Flat rolled steel prices remained essentially unchanged for yet another week. We did pick up a break in the $600 barrier on hot rolled steel. However, we were only able to tie that price level to one Canadian mill into the Chicago market. The other mills appear to be holding much closer to $610-$620 per […]
We pointed out a couple of weeks back that lead times have been slowly shrinking but are still longer than year ago levels. Lead times refer to the amount of time it takes to get an order placed today produced at one of the domestic steel mills. The steel mill lead times we are discussing […]
As lead times begin to come back in (shorten), we are seeing an increase in the percentage of our flat rolled steel survey respondents who are reporting the steel mills as willing to negotiate steel prices. Hot rolled continues to be the weakest product. It has the shortest lead time and we have heard from […]
Flat rolled steel prices have been “drifting” over the past few weeks. By that we mean there has been some minor adjustments to pricing on a weekly basis but nothing that would qualify as a trend in one direction or another. Steel buyers are trying to gauge the strength and direction of the breeze blowing […]
HARDI wholesalers reported today that the key to this current market is to be disciplined as you go about your business. The wholesalers, who provide galvanized steel and other products to the mechanical contractors around the United States and Canada, told SMU and other wholesalers on their monthly steel conference call, that business conditions continue […]
Steel Dynamics announced second quarter 2016 net income of $142 million on net sales of $2.0 billion. In comparison, net sales in Q1 totaled $1.7 billion with net income of $63 million and year ago sales were $2.0 billion with adjusted net income of $53 million. A decline in imports of flat rolled steel and […]
The following article on the hot rolled coil (HRC), busheling scrap (BUS), and financial futures markets was written by Andre Marshall and Jack Marshall of Crunch Risk LLC. Here is how they saw trading over the past week: It has been a quiet week in Hot Rolled futures (HRC) with 13,380 short tons (ST) trading.Until […]
Flat rolled steel buyers reported steel prices as being essentially unchanged from this time last week. Here is how we see prices this week: Hot Rolled Coil: SMU Range is $600-$640 per ton ($30.00/cwt- $32.00/cwt) with an average of $620 per ton ($31.00/cwt) FOB mill, east of the Rockies. Both the lower and upper end […]
Steel buyers believe that we have reached the top of the flat rolled steel price cycle and that all of the risk is downside from here. Even so, most of the buyers with whom SMU spoke over the past couple of days are not believers in the idea that steel prices will collapse in the […]
Many of those associated with the steel mills believe this week will be the one where buyers come back to the market after having taken a couple of weeks off for holiday. We will see if the buyers return or if the erosion of scrap prices (at least obsolete grades) will be enough to start […]
Galvanized steels continue to see strong bookings at the domestic steel mills with August sold out at all but SDI, The Techs and Wheeling Nisshin according to SMU sources. One of the domestic mills told Steel Market Update earlier this week that coated products were on “autopilot” as bookings remain strong and they were not […]
On Tuesday of this week Steel Market Update began canvassing the flat rolled steel industry through the use of our online survey which we use twice per month. We invited slightly more than 550 people to participate as we try to analyze market trends. One of the key areas of inquiry is that of lead […]
A second key subject addressed in our flat rolled steel survey regards negotiations between the domestic steel mills and their customers. We ask manufacturing companies and steel service centers to comment on whether their domestic mill suppliers are willing to negotiate spot steel pricing on hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized and Galvalume steels. The less […]
An executive with one of the larger scrap companies told us that trading finally got under way in the Southeast over the past 24 hours. We were told, “Scrap trading got underway in the Southeastern markets late yesterday and today. While demand remained intact for the most part, bearish sentiment seems to be on the […]
Flat rolled prices were relatively flat for yet another week as the 4th of July holiday kept buyers and sellers thinking of something other than buying and selling steel. Steel Market Update is picking up signs of slowing order books at a number of mills as the number of “inquire only” products begins to dwindle […]
The following article on the hot rolled coil (HRC), busheling scrap (BUS), and financial futures markets was written by Andre Marshall and Jack Marshall of Crunch Risk LLC. Here is how they saw trading over the past week: Financial Markets Brexit serves in some people’s minds as the beginning of the end, the unraveling of […]
Manufacturing Indexes were reported from four Federal Reserve districts in the past two weeks with mixed results. Manufacturing surveys were released from Kansas City, Philadelphia, Richmond and Dallas. The survey results from Kansas City were the most positive of the four, returning to a positive reading for its composite index for the first time in […]
The flat rolled markets are trying to find where, and what direction, prices should be moving. After being down slightly last week, this week prices are up slightly. There is no clear-cut focus to the market at this moment. As one service center purchasing director put it to us this afternoon, “[Pricing] is all need […]
Flat rolled steel prices slipped this week even as ArcelorMittal USA announced new spot pricing for the month of August. Steel Market Update (SMU) has been noticing a “topping” of the market over the past few weeks and our expectation is for the market to be a little “sloppy” in the coming weeks. We do […]
Once a month Steel Market Update participates in a steel conference call hosted by HARDI. The wholesalers associated with HARDI supply galvanized steel and other products to the mechanical contractors involved in residential, multi-family, light commercial and commercial construction around the country. The purpose of the call is to better understand the galvanized steel markets […]
Flat rolled steel inventories being held by U.S. steel service centers have moved from an Apparent Excess to a Deficit based on our analysis of the recently released data by the Metal Service Center institute (MSCI). We have been reporting on the reduction of the Apparent Excessive inventories being held at flat rolled steel distributors […]
Steel mill lead times, the amount of time it takes to get steel produced from the time a flat rolled steel order is placed, have apparently peaked and we are beginning to see signs of a slight pull back in all but coated products. Having said that, lead times still continue to be highly extended […]
The domestic steel mills are barely breaking a sweat as they have minimal need to negotiate flat rolled steel prices according to those taking our mid-June flat rolled steel market trends survey. Last week we invited hundreds of companies associated with the steel industry to provide their opinions on the flat rolled steel market. Over […]
For the third week the data points collected by Steel Market Update found the flat rolled steel market as stable with only one of our indices showing a minor change in our average since last week. Here is how we see prices this week: Hot Rolled Coil: SMU Range is $620-$650 per ton ($31.00/cwt- $32.50/cwt) […]
Over the past week Steel Market Update has been of the opinion that flat rolled steel prices may be reaching levels where a “pause” may be appropriate. Our SMU Price Momentum Indicator has been pointing toward Higher flat rolled steel prices since December 11, 2015 (6 months). Many of the reasons which caused Steel Market […]
As most of you know, I am in New York City running with the steel crowd associated with the Steel Success Strategies and the surrounding steel “events” entertaining the industry over the first three days of this week. I have probably spoken to 60-70 individuals about many subjects of interest, pricing, lead times, potential for […]
Flat rolled prices are beginning to stabilize as a number of mills are not taking orders at this time and those that are are holding fairly firm at where they were a week ago. Our benchmark hot rolled average rose by $5 per ton while cold rolled, galvanized and Galvalume averages remained unchanged. When we […]
Last week Steel Market Update conducted our early June flat rolled steel market trends analysis. Besides gathering data regarding how buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel feel about their company’s ability to be successful (SMU Steel Buyers Sentiment Index) we also asked questions about pricing, demand, buying patterns, foreign steel, lead times and negotiations. […]
Late this afternoon one of our readers forwarded to us an article from one of the other steel periodicals referencing foreign steel prices as “falling fast.” Steel Market Update’s perspective (and those from our steel trading sources) is different than what another periodical may be reporting. We believe that one must look at the bigger […]
Buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel continue to be optimistic regarding their company’s ability to be successful in both the current market environment as well as looking out three to six months into the future. The SMU Steel Buyers Sentiment Index for Current Sentiment rose +2 points from mid-May at +69. One year ago […]