There’s a good chance the Section 232 tariffs on steel imports from the European Union could be replaced by a tariff rate quota (TRQ) as soon as November as a result of trade talks now under way between officials from the U.S. and EU. The EU is strongly opposed to the Trump-era “national security” tariffs […]
Lobbying groups for U.S. steel mills and the United Steelworkers (USW) union want trade restraints placed on the EU to prevent potential “import surges” from the region. The call – from the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI), the Steel Manufacturers Association (SMA) and the United Steelworkers union (USW) – comes even as the U.S. and the […]
Market momentum suggests that flat rolled steel prices are likely to continue moving up, at least in the short term, as hot rolled hit a new record high once again this week at an average of $1,955 per ton, up $20 over last week, according to SMU’s check of the market on Monday and Tuesday. […]
Final Census data shows that total foreign steel imports increased 5% from June to July, reaching 3.08 million tons. As stated in our preliminary import analysis, this is now the highest monthly import level of 2021, surpassing the previous month. The last time monthly import levels exceeded this rate was January 2020 when 3.16 million tons […]
Phil Bell, president of the Steel Manufacturers Association, puts the chances of the U.S. steel industry facing a carbon tax at roughly 50-50, “though it is trending that way,” he said in remarks during Steel Market Update’s Steel Summit last month in Atlanta. “SMA is opposed to any taxes that aren’t necessary and is opposed […]
By CRU Senior Analyst Richard Lu, from CRU’s Steelmaking Raw Materials Monitor In a recent Insight titled “Iron ore at $140 /dmt – what’s driving the fall?”, we explained that weak demand in China has caused a sharp iron ore price fall and we expect the downtrend to persist for the rest of the year. […]
Steel prices continued to climb through the month of August, marking one full year of increasing prices. Hot rolled steel prices increased $45 per ton ($2.25 per cwt) throughout the month, with the SMU index averaging $1,935 per ton ($96.75 per cwt) as of Tuesday. The SMU Price Momentum Indicator remains unchanged since the August 2020 adjustment to higher, indicating prices […]
As domestic hot rolled steel prices surpass $1,900 per ton, foreign steel imports continue to tempt U.S. buyers, according to Steel Market Update’s latest foreign versus domestic hot rolled steel price comparison. While domestic prices rise week after week, foreign prices have remained steady or declined, holding potential discounts of 16% to 44% after taking freight […]
New orders, production and prices grew in August, while employment contracted and supply backlogs expanded, said the Institute for Supply Management in its August 2021 Manufacturing ISM Report on Business. The Manufacturing PMI rose 0.4 percentage point in August to 59.9%, edging higher and indicating expansion in the overall economy for the 15th consecutive month […]
Flat-rolled steel prices are again mixed. Hot rolled is up $20 per ton, cold rolled is unchanged, and coated products are down $20-25 per ton. (Plate – following mill price hike announcements – is up a sharp $105 per ton.) The mixed signals are not a sure sign of the market inflecting. And Hurricane Ida […]
Preliminary Census data shows that total foreign steel imports increased 3% from June to July, reaching 3.01 million tons. This is now the highest monthly import level of 2021, surpassing the previous month. The last time monthly import levels exceeded this rate was January 2020 when 3.16 million tons of steel entered the country. August import licenses are currently […]
By CRU Aluminum Advisor Greg Wittbecker The fundamentals in the aluminum market are continuing to tighten as we complete the third quarter. Growing Deficit in 2021 Driven by Chinese and Canadian Production Excursions CRU has substantially increased the size of the global deficit for 2021, moving it from a 240,000-ton surplus to a deficit of 1,180,000 […]
We often talk a lot about hot-rolled coil prices in Final Thoughts. I’d like to take a deeper dive into coated prices today. It’s been an almost straight line up for an entire year for flat-rolled steel prices. And galvanized is no exception. Galvanized base prices are at $2,070 per ton ($103.50 per cwt). That’s […]
In the near term, ferrous scrap prices are heading down. But in the long term – with the proliferation of electric arc furnace (EAF) steelmaking around the globe putting added pressure on scrap supplies – the price trend for scrap is definitely pointing upward. The cost of scrap and other metallics is of high interest […]
I was pleased to see many of you this past week in Atlanta at the SMU Steel Summit. It is certainly one of the largest (and most significant) steel conferences in the United States. This year was a first – a hybrid conference, with about 800 in-person attendees and 300 virtual. I doubt it will […]
Total steel imports into the United States jumped by more than 20% in the first seven months of the year, versus the same period in 2020, reported the American Iron and Steel Institute, based on preliminary Census data. Foreign steel, including billet and slabs, totaled 17.7 million net tons for a 20.6% year-over-year increase. Finished […]
Two of the steel industry’s most respected analysts delivered a reality check to the market on Monday during SMU’s Steel Summit in Atlanta. Record-high steel prices enjoyed by steelmakers and distributors for the past year “can’t last,” they declared. Simply put, supply-demand fundamentals indicate that prices are due – indeed overdue – to drop significantly in the next […]
In the face of tough circumstances, the SMU and CRU teams proved once again that we could conduct a safe, energetic, entertaining and informative Steel Summit conference. We did it despite suffering a power outage at the Georgia International Convention Center that lasted the entire afternoon on Monday. Our team was quick to react, and […]
Ternium Mexico continues to ramp up its new hot strip mill outside of Monterrey while also eyeing potential expansions on both sides of the Rio Grande, the company’s top executive said. “We still have a lot of things to do in Mexico. But also in the States, our facility is running at 100% capacity – so we […]
Steel Dynamics’ top executive said he remains very optimistic about the market’s outlook, especially for the balance of 2021, but expects the trend to carry well into 2022. “I’m really bullish,” said Mark Millett, SDI’s president and CEO, during a fireside chat at SMU’s 2021 Steel Summit on Tuesday in Atlanta. “We’re booking for December […]
Steel Buyers Sentiment, as measured by Steel Market Update, has never been higher despite concerns over the latest COVID variant and signs that the rate of rise in steel prices is beginning to slow. SMU’s Current Sentiment Index registered a new all-time high of +84 this week – the first time the index has broken […]
The following article on the hot rolled coil (HRC), scrap and financial futures markets was written by Jack Marshall of Crunch Risk LLC. Here is how Jack saw trading over the past week: Hot Rolled While the hot rolled index continues to grind higher, coming in at just under $1,900/ST, HR futures prices also moved […]
Lead times have shortened noticeably based on Steel Market Update’s check of the market this week. But don’t read too much into that one data point. Other factors point to more of the same for steel prices, at least for a while. As reported elsewhere in this issue, lead times appear to have shortened by a […]
The 2021 SMU Steel Summit started with a bang on Monday morning. Turns out it was a transformer that blew. Just as the opening video and music was revving up and host John Packard was getting into his opening remarks, the Georgia International Convention Center was plunged into darkness save for some emergency lighting. Thinking […]
Settling on the direction of SMU’s Price Momentum Indicators has been an easy task for the past year. Prices on all products were clearly moving upward week after week as demand continued to outstrip supplies. Today, the market is changing, and the trend is less clear. Determining price momentum is considerably trickier. SMU does not […]
Flat Rolled = 51.3 Shipping Days of Supply Plate = 49.6 Shipping Days of Supply Flat Rolled U.S. service center flat rolled inventories spiked in July with better on-time delivery from domestic mills, the arrival of imports and a slowdown in shipments. At the end of July, service centers carried 51.3 shipping days of supply, […]
Over the last week or so, statistics have emerged about the surge in capacity utilization of the steel industry in the United States. Since Jan. 1, the American Iron and Steel Industry reports, domestic steelmakers have operated at a capacity utilization rate of 80.1%. In the most recent week reported, ending Aug. 7, capacity utilization was 84.8%, […]
Mill shipments of steel products rose in June by 1.7%, following an increase of 1.9% the month prior. Apparent supply jumped 6.0% in June after a 1.3% increase in May. June’s gains were the fourth in as many months after February’s double-digit contraction. This analysis is based on steel mill shipment data from the American […]
Steel demand remains strong, outpacing supplies in the U.S. and causing prices to continue escalating. The trend is attracting more imports as customers look overseas for price and supply relief. June data shows imports of most steel products have risen over the past two months as imports’ share of total sheet product shipments rose to 16.2%, […]
Do you have a sense that conditions in the steel market are changing? If so, you are not alone. The majority of steel buyers polled by SMU over the last two weeks feel it won’t be until the fourth quarter, if not well into next year, before there will be any significant changes in steel […]