One of the reasons Steel Market Update has constant contact with steel buyers and steel mills is because we are aware that pricing momentum can change on a rumor or a belief that supply or demand is shifting. We are seeing market sentiment being impacted by Section 232. At the same time, scrap prices are […]
Nucor Corporation announced today that it will acquire St. Louis Cold Drawn, Inc., a manufacturer of cold finished steel bar. The company’s cold drawn rounds, hexagons, squares, and special sections serve the U.S. and Mexican automotive and industrial markets and will add to Nucor’s value-added product portfolio. “This acquisition fits with our planned growth strategy […]
SMU scrap sources advised us early this morning of an export sale of an 80/20 mix of ferrous scrap bound for Turkey. Our sources reported the sale price at $350 per metric ton delivered Turkey. The sale price is up approximately $50 per metric ton since early July and $20 per metric ton from last […]
Rumor vs. Fact – I was speaking with Tim Triplett (our Executive Editor who recently joined SMU after a 19 year stint at Metal Center News) and we were talking about the “rumor” of a potential price hike by Nucor. Tim raised the question, as members of the media, is it appropriate for us to […]
Flat rolled steel prices remained range-bound on most items for yet another week. We picked up a couple of points of weakness in coated products, but they seem to be isolated in nature. Many of the steel buyers are reporting the mills (especially Nucor) are talking up the idea of a price increase on flat […]
Ferrous scrap prices are up about $20 per ton across the board on strong domestic demand and scrap export markets “that are on fire,” say SMU’s scrap sources. One scrap metal processor with locations across the country reports HMS at $300, shred at $315 and busheling at $390 per gross ton for August delivery. Export […]
Flat rolled and plate steel prices were essentially flat this past week as both Steel Market Update and Platts saw hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized and Galvalume steel prices remaining the same as the previous week. With Section 232 being put on the back burner, the flood of foreign steel imports (prompted by the original […]
I adjusted our Price Momentum Indicator from Higher to Neutral. I did this after spending time analyzing the results from last week’s flat rolled steel market trends survey, looking at what was being recorded by some of the other indexes, noting that Congress and the president are on holiday for a few weeks and there […]
Despite getting pressure to adjust our SMU Price Momentum Indicator due to uncertainty associated with the Section 232 investigation and the lack of a recommendation to date, along with small signs of a need by one or two steel mills for orders on galvanized, SMU is continuing to reference flat rolled steel prices as moving […]
Ferrous scrap prices are poised to rise in the NAFTA region for several reasons, says John Harris, CEO of Aaristic Services, Inc., and former director of Raw Materials for ArcelorMittal. Harris is part of a panel that will take a deep dive on commodities during the Steel Market Update Steel Summit Conference Aug. 28-30 in […]
It has been another busy week here at Steel Market Update. We are hearing from steel buyers that Nucor is considering raising flat rolled prices by $25 per ton within the next few working days. The increase would follow an increase in ferrous scrap prices for August delivery. We have also heard that at least […]
On Monday, August 28, the steel event of the year will kick off in Atlanta. With less than four weeks to go and 575 steel and manufacturing executives already registered, expectations are for this conference to truly be the most dynamic steel conference in North America for 2017. Welcome to the Steel Market Update Steel […]
On Monday, Aug. 28, the steel event of the year will kick off in Atlanta. With four weeks to go and 560 steel and manufacturing executives already registered, expectations are for this conference to truly be the most dynamic steel conference in North America for 2017. Welcome to the 7th Steel Market Update (SMU) Steel […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) asked ferrous scrap guru Mike Marley of World Steel Dynamics how he is seeing ferrous scrap price negotiations as we enter the month of August. He reported what we have heard from our scrap sources: the market should expect higher scrap pricing in the coming month. Here’s what Marley told us […]
Even conceding that a strong U.S. steel industry is vital to the nation’s security, it’s unclear whether America’s steelmakers really need an assist from the government in the form of new tariffs or quotas under Section 232. “Is the industry deserving of any kind of help? I believe you can make a good case that […]
After the market closed on Friday, July 21, 2017, AK Steel became the fourth eastern flat rolled steel mill to raise prices on hot rolled, cold rolled and galvanized steels. In a very short statement, which can be found in the “news” section of the mill’s website, AK told customers, “AK Steel (NYSE: AKS) said […]
Last week, Steel Market Update (SMU) completed our mid-July flat rolled market trends analysis. We invited 650 steel executives to participate. Of those responding, 48 percent were service centers, 41 percent were manufacturing companies, and 8 percent were trading companies, with steel mills and toll processors accounting for 4 percent each. One of the questions […]
On Wednesday, Nucor became the first flat rolled mill east of the Rockies to increase spot prices on hot rolled, HRP&O, cold rolled and galvanized steels. Nucor Sheet Mill Group sent out a letter to their customers advising that effective immediately they were taking pricing up by a minimum of $25 per ton ($1.25/cwt). On […]
The SMU Steel Buyers Sentiment Index has seen some erosion since peaking at +77 around March 1. However, buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel continue to be optimistic about the potential for their company to be successful in both the existing market and three to six months into the future. Buyers and sellers of […]
Steel Dynamics, Inc., is excited about the second half and is expecting growth in all sectors through 2018. CEO Mark Millett says the flat rolled arena remains very strong despite a slight turning of the automotive market. Infrastructure is continuing to grow, as evidenced by cranes and road work funded by states, if not federal […]
Nucor CEO John Ferriola said that in the current challenging environment, he is encouraged by second-quarter results, but not satisfied. Illegally traded imports continue to be a problem in the United States for Nucor and the domestic steel industry, Ferriola said during the company’s second-quarter conference call. He cited a 15 percent year-over-year increase in […]
John Packard, Publisher, Steel Market Update Today I spent a good portion of my time wandering around the United States and Canada soliciting information about flat rolled steel pricing, lead times, Section 232 and anything else steel buyers wanted to talk about. I thought the quote of the day was from a manufacturing company who […]
John Packard, Publisher, Steel Market Update Today I spent a good portion of my time wandering around the United States and Canada soliciting information about flat rolled steel pricing, lead times, Section 232 and anything else steel buyers wanted to talk about. I thought the quote of the day was from a manufacturing company who […]
This is my gut feeling, my opinion based on what I have been reading and watching in the news like everyone else. The world is trying to figure out if President Trump is going to start a trade war and the first bullets are made with flat rolled steel, pipe and long products. I am […]
The “will they or won’t they” drama around Section 232 and whether the Trump administration will place tariffs on steel imports is reaching a peak. The Department of Commerce is expected to announce its findings on the Section 232 investigation by the end of next week. According to CNBC, a draft of the report has been circulated […]
As if it is not enough to call every ton of imported steel “dumped,” “subsidized” or “unfairly priced,” steelmakers are now using a scare tactic by telling our politicians we need a strong domestic steel industry in the interest of national security. As a Bloomberg report pointed out, less than 3 percent of the steel consumed in the […]
On Friday, June 16th SSAB Americas became the third U.S. plate-producing steel mill to announce a $30 per ton ($1.50/cwt) plate price increase. As with the announcements made by Nucor and ArcelorMittal earlier in the week SSAB made the increase effective immediately on transaction (spot) pricing. The SSAB increase applies to: as rolled mill plate, […]
With the announcement of a flat rolled price increase out of USS/POSCO, the table is now set for California Steel on the West Coast (which SMU’s Steel 101 workshop will be visiting on Thursday of this week), as well as the East Coast and Canadian steel mills, to make announcements of their own. Benchmark hot […]
Nucor Corp. expects second-quarter results to be somewhat weaker than the first quarter, but an improvement from second-quarter 2016. Results in the range of $1.00 to $1.05 per diluted share will be Nucor’s best second-quarter performance since 2008. In guidance this week, Nucor noted a decrease in the performance of its sheet and bar mills […]
Lead times are declining, which reflects a possible softening of demand, thus domestic mills appear to be more willing to negotiate spot pricing on hot rolled, cold rolled, hot-dipped galvanized and Galvalume steels than they were earlier in the year. About 70-80 percent of steel buyers responding to this week’s flat rolled steel market trends […]