By Trade Attorney Lewis Leibowitz It’s a new year and a new start on many things. COVID does not appear to be one of them, but China relations may be. At the beginning of 2020, China and the U.S. agreed to settle some of their trade differences by inking a deal that reduced some U.S. […]
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Tonight’s issue will be the final one for this year. We will pick up publishing our newsletters again on Tuesday, Jan. 4. The first thing I want to do tonight is to thank every one of our members for their support over this past year. In light of the […]
As the upward slope of the green bars in the charts below clearly illustrate, the bargaining position in steel price negotiations has been steadily shifting in favor of steel buyers for the past three months. Since September 2020, it had been a seller’s market, with steel in short supply. Until lately, the mills have had […]
Market forces are beginning to restore equilibrium to some parts of the economy, but not to others, said supply-chain expert Tom Derry, CEO of the Institute for Supply Management (ISM). Supply constraints will continue to be a drag on economic recovery in 2022, along with inflation and labor issues, he said during Steel Market Update’s […]
Monthly Key Market Indicators, as analyzed by Steel Market Update, continued their shift to a neutral position over the past month with positive indicators eroding further, slipping for the sixth successive month. What began as a typical summer slowdown, worsened by a surge in Delta cases and a less-than-ideal job market, has been compounded by […]
Manufacturing in the state of New York saw a strong growth rate in December, exceeding November’s by a slight margin, according to the Empire State Manufacturing Survey. The headline general business conditions index rose 1 point to 31.9 during the month. The index closes out the year on an upbeat note with gains in November and […]
Producer prices expanded 1.4% in November, seasonally unadjusted, climbing consecutively since reaching the most recent bottom 20 months ago, reports the U.S. Labor Department. Persistently high prices in large part continue to reflect clogged supply chains, as manufacturers scramble to keep up with unusually strong consumer demand. The Labor Department said that its Producer Price Index […]
The pendulum has passed bottom and finally begun to swing the other way in price negotiations. Steel mills no longer hold a dominant bargaining position over spot buyers. That shift is consistent with the shortening lead times and declining prices reported by Steel Market Update. SMU asks buyers every two weeks whether mills are willing […]
By CRU Senior Analyst Ryan McKinley, from CRU’s Steel Sheet Products Monitor, Jan. 5 Sheet prices fell in most markets around the world as supply availability grew. In the USA, market participants report that end users are cancelling or postponing orders, which has led to an even greater build up in inventory levels and caused […]
The 33rd Tampa Steel Conference will be live and in-person as we return to the Marriott Water Street Hotel in Tampa, Fla. The conference dates are Feb. 14 (networking opportunities and first day of Introduction to Hedging Workshop), Feb. 15 (golf outing, boat tour, and hedging workshop in the morning followed by the beginning of the […]
The 33rd Tampa Steel Conference will be live and in-person as we return to the Marriott Water Street Hotel in Tampa, Fla. The conference dates are Feb. 14 (networking opportunities and first day of Introduction to Hedging Workshop), Feb. 15 (golf outing, boat tour, and hedging workshop in the morning followed by the beginning of the […]
U.S. steel product shipments rose for a sixth straight month in October, expanding by 1.7% versus the prior month. The pace of growth has been steady over the past few months. Steel product shipments have grown at a rate just under 2.0% month on month since July and keeping a steady upward trend since May. […]
Brazilian iron ore miner Vale is in an “advanced stage of negotiations” to sell its stake in California Steel Industries (CSI), according to an investor day presentation. The presentation did not say which company Vale was in talks with. CSI is a Fontana, Calif.-based slab converter. It is also a 50-50 joint venture between Vale […]
U.S. construction spending rose fractionally in October after contracting the two months prior, but actual construction outlays year-to-date are 7.5% greater than the first 10 months of 2020, the Commerce Department reported. The Census Bureau’s report on construction spending shows residential slipped 0.5% during October, the once meteoric market now in its fourth month of easing. […]
November was a major letdown for the U.S. labor market, which added just 210,000 jobs, though the unemployment rate ticked slightly lower. The latest data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that the U.S. economy created far fewer jobs than expected in November, in a sign that hiring started to slow even ahead […]
Algoma Steel Group Inc. has picked Danieli & C. Officine Meccaniche S.p.A (Danieli) as the technology provider for their new electric arc (EAF) steelmaking facility set for operation in early 2024. The Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario-based steelmaker said that Danieli’s systems were the best choice for their new mill as they transition away from basic […]
Canadian metals distributor and industrial products manufacturer Samuel, Son & Co., Ltd., appointed Brian Cooke as incoming president of its Manufacturing Division. In the planned transition, Cooke succeeds Rod Crawford, who previously announced his plan to retire in June 2022. The two will work closely together, the company said, to ensure a successful transition until […]
Worthington Industries Inc. completed its acquisition of Tempel Steel Company, a manufacturer of precision motor and transformer laminations for the electrical steel market. The deal, originally valued around $255 million, expands the Columbus, Ohio-based manufacturer’s steel processing segment in the growing electric vehicle (EV) market. Tempel Steel, headquartered in Chicago and founded 1945, specializes in […]
By CRU Analyst Tanya Bhaiji, from CRU’s Steel Sheet Products Monitor, Nov. 29 Galvanized sheet is the biggest first use for refined zinc, constituting around 30% of total refined zinc demand in 2020. The majority of galvanized sheet is consumed in end-use sectors such as construction and automotive while a smaller percentage is also consumed in […]
The following article on the hot rolled coil (HRC), scrap and financial futures markets was written by Jack Marshall of Crunch Risk LLC. Here is how Jack saw trading over the past week: Hot Rolled Hot rolled futures sellers are betting that the price of HR will drop significantly in December based on the latest […]
The U.S. economy expanded at a modest rate from late October to early November, the Federal Reserve said in its latest Beige Book report. Overall growth was again constrained by supply-chain disruptions and labor shortages. Consumer spending increased modestly. But low inventories held back sales of some items, notably light vehicles. Leisure and hospitality activity picked […]
Stellantis – the Dutch parent company of Chrysler – will idle production for two weeks at one of its U.S. plants because of the ongoing global microchip shortage, a company spokeswoman said. The Auburn Hills, Mich.-based automaker’s assembly plant in Belvidere, Ill., will be down starting the week of Dec. 6 and will remain down through the week […]
New orders, production, employment, and imports grew in November. But prices fell, and delivery delays increased on tightening backlogs. That’s the takeaway from the Institute for Supply Management’s latest Manufacturing Report on Business. ISM’s Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) rose to 61.1% in November, up 0.3 percentage points from October and indicating continued expansion in the overall economy for the […]
U.S. manufacturing activity fell to its lowest point of the year in November. Producers reported near-record supply delays, the slowest new order inflows year-to-date, and waning job growth, according to the latest U.S. Manufacturing PMI data from IHS Markit. The report noted that extended lead times, supplier shortages and higher energy prices pushed the rate of […]
Steel prices declined for the third consecutive month in November, following a 12-month streak of continuous price increases. Hot-rolled coil prices declined $105 per ton throughout the month, with the SMU index averaging $1,770 per ton ($88.50 per cwt) as of Tuesday, Nov. 30. The SMU Price Momentum Indicator for hot-rolled coil was adjusted from Neutral […]
By CRU Principal Analyst Matthew Watkins and Analyst Iris Speelmanns, part of CRU’s steel and the energy transition series When we think about hydrogen and steel, we generally focus on steel supply. Hydrogen is a possible alternate reductant, replacing coke and offering a pathway to low-CO2 steel production. But a hydrogen economy could also be a huge […]
First, please note that due to the Thanksgiving holiday, the Steel Market Update newsletter will not be published on Thursday (which is Thanksgiving Day) and Sunday, Nov. 28. We will return to our normal publication schedule on Tuesday, Nov. 30. We want to wish everyone in the United States a happy, healthy Thanksgiving with family and […]
The North American auto industry may have turned a corner when it comes to the widespread production outages and assembly delays caused by the shortage of semiconductor chips. As recently as mid-October, GM, Toyota, Ford, and Honda were still reporting extended widespread outages. The turn has been noticeable in one month’s time. Automakers have managed […]
By Philip Bell, President, Steel Manufacturers Association Earlier this year, the European Commission began reviewing its Waste Shipment Regulation (WSR) and considering proposals for its revision. On Nov. 17, the EU commission announced that it may restrict waste exports including metal scrap to non-OECD countries. In yesterday’s formal announcement, the commission proposed revised legislation on […]
Manufacturing growth in the state of New York saw a strong expansion rate in November compared to October, according to the Empire State Manufacturing Survey. The headline general business conditions index rose 11 points to 30.9 during the month. After falling by 15 points in October, the rebound in the headline index was a welcome […]