Michigan Governor Rick Snyder has asked the state’s members of Congress to begin the process of obtaining funding for a renovation of the Soo Locks. “The Soo Locks are crucial shipping link for some our nation’s biggest industries,” said Snyder. “The increase in outages from maintenance, redundancy and capacity issues poses significant economic consequences for […]
The PMI for the Manufacturing ISM Report on Business rose 1.9 percentage points to 53.2 in June, expanding for the fourth consecutive month. New orders gained 1.3 points and production 2.1 percentage points for readings of 57.0 and 54.7, respectively. The employment index grew 1.2 points to 50.4 percent. Inventories of raw materials registered 48.5, […]
Each month the Commerce Department issues its Construction Put in Place (CPIP) data, usually on the first working day covering activity two months earlier. May data was released on Friday July 1st and included revisions back to January 2014. Construction Put in Place is based on spending work as it occurs, estimated for a given […]
The Associated General Contractors of America report that construction spending fell 0.8 percent in May to $1.143 trillion. Most of the decline was due to lower spending in private nonresidential construction. The press release from AGC follows: Construction spending dipped in May but posted strong, broad-based gains for the first five months of 2016 compared […]
Global manufacturing was subdued in June according to a reading of 50.4 on the JPMorgan Global Manufacturing PMI. The PMI gained just 0.4 points with most of the solid improvement in the European Union. It should be noted that the data for the report was collated before the vote by the UK to exit the […]
To our USA customers welcome back from your 4th of July holiday. I saw this quote while doing some research this afternoon, “Fun is one of the most important and underrated ingredients in any successful venture” (Richard Branson) This is something I have believed in for my entire steel career. Speaking of fun, we have […]
This Key Markets Indicator report is something we produce for our Premium level clients. However, we thought that our Executive level readers would appreciate knowing… An explanation of the Key Indicators concept is given at the end of this piece for those readers who are unfamiliar with it. The total number of indicators considered in […]
Steel Market Update received the following question from one of our new readers who has a specific project related to sourcing of hot rolled and cold rolled steels from outside of the United States. Based on our conversation with the reader we believe this question is being raised at this time due to the wide […]
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 […]
Metalforming companies surveyed in June are expecting little change in business conditions during the next three months. The June 2016 Precision Metalforming Association sampled 120 metalforming companies in the U.S. and found most expect economic activity to remain steady. Orders are expected to remain at stable, with 51 percent predicting no change compared to 44 […]
Leaders in the steel industry reacted favorably to Friday’s affirmative decision by the International Trade Commission (ITC)’s regarding injury to the industry resulting from the import of corrosion-resistant steel from China, India, Italy, Korea, and Taiwan. Mario Longhi, President and CEO, US Steel Corp.: “United States Steel Corporation is pleased with the International Trade Commission’s […]
The United Kingdom surprised the world by voting for an exit from the European Union on Thursday. Steel Market Update asked John Anton, Principal Economist-Steel at IHS Global Insight to provide us his insights into what this might mean for the global market. GDP growth in the EU27 is expected to lose 0.2 percent in […]
New orders for manufactured durable goods fell 2.2 percent in May to $230.7 billion after a revised gain of 3.3 percent in April, according to the U.S. Commerce Department. A Wall Street Journal survey of economists forecast a 0.4 percent drop while Bloomberg predicted a decline of 0.5 percent. May’s decline was broad-based across almost […]
I am working on an article about the difficulties manufacturing companies face when trying to recoup a portion (or all) of the flat rolled steel price increases from their customers. This morning I spoke with a manufacturing entity in the building materials segment of the industry who reported their industry has taken prices up by […]
Manufacturing companies reported steel service center spot prices as continuing to rise this past week. Seventy-eight percent of the manufacturing companies responding to our mid-June flat rolled steel market trends questionnaire said distributors were continuing to raise spot prices on flat rolled steel. The service centers themselves were less optimistic with only 51 percent of […]
Essar Steel Algoma announced today (June 17) that it has entered into an asset purchase agreement with KPS Capital Partners, LP. The sale is subject to approval by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. KPS, a leading private equity firm in the manufacturing sector, has a history of transforming challenged businesses into healthy, independent companies. […]
Speculation continues to grow that KPS Capital, the suitor for Essar Steel Algoma, will also buy US Steel Canada and merge the two companies. Sources for the Globe and Mail and Hamilton Spectator say that KPS is one of the two remaining bidders for the former Stelco operations in Hamilton and Nanticoke. According to anonymous […]
One of the articles in this evening’s issue of Steel Market Update is based on questions being asked during a conversation we had with a number of steel executives in New York City last week. About one quarter of our articles are prompted by questions or comments we receive from buyers and sellers of steel […]
Earlier this week Steel Market Update began canvassing the flat rolled steel community to determine how buyers and sellers felt about their company’s ability to be successful in the current market environment. The result is the SMU Steel Buyers Sentiment Index which has been on a roll for a number of months setting new record […]
“If we all knew the direction steel prices were headed, well I wouldn’t be here with you guys….” This was how the conversation began with one of the contacts SMU made earlier this week while in New York City to attend a number of meetings surrounding the Steel Success Strategies conference. There were a number […]
On Wednesday this week the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released its series of Producer Price Indexes (PPI) for more than 10,000 goods and materials. For an explanation of this program see the end of this piece. The latest release this week reported results through May. We run this analysis every three or four months […]
Manufacturing in New York regained momentum in June. The Empire State Manufacturing Index surged 15 points to 6.01, a rebound from May’s reading of negative 9.02. The jump to positive numbers surprised economists who were expecting a reading near negative 5.0. The new orders index shot to 10.90 from -5.54 and shipments pulled out of […]
Once a year, Steel Market Update goes to New York City to rub shoulders and swap tales with about 400 of our closest steel friends. The initial attraction is the Steel Success Strategies conference hosted by World Steel Dynamics. Over the years a number of events have been formed by steel publications, futures markets and […]
ArcelorMittal is set to expand its portfolio of automotive steels by launching two new products in 2017, Usibor®2000 and Ductibor®1000. According to a spokesperson at ArcelorMittal , Usibor® 2000, which has been under development for some time, is a new Aluminum-Silicon coated high strength steel that will be even stronger than its predecessor Usibor® 1500. […]
Nucor Corp. and JFE Holdings of Japan will enter a joint venture to build and operate a steel processing plant in central Mexico to supply the country’s automotive market. The 50-50 venture will cost $270 million to construct and have a capacity of 400,000 tons per year of galvanized sheet steel. The substrate for processing […]
For many years, SMU publisher John Packard sold ultra light gauge galvanized steels (.019”-.010”) into the furnace pipe manufacturers across the United States and Canada. This product is one that is not championed by the domestic steel industry as the domestic steel mills would rather run thicker steels (more tonnage per hour through their mills) […]
We normally reserve Employment articles for our Premium members but felt this would be a good piece to share with our Executive members as well. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported on Friday in their analysis of non-farm employment that 38,000 jobs were added in May, a result so poor and unexpected as to […]
This Key Markets Indicator report is something we produce for our Premium level clients. However, we thought that our Executive level readers would appreciate knowing why we continue to be bullish on the direction of the market based on our analysis of the Key Market Indicators. An explanation of the Key Indicators concept is given […]
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 […]
An explanation of the Key Indicators concept is given at the end of this piece for those readers who are unfamiliar with it. The total number of indicators considered in this analysis is currently 34. Please refer to Table 1 for the view of the present situation and the quantitative measure of trends. Readers should […]