Tag: Lead Times

Nucor’s plate price cut notice caught many off guard this week, especially after the company had maintained its pricing position in late September.

Sheet prices are getting back into very lofty territory. That’s assuming you can find spot tons available for the balance of 2023 – and some of you say you can’t.

The latest SMU Market Survey results are now available on our website to all Premium members.

I wrote on Sunday that it could be a busy week for steel. It has been.

Mill lead times for flat-rolled products pushed out this week once again across the board.

Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off” could be the theme song for the sheet market over the last month. A UAW strike? Shake it off. The lowest ABI since December 2020? Shake it off. A potentially widening conflict in the Middle East? Shake it off. Sheet prices have been rising since late September, and hot-rolled coil […]

Sheet prices rose for a fourth consecutive week following a second wave of price hikes announced by domestic mills.

Well, what a difference a month makes…

US hot-rolled coil (HRC) prices are now more expensive than imported offshore product.

On Monday and Tuesday of this week, SMU polled steel buyers on a variety of subjects, including steel prices, demand, inventories, imports, the UAW strike, and what people were talking about in the market.

If you think prices will continue to rise, you might point to longer lead times and stable order entry.

Sheet prices notched a third consecutive week of gains on limited supply and stable demand outside of automotive operations impacted by the UAW strike.

US service center flat-rolled steel inventories declined for a second month as shipping rates picked up in September.

Steel Market Update’s Steel Demand Index remains in contraction territory despite repeated improvements since mid-September, according to our latest survey data.

SMU’s latest survey data are out, and they reflect a consensus among steel buyers that sheet prices have bottomed out and might rebound. Lead times continue to extend. Fewer sheet and plate mills are willing to negotiate lower spot prices. And 70% of survey respondents think prices have already bottomed out or will later this […]

The latest SMU Market Survey results are now available on our website to all Premium members. After logging in at steelmarketupdate.com, visit the Pricing and Analysis tab and look under the “Survey Results” section for “Latest Survey Results.” Historical survey results are also available under that selection. If you need help accessing the survey results, […]

The sheet market appears poised for a rebound if you’re looking at the indicators we typically track.

US hot-rolled coil (HRC) and offshore product are nearly back even again after domestic prices moved higher for the second straight week.

Steel Dynamics Inc. (SDI) plans to take a four-day outage at its sheet mill in Butler, Ind., according to sources familiar with the matter.

This week’s survey showed steel mill lead times extending across all product lines tracked by SMU.

Sheet prices remain on an upward trend. Many of you expect that to remain the case - assuming that the UAW strike doesn’t drag on much longer.

Sheet prices moved upward for the second week in a row despite the ongoing UAW strike and concerns in some corners that momentum from a price hike last month might be fading, market participants said.

The US steel market appears to have gone from despairing over the possibility of spot HRC prices slipping into the $500s per ton to worrying about spot availability – and in just a matter of 2-3 weeks.

What has happened since the August hot rolled (HR) settlement ($767 per short ton)?

Steel Dynamics Inc. (SDI) has lost some production this month at its sheet mill in Columbus, Miss., on a combination of planned and unplanned outages, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Sheet prices rose this week on the heels of a price increase announced by Cleveland-Cliffs last week that was quietly followed by other mills.

Steel prices continued to decline last month – a trend we’ve seen repeated since mid-April.

Will the sheet price hike announced by Cleveland-Cliffs (and quietly followed by at least some mills) stick?

US plate prices have been relatively flat this year, especially when compared to sheet products. Case in point; SMU's plate prices stands at $1,455 per ton ($72.75 per cwt) on average, down 7% from a $1,560 per ton peak in April. Our HRC price is at $645 per ton, down 44% from an April peak of $1,160 per ton.

The latest SMU Market Survey results are now available on our website to all Premium members.