U.S. steel service centers shipped a total of 3,385,100 net tons of all steel products during the month of June 2016 according to recently released data from the Metal Service Center Institute. This is 5.1 percent lower than one year ago. The daily shipment rate was 153,900 tons up slightly from the 152,600 tons shipped […]
Canadian shipments for all steel products in the month of June were 374,100 net tons, a decrease of 3.7 percent from the month before and a decrease of 14.4 percent from June 2015. Inventories at the end of the month stood at 1,120,500 tons, down 2.6 percent from last month and down 26.0 percent from […]
United States Steel (USS) has filed a motion to reverse the judge’s decision to suspend the Section 337 investigation pending consultation with the Commerce Department. US Steel was not the only entity which felt the investigation should continue, the Office of Unfair Import Investigations which is part of the International Trade Commission (ITC) also filed […]
Flat rolled steel industry participants continue to be optimistic about the markets, according to the recent flat rolled market trends analysis conducted by Steel Market Update. However, we are seeing a slightly less optimistic trend for this time of year compared to what we were reporting at the same point in time in 2014 and […]
As reported last week, obsolete grades of ferrous scrap came under price pressure as negotiations concluded for July deliveries. Prime grades, however, saw prices move sideways as the spread between shredded scrap and primes increased. The product that saw the most movement was shredded due to excessive inventories and little movement on the export front […]
Since 2008, Steel Market Update has been measuring how steel buyers and sellers feel about their company’s ability to be successful in the existing market environment (which we call “Current Sentiment”). We also probe the same group of manufacturers, steel service centers, steel mills, trading companies and toll processors on how they feel about their […]
Licensed data for June was reported by the Steel Import Monitoring System of the US Commerce Department on July 5th. An explanation of the methodology that we at SMU use to analyze the trade data is given at the end of this piece. Total rolled product licensed imports in the single month of June were 2,169,434 […]
Licensed data for July was reported by the Steel Import Monitoring System of the US Commerce Department on August 2nd. An explanation of the methodology that we at SMU use to analyze the trade data is given at the end of this piece. Total rolled product licensed imports in the single month of July were […]
Flat rolled steel prices seem to have stabilized, even if there was some see-sawing among the indexes followed by Steel Market Update this past week. Benchmark hot rolled prices are hovering close to $630 per ton with SMU ($627.50 per ton), SteelBenchmarker ($627) and Platts ($630) all within $3 per ton of each other. Last […]
Steel Market Update received the following question from one of our new readers who has a specific project related to sourcing of hot rolled and cold rolled steels from outside of the United States. Based on our conversation with the reader we believe this question is being raised at this time due to the wide […]
Based on Steel Market Update (SMU) analysis of the recently released MSCI service center inventory and shipment data, total service center carbon steel shipments decreased by 41,100 tons in May to 3.050 million tons. The number of shipping days was he same at 21. On a tons per day (t/d) basis shipments decreased from 147,200 […]
There was very little movement in the SMU and Platts indices this past week. SteelBenchmarker, which only produces their index pricing twice per month, saw a modest rise in their numbers as they catch up with the other indices in the market. Hot rolled is about as close as it has been in many months […]
Steel service centers based in the United States shipped and received fewer tons of steel products during the month of May, according to data just released by the Metal Service Center Institute (MSCI). Shipments of all steel products totaled 3,204,800 net tons at a daily shipment rate of 152,600 tons. Last month the daily rate […]
Earlier this week Steel Market Update began canvassing the flat rolled steel community to determine how buyers and sellers felt about their company’s ability to be successful in the current market environment. The result is the SMU Steel Buyers Sentiment Index which has been on a roll for a number of months setting new record […]
Canadian shipments for all steel products in the month of May were 388,600 net tons, an increase of 4.2 percent from the month before but a decrease of 2.1 percent from May 2015. Inventories at the end of the month stood at 1,150,300 tons, down 9.4 percent from last month and down 26.1 percent from […]
Last week Steel Market Update advised our readers that we were considering removing the Comparison Price Indices article from our newsletter. The index has more value, in our opinion, when there is a wider array of data points available to be compared. We publish only the indices where we have permission to do so. Over […]
There is a big difference between the settlement prices in the Midwest versus those on the East Coast. Ferrous scrap prices in the Chicago area saw shredded scrap drop by $30 per gross ton, cuts (obsolete scrap) was down $20 per ton while prime grades (bundles and busheling) went sideways. In the Detroit numbers shredded […]
April steel exports totaled 794,536 net tons (720,792 metric tons), up 2.5 percent over March but down 5.9 percent from April 2015. Total April figures are above the thee month moving average (average of February, March, and April 2016 figures) but below the twelve month moving average (average of April 2015 through April 2016 data). […]
Licensed data for May was reported by the Steel Import Monitoring System of the US Commerce Department on June 3rd. An explanation of the methodology that we at SMU use to analyze the trade data is given at the end of this piece. Total rolled product licensed imports in the single month of May were […]
Compared to what we have been seeing over the past two months, price movement last week was modest with hot rolled barely moving (SMU no change and Platts +$5, SteelBenchmarker did not report last week). Our hot rolled average is now $632.50 per ton. Cold rolled saw SMU take their price average up $15 per […]
Buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel continue to be optimistic regarding their company’s ability to be successful in both the current market environment as well as looking out three to six months into the future. The SMU Steel Buyers Sentiment Index for Current Sentiment rose +2 points from mid-May at +69. One year ago […]
Flat rolled steel prices continued their long march higher with all three indexes reporting benchmark hot rolled at, or exceeding, $620 per ton (SMU & Platts at $630 per ton). The spread between hot rolled and cold rolled and coated base prices continues to expand with CR at $190-$200 per ton and galvanized at $200 […]
We tend to see the various steel indexes become more “in tune” with one another once the steel mills decide to take a wait and see attitude about the market. Over the past few weeks, U.S. steel mills have (once again) managed to expand the spread between U.S. steel prices and those of foreign steel […]
The article below was published to our Premium members yesterday afternoon, but we felt it would be nice to share with our Executive members too. If you would like more information about a Premium membership or would like to upgrade, contact us at info@SteelMarketUpdate.com. Based on Steel Market Update (SMU) analysis of the recently released […]
Canadian shipments for all steel products in the month of April were 372,800 net tons, a decrease of 4.9 percent from the month before and a decrease of 12.9 percent from April 2015. Inventories at the end of the month stood at 1,270,300 tons, up 6.9 percent from last month but down 20.7 percent from […]
Based on Steel Market Update (SMU) analysis of the recently released MSCI service center inventory and shipment data, total service center carbon steel shipments decreased by 84,700 tons in April to 3.091 million tons. This decrease was driven by the number of shipping days, down by 2 to 21. On a t/d basis shipments increased […]
Flat rolled prices have been very dynamic over the past few weeks with double digit price changes and, at times, more than one price change during the course of one week. This has kept the steel price indexes busy and has shown the strength and weaknesses of the collection techniques used by each index. Flat […]
US Steel has spearheaded an attempt to exclude all Chinese steel products from the U.S. market. But as is usually the case with drastic actions, there are a number of opponents to the move. Companies that use foreign steel in their products have asked the U.S. International Trade Commission to throw the complaint out. Steel […]
The Nucor Plate Group and SSAB have both raised plate prices by a minimum of $40 per ton. The SSAB increase applies to all non-contract business on rolled mill plate, cut-to-length plate as well as hot rolled coils greater than 72″ in width. The SSAB increase includes normalized as well as quench-and-temper plate. Nucor was […]
March steel exports totaled 775,270 net tons (703,314 metric tons), down 0.5 percent over February and down 13.5 percent from March 2015. Total March figures are below both the thee month moving average (3MMA, average of January 2016 through March 2016 figures) and the twelve month moving average (12MMA, average of April 2015 through March […]