Please see the end of this report for an explanation of data sources. The Broad Index value of the US $ is reported several days in arrears by the Federal Reserve, the latest value we have was dated October 7th, Figure 1. The dollar has lacked direction since early May as traders have correctly anticipated […]
The U.S. Department of Commerce updated foreign steel import license data earlier today. SMU analyzes the license data through the 18th of October, produces a daily import license request rate and then we make an assumption that if the daily rate continues by the end of the month we will have “X” number of tons […]
US Steel Canada court monitor Alex Morrison reported sales were good in August, resulting in revenue of CAD $144.6 million. EBITDA increased by $30.7 million from July. Shipments were up 19.7 percent year-over-year to 192,734 tons. The company has been successful in replacing sales to automotive customers that were lost when US Steel cut ties […]
The Vietnam steel industry is between the proverbial rock and hard place. U.S. steel manufacturers claim that Vietnamese exporters are party to China’s circumvention of antidumping and countervailing duties on cold rolled steel and are calling for AD duties to match those on China products. Vietnam’s influx of Chinese steel is also a concern for […]
Flat rolled steel prices continue to move lower as benchmark hot rolled broke through $500 per ton and is now averaging $490 per ton. We were relatively conservative in our range this week as we did capture at least one order placed for moderate tonnage at $440 per ton and we are hearing that the […]
We believe that misinformation 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 now publishing monthly […]
This report summarizes total steel supply from 2003 through August 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 […]
In this evening’s edition we have included a number of articles that would normally go to just our Premium level members. We thought that our Executive level members would like to get an idea of some of the articles and data they are missing. Included in that list is the Power Point presentation of our […]
The European Union, on Friday, placed provisional tariffs on imports of hot-rolled flat steel and heavy plate steel from China. Steel association Eurofer lodged the antidumping complaint with the European Commission in January on behalf of European steel producers representing 90 percent of the region’s hot-rolled flat rolled steel production. Eurofer alleged in its complaint […]
China’s Commerce Ministry criticized the European Union for antidumping duties imposed Friday on imports of hot rolled steel and plate. The Ministry called the investigation methods unfair. A spokesperson for the Ministry said Chinese steel imports cannot be affecting EUs steel prices because they only account for 5 percent of the European market. “Reckless trade […]
According to the latest data released from the U.S. Department of Commerce and the American Iron and Steel Institute, apparent steel supply for the month of August 2016 was 9,115,482 net tons and the percentage of imports was 26.2 percent of the market. Apparent steel supply is calculated by adding domestic steel shipments and finished […]
Licensed data for September was reported by the Steel Import Monitoring System of the US Commerce Department on October 4th. 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 […]
The U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) reported final census data regarding foreign steel imports for the month of August and revised new license data regarding the month of September. The DOC reported August imports of 3,055,600 net tons and September license data has the month below 3.0 million tons to approximately 2.8 million tons. The […]
The Manufacturing ISM Report on Business showed manufacturing expanding in September after contracting in August. The Institute for Supply Management reports the September PMI was 51.5 percent, up 2.1 percent from the previous month. New orders, production and employment gained 6, 3.2 and 1.4 percentage points, respectively. The index for inventories of raw materials rose […]
An explanation of the Key Indicators concept is given at the end of this piece for those readers who are unfamiliar with it. This will explain the difference between our view of the present situation which is subjective and our analysis of trends which is based on the latest facts available. At the end of […]
The Fed once again elected not raise rates in their September 21st announcement. On the 22nd Ian Bezek had this to say: “For those who wanted decisive action, the Fed’s latest move failed to please, however, there were three dissenters against the decision – a large number for the Fed – and the vast majority […]
Steel Market Update spoke with two sources regarding the most recent complaint filed by the domestic mills against Vietnam and China for circumvention of duties (China) on cold rolled and CORE (corrosion resistant steels such as galvanized and Galvalume) products. One of the tenants behind the accusations made by the domestic steel mills is the […]
Freight reports are mixed for August and September. Seaborne freight is seeing a resurgence in volume and pricing while U.S. truck, rail and river freight has been somewhat weak. August was reported as a good month for cargo shipments on the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway. Seaborne An increase in China demand for coking […]
On Monday of this week the US Department of Commerce released Preliminary Census Data for August foreign steel imports. Based on the latest data August came in a smidgen below 3.0 million net tons. The DOC has August foreign steel imports as totaling 2,988,724 net tons. This is 277,325 tons fewer than the month of […]
On Thursday, September 22, 2016 four steel mills: ArcelorMittal USA, Nucor, AK Steel and US Steel submitted petitions asking the US Department of Commerce to review imports of cold rolled and corrosion resistant steels (galvanized and Galvalume) arriving in the United States from Vietnam as actually being a way for China to circumvent antidumping and […]
Steel Market Update reached out to trade attorney Lewis Leibowitz and to review the Vietnam CORE (corrosion resistant steels = galvanized and Galvalume) filing by California Steel and Steel Dynamics. The filing was made by the law firm Schagrin Associates. I only have time for a brief response after quickly reviewing the Schagrin filing asking […]
Earlier today California Steel and Steel Dynamics filed a Request for Circumvention Ruling with the U.S. Department of Commerce against Vietnam. One of the trading companies Steel Market Update spoke to this afternoon termed the complaint a “game breaker” for steel trading companies importing foreign steel who will now shy away from any country that […]
Last summer the U.S. Congress passed the ENFORCE Act. The ENFORCE Act provides a path for U.S. companies to ask for investigations of foreign products (and the importer of record) when a question arises as to evasion of duties through misrepresentation of the product/source country, etc. Last week Wheatland Tube became the first company to […]
License requests for steel coming from foreign sources are continuing at a pace where steel imports for the month of September will exceed 3 million tons. On Tuesday the U.S. Department of Commerce released the latest license data. The data is indicating a rising trend in total foreign steel imports (all products), hot rolled, cold […]
Late on Thursday evening we received the following letters to the editor, both from executives with flat rolled steel service centers: Great articles tonight, full of very useful info. There was a lot of space dedicated to HR imports, spreads to domestic, etc. With HR having been in excess for some time, it’s not surprising […]
Retirees of US Steel Canada are appealing the decision by the Ontario Superior Court to uphold the suspension of benefits to former workers at Hamilton and Lake Erie Works. A new report by the Monitor assigned to the CCAA proceedings shows US Steel Canada has more cash available than projected–$160 million at the end of […]
U.S. ports contacted by Steel Market Update report steel imports are beginning to increase in recent months after dropping in the first half of the year. Port of Houston Authority reports that steel imports were down 59 percent through August 2016 for a total of 1.56 million tons. Steel exports also plunged by 45 percent […]
Friday, the Department of Commerce announced its affirmative preliminary determinations in the antidumping investigations of imports of certain carbon and alloy steel cut-to-length plate (CTL plate) from Brazil, South Africa, and Turkey. CTL plate is a flat-rolled carbon and alloy steel product that is 4.75 mm or more in thickness and that has a defined […]
Wheatland Tube, a division of Zekelman Industries, has filed one of the first allegations of duty evasion under the new ENFORCE Act. The allegation was filed Wednesday with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) charging duty evasion by Chinese imports of circular welded steel pipe. The pipe in question is used in solar projects […]
Both these data points are reported in the Federal Reserve G17 data base. The index had an all-time high of 106.70 in November 2014 and trended down until June this year when it experienced a two month turnaround followed by a slight decline in August to 104.402. The three month moving average (3MMA) had positive […]