The Biden administration over the last few months has articulated the need for a new global economic order. But to date, there is little in the way of ideas for implanting that order. Mostly, Katherine Tai, the US Trade Representative and Jake Sullivan, the National Security Advisor, have spoken about what’s wrong with the economic […]
A bipartisan group of 36 members of Congress have expressed their concerns over potential tariffs on tin mill steel products. In a letter to the US International Trade Commission and Department of Commerce on June 12, the group said that the antidumping investigation on tin mill products brought forth by Cleveland-Cliffs earlier this year can […]
Offshore hot-rolled coil (HRC) remains at a discount to domestic product, as prices abroad have eroded at a faster pace than tags stateside, according to SMU’s latest foreign vs. domestic price analysis. While prices of both imported and domestic hot band continue to decline, domestic HRC’s declines have not been consistently as sharp as the […]
The US Federal Reserve has taken some pressure out of the market by announcing a pause in interest rate hikes, leaving rates at 5% to 5.25% after more than a year of consecutive rate increases. The decision on Wednesday came a day after official figures showed US inflation was 4% – the lowest pace of […]
On Monday and Tuesday of this week, SMU polled steel buyers on a variety of subjects, including steel prices, demand levels, and import offers. Rather than summarizing the comments we received, we are sharing some of them in each buyer’s own words. We want to hear your thoughts, too! Contact david@steelmarketupdate.com to be included in our […]
Sometimes it seems the whole world is downstream of the steel industry. Now, that may be a side effect of spending my days immersed in lead times, steel buyers sentiment, and hot-rolled coil futures. That would be a fair assessment. However, looking into the testimonies from the Congressional Steel Caucus’ recent hearing on June 7 […]
The Congressional Steel Caucus held a hearing on The State of the Steel Industry in Washington on Wednesday, June 7, where prominent steel executives and the United Steelworkers (USW) union gave testimony on issues such as international trade and sustainability. In his opening remarks, US Rep. Frank Mrvan (D.-Ind.), vice-chairman of the Caucus, stressed his […]
The US and European Union are working on an agreement dealing with carbon emissions in the steel industry. The impact on bilateral trade could be high. In 2021, the US and EU agreed that the US would suspend the 25% Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum, and the EU would drop its World Trade […]
The LME aluminum three-month price is moving higher again as the week ending June 9 closes trading at $2,230/t. Failing to dip below the critical transition price of $2,000/t, The LME steadied itself despite very lackluster demand anywhere in the world. Trading in China also kept the regional exchange there neutral, if not a bit […]
Go figure, in the last month, HR spot has continued to decline. The index tied to CME HR futures has given up $140/ST ($1,130/ST to $990/ST). A look at the fundamentals would appear to support the latest market direction. The list includes declining steelmaking component prices (zinc, coking coal, iron ore and scrap), a sharply […]
US steel imports were steady from April to May, according to the latest data from the US Department of Commerce. May’s import license count – a first look at import figures for a given month, at 2,395,039 net tons – was just 0.5% higher than April’s final count of 2,382,580 tons. Compared to the same […]
Hot-rolled coil (HRC) imports remain at a discount to domestic hot band, though the US premium has declined to its lowest margin in over three months, according to SMU’s latest foreign vs. domestic price analysis. While both offshore and US product continue to decline, domestic HRC just saw its sharpest week-on-week (WoW) fall year to date, […]
Domestic hot-rolled coil prices are down $55 per ton ($2.75 per cwt), the sharpest such decline we’ve seen all year. If this feels like an echo of June 2022, that’s because it is. Check out the chart below: A year ago, prices were falling hard as the shock of the war in Ukraine faded along […]
Sheet prices fell hard across the board this week as business ramped back up after Memorial Day. Recall that prices were steady last week largely because of a lack of activity following the holiday. SMU’s hot-rolled coil price now stands at $935 per ton ($46.75 per cwt), down $55 per ton a week ago and […]
I wanted a fresh perspective on the steel market this week, so I turned to a new voice – namely, ChatGPT. I won’t weigh in on whether the AI-driven chatbot is a useful tool, an extinction-level threat, or just another shiny object. That said, ChatGPT has been available publicly since Nov. 30, 2022. And it […]
Overall economic activity saw little change in April and early May, while manufacturing activity was flat to up in most Federal Reserve Districts, and supply chain issues continued to improve, the Federal Reserve said in its latest Beige Book report. The Beige Book is a compilation of information on current economic conditions, gathered by each district […]
Steel prices continued to erode in May, following a trend that began halfway through the previous month. Hot-rolled coil (HRC) prices ended May at $990 per ton ($49.50 per cwt) on average, falling by $130 per ton throughout the month. The SMU Price Momentum Indicator for sheet products remained Lower during May after shifting to […]
Over the last two weeks, we have seen worsening market sentiment, as evidenced by movement in the futures curve, which sold down as much as $45 per ton in July and $28 per ton in August and September, respectively. This overall flattening of the curve is most clearly seen in the chart below, with the […]
Hot-rolled coil (HRC) imports remain at a discount to domestic hot band tags as both offshore and US product continue to decline at a similar rate, according to SMU’s latest foreign vs. domestic price analysis. Even as domestic tags have been on a seven-week decline, HRC imports have fallen at a comparable rate, keeping US hot […]
On Monday and Tuesday of this week, SMU polled steel buyers on a variety of subjects, including current and future steel prices, inventory strategies, supply, demand, and new mill capacity. Rather than summarizing the comments we received, we are sharing some of them in each buyer’s own words. We want to hear your thoughts, too! […]
The US and EU affirmed their intention to reach a common framework on carbon emissions in steel and aluminum by October at the Trade and Technology Council (TTC) meeting in Luleå, Sweden, on Wednesday. At the meeting the EU and US said that via the Transatlantic Initiative for Sustainable Trade they are “strengthening engagement towards […]
The US will extend for another year an exemption for Ukrainian steel from Section 232 tariffs. “The United States has provided a much-needed market for the steel that Ukraine is able to export,” Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said in statement on Wednesday, May 31. “In doing so, Americans are directly supporting the people of Ukraine, […]
Swedish steelmaker SSAB is urging ambitious standards for the steel industry’s transition to green steelmaking as the EU-US Trade and Technology Council (TTC) meeting takes place in Luleå, Sweden, on May 30-31. Martin Lindqvist, president and CEO of SSAB, said that to succeed in the transition, effective frameworks, political leadership, and action are needed. “It is also […]
An anticipated surge in flat-rolled steel imports due to higher domestic pricing has yet to be reflected in government data. For monthly imports, the International Trade Administration’s US Steel Import Monitor tracks license applications (a first look showing licenses to import but not necessarily the actual tonnages that entered during the month), a preliminary count, […]
Sheet prices came down harder than I expected this week. I probably shouldn’t have been surprised. For starters, mills are still making money at these levels, so there is not a lot of friction to lowering prices to get an order. Also, lead times are or will soon be overlapping with a period when we’re […]
SMU’s domestic hot-rolled coil price has fallen below $1,000 per ton ($50 per cwt) for the first time since early March as a broad-based sheet price decline picks up speed. Our HRC price now stands at $990 per ton on average, down $50 per ton from $1,040 per ton last week and off $170 per […]
Foreign cold-rolled coil remains much less expensive than domestic CRC even as prices in the US fall roughly in tandem with those abroad, according to SMU’s latest check of the market. Domestic CRC was, on average, $77 per ton ($3.85 per cwt) more expensive than imported steel in the four regions we track as recently as early February. […]
Two separate developments suggest that the Biden administration may have concerns that more tariffs would damage the US economy by harming consumers. First, we saw the president suspend action to impose additional tariffs on solar cells and modules from four countries in the face of an antidumping “circumvention” proceeding. Circumvention determines whether operations in third […]
A weary market worn down by the absence of any positive demand reports ran below the critical $2,300-per-tonne trading line. Falling all the way to $2,200 before settling in the $2,270 – 2,290 range, the LME is in a new lower range as of the week ending May 19 as bearish sentiment pervades the market. […]
A lot of steel companies are talking about being carbon neutral by 2050. But how are we going to get there? And how do we get the rest of the world to come with us? As we proceed with decarbonization, what actually qualifies as “green steel,” and who gets to decide? A conversation today with Kevin […]