Production increased by 1.33 percent in May and for the first time exceeded 150 million metric tons, according to the latest Steel Market Update analysis of World Steel Association data. In three months through May, China grew by 7.7 percent year over year as the rest of the world grew by 3.3 percent. In 2018, […]
Economic indicators of manufacturing activity continue to look favorable for the rest of 2018. This report summarizes seven data sources that describe the state of manufacturing in the United States. We have reported on most of these separately in our Steel Market Update publications and therefore will be brief in this summary. We don’t expect […]
On Monday and part of Tuesday of this week, SMU President & CEO John Packard attended a number of meetings in New York City. The first meeting was the CRU Steel Briefing where the CRU Group provided insights and forecasts regarding steel, scrap, Section 232 and other topics of interest. SMU hosted the Bank of […]
Durable goods orders fell unexpectedly in May, for a second consecutive month of decline. Orders for goods expected to last three years or more fell 0.6 percent following a revised 2 percent decline in April, according to the Commerce Department. The May dip should be looked at in relation to the upwardly revised April data, […]
Lewis Leibowitz, trade attorney and contributor to Steel Market Update, offers the following commentary on the latest developments in Washington: Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross reported to the Senate Finance Committee last week that companies had submitted 20,003 product exclusion requests for steel and 2,503 for aluminum, seeking relief from tariffs on products they maintain are […]
Steel Market Update is working with AK Steel as we present our first Steel 201: Introduction to Advanced High Strength & Other New Steels workshop. This workshop is meant to be a continuing education course focused on how steel is made with a special focus on advanced high-strength steels for automotive and other “lightweighting” applications. […]
JSW Steel plans to pump $500 million into its newly acquired Acero Junction steel mill in a two-phase investment. The first $250 million includes the cost of acquisition, the revamp and restart of the electric arc furnace and slab caster, and modernization of the hot strip mill. The second phase will be dependent “upon the […]
In testimony before a skeptical and sometimes combative group of senators Wednesday, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross did his best to defend the Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum and the controversial trade policies of the Trump administration. Despite his assurances that the process of reviewing product exclusion requests is on track, members of the […]
A note to those who might be interested, we have a couple of exhibition spots still available for this year’s SMU Steel Summit Conference, which will be held at the Georgia International Convention Center in Atlanta on Aug. 27-29. We will have close to 800 people at this year’s event (the event will be a […]
Steel Market Update and the CRU Group are pleased to announce the SMU Steel Summit Conference will include a fireside chat between CRU Group Executive Chairman Robert Perlman and SMU President & CEO John Packard. Since Steel Market Update has been acquired by the CRU Group out of London, we thought it appropriate that Steel […]
Steel Market Update and the CRU Group are pleased to announce the SMU Steel Summit Conference will include a fireside chat between CRU Group Executive Chairman Robert Perlman and SMU President & CEO John Packard. Since Steel Market Update has been acquired by the CRU Group out of London, we thought it appropriate that Steel […]
The trade war with China has begun. On June 15, the United States announced it will place 25 percent tariffs on $50 billion of Chinese goods. The announcement was swiftly followed by one from China imposing retaliatory tariffs in an equivalent amount. In a statement on Friday, President Trump said: “My great friendship with President […]
Lewis Leibowitz, trade attorney and contributor to Steel Market Update, offers the following commentary on the latest developments in Washington: The Trump administration announced new tariffs on China on Friday, covering about $36 billion in imports (2017 figures). Two lists were released. The first list consists of 863 tariff lines that will be subject to […]
Dan DiMicco is the outspoken chairman emeritus of Nucor Corp., a trade advisor to the president and current chairman of the Coalition for a Prosperous America, so it’s no surprise he is a strong defender of the 25 percent tariff on $50 billion worth of Chinese goods announced by the Trump administration this week. In […]
Twice each month, Steel Market Update conducts a review of the flat rolled and plate steel industries. We do this through a web-based questionnaire, which is sent to approximately 640 individuals associated with either the flat rolled or plate steel industries. The individuals invited are from manufacturing, steel distribution, steel mills, trading companies and toll […]
Manufacturing in New York State expanded in June at a faster pace than April. The Empire State Manufacturing Index jumping 4.9 points to 25.0 and its highest reading since October, said the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on Friday. New orders and shipments made solid gains, driving increases to backlogs and delivery times. The […]
U.S. steelmakers filed trade cases this week on cold rolled and corrosion resistant (CORE) steels alleging that Korea and Taiwan are guilty of using the same circumvention tactics as the Chinese–namely sending hot rolled and cold rolled substrate to Vietnam. As many predicted, the Commerce Department’s recent Chinese circumvention ruling has set a precedent that […]
Foreign-made automobiles and parts may soon be facing tariffs if the administration is successful in its investigation to determine whether imports of automobiles and auto parts threaten to impair national security. On May 23, the Commerce Department initiated a Section 232 investigation on imported automobiles and parts, noting that during the past 20 years imports […]
I am excited for you, our customers. I have been working closely with the CRU Group, and our members will begin to see some subtle changes to the articles we write. One will be the use of CRU data on such items as our Foreign vs. Domestic Price Spread articles, which we will publish in […]
Jean Carroll Kemp may have been the speaker at the Association of Steel Distributors meeting in Chicago last Thursday, but it was ASD members who really delivered the message. The event was co-hosted by the Chicago Chapter of Association of Women in the Metals Industry (AWMI). Kemp is the Senior VP of Government Affairs and […]
Both manufacturing companies and steel service centers reported a rebound in support for higher spot prices out of the distributors to their end customers. Respondents to our inquiries on the subject reported to SMU that the elimination of the exclusion status for Canada, Mexico and the European Union was the main culprit impacting flat rolled […]
Steel Market Update’s sources reported that the June ferrous scrap trade produced slightly higher prices on prime grades of about $10 per ton and little change on obsolete grades. “There was a significant supply of shredded and cut grades offered into the market, which is not unusual for a June trade. Under market conditions like […]
I am finally home long enough to gather my thoughts and hopefully get back to providing some insights into the flat rolled, plate and scrap markets from my perspective. There is obviously a lot of uncertainty connected to the Section 232 tariffs in both steel and aluminum. The Trump administration appears to have an intense […]
The following article on the hot rolled coil (HRC) futures market was written by David Feldstein. As the Flack Global Metals Director of Risk Management, Dave is an active participant in the hot rolled futures market, and we believe he provides insightful commentary and trading ideas to our readers. Besides writing futures articles for Steel […]
A new wrinkle has been revealed for those manufacturers seeking exclusions for steel and aluminum products from Brazil, South Korea and Argentina. The three countries, which have agreed to quotas in lieu of tariffs, are not eligible for any product exemptions. A spokesperson for the Commerce Department confirmed the restriction in an email to Inside […]
As a trade war continues to build over the Section 232 steel and aluminum measures, some senators are looking to curb the president’s authority to unilaterally impose tariffs. Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) is leading the effort along with Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) to challenge President Trump’s ability to levy trade restrictions on the grounds of […]
Canada’s Samuel, Son & Co., a leading metals distributor and industrial products manufacturer, has invested $18 million in its Brantford, Ontario, automotive metals processing center. It expects to complete the expansion by the fourth quarter, ramping to full production in early 2019. Samuel’s Brantford facility is currently a 141,000-square-foot metals processing operation equipped with blanking […]
In the last 12 months, manufacturing employment has grown by 2.1 percent and construction employment by 4.1 percent, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data—both positive indicators of future steel sales. Table 1 breaks total employment down into service and goods-producing industries and then into private and government employees. Most of the goods-producing employees work […]
Net job creation in May hit 223,000 seasonally adjusted. Year over year, 2,363,000 jobs have been created, an increase of 1.6 percent, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics employment data. Rising employment and wages are the basis of GDP growth because personal consumption accounts for almost 70 percent of GDP. Steel consumption is related to […]
Supply executives polled for the Manufacturing ISM Report on Business reported strong business conditions in May. The PMI rose 1.4 points to 58.7 percent as new orders, production and employment continued to expand. Inventories are struggling to keep pace with demand. Longer supplier lead times and freight uncertainty is impacting inventory levels, said Timothy R. […]