Galvanized steel buyers need to remain aware of the movement in zinc pricing. With the strike at the zinc-processing facility in Canada there is a possibility that zinc supplies could tighten here in the United States. Zinc prices have been trading on the LME in the $1.30-$1.35 per pound over the past week. At the […]
A large flat rolled steel service center shot me a note late on Friday advising a steel mill had told them earlier in the day to expect a $40 per ton price increase as soon as Monday of this week. At the same time the customer was told if scrap prices in March increase by […]
NLMK USA has restarted its #2 hot-dip galvanizing line at the Sharon Coating facility in Pennsylvania in response to increased domestic demand. The #2 line had been idled since 2002 due to weak demand in the U.S. galvanized steel market. The line has a capacity of approximately 226,000 metric tonnes per year (249,118 tons) and […]
NLMK USA sales grew 3.0 percent in 2016, said parent company NLMK due to stable customer demand, trader restocking and trade restrictions on rolled steel imports. Steel sales for 2016 totaled 1.817 million tonnes, up from 1.764 million tonnes in 2015. Total fourth quarter sales of 382,000 tonnes were down 14 percent from third quarter […]
On Friday of this past week AK Steel announced a $40 per ton ($2.00/cwt) spot base price increase on all the flat rolled products they produce: hot rolled, cold rolled and galvanized steels. On Monday morning, NLMK USA followed with the same $40 per ton announcement. We learned NLMK lead times are in February on […]
AK Steel and NLMK USA raised flat rolled steel prices by $40 per ton ($2.00/cwt) on all new spot sales of flat rolled steels (hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized). At the same time, SMU understands that Steel Dynamics has opened their order books for February and are quoting prices that are approximately $40 per ton […]
We are but a few days away from the beginning of the New Year. We thought it prudent as we plan for 2017 that we take a look at what transpired with flat rolled steel prices over the course of the past 12 months. Because the market “bottomed” in December 2015 we have expanded our […]
NLMK Group announced it has signed an agreement for purchase of the core processing equipment for the construction of a new reheating furnace at NLMK Pennsylvania. The new walking-beam reheating furnace will streamline the slab heating process at NLMK Pennsylvania and replace three outdated pusher-type furnaces currently operational at the facility. The reheating furnace, which […]
Late in the day on Wednesday, Nucor and NLMK USA advised their customers of their intention to raise spot flat rolled prices by an additional $40 per ton. This follows ArcelorMittal’s announcement on Tuesday of specific minimum base price levels of $600 per ton hot rolled, $820 per ton cold rolled and coated steel products […]
NLMK USA has gotten the go-ahead on a new walking beam furnace for the Pennsylvania plant. Some pre-construction has already begun. James Baker, Jr. told us in an email, “We will be installing a walking beam furnace in Farrell. We have already started on initial site prep with target completion date of September 2018. There […]
NLMK USA will re-start production on their #2 galvanizing line at Sharon Coatings in late January. “We should start coating steel late January. The demand for our products is solid, especially for the coated products and restarting line 2 will allow us to better service the light gage requirements of both service center and OEM […]
Flat rolled steel prices shot up this week in response to two price increase announcements within the past 8 days. ArcelorMittal provided base price guidance on Monday for $560 for hot rolled ($28.00/cwt) and $780 base on cold rolled and coated ($39.00/cwt). A number of mills followed with some announcing $30-$40 per ton and others […]
On Monday ArcelorMittal USA announced their third flat rolled steel price increase in less than a month. The mill informed their customers of their intention to raise base prices on all flat rolled products. On Tuesday NLMK USA followed the AM lead while Nucor and AK Steel came out with a $40 per ton price […]
On Monday NLMK USA advised their customers of their intention to begin collecting new zinc extras on galvanized steel products effective immediately. The new extras are in response to zinc spot prices being at the highest level in the past five years. Zinc closed Monday at $1.1716 per pound up $0.0608 since this past Friday […]
Good evening from Memphis, Tennessee and Ocseola, Arkansas home of Big River Steel. Earlier today our Steel 101: Introduction to Steel Making & Market Fundamentals workshop held our class on the steel making and rolling process. The morning session was then followed by a trip to Osceola and a tour of the brand new (so […]
After ArcelorMittal USA announced specific minimum base price levels on Monday we had three steel mills come out with flat rolled steel price announcements on Tuesday. However, none of the mills advised of specific base price levels but rather announced dollar per ton increases. The three mills are Nucor, AK Steel and NLMK USA. Nucor […]
The NLMK Group reports combines results for its Foreign Rolled Products Segment which includes NLMK USA and six strip and plate production sites in Europe, including NLMK Dansteel in Denmark. NLMK USA is comprised of NLMK Pennsylvania, NLMK Indiana and Sharon Coating. The segment saw Q3 sales decline to 541,000 tonnes, down 18 percent from […]
With all of the domestic steel mills announcing $30 per ton price increases either late last week or early this week, the industry is waiting to see if there was a surge of orders and how those orders have impacted lead times. Everyone knows if lead times begin to extend then buyers will have no […]
On Friday morning US Steel got the ball rolling by announcing a $30 per ton price increase on all spot sales of flat rolled steel (hot rolled, cold rolled and coated products). Before the afternoon was out two other steel mills followed: Nucor and California Steel Industries. On Monday a number of mills were heard […]
NLMK USA produced 100,000 tonnes of crude steel and 420,000 tonnes of finished steel in third quarter 2016. Sales volume decreased to 440,000 tonnes (485,000 net tons) from 522,000 tonnes (575,000 net tons) in second quarter, down 15 percent quarter-over-quarter and down 10 percent year-over-year. NLMK attributed the decline in sales to weaker client demand […]
In our last issue of Steel Market Update we wrote about lead times shrinking as being one of the reasons why we adjusted our Price Momentum Indicator. We cited published lead times by NLMK USA and Nucor Berkeley as examples of the changes we were seeing and discussing with steel buyers. This week we conducted […]
For the past nine weeks, Steel Market Update (SMU) has had our Price Momentum Indicator at Neutral. A neutral rating means the market is either in transition or does not have enough momentum to push steel prices in one direction or another. Earlier today SMU adjusted our indicator to “Lower” from Neutral which is a […]
Steel Market Update is celebrating our 8th Anniversary. People ask me how I can do what I do on a daily, weekly, monthly and yearly basis? After all, I have been doing this over the past 8 years when most people my age would be thinking of slowing down and planning for their retirement. I […]
NLMK USA flat steel product sales grew by 11 percent in second quarter 2016. Sales for the first half of 2016 were up 9 percent to 1 million tonnes (1.2 million net tons). One hundred percent of NLMK USA products are sold domestically to the processing, pipe, and automotive industries. North American sales for second […]
Galvanized steels continue to see strong bookings at the domestic steel mills with August sold out at all but SDI, The Techs and Wheeling Nisshin according to SMU sources. One of the domestic mills told Steel Market Update earlier this week that coated products were on “autopilot” as bookings remain strong and they were not […]
Andre Marshall stated in his “futures” article this evening that perhaps the market is a little too negative. The purpose of looking at the month of June in its totality is to provide another way to look at what just happened over the past month as you prepare for the next one. SMU Price Momentum […]
Both Platts and Steel Market Update saw flat rolled steel prices as dropping this past week. The question now is this the beginning of a correction or just a bump in the road? From the perspective of ArcelorMittal USA and NLMK USA this is just a bump. If the drop in steel prices continue this […]
The reaction to the latest round of price increase announcements out of ArcelorMittal USA and NLMK USA got one of our readers fired up. After reading Tuesday evening’s issue of Steel Market Update they penned their thoughts on price increases and imports, especially imports out of the “2nd tier guys”: I just finished reading last […]
Today two mills began advising their customers of their intention to raise flat rolled steel prices. ArcelorMittal USA and NLMK USA both came out with increases. ArcelorMittal provided specific base price “minimums” while NLMK USA advised their customers of a flat $30 per ton increase. If all of the other mills follow, this would be […]
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 […]