Flat rolled steel prices were mixed this week with three of the four items moving lower and one (galvanized) remaining the same. The questions being asked by buyers – both at the service center and manufacturing level – is how much further do prices need to fall before bouncing back? The issue of “finding the […]
For those who have not been members for a long period of time or who may be new to Steel Market Update this section, my Final Thoughts, is the one area where I get to pontificate (provide my opinion) on subjects of interest to me. Today I want to briefly address the elephant in the […]
The conversation has begun regarding when flat rolled steel prices will end their slide and reverse course. Flat rolled steel prices have been in a steep decline since mid-June 2016 when benchmark hot rolled prices peaked at $635 per ton ($31.75/cwt, SMU index average) FOB domestic mill. Since then steel prices have retreated $145 per […]
Flat rolled steel prices continue to move lower as benchmark hot rolled broke through $500 per ton and is now averaging $490 per ton. We were relatively conservative in our range this week as we did capture at least one order placed for moderate tonnage at $440 per ton and we are hearing that the […]
Steel Market Update ferrous scrap sources advised us over the weekend that scrap negotiations have wrapped up between the dealers and the domestic mills and that steel mills, once again, have walked away the winners as scrap prices dropped across the country. However, the weakest areas are those furthest away from the east coast where […]
Lead times continue to be at, or slightly below year ago levels. Steel Market Update conducted our flat rolled steel market trends analysis over the course of this week. As part of our questionnaire, submitted to almost 550 companies, we ask questions regarding lead times for new orders out of the domestic steel mills by […]
With the short lead times we reported earlier in this issue, the buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel are almost unanimously reporting the steel mills as willing to negotiate hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized and Galvalume steel prices. We found 97 percent of those responding to our survey reporting mills as willing to negotiate […]
Flat rolled steel prices continued their swan dive with hot rolled and cold rolled moving $10 per ton lower and galvanized/Galvalume moving lower by $20 per ton. For the first time in quite awhile SMU picked up information regarding HRC offers down to $460 per ton (with tons). Most buyers, however, were reporting $480 to […]
Last week’s Federal Reserve manufacturing reports showed mixed results in September. Kansas City, Dallas, and Richmond Federal Reserves all reported expansion in production levels but manufacturing conditions remained soft, especially in the Dallas and Richmond areas. Kansas City The Kansas City index came in at 6.0 for its best reading since December 2014 and its […]
Ryerson Holding Corp., a leading distributor and processor of metals, provided guidance for its third quarter ending September 30, 2016. The Company expects third quarter 2016 net income in the range of $8 million to $12 million and adjusted EBITDA, excluding LIFO in the range of $46 million to $50 million. In Q3 2015, Ryerson […]
The September Chicago Business Barometer indicated that production was at its highest level since January of this year. The Barometer rose 2.7 points to 54.2 on strong gains in production. The production index jumped 7.3 points to 59.8 while new orders remained unchanged from August. Backlogs remained below the neutral point of 50. Supplier deliveries […]
Every Tuesday Steel Market Update publishes our flat rolled steel price ranges and index averages. Throughout the week we analyze information gathered from steel buyers from around the country. At times we spot a trend developing but don’t have enough price points to justify fully adjusting either the lower or upper end of our range. […]
The number of active steel buyers has definitely slowed over the past few weeks. Buyers are holding back as business has slowed for some, inventory levels are OK (and in some situations rising) and lead times are pulling back making the need to buy less urgent. When taking into consideration lead times, we are also […]
Last week Steel Market Update invited just under 600 steel executives to participate in our flat rolled market trends survey. As is normal with SMU surveys, we intentionally invite manufacturing companies and service centers to lead the way. Last week 45 percent of the respondents came from manufacturing and 44 percent from the steel distributors. […]
This area of the Steel Market Update newsletter is reserved for me to be able to provide my thoughts/opinions on a variety of subjects and our readers clearly know where these comments are coming from. I have been asked on a number of occasions to comment on “rumors” of a domestic mill flat rolled price […]
Flat rolled lead times continued to slip, according to those responding to last week’s Steel Market Update flat rolled market trends analysis survey. Lead times are very close to where they were at this time last year when benchmark hot rolled was being reported at $660 per ton (September 16, 2015) and then proceeded to […]
Spot steel prices are now negotiable on hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized and Galvalume according to those responding to our mid-September 2016 flat rolled steel market trends survey. Hot rolled continues to be (almost) unanimous with 97 percent of our respondents reporting spot prices are being negotiated by their mill suppliers. At the beginning of […]
After making a big move this past week, spot flat rolled steel prices out of the domestic steel mills remained range bound with only minor adjustments as steel buyers try to digest what they need to do next. Steel buyers have been telling Steel Market Update that there is a disparity between the mini mills […]
The following article on the hot rolled coil (HRC), busheling scrap (BUS), and financial futures markets was written by David Feldstein. As Flack Steel’s director of risk management, Dave is an active participant in the hot rolled coil (HRC) futures market and we believe he will provide insightful commentary and trading ideas to our readers. […]
Whoops, who left the door open? It seems like all the hot air has been sucked out of this steel market, at least for the time being. Flat rolled steel prices have been moving dramatically lower over the past few weeks. Steel buyers are telling SMU that the domestic steel mills are anxious to negotiate, […]
Twice per month, Steel Market Update (SMU) conducts a review of the flat rolled steel market in our quest to better understand market trends which affect steel pricing and purchasing. We invite approximately 550-600 steel people to participate in our questionnaires. Those invited come from the manufacturing segment of the industry (approximately 45 to 50 […]
The following information comes from our flat rolled steel market trends survey which began last Friday and concluded earlier today. Do not confuse our survey results with actual lead time sheets produced by individual steel mill locations. Based on what our respondents shared with SMU, lead times on hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized and Galvalume […]
With lead times shrinking on hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized and Galvalume steels it would be normal to collect data suggesting the domestic steel mills are becoming more negotiable on the spot pricing. The following information was gathered through our flat rolled steel market trends analysis over the past six days. We found that the […]
Due to our Steel Summit Conference last week we did not produce our price ranges and averages until Thursday (September 1st). Since then there has been very little movement but we did tweak galvanized and Galvalume numbers slightly. We will be watching to see if the pace of price erosion gains traction from here or […]
Steel Market Update intentionally did not solicit flat rolled steel price information during our Steel Summit Conference which was held on Monday through Wednesday of this week. Today, as we canvassed the market, we found a significant reduction in prices on all products. We heard reports of “slab rollings” at, or slightly below, $500 per […]
Steel buyers told Steel Market Update that the domestic mills were clearly hungry for orders on hot rolled steel and getting hungrier for cold rolled orders as well. So far, coated steels (galvanized and Galvalume) have fared better than their uncoated brethren but even coated steels were seeing some pressure on pricing. Buyers were telling […]
Manufacturing activity in the Fifth District was weaker in August according to the most recent survey by The Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. The composite manufacturing index for August plummeted to -11 after July’s reading of +10. Shipments fell sharply losing 21 points for an index reading of -14, while the new orders index plunged […]
Last week Steel Market Update conducted our mid-August flat rolled steel market trends analysis. For those new to our newsletter, we invite approximately 600 people representing about 550 companies to participate in our bi-monthly questionnaire. Our normal response rate is 100 to 150 people. Last week’s mix was 44 percent service centers, 43 percent manufacturing […]
In our last issue of Steel Market Update we wrote about lead times shrinking as being one of the reasons why we adjusted our Price Momentum Indicator. We cited published lead times by NLMK USA and Nucor Berkeley as examples of the changes we were seeing and discussing with steel buyers. This week we conducted […]
Based on the results of our flat rolled steel market trends survey that Steel Market Update (SMU) conducted all week, steel mills are receptive to negotiate steel prices on some products and less so on others. We are seeing the mills being fairly aggressive on hot rolled price negotiations with 83 percent of our survey […]