What goes around comes around, as they say. In the case of the ferrous scrap market, what goes around and comes around again and again are residuals such as copper that complicate the steelmaking process and threaten to erode some of the competitive cost advantage now held by minimills. Minimill steelmaking has transformed the steel […]
No one who has ever toured a steel mill will ever forget it. The sight of the molten metal, and the heat that hits you in the face even from a safe distance away, is both frightening and fascinating. Forty mostly young executives experienced steelmaking firsthand as students in Steel Market Update’s latest Steel 101 […]
In its comments on President Trump’s “Buy America” executive order, California Steel Industries (CSI) makes a convincing case for steel companies that process slabs not “melted and poured” in the United States. In April, President Trump instructed all federal agencies to assess their compliance with Buy America/Buy American policies (which have an important distinction, as […]
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 […]
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 […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) has been in contact with our scrap sources who are advising us ferrous scrap prices will move higher as we get into August negotiations with the steel mills. We have been hearing scrap will move by a minimum of $15 per gross to $25 per gross ton. “Ferrous grades will certainly […]
As expected, ferrous scrap prices traded sideways (July delivery to be the same as June) in most markets. Of course, having just said that, we do need to point out that the steel mills sourcing scrap from the East Coast had to pay $10 per gross ton more in order to keep scrap from moving […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) spoke with ferrous scrap executives about the outlook for the industry, not only looking at the upcoming negotiations with the steel mills for July shipments, but also the long-term view. The scrap industry is upbeat about its future as electric arc furnaces continue to take market share from integrated steel producers. […]
I am at 35,000 feet and, according to the monitor in front of me, we are traveling at 564 miles per hour and are located over the state of Utah. After working with a great group of attendees at our California Steel 101 program, I am on my way to New York City, where Tim […]
Mesabi Metallics, the former Essar Steel Minnesota, emerged from 11 months of bankruptcy on Tuesday with a new owner, Chippewa Capital Partners. Chippewa Capital is a joint venture of London-based GFG Alliance and billionaire Tom Clarke. Clarke is also the owner of Magnetation and hopes to use the taconite ore from both facilities to produce […]
CHARLOTTE, N.C., May 25, 2017 /PRNewswire/ — Nucor Corporation (NYSE: NUE) announced today that it is investing an estimated $176 million to build a hot band galvanizing and pickling line at its sheet mill in Ghent, Kentucky. The new galvanizing line will expand Nucor Steel Gallatin’s product capabilities and have an annual capacity of 500,000 […]
Steel Market Update has begun to ask our scrap sources to provide some color as to what we can expect. Early indications from our sources are to expect ferrous scrap prices to trade “sideways” (unchanged) from the levels reported at the beginning of May. One of our sources told us, “The June market looks to […]
It is the first week of May and the negotiations between the long and flat rolled steel mills have been in full swing all week. By late today (Thursday) word of how the scrap dealers had fared has been coming into our offices. The first region to settle was Detroit which was up $10 on […]
SMU sources are expecting scrap prices to remain somewhat range-bound as the scrap dealers begin negotiations with the domestic steel mills for the month of May. Most dealers are forecasting May settlement prices to be within $10 per ton of what we saw in April and this can vary from region to region. We understand […]
With consolidated sales of $4.82 billion which is a 30 percent increase over 1Q 2016 and net earnings of $356.9 million it was a good 1st Quarter 2017 for the company. The company reported that the second quarter earnings should exceed that of 1st Quarter. The overall operating rates at the Nucor steel mills was […]
The following article on the hot rolled coil (HRC) steel and financial futures markets was written by Jack Marshall of Crunch Risk LLC. Here is how Jack saw trading over the past week: Steel Interesting week in HR futures as spot retraced back to the mid $650/ST after moving higher the prior week. HR futures […]
Steel Market Update took our latest Steel 101: Introduction to Steel Making & Market Fundamentals on the road today as we traveled to Delta, OH to tour the North Star Bluescope steel mini-mill. Our group consisted of attendees visiting a steel mill for the first time (one of our attendees was on the second day […]
Scrap dealers are pointing at the order book at the domestic mills as one of the main reasons why ferrous scrap prices inched back after the domestic mills initially pushed for shred and obsolete grades to be lower by $30 per gross ton. The mills could not get enough dealers to fill their scrap order […]
At the end of March the domestic steel mills cancelled any open portion of their ferrous scrap orders for March delivery with their scrap suppliers. This is always the first sign of an expectation of a drop in ferrous scrap prices once the negotiations begin in earnest for April delivery. Even with the tight supplies […]
The following article on the hot rolled coil (HRC) steel and financial futures markets was written by Jack Marshall of Crunch Risk LLC. Here is how Jack saw trading over the past week: Steel With HR spot hovering around $650/ST, HR futures prices declined in the latest week on modest trading volumes. Conflicting sharp price […]
Early indications (and we should put special emphasis on the word “early”) are for ferrous scrap prices to trend slightly lower on shred and obsolete grades while prime grades (busheling/bundles) are expected to trade sideways due to strong demand from sheet mills. In March, prices for prime grades of scrap rose $60-$65 per gross ton […]
The following article on the hot rolled coil (HRC) steel and financial futures markets was written by Jack Marshall of Crunch Risk LLC. Here is how Jack saw trading over the past week: Steel HR futures trading has been very muted this week as only 5,300 ST of futures traded since the latest round of […]
The scrap market created a lot of buzz over the past two months that resulted in, so far, two domestic steel mill price increases totaling $60 per ton ($3.00/cwt). I got a note over the weekend from one of the national companies who told me about the scrap markets, “There is a sense the market […]
Flat rolled steel order books have been helping push ferrous scrap prices higher for March delivery to the domestic steel mills. Steelmakers have paid $50 to $80 per gross ton higher prices than February for prime grades such as busheling and bundles. Sheet mills pushed their buying prices in order to get the supply of […]
The rumors about March ferrous scrap prices have been flying ever since prices rebounded early in February from the initial down $10-$30 per gross ton we saw in the early negotiations. As the month of February continued scrap prices rebounded and, in some cases, returned to levels seen in January. As we prepared for March […]
Over the weekend, we were able to discuss the status of ferrous steel scrap negotiations for February with a couple of scrap dealers as well as one individual associated with the pig iron markets. The Detroit areas mills were the first to settle and the decline in shred and obsolete grades was not as dramatic […]
Our next Steel 101 workshop will be held in Toledo, Ohio on April 11-12th. Included will be a tour of the North Star Bluescope steel mill. We should have details and registration available on our website by the end of the week. Late today I received a note from one of my pig iron sources. […]
Ferrous scrap prices are poised to increase to the domestic steel mills and negotiations are under way. The domestic mills did not cancel the open orders that have not yet been delivered which is a sure sign that they expect prices to be higher in December than what they negotiated in November. A pig iron […]
First, I want to wish every one of our USA readers a safe and pleasant Thanksgiving Holiday. Due to the holiday Steel Market Update will not publish a newsletter on Thursday. We do expect to publish an issue on Sunday evening that may be a little lighter than normal and we will return to our […]
As we discussed earlier this week, higher international prices for iron ore, coking coal, pig iron and steel are helping take ferrous scrap export prices higher. SMU had lunch with one of our scrap/pig iron experts who advised that 80/20 scrap export prices may have reached $280 per metric ton delivered. At the same time, […]