Oil country tubular goods (OCTG) imports from four countries will now be subject to fresh antidumping and countervailing duties. The news comes after the US International Trade Commission’s (ITC) final ruling that the US industry is being harmed by OCTG imports from Argentina, Mexico, Russia, and South Korea that are being sold at less than […]
Domestic sheet prices slipped again this week across all sheet and plate products. It’s the continuation of a mostly downward trend on the sheet side that we’ve seen since mid/late April. Hot-rolled, cold-rolled and coated products were all down $20–25 per ton ($1–1.25 per cwt). Plate prices slipped a more modest $10 per ton. SMU’s […]
The news about AD/CVD orders being removed from Brazil on Friday was notable in that it bucked, in a small way, the trend toward regionalism and protectionism that we’ve seen growing since at least 2014. I noted in my initial writeup – as did Lewis Leibowitz in his deeper dive – that the market impact […]
Last Friday, as Michael Cowden reported, the International Trade Commission (ITC) voted to continue antidumping orders on hot-rolled steel flat products from Australia, Korea, the Netherlands, Japan, Russia, the UK, and Turkey. The vote was 5-0. But by a 3-2 vote, the Commission determined that revocation of the AD and CVD orders on Brazil would […]
The US International Trade Commission (ITC) narrowly voted to revoke anti-dumping and countervailing duties on Brazilian hot-rolled coil. The move comes after US trade officials decided to let duties on Brazilian cold-rolled coil expire – a change that has raised the ire of some domestic mills. The revocation is notable because it could allow for […]
US sheet prices continue to slide, and the weakness in the domestic market has buyers confident that they can get domestic suppliers to negotiate. For hot-rolled coil, imports have not been very advantageous relative to futures. There have been some workable offers for tandem mill products. But buyers have been more inclined to buy domestically or […]
This week, foreign hot-rolled coil (HRC) offers little to no cost advantage over domestic steel, according to Steel Market Update’s latest analysis. Foreign prices now hold a theoretical discount of 0–1% over domestic steel, after adjusting foreign prices for estimated freight costs, trader margins, and tariffs. This relationship has teetered back and forth lately, with […]
A strong performance from its steel fabrication operations offset lower earnings within its flat rolled steel business, resulting in another strong quarter for Steel Dynamics Inc. The Fort Wayne, Ind.-based steelmaker and recycler reported net income of $914 million on sales of $5.65 billion in the third quarter ended Sept. 30. While sales were 11% […]
Total US mill shipments of steel products were down in August, slipping to their second-lowest total year-to-date (YTD). Mill shipments have been fluctuating up and down all year with little consistency. August’s shipments totaled 8.04 million tons, a 0.9% decline from July’s 8.11 million tons. Apparent supply also saw a month-on-month (MoM) decline in August, down 1.3% […]
Imported sheet and plate products arrived at US ports at a slower clip in August, resulting in them accounting for a lower share of the domestic market for the second straight month, according to a Steel Market Update analysis of import data from the US Commerce Department and domestic shipment figures from the American Iron […]
By CRU Senior Analyst, Puneet Paliwal, from CRU’s Scrap, DRI/HBI & Pig Iron Monitor Global scrap prices stay subdued while those of ore-based metallics have found some support. Overall metallics demand continues to be hampered by the steel market weakness, a trend which may sustain through the short term, particularly in Europe. The CRU metallics price […]
The international consensus on expanding international trade has shattered. New York Times columnist Paul Krugman wrote a piece last week in the Times outlining some of the factors that led to the demise of this consensus. In the 1990s, with the advent of NAFTA and the WTO, the prevalent view among policymakers was that trade […]
News that the Biden Administration is considering a total ban on Russian aluminum imports lifted the market Tuesday afternoon, Oct. 11. The LME aluminum three-month price increased sharply to a high of $2,400 per ton before some of the gains were reversed by the close. The price saw some volatile shifts during the week but […]
The apparent lack of change in US plate prices is fast approaching the one-month mark. Prices haven’t moved since Nucor announced a $120-per-ton ($6-per-cwt) price cut on discrete plate on Sept. 19. Despite the recent sideways trend, prices remain under pressure due to a lack of demand. But could potential imports usher in another round […]
The US and European Commission (EC) plan to accelerate global steel discussions in the coming weeks. US Trade Representative Katherine Tai and EC Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis met last week in Washington to discuss ways to strengthen the trading and economic relationships between the two regions, Tai’s office said. Tai and Dombrovskis discussed the role […]
Time for a contrarian, optimistic thought experiment. First the bad news: Sentiment is increasingly bearish on months of falling steel and scrap prices, nearly all respondents to our latest survey report that mills are willing to negotiate lower still, and flattish lead times provide paltry evidence for a rebound. A quick check of the headlines […]
Editor’s note: SMU Contributor Michael D’Angelo is a researcher and trader at Marex who has been active in the metals markets for two years. In his role, Mike performs fundamental and quantitative analysis which directly leads to actionable trading/risk management strategies across the base, precious and ferrous metals derivative spaces. Prior to joining Marex, Mike received […]
Editor’s note: SMU Contributor Michael D’Angelo is a researcher and trader at Marex who has been active in the metals markets for two years. In his role, Mike performs fundamental and quantitative analysis which directly leads to actionable trading/risk management strategies across the base, precious and ferrous metals derivative spaces. Prior to joining Marex, Mike received […]
Steel mill lead times were relatively unchanged this week for four of the five products tracked by Steel Market Update. Our latest lead times analysis shows that production times on hot-rolled steel held steady compared to our previous market check. Galvanized, Galvalume, and plate lead times all extended just 0.1 weeks, while cold rolled lead […]
The price advantaged once offered by foreign hot-rolled coil (HRC) over domestic steel is gone, according to Steel Market Update’s latest foreign versus domestic price analysis. Foreign prices are now higher than domestic prices after adjusting for freight costs, trader margins, and tariffs. Domestic HRC is priced as much as 2% below current foreign prices. The gap between US and foreign […]
US apparent steel supply declined 3% in August to 8.98 million net tons, according to the latest US Department of Commerce and American Iron and Steel Institute data. This is the lowest figure since February 2022 and the second lowest figure in the past 16 months. August supply levels are 4% below the average monthly […]
US Steel has indefinitely idled the tin mill at its Gary Works in northwest Indiana, a company spokeswoman confirmed in an email to Steel Market Update on Thursday, Oct. 13. The move could be a prolonged one, upwards of six months, according to an unconfirmed report. The Pittsburgh-based steelmaker had temporarily idled Gary’s No. 5 tin […]
The US Department of Commerce has updated the antidumping duty rate on imports of carbon and alloy cut-to-length plate from South Korea’s Posco. Having looked at the one-year period ended April 30, 2021, Commerce set a final weighted-average dumping margin of 2.59% for POSCO, according to a Federal Register filing. The final rate was slightly […]
We’ve spilled a lot of ink over labor contract talks between US Steel and the United Steelworkers (USW) union. That issue is no doubt important. But here are two more that are just as important, if not more so. And you should have both on your radar as you start this week. First is the […]
Ingram Marine Group, the largest US barge operator, on Oct. 6 declared force majeure in a letter to customers. The company said low water levels had made it impossible to make timely deliveries. Vessels have run aground near Memphis, Tenn., and there is a logjam of more than 122 vessels/barges near Stack Island, Miss., impeding […]
US plate prices have been unchanged for nearly three weeks. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t under pressure. Buyers remain mostly on the sidelines of the spot market and are working through inventories as demand slows to a crawl. The market has been quiet since Nucor announced a $120-per-ton ($6-per-cwt) price cut on discrete plate […]
Final US Census Bureau data indicates that steel imports totaled 2.51 million net tons during the month of August, just 267 tons higher than the preliminary figures released in late September. This is down 6% from the prior month. It is also the third lowest monthly rate in the past year and a half (behind […]
Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. is disputing the US International Trade Commission’s recent decision to allow antidumping and countervailing duties on cold-rolled steel flat products from Brazil to expire. In July, the ITC completed five-year sunset reviews of the AD and CVDs on cold-rolled imports. While the agency decided that the duties should remain in place for China, […]
The US Department of Commerce has released preliminary dumping and subsidy margins in the latest administrative review of the duties on cold-rolled steel flat product imports from South Korea. In the antidumping duty review, which is looking at the one-year period ended Aug. 31, 2021, Commerce determined preliminary dumping margins of 0% for Hyundai Steel, […]
The temptation to purchase foreign hot-rolled coil (HRC) at a bargain has all but faded again, with adjusted foreign prices now offering little or no advantage over domestic steel, according to Steel Market Update’s latest analysis. After taking freight costs, trader margins and tariffs into consideration, foreign HRC prices for two of the three regions […]