By CRU Research Manager Paul Butterworth, from CRU’s Steel Monitor CRU has massively downgraded forecast GDP growth in China to 1-2 percent for 2020 and we now expect the USA and Eurozone to fall into recession. Global GDP growth is now expected to be 1 percent for the year, an effective global recession. While economic […]
Spot prices appear to have turned a corner as a growing percentage of both service centers and their manufacturing customers report steel prices on the decrease. As the chart below shows, 24 percent of the service centers responding to Steel Market Update’s questionnaire this past week now say they are lowering prices to their customers. […]
Steel producers and distributors told Steel Market Update this week that they remain busy serving customers, despite the disruption to the economy from the coronavirus. Not surprisingly, the mills appear very willing to negotiate spot prices to keep business flowing. The majority of service center and manufacturing executives responding to SMU’s questionnaire on Monday and […]
News on the spread of the coronavirus changes by the hour, which effects the outlook of steel buyers. But as of early this past week, based on Steel Market Update’s canvass of the market, the steel sector appears to have weathered the worst of the bad news so far. Steel Prices Most executives responding to […]
By CRU Principal Analyst Matt Watkins, from CRU’s Global Steel Trade Service Covid-19 is now the major driver of developments in the global steel industry, as indeed it is in the wider economy. Over the past month the virus has spread rapidly outside China and its growth remains uncontrolled. Europe has become a new epicenter […]
Editor’s note: Various states, counties and cities have issued some form of “shelter-in-place” or “stay-at-home” orders including California, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Oregon, Ohio, Connecticut and Illinois, as well as cities such as St. Louis, Kansas City, New Orleans and some counties in Colorado, Georgia and Idaho, among others. The list grows by the […]
NLMK USA’s plant in Farrell, Pa., is running a full schedule right now, but will idle its hot strip mill next week as the plant is low on slabs. The mill is dependent on imports of slabs. Its allocation of slabs for the second quarter does not open until April 1. The mill expects slabs […]
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf ordered all non-life-sustaining businesses in Pennsylvania to close their physical locations as of 8 p.m. Friday, March 19, to slow the spread of COVID-19. Life sustaining businesses include grocery stores, gas stations, farms and transit systems. Due to the high volume of waiver requests, enforcement actions against businesses that do not […]
John Packard is taking some time off… As we all hunker down (wondering if that’s the hint of a sore throat when we swallow), it’s easy to feel the walls closing in. The intellectual part of us knows the economy will return to normal eventually (indeed, there’s money to be made when the market comes […]
Today, Steel Market Update had conversations with manufacturing companies across the United States. We found businesses reporting strong demand, plants are still open, office workers tend to be working from home and factory workers are being trained on social distancing as well as personal/equipment hygiene. Most of those we contacted either on the phone or […]
Today, Steel Market Update had conversations with manufacturing companies across the United States. We found businesses reporting strong demand, plants are still open, office workers tend to be working from home and factory workers are being trained on social distancing as well as personal/equipment hygiene. Most of those we contacted either on the phone or […]
The American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) is urging the Trump administration to identify the steel manufacturing sector and its workers as “essential” when drafting and enforcing shelter-in-place orders and other directives in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. “As the Secretary of Commerce determined in 2018, steel is important to national security well beyond obvious […]
The new normal for me is talking to an industry executive on the phone and listening to the kids playing in the background…. We had a 45-point drop in both the Current and Future SMU Steel Buyers Sentiment Index this week (article is at top of tonight’s issue). This is the largest one-week change in […]
The new normal for me is talking to an industry executive on the phone and listening to the kids playing in the background…. We had a 45-point drop in both the Current and Future SMU Steel Buyers Sentiment Index this week (article is at top of tonight’s issue). This is the largest one-week change in […]
Yesterday Steel Market Update received a note from USS/POSCO regarding their waiver from the mandatory “shelter in their place of residence” order within Contra Costa County in California. UPI received their waiver due to the “essential nature of UPI’s business and services.” SMU anticipates there may be situations that arise where a mill, manufacturing company […]
Distributors supplying galvanized steel to the HVAC market report that demand and prices have remained surprisingly resilient so far, but they fear it’s only a matter of time before their business feels the full effect of the coronavirus crisis. “Your business is going to change. We are in the very early part of that change,” […]
By CRU Research Manager Paul Butterworth, from CRU’s Global Steel Trade Service Activity in steel end-use sectors in China is recovering as per CRU’s base case, but evidence suggests that demand may start to run ahead of our base case in the near term. Encouraged by government stimulus measures, there is a lot of optimism […]
The U.S. auto industry is taking steps to protect their workers in this unprecedented time of global pandemic. Ford, General Motors, Fiat Chrysler and the UAW have formed a COVID-19/Coronavirus Task Force to implement enhanced protections for manufacturing and warehouse employees at all three companies. In a joint statement, the leaders of GM, Ford and […]
In the last 12 months, the price declines of cold rolled carbon steel and aluminum sheet have been similar. This report is an analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data and is intended to provide subscribers with a view of the competitive position of sheet steel, aluminum, plastic and wood. The analysis includes some downstream […]
In the last 12 months the competitive position of steel sheet has improved against aluminum, plastic and wood. This report is an analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data and is intended to provide subscribers with a view of where sheet steel stands in terms of pricing compared with aluminum, plastic and wood. The analysis […]
The Empire State Manufacturing Index plummeted 34 points in March to register -21.5, its steepest point drop on record and its lowest level since 2009. Forty-two percent of New York manufacturers surveyed reported that business conditions had worsened during the period. The new orders index tumbled 31 points to -9.3 while shipments fell 20.6 points […]
The world is changing, it is not ending. I expect the steel industry will go through some changes as well. In Europe, the car makers are closing manufacturing facilities. Europe seems to be a couple weeks ahead of us here in the United States. Will we see the same plant closures in a couple of […]
Steel prices are as unpredictable as the spread of a rogue virus, but one symptom of COVID-19 is likely to be lower steel prices. As of this writing on March 13, the price of flat rolled steel products had yet to see much effect from the global panic over the coronavirus. Steel Market Update’s latest […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: Does anyone else feel like riding a roller coaster for the next six months? We have been on one for about seven weeks now and there is no end in sight. The time has arrived to consider what […]
Cleveland-Cliffs has officially closed on its acquisition of AK Steel Holding Corporation, integrating the value-added steelmaker with Cliff’s iron ore operations. The combined company will be led by Cleveland-Cliffs Chairman, President and CEO Lourenco Goncalves. “This is a new era for Cleveland-Cliffs as a producer of differentiated, high quality iron ore, metallics and steel in […]
By CRU Analyst Arshiya Sibia and Research Manager Paul Butterworth, from CRU’s Steel Monitor Current information from our China team shows that steel demand is closely tracking our base case forecast for the impact of Covid-19, though steel production remains slightly higher than we had forecast. While our forecast was for steel demand to return […]
When the media began reporting on the COVID-19 (coronavirus) a few weeks back, Majestic Steel sprang into action. This morning Steel Market Update spoke with Todd Leebow, CEO of Majestic Steel in Cleveland, Ohio, about how his company is dealing with the risks associated with the virus. As soon as the risk of the virus […]
When the media began reporting on the COVID-19 (coronavirus) a few weeks back, Majestic Steel sprang into action. This morning Steel Market Update spoke with Todd Leebow, CEO of Majestic Steel in Cleveland, Ohio, about how his company is dealing with the risks associated with the virus. As soon as the risk of the virus […]
The following article discussing the global ferrous derivatives markets was written by David Feldstein. As an independent steel market analyst, advisor and trader, we believe he provides insightful commentary and trading ideas to our readers. Note that Steel Market Update does not take any positions on HRC or scrap trading, and any recommendations or comments […]
By CRU Senior Analyst Ryan McKinley, from CRU’s Steel Metallics Monitor The CRU metallics price indicator (CRUmpi) rose slightly by 1.3 percent m/m to 206.4 (see chart). While this is broadly stable it bucked the trend compared to steel markets, which came under relatively more price pressure. Structurally, most markets were similar in condition to […]