For the past nine weeks, Steel Market Update (SMU) has had our Price Momentum Indicator at Neutral. A neutral rating means the market is either in transition or does not have enough momentum to push steel prices in one direction or another. Earlier today SMU adjusted our indicator to “Lower” from Neutral which is a […]
Flat rolled steel prices continued their slow slide as hot rolled offers below $600 per ton became commonplace. We have also seen lead times shrinking, demand in question and service center inventories grow. The combination of these and other factors caused SMU to adjust our Price Momentum Indicator to Lower from Neutral where it had […]
A steel mill told SMU this afternoon, “The week has definitely taken a turn south.” Over the past twenty-four hours a couple of the domestic steel mills have moved their base spot number on hot rolled to $570 to $590 per ton ($28.50/cwt to $29.50/cwt). We are receiving mixed messages regarding whether there are specific […]
The following article on the hot rolled coil (HRC) and financial futures markets was written by Jack Marshall of Crunch Risk LLC. Here is how Jack saw trading over the past week: Steel HR futures prices are down over $10/ST Sep’16/Dec’17 over the last week, roughly in line with the different indexes being reported. SMU […]
The hot rolled announcement has been made and the market is sifting through the results in order to figure out whether the results are good or bad for the steel industry. Of course, the answer to that question depends on what your end motivation is. Lower prices are good for manufacturing but bad for the […]
As we moved about the market speaking to buyers of flat rolled steel, we found ourselves immersed in a dialogue about demand now being the major driver of steel prices moving forward. SMU spoke with a number of very large flat rolled steel service center buyers who told us that demand is “fragmented” and there […]
According to the results of our latest flat rolled steel market trends analysis survey, as steel prices flatten out and lead times begin to come back in, flat rolled steel buyers and sellers are slightly less enthusiastic about their company’s ability to be successful in both the existing market environment as well as 3 to […]
Earlier this week we began our early August flat rolled steel market trends analysis. The process began with invitations going out to approximately 570 steel executives in the manufacturing, service center/wholesaler, trading company, steel mill and toll processing communities. The invitations are purposely heavily weighted toward manufacturing and service center/wholesalers as those two segments purchase […]
The following information was collected from our flat rolled steel market trends survey which we have been conducting since Monday of this week. Much of the collection information is similar to the Lead Times article above as this question is posed to manufacturing companies and distributors. What we are trying to discover is if there […]
A couple of the steel mills SMU spoke with today reported their coated order books as being close to closed for September. They reported that there is not a need to make any price adjustments. At the same time, both the mills we spoke with, as well as steel buyers around the country, are anxiously […]
Buyers and sellers of hot rolled steel are holding back on making any new offers (buy or sell) until the final determinations are announced on HRC later this week. According to Steel Market Update sources, hot rolled steel spot prices were ranging from a low of $590 per ton up to $630 per ton. Lead […]
ArcelorMittal posted net income of $1.1 billion second quarter 2016 compared to a net loss of $400 million in first quarter. Second quarter EBITDA nearly doubled from first quarter due to higher steel selling prices and volumes. Crude steel production was 13.1 million tonnes with shipments of 22.1 million tonnes. Sales increased to $14.7 billion […]
Flat rolled steel prices are relatively stable for yet another week according to the various steel indexes followed by Steel Market Update. SMU took two items slightly lower: cold rolled ($815/ton) and Galvanized .060” G90 ($880/ton). SteelBenchmarker, who only reports prices twice per month, saw hot rolled down $4/ton ($624/ton) and cold rolled was off […]
US Steel narrowed its losses in second quarter, reporting a net loss of $46 million compared to a loss of $340 million in first quarter, and $261 million in Q2 2016. Net sales for the company totaled $2.58 billion. Earnings for the flat rolled and US Steel Europe segments returned to positive numbers at $6 […]
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 […]