Construction sector recovery may be at a plateau, says Stephen Sandherr , CEO of the Associated General Contractors of America. The press release from AGC for August construction spending follows: Construction spending held steady in August compared to July but is up nearly five percent for the first eight months of the year compared to […]
The Manufacturing ISM Report on Business showed manufacturing expanding in September after contracting in August. The Institute for Supply Management reports the September PMI was 51.5 percent, up 2.1 percent from the previous month. New orders, production and employment gained 6, 3.2 and 1.4 percentage points, respectively. The index for inventories of raw materials rose […]
Virgin Atlantic and LanzaTech are experimenting with a new jet fuel made from waste industrial gases from steel mills. Lanzanol, a low carbon ethanol fuel is derived via a fermentation process from carbon monoxide gases produced during steel manufacturing. The alcohol-to-jet process was developed in collaboration with the Pacific Northwest National Lab (PNNL) with support […]
An explanation of the Key Indicators concept is given at the end of this piece for those readers who are unfamiliar with it. This will explain the difference between our view of the present situation which is subjective and our analysis of trends which is based on the latest facts available. At the end of […]
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 […]
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 […]
Durable goods orders were flat in August after making gains in July. In the latest report by the Department of Commerce, new orders for manufactured durable goods, excluding transportation were down 0.4 percent, and orders excluding defense were down 1.0 percent. Orders for core capital goods, a proxy for business spending which excludes both military […]
Steel Market Update spoke with two sources regarding the most recent complaint filed by the domestic mills against Vietnam and China for circumvention of duties (China) on cold rolled and CORE (corrosion resistant steels such as galvanized and Galvalume) products. One of the tenants behind the accusations made by the domestic steel mills is the […]
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 […]
We might as well get the debate started. The circumvention complaints against Vietnam have prompted comments and a healthy discussion is needed as the industry tries to wrap its collective mind around the facts of the latest request of the US Department of Commerce to stop Vietnamese exports of cold rolled and coated steels. We […]
The Steel Market Update (SMU) Steel Buyers Sentiment Index dropped 14 points since we last measured Sentiment at the beginning of the month. The 14 point drop took the Current Index to +49, the lowest point for our index since the +44 reported during the first week of January 2016. The 14 point drop is […]
US Steel Canada has moved closer to a resolution of creditor protection proceedings and a sale of the company. The government of Ontario and Bedrock Industries announced they have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to facilitate the restructuring of US Steel Canada. The MOU terms are confidential but Ontario says it has agreed to support […]
Nucor Corporation announced today that it has agreed to acquire Independence Tube Corporation (ITC), a leading independent manufacturer of hollow structural section (HSS) steel tubing, for $435 million, or approximately 6x average EBITDA over the 2013-2015 period. “Independence Tube is a natural fit with Nucor. Their business model is similar to ours with extremely efficient […]
Tenaris is recalling workers to its Tenaris Algoma Tubes factory in Sault Ste. Marie. The facility which make seamless pipe for the oil and gas industry has been idle since February 8 due to continued adverse market conditions in the energy sector. Tenaris Algoma Tubes said it will recall 120-150 employees and restart production in […]
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. […]
The Empire State Manufacturing Index remained below the zero “no growth” level at -2.0 in September for the second consecutive month. Analysts point to weak export orders and sluggish business investment by the manufacturing sector. New orders dropped eight points to -7.5 and shipments plunged 18 points to -9.4. Indexes for unfilled orders and delivery […]
Both these data points are reported in the Federal Reserve G17 data base. The index had an all-time high of 106.70 in November 2014 and trended down until June this year when it experienced a two month turnaround followed by a slight decline in August to 104.402. The three month moving average (3MMA) had positive […]
Manufacturing activity improved in the Philadelphia area in September according to the latest manufacturing Business Outlook Survey by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. General activity and new orders expanded, surprising economists who expected a flat reading for the month. The headline index increased 11 points to 12.8, marking the first time the index has […]
The uncertainty in the market (called the “blahs” by a number of our steel sources) is affecting both buyers and sellers of steel. Steel mills have been doing all that they can in an attempt to keep flat rolled steel prices from slipping too far. One of our mill sources had a sense of humor […]
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 […]
Manufacturing companies and steel service centers concur about the status of spot steel pricing out of the service centers, spot flat rolled steel prices are dropping. Manufacturing companies reported rising spot prices during the entire second quarter and very early in the third quarter. We saw spot pricing out of the distributors begin to wane […]
The Congressional Steel Caucus introduced a House resolution last week that calls for the Administration to take action regarding non-market economy (NME) countries to protect U.S. manufacturing jobs and economic security. Chairman Tim Murphy (R-Pa) and Vice-chairman Peter J. Visclosky (D-IN) introduced the bill, along with 23 bipartisan cosponsors, that addresses market-distorting policies and subsidization […]
This month as we contemplate the August job creation performance we will lead off with the thoughts of J.G. Collins managing director of the Stuyvesant Square Consultancy. On September 2nd he wrote: The August jobs report released this morning was full of disappointment, with just 151,000 jobs created. Higher wage occupations continued to shed jobs […]
The SMU Steel Buyers Sentiment Index has been showing signs of a rebound as our Current Index is being released as +63 this week. This is a +2 point improvement from the middle of August and +5 point improvement since the beginning of August. However, SMU prefers to look at our Current and Future Sentiment […]
Global manufacturing continued to grow in August although falling from an eight-month high of 51.0 in July to 50.8 in August. Growth was sluggish in developed markets but improved in emerging markets. Of the 28 countries surveyed in the JP Morgan Global PMI, only nine reported worsening conditions in August. Manufacturers in China reported no […]
Mark Bula, the Commercial Director for Big River Steel made it official at our 6th Steel Summit Conference proclaiming Big River Steel as “open for business.” Bula, who was speaking on a panel on Innovation and the future of the steel industry, reported that the mill will begin producing their first hot rolled coil for […]
Manufacturing contracted in August after five consecutive months of growth, according to the latest Manufacturing Report on Business from the Institute of Supply Management. ISM reported the August PMI at 49.4, down 3.2 points from July at 52.6 percent. It was the first time the index has slipped since February of this year. New orders […]
Business activity fell in the Chicago area in August. The MNI Chicago Business Barometer, or Chicago PMI as commonly called, dropped 4.3 points to register 51.5. The decline was steeper than expected by economists. “Economic activity slowed down into the summer, suggesting June’s momentum was only a temporary revival in activity. Overall, it wasn’t a […]