Steel Market Update was speaking with a trader on the West Coast about the USS/POSCO $150 per ton ($7.50/cwt) price increase announcement made late last week. The expectation is for California Steel Industries (CSI) to open their order books early this week. The trader shared a story about the steel market that existed in 2004 […]
What makes indexing flat rolled steel prices so difficult right now is you have steel mills quoting lead times that may be in May, June or even July for the same product. A hot rolled order placed on SDI last week is actually being produced at the same time as one placed on AK Steel […]
NLMK USA crude steel production of 160,000 tonnes was a 94 percent increase quarter over quarter and a 68 percent increase year over year. The jump in production was due to the re-launch of steelmaking at NLMK Indiana after repairs at the end of 2015 as well as from improved steel demand. Capacity utilization improved […]
On Friday, US Steel announced a $60 per ton flat rolled steel price increase. This was the first US Steel announcement done in public in some time. The increase came in the form of a letter emailed to their customers. U.S. Steel did not provide minimum base price guidelines in their announcement although minimum price […]
I will be doing an article in Sunday evening’s newsletter about the AISI capacity utilization numbers. The AISI produces their “estimate” of steel production and the percentage of capacity utilization based on 50 percent (or fewer) of the mills reporting production data. I have considered not publishing the data at all because, in my opinion, […]
Manufacturing companies were almost unanimous when asked what service centers were doing with prices to them right now. Eighty one percent of the manufacturing companies responding to our survey reported distributors as raising prices. As you can see by the graphic below this is a tremendous change in price direction and market pricing momentum. It […]
Steel buyers were pulling out their hair earlier today due to the number of mills holding tons off the market as they try to determine what the new pricing should be on hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized and Galvalume products. As of early this afternoon (Thursday) steel buyers were informing Steel Market Update of a […]
Buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel reported to Steel Market Update this past week that the domestic steel mills are less willing to negotiate steel prices. We believe this is due to strengthening order books, extending lead times, positive Sentiment and improving demand. In fact, we were learning throughout the day today that many […]
We have received a number of calls from sellers of steel asking for our help in trying to explain, from an independent source, why flat rolled steel prices are moving higher and why we expect this trend to continue. When looking at the history of Steel Market Update, our steel market intelligence publication was actually […]
NLMK USA is the first domestic steel mill to announce a $40 per ton price increase on hot rolled, cold rolled and galvanized steels sold into the spot markets. This is now the fifth steel price increase announcement made since early December. In a letter to their customers, NLMK USA Executive Vice President, James Banker, […]
NLMK USA was the first mill to raise prices, going up $40 per ton. I am hearing comments from both sides on whether the price increases are a good or bad thing. My personal opinion is prices got a little “over-done” last year and dropped too low. A hot rolled number closer to $500 may […]
The following article was written by SMU founder and publisher, John Packard with the assistance of Platts Content Director, Metals Americas, Joseph Innace. Shortly after Steel Market Update (SMU) became a real company I understood the need for the flat rolled steel industry to have an pricing index which was independent and not tied as […]
Earlier this week Nucor Plate Group and SSAB announced price increases on plate products (with SSAB also including hot rolled coil) of $40 per ton. Over the past few months we have seen the plate mills lead the charge with sheet mills following close behind. This week was no different. Three mills announced flat rolled […]
Recently, Steel Market Update produced an article regarding a discussion between Dan DiMicco, former CEO of Nucor and another one of our LinkedIn members who, in a past life, was responsible for buying foreign slabs for a domestic steel mill. Here is a small clip of that conversation: LinkedIn member: Of course I don’t imagine […]
Recently, Steel Market Update produced an article regarding a discussion between Dan DiMicco, former CEO of Nucor and another one of our LinkedIn members who, in a past life, was responsible for buying foreign slabs for a domestic steel mill. Here is a small clip of that conversation: LinkedIn member: Of course I don’t imagine […]
Mill lead times, especially on cold rolled and coated products, continue to be a concern as buyers navigate/negotiate pricing and deliveries on future orders. The longer the lead time the more steel that is needed in the pipeline at both manufacturing companies and distributors. The longer lead times provide ammunition to the domestic steel mills […]
Steel Market Update posted one of our articles from Thursday evening’s issue of our newsletter (Steel Market Update Publisher Quoted Around the World) and in the process comments were made that started a debate on a subject SMU has addressed in the past: the purchase of foreign steel slabs by domestic steel mills. After the […]
There has been some confusion in the marketplace as many mills were waiting for Nucor and SDI to come out with new price announcements after SSAB and ArcelorMittal led the way earlier this week. On Tuesday, NLMK USA representatives began verbally informing their customers that their spot prices on hot rolled, cold rolled and galvanized […]
Reaction to the US Department of Commerce (DOC) preliminary duties on cold-rolled steel has been mixed, depending on what side of the antidumping determination the commentators are on. In the UK, the steel sector is readying itself for further onslaught of Chinese exports while its own steel exports to the U.S. are assigned dumping margins […]
Over the past few weeks Steel Market Update has been reviewing the lead times being published and/or provided to their customers in order to see if there are any significant changes. As a general statement we have found cold rolled and coated steels (galvanized, Galvalume, galvannealed) have extended lead times and are the tightest of […]
We are seeing a divergence in the normal spread between hot rolled lead times and those of cold rolled and coated products. Normally, we would see HRC lead times at just a couple of weeks less than that of the other “higher value” products. With the demise of the energy segment of the industry that […]
NLMK USA crude steel production for Q4 2015 totaled 0.08 million tonnes (metric tons), a drop of 46 percent from the previous quarter and 50 percent from the prior year. Finished steel output fell to 0.35 million tons in the quarter (-30% qoq and -27% yoy). NLMK attributed lower production to challenging market conditions and […]
Twice per month Steel Market Update conducts a review of the flat rolled steel markets and one of the items on our questionnaire is how far out are steel mill spot lead times. We also follow lead times as published by the domestic mills to their customers which we share with our readers from time […]
The prices we have referenced in tonight’s issue do not reflect the new price increase announcements. We understand that there are new prices floating in the marketplace that has galvanized and Galvalume base prices at $28.50/cwt and hot rolled well over $400 per ton. However, the numbers we have been collecting since Monday are showing […]
Nucor Sheet Mill Group got the flat rolled pricing ball rolling earlier today as they advised their customers by emailed letter that base prices will rise on new spot orders by a minimum of: Hot Rolled: $20 per ton ($1.00/cwt)Cold Rolled: $30 per ton ($1.50/cwt)Galvanized: $30 per ton ($1.50/cwt) Nucor did not advise of any […]
Steel Market Update participated in the monthly galvanized steel focused conference call sponsored by HARDI (*) earlier today. The wholesalers and manufacturers who participated in the call reported rising prices out of their domestic mill suppliers. Most reported the mills as having collected $20 to as much as $40 per ton since the increases were […]
Spot lead times have begun to move out according to the lead time sheets shared with customers this week by their domestic mill suppliers. The most strength was seen in cold rolled and coated steels while hot rolled lead times remained stuck at 3-4 weeks in most cases. Steel buyers continue to prognosticate that there […]
On Friday Nucor and ArcelorMittal USA followed the lead of NLMK USA, Northstar Bluescope and AK Steel by announcing steel price increases on hot rolled, cold rolled and galvanized coated steels. Nucor sent a letter to their customers advising them that base prices on new orders would increase by a minimum of $40 per ton […]
Two domestic mills made price moves on Wednesday as NLMK USA and then AK Steel came out with price increases on flat rolled steel. The NLMK announcement did not reference specific base price levels while the AK Steel announcement did. NLMK USA was the first to announce, which they did in an letter to their […]
The rumblings of a price increase have been building for a couple of weeks now as mills like SDI (Butler) and Nucor (Berkeley) have been quietly asking for higher steel prices from their customers prior to any announcements being made. On Tuesday we traded emails with a service center executive who told us, “While rumblings […]