Earlier this week Steel Market Update (SMU) began canvassing the flat rolled steel markets in order to better appreciate how buyers and sellers of steel are viewing their company’s ability to be successful in the market today (Current) as well as out three to six months (Future). Their responses result in the publication of the […]
There has been some confusion in the marketplace as many mills were waiting for Nucor and SDI to come out with new price announcements after SSAB and ArcelorMittal led the way earlier this week. On Tuesday, NLMK USA representatives began verbally informing their customers that their spot prices on hot rolled, cold rolled and galvanized […]
The following article on the hot rolled coil (HRC), busheling scrap (BUS), and financial futures markets was written by Dave Feldstein. As Flack Steel’s director of risk management, David Feldstein 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 […]
Spot flat rolled steel prices were adjusted higher by Steel Market Update based on the data being collected out of our ongoing flat rolled steel survey as well as through direct contact with steel buyers. We found a tight cluster of hot rolled offers in the $400 to $410 range. Our average increased due to […]
Happy Academy Award (Oscar) Night… We will begin our early March flat rolled steel market trend analysis on Monday morning. If you receive an invitation to participate please take a few moments to click on the button contained in the message which will take you to our questionnaire. If you would like to participate in […]
Steel Market Update asked steel buyers how they were seeing the flat rolled steel market so far this week. One large Midwest based service center told us, “Eerily quiet.” Other buyers basically provided the same guidance. Hot rolled order books continue to be weak to moderate while cold rolled and coated lead times are extended […]
Once a month HARDI wholesalers conduct a conference call for those member companies who are involved in the sale of galvanized sheet and coils to the mechanical contractors involved in residential and commercial construction. Steel Market Update publisher, John Packard, has been involved with the HARDI organization for many years going back to his steel […]
Flat rolled steel prices have been slowly rising since the domestic mills made price increase announcements in early December 2015. Even though the trend has been for higher steel prices for almost three months now, 37 percent of those responding to our flat rolled steel market trends analysis this past week believe prices will rise […]
As part of your Premium level service, Steel Market Update (SMU) analyzes the service center shipment and inventory data and provides a short term forecast for carbon flat rolled steel shipments, inventories and how they will impact pricing over the next four months. This is done through a proprietary model and the results provided are […]
Steel Market Update conducted our mid-February flat rolled steel market trends analysis over the past four days. The SMU Steel Sentiment Indices are one of a group of proprietary products which are derived from this particular analysis which we conduct twice per month. When reviewing the data we found that our “Current” Sentiment Index dropped […]
Steel Market Update conducted our flat rolled steel market trends analysis this week, a portion of which is dedicated to understanding domestic mill lead times from a group perspective. These lead times shown in the graphic below have nothing to do with the mill lead time sheets produced by the domestic mills. The data shown […]
Hot rolled continues to be the weakest product according to those responding to this week’s flat rolled steel analysis. We found 82 percent of our respondents reporting the domestic mills as willing to negotiate hot rolled pricing. This is much higher than the 54 percent we reported two weeks ago and takes us back to […]
All is quiet in the flat rolled steel markets as prices essentially moved sideways, even though we picked up on slightly different ranges which affected our averages slightly. Steel buyers should not interpret this to mean there is weakness in the current market. Instead it is just a normal ebb and flow that we pick […]
Over the past few weeks Steel Market Update has been reviewing the lead times being published and/or provided to their customers in order to see if there are any significant changes. As a general statement we have found cold rolled and coated steels (galvanized, Galvalume, galvannealed) have extended lead times and are the tightest of […]
Flat rolled steel prices remained relatively range bound over the past week with only one product, cold rolled, showing any movement other than sideways. While speaking to steel buyers around the country many of the discussions centered on lead times, demand and what will the mills do next regarding steel prices. The consensus of opinion […]
There seems to be little doubt that there is some strength in the cold rolled and coated products markets. The lead times are extended with ArcelorMittal being into May on galvanized according to one of their automotive service centers. We heard from a couple of the conversion mills who told us their orders books were […]
Buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel and the companies that use the products are becoming more optimistic about both the short term and medium term success for their companies. Earlier this week we began the process of collecting data regarding various trends involved with the flat rolled steel industry. One of the key proprietary […]
Many of you have read that hot rolled is the weakest product and that there is a significant spread between domestic hot rolled base prices and those of cold rolled and galvanized steel. Even with the energy markets being in the so-called “crapper” impacting the hot rolled order books, we are seeing stronger steel mill […]
As we mentioned in our previous article, flat rolled steel mill lead times have moved out by a week on hot rolled and as much as two weeks on cold rolled and galvanized. Galvalume lead times have remained decent but have not extended at this time but, that is to be expected for seasonal reasons. […]
The following article is written by Spencer Johnson of FC Stone LLC. With six years of experience, Spencer provides his customers strategic and tactical advice on protecting themselves against commodity price volatility in the steel markets. Spencer rotates weekly futures articles with Andre Marshall of Crunch Risk, LLC. Spencer can be reached at spencer.johnson@intlfcstone.com. If […]
First, a note to our Premium level members (subscribers) we will produce another Premium supplemental issue of our newsletter for you tomorrow afternoon. The newsletter will contain the most recent CPIP (construction put in place) data. We also will release the results of this week’s flat rolled steel market trends analysis in the form of […]
We saw mixed results for flat rolled steel price ranges and averages this week. We saw modest gains in hot rolled, cold rolled and Galvalume while galvanized remained the same as last week. Lead times remained short on hot rolled which continues to be the weakest product. We are also beginning to see “inquire” only […]
One of the important keys to understanding the strength or weakness of the flat rolled market in the United States is to follow the steel mill lead time announcements made to their customers. We can then compare them against prior weeks (and the results of our market trends report which is conducted twice per month) […]
The following article on the hot rolled coil (HRC), busheling scrap (BUS), and financial futures markets was written by Andre Marshall, CEO of Crunch Risk LLC and our Managing Price Risk I & II instructor. Assisting Andre with tonight’s article is Jack Marshall also associated with CrunchRisk. Here is how Andre and Jack saw trading […]
Hot rolled prices, which have moved $45 per ton (higher) since early December, did not move this past week. Hot rolled has been the weakest of products which both SDI and AK Steel alluded to in their earnings conference calls earlier today. However, we have seen lead times improve on cold rolled and coated steels […]
As part of our Premium level service, Steel Market Update (SMU) analyzes the service center shipment and inventory data and provides a short term forecast for carbon flat rolled steel shipments and inventories then we use our proprietary model to determine if distributor inventories are in Apparent Excess or a Deficit situation. Our forecast also […]
We are seeing a divergence in the normal spread between hot rolled lead times and those of cold rolled and coated products. Normally, we would see HRC lead times at just a couple of weeks less than that of the other “higher value” products. With the demise of the energy segment of the industry that […]
Steel Dynamics’ struggling recycling segment widened the company’s net loss to $253 million in fourth quarter 2015. It was determined that the book value of the metals recycling segment recorded $435 million in non-cash goodwill and other related asset impairment charge. Excluding the metals recycling charges, adjusted net income was $22 million on net sales […]
In the market analysis questionnaire concluded late last week we asked a number of questions regarding foreign steel and the potential for another uptick in foreign market penetration with the domestic mills raising flat rolled steel prices. We asked if the mill price announcements were opening the door and making foreign steel prices more competitive? […]
I will be at the AHR Expo on Monday of this week (January 25th). I will only be there for one day due to other conflicts on my schedule. If you are planning on attending and would like to meet with me, the best way to find me is either through text or a phone […]