Manufacturing activity in the U.S. expanded in July, though the PMI declined 1.5 percentage points to a reading of 56.3, reports the Institute for Supply Management in its latest Manufacturing ISM Report On Business. The PMI has remained above the neutral 50.0 point for 11 consecutive months indicating growth in manufacturing. Although still at robust […]
The JP Morgan Global Manufacturing PMI registered 52.7 in July indicating continued manufacturing growth across the globe. During the last four months, manufacturing expansion has remained steady at 52.6 in June and May, and 52.7 in April. Growth in June was again led by European nations with eight of the ten best-performing countries in Europe. […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) spoke with steel trading companies and steel mills late last week in order to gauge the “mood” of the steel suppliers. We found a mostly composed group who are looking at business for the long term (although their customers may be more fickle depending on the news of the day). A […]
“Business negotiation is similar to poker. Just because I may be bluffing doesn’t mean I am morally defective. Bluffing is a universally recognized part of the game,” responded one reader to Steel Market Update’s new “Ethics and Your Business” column. Is the steel business like a poker game? Some would say that bluffing is basically […]
“Business negotiation is similar to poker. Just because I may be bluffing doesn’t mean I am morally defective. Bluffing is a universally recognized part of the game,” responded one reader to Steel Market Update’s new “Ethics and Your Business” column. Is the steel business like a poker game? Some would say that bluffing is basically […]
I had to smile on Friday when Brett in my office forwarded an email to me from one of the steel mills. Here is part of what this mill executive had to say: “I occasionally write to John just to vent. It doesn’t help him, but it makes me feel better. Section 232 is the […]
Now that it appears the Trump administration will not be acting anytime soon on the much-anticipated Section 232 trade action, what are the implications for the steel market? Steel prices are likely to decline, say some observers, though how much and how quickly is open to debate. The Wall Street Journal reported this week that […]
U.S. Steel turned around a series of losses to achieve net earnings of $261 million in second-quarter 2017. The company is focused on revitalizing operations and said it will invest an estimated $1.3 billion in its flat rolled assets in 2017. By 2020, U.S. Steel expects the revitalization program to increase hot rolled band production […]
Steel buyers reported the domestic steel mills as being somewhat more receptive to moving prices early this week compared to where they were at the end of this past week. The result being we did see prices rising on all sheet products. One mill told us earlier today about their coated products order book, “Hanging […]
Twice per month, Steel Market Update (SMU) conducts a detailed analysis of the flat rolled steel market. We invite 650 individuals representing approximately 625 different companies to participate by taking an online questionnaire. The questions cover a wide variety of topics that are germane to their unique industry segment. The two main groups asked to […]
Steel Dynamics, Inc., is excited about the second half and is expecting growth in all sectors through 2018. CEO Mark Millett says the flat rolled arena remains very strong despite a slight turning of the automotive market. Infrastructure is continuing to grow, as evidenced by cranes and road work funded by states, if not federal […]
Flat rolled lead times remain flat compared to what we reported for early July, as well as one month ago. Twice per month, Steel Market Update conducts an analysis of the flat rolled sheet and plate markets. This is done through the use of a comprehensive questionnaire focused on manufacturing companies and service centers, which […]
As the steel industry waits for clarity on Section 232 we got another week where flat rolled steel prices came in with mixed results. We saw some of the items indexed have their averages rise while others fell. In reality it doesn’t appear that there is a lot pushing prices in one direction or another […]
Like the rest of the steel market, wholesalers of galvanized steel and other products used in HVAC applications are stuck in an uncomfortable wait-and-see mode as the Section 232 drama plays out in Washington. In the monthly steel conference call hosted today by the Heating, Air-conditioning, and Refrigeration Distributors International, HARDI members reported anxiety over […]
Flat rolled prices were mixed this past week. Early last week we were collecting information from steel buyers who were advising Steel Market Update that steel mill lead times were short and there were still holes in the order books at many of the domestic mills. As the week progressed we found, especially after the […]
The market has become “quiet” over the past week and our sources (steel buyers) are providing mixed messages, which is showing up especially in our galvanized index whose average was down $25 per ton today. The GI number was impacted by cheap pricing being reported on commodity grade galvanized with one GI buyer telling us, […]
John Packard, Publisher, Steel Market Update Today I spent a good portion of my time wandering around the United States and Canada soliciting information about flat rolled steel pricing, lead times, Section 232 and anything else steel buyers wanted to talk about. I thought the quote of the day was from a manufacturing company who […]
John Packard, Publisher, Steel Market Update Today I spent a good portion of my time wandering around the United States and Canada soliciting information about flat rolled steel pricing, lead times, Section 232 and anything else steel buyers wanted to talk about. I thought the quote of the day was from a manufacturing company who […]
Flat roll lead times have remained within a narrow range over the past six months, according to the manufacturing companies and steel service centers responding to our flat rolled market trends analysis last week. Hot rolled lead times now average 4.41 weeks, which is the same as what we reported in mid-June, but still one-half […]
We saw steel mill lead times as being essentially the same to slightly higher than what we measured at the time of the last price increase announcements (week of June 5th). When the announcements were made, most steel mills were actively trying to collect increases. We saw the bottom of our price range rise, and […]
Steel Market Update saw modest improvements in flat rolled steel prices mostly associated with reductions of the discounts found at the lower end of the ranges. There are a number of mills that are waiting to see what happens with the Section 232 investigation before announcing new prices or opening their order books for the next […]
The following article on the hot rolled coil (HRC) steel and financial futures markets was written by Jack Marshall of Crunch Risk LLC. Here is how Jack saw trading over the past week: Steel If you compare prices between last week and this week, you will see the HR futures market has found support and […]
The following article on the hot rolled coil (HRC) futures markets was written by David Feldstein. As the Flack Global Metals director of risk management, Dave is an active participant in the hot rolled futures market, and we believe he provides insightful commentary and trading ideas to our readers. Besides writing futures articles for Steel […]
We are seeing a strengthening in the resolve of the steel mills as most (but not all) steel buyers were reporting an attempt to take numbers up or to restrict orders by having mills move to an “inquire only” position. Even so, we continued to get some pricing at the lower end of our range […]
Last week, Steel Market Update (SMU) conducted one of our flat rolled steel market trends analyses as we surveyed manufacturing companies, service centers, steel mills, trading companies and toll processors. During the process, we inquired as to whether our respondents felt the newest round (and any more to come) of steel price increases were “justified.” […]
The following article on the hot rolled coil (HRC) steel and financial futures markets was written by Jack Marshall of Crunch Risk LLC. Here is how Jack saw trading over the past week: Steel Lack of certainty in forecasting future HR business continues to create excess price volatility. Longer lead times along with slightly lower […]
Steel mill flat rolled lead times, which have generally trended downward this spring, my be showing early signs of lengthening, reflecting new strength in demand for domestic steel products. Mills were successful in collecting a price increase earlier in the month. Despite SMU data that shows service center inventories at “comfortable” levels, some distributors may […]
We saw mixed results this week as hot rolled prices rose a very modest $5, cold rolled was down $15, galvanized was up $10 and Galvalume remained the same even as the lower end dropped $10 per ton and the upper end rose $10 per ton. Definitely a mixed week as the market tries to […]
We are hearing reports from steel mills that their lead times have moved out and they have been able to collect some, if not most, of the $30 per ton price increase announced at the beginning of the month. Steel Market Update (SMU) is concerned as our research data is suggesting that service centers are […]
The steel industry has a way of surprising those who use its products. This may be especially true this year as it appears the industry is about to enter a phase not seen in decades. It is mid-June 2017 and the domestic flat rolled steel mills are raising steel prices as the U.S. Department of […]