We are starting to see continuous movement in flat rolled steel prices – especially on hot rolled coil which was down another $5 per ton this week. Steel Market Update is also starting to gather price points beyond the range of “slippage” and we have therefore adjusted our Price Momentum Indicator from Neutral to Lower […]
As of Friday of this past week, SMU, CRU and Platts had hot rolled price averages as $655, $656 and $655 per ton. SteelBenchmarker did not report prices last week and remains stuck at $668 per ton. Our average dropped to $659 per ton as all three of the reporting indexes saw HRC down $5 […]
Our Price Momentum Indicator has been stuck in “Neutral” since the last day of June 2014. We are now entering our 4th month and hot rolled steel prices have barely budged from the center line (OK, there have been some mild gyrations but no clear cut path up or down during the past three months). […]
One of the first things that we noticed when looking at the graph below is all of the “neutral” arrows (yellow arrows in SMU Pricing Momentum) going across the full spectrum of the table shown. We went back to see at what point did we move our Momentum to Neutral and found we made the […]
One item I keep hearing from the service centers I speak with – and it doesn’t matter what the product is – hot rolled, galvanized, Galvalume I am hearing the same thing. Business is good, in some cases excellent, but margins are being squeezed. Competition appears to be willing to move off inventory for whatever […]
Steel Market Update spent the last two days canvassing end users and service centers to see where flat rolled steel prices are at the moment and where they might be heading from here. We heard from many service centers and end users that business conditions and demand for their products are doing quite well. We […]
As we try to point out on regular basis, import license data is an imperfect program and can only suggest what ballpark the final number will be in. Last week the import license data was suggesting September would meet or exceed 4.0 million net tons (all products). Based on license data updated on September 30th, […]
Steel buyers think the domestic mills are riding high at today’s prices. Iron ore prices are dropping, coking coal is down and scrap has been treading water and the word is it may dip a bit as we enter the month of October. Steel buyers think the mills are floating on the top of the […]
Through the 23rd of September foreign steel import licenses continue to suggest that September imports could exceed the 4.0 million net tons reported in the final census numbers for May 2014. The license data suggests that the biggest surge in imports will move through the domestic steel mills as semi-finished import licenses are trending toward […]
One of our readers asked us earlier this week what the average price for hot rolled has been so far this calendar year according to the Steel Market Update HRC index. The answer to that question is $665.30 per ton through this current week. The average of all of the hot rolled indexes followed on […]
Based on the results from our most recent Steel Market Update steel market analysis, flat rolled steel mill lead times, the number of weeks needed to produce and ship a new order, remained above 2013 levels on all products. SMU conducted one of our twice monthly steel market surveys this past week. During the process […]
Flat rolled steel mills continue to negotiate pricing on hot rolled, galvanized and Galvalume products and less enthusiastically on cold rolled, according to our latest flat rolled steel market analysis conducted this past week. Galvanized continued as the product manufacturing companies and service centers were reporting where prices were negotiable gathering 68 percent of the […]
Spot prices remained stable this week as steel buyers wait to see how the absorption of Severstal by AK Steel and Steel Dynamics will affect the marketplace. It is anticipated that it could take 3-4 weeks before we get a clear indication as to how the commercial departments for each mill will integrate the former […]
The following press release was made earlier today regarding two investments which are being made in the AM/NS Calvert steel mill (former ThyssenKrupp Steel USA Calvert mill). The two investments will assist in bringing the mill up to its 5.3 million metric ton (5.8 million net tons) target for production. The release (below) came from […]
On Monday, Nucor announced their intention to acquire Gallatin Steel and its approximately 1.8 million tons of hot rolling capacity. On Tuesday, AK Steel and Steel Dynamics (SDI) completed the purchase of the Severstal North America assets. The biggest pieces of the Severstal deal are the Dearborn steel mill, which went to AK Steel, and the […]
Flat rolled steel prices moved lower this past week according to the various steel price indexes followed by Steel Market Update. The largest movement was seen in cold rolled prices but hot rolled prices and Galvalume prices also fell during the past week. The one item which did not see erosion was galvanized prices which […]
For months there have been rumors circulating in the marketplace that the domestic steel industry was contemplating filing dumping suits against the Chinese on cold rolled and potentially a number of Asian countries on galvanized and/or Galvalume products. To date there have not been suits filed and the foreign steel continues to arrive at ever-greater […]
As we look at our price indices for the week of September 8th we want to take a moment to advise our galvanized customers that we are revising our .060 G90 benchmark index to account for the change in zinc coating extras. After reviewing the changes made by the domestic steel mills we have decided […]
Flat rolled steel prices continue to slip lower as the various indexes watched by Steel Market Update begin to come to a consensus as the spreads between the indexes shrink. Platts dropped their benchmark hot rolled price by $5 per ton and CRU by $2 per ton. SteelBenchmarker did not report prices this week as […]
Flat rolled steel mill Lead times remained relatively stable compared to those reported during the middle of August. However, when compared to the lead times reported in early September 2013 we are finding the latest lead times to be slightly extended. Hot rolled lead times are averaging 4.37 weeks based on the responses received in […]
Steel Market Update conducted one of our flat rolled steel market surveys this past week. One of the key questions asked during the survey process is regarding the willingness of the domestic flat rolled steel mills to negotiate spot pricing. In last week’s survey our respondents reported a jump in the percentage reporting the steel […]
The U.S. Department of Commerce released final census data for July steel imports this past week. Total imports were 3,858,692 net tons which was 247,387 tons greater than what we saw during the month of June. License data is pointing toward a slightly lower total volume for total steel imports during the month of August. […]
Flat rolled steel prices remained holiday bound and buyers are waiting to see if there is any movement based on the latest lead times and needs that the domestic mills might have. With the combination of the Labor Day holiday on Monday of this week, coupled with inventories starting to rise at service centers (according […]
Flat rolled steel prices continued to slip this past week according to our analysis of the various flat rolled price indexes we follow on a regular basis. The benchmark hot rolled average dropped $6 per ton to $671 per ton with SMU being the lowest at $665 and SteelBenchmarker the highest at $677 per ton. […]
Based on our conversations with steel buyers and analysis of the data we received from steel mills, service centers and end users, we saw some slippage in flat rolled steel prices this week. Not enough to change our position (Neutral) on the market. But, there was enough to make us sit up and take notice. […]
Since last week licenses for foreign steel to be imported into the United States during the month of August have retreated slightly and the latest data is now leaning toward import levels to be very close to the just released Preliminary Census number for July of 3.8 million net tons. At this moment, and I […]
A number of steel mills have joined Nucor and US Steel by adjusting their coating extras on galvanized steel. Wheeling Nisshin advised their customers on Monday of this week that they were going to the new U.S. Steel galvanized extras. Severstal also made adjustments to their mills extras but they did not come out with […]
This week will be the last week we will use the old USS extras in our .060″ G90 galvanized index and cost calculations. The extra is changing from $3.00/cwt to $3.45/cwt. Please make a note of this. Before the end of this week we will revise our Price Estimator on the website to incorporate the […]
The spreads between the various steel price indexes watched on a weekly basis by Steel Market Update have been shrinking. With the exception of plate (which had price increase announcements during the week) and SMU cold rolled, all of the other flat rolled steel price indices either moved sideways or moved lower this past week. […]
The US International Trade Commission announced Friday that it will impose anti-dumping duties on imports from six of the nine countries accused by U.S. steel producers of dumping OCTG in the US market. The decision includes Korea, who was previously excluded in the preliminary decision, India, Taiwan, Turkey, Ukraine and Vietnam. The Philippines and Thailand […]