August total steel imports will be 3.0 million net tons. If confirmed when the Final Census data is released August will be the lowest tonnage so far this year. When looking at flat […]
Virtually all of the indexes followed by Steel Market Update have begun to note the falling prices on flat rolled steels in North America. Benchmark hot rolled continues to be the most volatile product, dropping by as much as $16 per ton according to SteelBenchmarker (who only reports prices twice per month) and even Platts, […]
Our Steel Buyers Sentiment Index dropped for the second month in a row, however, our 3-month-moving-average rose slightly. Our Sentiment Index has been trailing what we reported during 2014 as business growth has been tempered this year versus last. Flat rolled steel prices dropped slightly from the end of last month through the end of […]
Out of curiosity SMU took a look at the galvanized steel imports from the five countries named in the corrosion resistant (CORE) antidumping trade suit filed by the domestic steel mills on June 3rd of this year. The countries are: China, India, Taiwan, South Korea and Italy. We took a look at the previous 3 […]
Recently Steel Market Update produced information related to the changes in the LME spot price for zinc and the costs associated with applying the Zinc to steel substrate in order to make galvanized product. It has been normal for the domestic steel mills to react to significant adjustments in the cost of zinc by adjusting […]
Steel buyers continue to report flat rolled steel prices as being stagnate (or stable) and our steel ranges remained the same on all but galvanized (which was influenced by data coming from light gauge construction products market segments). Our Price Momentum Indicator continues to be pointing to a sideways pricing trend with a slight “negative” […]
The U.S. Department of Commerce released July Preliminary Census Data and updated the license data for the month of August. In the table below we have provided the details to the July numbers which indicates imports at 3,242,501 net tons or slightly higher than the 3.1 million net tons received during the month of June. […]
In early May 2015 zinc spot price on the LME was trading at, or close to, $1.10 per pound. In early April 2015 US Steel adjusted their coating extras while the rest of the mills remained at the levels they set in early 4th Quarter 2014 when zinc was trading in the range of $1.00-$1.10 […]
With the exception of Platts, all of the other indexes reporting (and followed by SMU) saw flat rolled products as losing ground this past week. Steel Market Update (SMU) is leading the way with their benchmark hot rolled coil (HRC) average dropping by $10 per ton to $450 per ton. This is $5 higher than […]
Lead times for hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized and Galvalume steels continue to remain moderately short at most of the domestic steel mills according to the results of this week’s flat rolled steel market analysis. Hot rolled lead times averaged 3.38 weeks which is essentially unchanged over the past month and below the 4 week […]
Based on the results of our latest flat rolled steel market analysis (survey) the U.S. and Canadian steel mills continue to be willing to negotiate prices of hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized and Galvalume steels. Benchmark hot rolled, which has been hit especially hard by the drought in orders from the energy markets, had 80 […]
On Wednesday of this week the U.S. Department of Commerce updated license data for foreign steel imports for the months of July and August. Based on only 18 days worth of data, August imports are trending toward another 3.0 million net ton month. The current trend line is for total steel imports for August to […]
Steel buyers are reporting a weakening steel market in both our phone conversations as well as through our survey responses. SMU reported a drop in hot rolled coil prices last week of $5 per ton and we are reporting an additional $5 per ton move lower this week. We are seeing weakness in all products. […]
With three direct flat rolled trade cases plus various suits affecting pipe and tube and oil country tubular goods, keeping track of all of the important dates can be mind-numbing. Especially when critical circumstances are alleged or extensions are requested (and we have seen both already in the CORE suit). We asked trade attorney Lewis […]
The negative numbers are starting to appear and SMU is hearing from steel buyers that weakness is creeping back into the markets, if only over the short term. However, not all of the indices followed by Steel Market Update saw the market as weakening at all. SteelBenchmarker, in particular, reported bullish results with all of […]