The month of November saw a continuation of lower flat rolled steel prices, Momentum and Sentiment as buyers and sellers struggle to find a bottom to what has become an extended slide going back to May 2015. November benchmark hot rolled prices (SMU average) Dropped $15 per ton during the course of the month and […]
It will soon be more expensive to export Chinese steel line pipe to Canada. Canada Border Services Agency released its preliminary determination on dumping and subsidization of steel line pipe exported from China and assigned provisional duties ranging from 71 percent to 396 percent. CBSA estimates that in 2014, 48.8 percent of carbon and alloy […]
Steel imports in October accelerated from September but were down by one-third from year ago levels, according to the latest import data analysis from the American Institute for International Steel. The press release from AIIS follows. Falls Church, VA. December 1, 2015. Steel imports increased in October, following two months of sharp declines. The United […]
The Institute of Supply Management released their November report on December 1st with a value of 48.6 which is the lowest since June 2009. An explanation of the ISM index is given at the end of this piece. After seven straight months of decline the three month moving average (3MMA) of the index had positive […]
As part of your Premium level service, Steel Market Update (SMU) analyzes the service center shipment and inventory data and provides a short term forecast for carbon flat rolled steel shipments, inventories and how they will impact pricing over the next four months. This is done through a proprietary model and the results provided are […]
We have two data sources for this report. These are the Federal Reserve and the Oanda forex trading platform. An explanation of these sources is given at the end of this report. Oanda is current every day but the Federal Reserve Daily Broad Index (BI) is normally about eight days in arrears. As of November […]
An explanation of the Key Indicators concept is given at the end of this piece for those readers who are unfamiliar with it. The total number of indicators considered in this analysis is currently 36. Please refer to Table 1 for the view of the present situation and the quantitative measure of trends. Readers should […]
Recently, US Steel CEO Mario Longhi was quoted as saying that a Section 201 investigation may be needed to save the domestic steel industry. We want our readers to learn more about what a Section 201 means so we enlisted the help of trade attorney Lewis Leibowitz who was actively involved in the last Section […]
US Steel announced on Monday that it will follow through on its plans to temporarily idle the Granite City Works steelmaking and finishing operations located in Granite City, Ill. In a press release today, the company said the idling is “part of an on-going adjustment of steelmaking operations throughout North America to match customer demand.” […]
The Department of Commerce announced on Wednesday the initiation of AD and CVD investigations of imports of circular welded carbon-quality steel pipe from Pakistan. AD investigations were initiated on imports of the same products from Oman, the Philippines, United Arab Emirates, and Vietnam. The products in question are welded carbon-quality steel pipe and tube, of […]
Global steel production in 12 months through October totaled 1.609 billion tonnes with a capacity of 2.3 billion tonnes. Production in the month of October was 133,640 tonnes up from 130,998 in September or 2.0 percent, however on a tons/day basis production was 4.311 million tonnes, down from 4.367 in September and from 4.518 in April […]
Brazil is studying a proposal to raise import tariffs on steel goods said Brazilian Finance Minister Joaquim Levy following a hearing of the Economic Affairs Committee of the Senate. The measures would protect the local steel industry which has been vocal in its demand for a rate hike. No details on specific products or rates […]
The HARDI wholesalers held their monthly galvanized steel conference call earlier today. During the call the wholesalers provided insights into business conditions affecting the companies and discussed the status of the flat rolled steel markets. HARDI wholesalers supply galvanized sheet and coil steels to the mechanical contractors associated with residential and commercial construction in North […]
Monthly steel imports dropped from 4.4 million tons at the beginning of 2015 to 2.83 million tons as of September 1. SMU asked ports around the country to comment on what they are seeing in relation to import levels and warehoused inventory. The Port of Los Angeles reports steel imports (breakbulk and slab) of 1.3 […]
Late Tuesday afternoon the U.S. Department of Commerce released import license data through the 17th of the month. Based on the licenses received during the first 17 days of the month, November is trending toward a similar month, September, at approximately 2.8 million net tons. Remember, this is only a trend based on the license […]
Trade protection is a driving concern for the U.S. steel industry that has seen prices and domestic demand plummet as low priced steel imports flooded American shores. Steel mills, unions and legislators have lobbied for stronger enforcement of trade policies and the additional safeguards from dumped and subsidized imports and currency manipulation. Currently the focus […]
This article was originally published in Steel Market Update newsletter dated November 15, 2015. We provide our members up to date analysis of the status of antidumping and countervailing duty trade cases affecting the flat rolled and plate steel markets. Trade protection is a driving concern for the U.S. steel industry that has seen prices […]
The following article is one produced for our Premium level members as we look to delve deeper into the overall steel industry picture in the United States. You can learn more about becoming a Premium member either online or by contacting our office: info@SteelMarketUpdate.com Net imports equals imports minus exports. We regard this as an […]
The following article is another example of Premium level content that is not normally seen by our Executive level members. If you would like to learn more about upgrading your membership from Executive to Premium please contact our office: info@SteelMarketUpdate.com or by phone: 800-432-3475. This report compares domestic mill shipments and total supply to the […]
The following article is one that is produced for our Premium level members once we release the latest Imports by Product, Port & Country data into our website. In this article we want to give you a little feel for the data. Once you start reviewing imports by port you can begin to ask questions […]
Essar Steel Algoma announced Monday that it has entered Companies Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) protection. It is the third time Algoma will seek restructuring under CCAA—the first time in 1991 and again in 2001. In November 2014 Algoma completed a recapitalization and refinancing plan supported by Essar Global Fund Ltd. Essar Algoma has struggled to […]
(From AISI, Nov. 10, 2015) A report released today concludes that treating China as a market economy in antidumping investigations would “severely damage the NAFTA steel industries and harm NAFTA economies.” The study, comprised of three economic analyses, was conducted by leading economists from Capital Trade Incorporated in Washington, DC; the Centre for Spatial Economics […]
According to the latest data released from the US Department of Commerce and the American Iron and Steel Institute, apparent steel supply for the month of September 2015 was 8,543,021 net tons. Apparent steel supply is calculated by adding domestic steel shipments and finished US steel imports and subtracting total US steel exports. September supply […]
The U.S. Department of Commerce released import license data this afternoon. Steel Market Update reviews the data and compares it against previous months’ data at the same point in time during the month. What we are concentrating on are the four flat rolled items involved in the ongoing trade cases (AD/CVD). We are seeing a […]
In the first nine months of this year bulk scrap exports were 9,968,048 tonnes for an annual rate of 13,290,731 tonnes, down by 13.8 percent from the first nine months of last year. The tonnages shown in Figure 1 are based on three month moving averages (3MMA) for 2015 and on the annual monthly average […]
I am asked quite often what the differences are between Premium and your Executive level memberships. Over the next couple of weeks I am going to try point out what Premium receives above and beyond the Executive newsletter and website access. There are a number of special reports produced by Steel Market Update which Premium […]
Olympic Steel reported a net loss of $600,000 for third quarter but managed to expand gross margin 21.2 percent, compared to Q3 2104, despite pressure on pricing and volume. Olympic lowered operating expenses by almost $20 million so far in 2015 as well as lowering debt by a total of $60 million. Sales volume decreased […]
We have two data sources for this report. These are the Federal Reserve and the Oanda forex trading platform. An explanation of these sources is given at the end of this report. Oanda is current every day but the Federal Reserve daily broad index (BI) is normally about eight days in arrears. As of November […]
License data for October was updated on November 3rd through the Steel Import Monitoring System of the US Commerce Department. At SMU we perform a detailed analysis of this data, an explanation of our methodology is given at the end of this write up. Total rolled product licensed imports in the single month of October were […]
Steel Market Update asked one of our Asian iron ore and steel trading sources to comment on the recent decline in iron ore prices which recently broke below $50/dmt on 62% Fe fines in China. We also asked for a comment about the recent spat of trade suits and the Chinese mills not cooperating with […]