The market has continued to firm as steel buyers return to the market and lead times slowly begin to extend. We are also seeing a return to the more traditional spreads between hot rolled base prices and those of cold rolled and coated. The normal spread has been $100 to $120 per ton depending on […]
The domestic flat rolled steel mill lead times have begun to move out, according to the results from our flat rolled steel analysis questionnaire conducted this past week. We are seeing movement on all four products: hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized and Galvalume. Lead times had bottomed in January and February and we started to […]
The domestic steel mills are still willing to negotiate according to the majority of last week SMU flat rolled steel market survey respondents. However, for the first time in many months we are seeing a break in the “tell me what it’s going to take” negotiating tactic and more of the “here is our bottom, […]
According to Baker Hughes data from May 10th, 2015, the U.S rig count for the week was 894 rigs exploring for or developing oil or natural gas. The last time the active U.S. count was this low was back on June 12, 2009 at 876 rigs. This week’s total rig count is down 11 rigs […]
Late last week I asked the vice president of one of the steel mills which had announced price increases if they were indeed collecting higher prices and we received a one word response “Yep.” Earlier today we spoke with a conversion mill about the status of their pricing and they provided a more descriptive look […]
According to Baker Hughes data from May 1st, 2015, the U.S rig count for the week was 905 rigs exploring for or developing oil or natural gas. The last time the active U.S. count was this low was back on June 19, 2009 at 899 rigs. This week’s total rig count is down 27 rigs […]
The Chicago Business Barometer rose 6 points to 52.3 in April, beating analyst expectations for a reading of 50. The index fell to a five and a half year low in February before bouncing up five points to 46.3 in March. The index grew in four of its five components in April with New Orders […]
Late on Monday, ArcelorMittal sales people began informing their customers by email of their intention to raise flat rolled steel prices by $20 per ton ($1.00/cwt). The increase was to be effective with orders taken for June production and beyond. In an email seen by Steel Market Update, ArcelorMittal explained their reasoning for taking prices […]
Late last week one of the smaller mills (North Star Bluescope) not known to cold rolled and galvanized buyers since they only produce hot rolled coils, began moving spot prices higher. One of NS customers advised us toward the end of the week that the mill was looking for $465 per ton ($23.25/cwt) for new […]
The domestic mills were beginning to make moves late last week to increase steel prices. Those efforts accelerated earlier today with the announcements out of ArcelorMittal USA (internal memo), Nucor (verbal & later in a letter to their customers), NLMK USA (letter to customers). These moves have, at least temporarily, halted the slide in flat […]
Domestic mill lead times appear to have found bottom and are stabilizing at these lower than normal rates, based on the results of the latest Steel Market Update flat rolled steel market analysis (survey). Benchmark hot rolled lead times managed to eek above 3.0 weeks for the first time in a number of months (late […]
We saw a mixed market for flat rolled steel prices this past week with some items moving lower and one (cold rolled) slightly higher than what we reported one week ago. Steel Market Update, which continues to have our Price Momentum Indicator at Neutral, saw the lower end of hot rolled as being $5 per […]
Steel Dynamics Inc. reported high levels of steel import and customer inventory reduced shipments for first quarter resulting in a 44 percent drop in consolidated operating income compared to fourth quarter. SDI adjusted net income was $40 million for first quarter 2015 with $2 billion in net sales. The adjusted income excludes $17 million in […]
According to Baker Hughes data from April 17th, 2015, the U.S rig count for the week was 954 rigs exploring for or developing oil or natural gas. The last time the active U.S. count was this low was back on July 31, 2009 at 948 rigs. This week’s total rig count is down 34 rigs […]
SMU Service Center Apparent Excess The Metal Service Center Institute (MSCI) released U.S. steel distributor shipments and inventories earlier today. We have a separate article which goes into detail in both flat and long products in this newsletter. This article focuses on our flat rolled steel Service Center Inventory Apparent Excess/Deficit forecast for the month […]
There has been a “calming” to the market although that has not stopped the slow trickle lower we are seeing in flat rolled steel pricing. We saw hot rolled break through the $440 level although we were told by steel buyers that were able to get those kind of numbers the last $5 per ton […]
A little more than two weeks have passed since Steel Market Update adjusted our forward looking Price Momentum Indicator from “Lower” to “Neutral.” Looking back on the historical trend for flat rolled steel Price Momentum you have to go back a year before you would see our Price Momentum Indicator pointing toward “Higher” flat rolled […]
One of the questions asked during the flat rolled steel market analysis we conduct twice per month is regarding the spread between domestic and foreign steel pricing. When spreads are large, as they were for most of calendar year 2014, then you can expect a surge in imported steel. As the spread subsides the need […]
According to Baker Hughes data from April 2nd, 2015, the U.S rig count for the week was 988 rigs exploring for or developing oil or natural gas. The last time the active U.S. count was this low was back in late-August 2009 at 968 rigs. This week’s total rig count is down 40 rigs when […]
This week Steel Market Update (SMU) conducted our early April flat rolled steel market survey. Based on the results of our inquiries we learned that domestic mill lead times continue to be quite short and well below the lead times seen one year ago. However, when looking at last year’s lead times, we must remember […]
According to our survey respondents not much has changed when it comes to how willing steel mills are to negotiate hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized and Galvalume steel pricing. Lead times continue to remain short and order books weak. This has created a situation whereby steel mills have to be competitively priced in order to […]
According to our survey respondents not much has changed when it comes to how willing steel mills are to negotiate hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized and Galvalume steel pricing. Lead times continue to remain short and order books weak. This has created a situation whereby steel mills have to be competitively priced in order to […]
The following article on the hot rolled coil (HRC), busheling scrap (BUS), iron ore and financial futures markets was written by Andre Marshall, CEO of Crunch Risk LLC and our Managing Price Risk I & II instructor. Here is how Andre saw trading over the past week: Financial markets: Last 2084.50 on the June contract […]
Prices eased off the hectic pace we have been watching and reporting on over the past few months. Benchmark hot rolled pricing remained the same as what we reported this past week at $460 per ton average. We are watching the lower end of the range carefully to see if the domestic mills will attempt […]
According to Baker Hughes data from April 2nd, 2015, the U.S rig count for the week was 1,028 rigs exploring for or developing oil or natural gas. The rig count is down 20 rigs when compared to last week, with oil rigs down 11 to 802 rigs, gas rigs down 11 to 222 rigs, and […]
Last week Steel Market Update adjusted our Price Momentum Indicator from Lower to Neutral. We believe that change is coming and the wholesale slide we have seen in flat rolled steel prices will come to an end. We have not yet come to the conclusion that prices will reverse direction, rather that prices on hot […]
According to Baker Hughes data from March 27th, 2015, the U.S rig count for the week was 1,048 rigs exploring for or developing oil or natural gas. The rig count is down 21 rigs when compared to last week, with oil rigs down 12 to 813 rigs, gas rigs down 9 to 233 rigs, and […]
Earlier today, Steel Market Update adjusted our SMU Price Momentum Indicator from “Lower” to “Neutral.” Since November 16, 2014 the SMU Price Momentum Indicator has been pointing toward “Lower” steel prices. Prior to November 16th we had a period of time where our Momentum Indicator vacillated between Neutral and Lower going back to May 2014. […]
The current downward cycle is getting a little “long in the tooth” (old) and there are signs that even with the short lead times and excessive inventories at the service centers the domestic steel mills are not chasing business but rather negotiating for specific pieces of business with known tonnages and want dates. The mills […]
This morning Steel Market Update (SMU) participated in the monthly galvanized steel conference call hosted by HARDI. The conference call is for those HARDI wholesalers who sell galvanized sheet and coil to the HVAC mechanical contractors around the United States and Canada. Since the last conference call held during the later days in February, galvanized […]