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 […]
Scrap prices settled higher by $20 to $30 per gross ton delivered to the domestic steel mills, according to Steel Market Update (SMU) scrap sources. The rise in ferrous scrap prices has been one of the driving factors behind the flat rolled price increases announced by the domestic steel industry over the past few months. […]
Licensed data for April was reported by the Steel Import Monitoring System of the US Commerce Department on May 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 April were […]
Double digit flat rolled steel price moves seem to be a weekly occurrence over the past few weeks. Steel mills are controlling their flat rolled steel order books and restricting spot tons. Those buyers who did not recognize things were changing back in the fall when Steel Market Update began pointing out the changes in […]
On April 29, 2016, the Department of Commerce initiated an antidumping duty (AD) investigation of imports of certain carbon and alloy steel cut-to-length plate (CTL plate) from Austria, Belgium, Brazil, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, South Africa, Taiwan, and Turkey, and countervailing duty (CVD) investigations of imports of CTL plate from Brazil, China, and […]
Joy Global Inc, a manufacturer of equipment for the mining industry, is looking for a buyer for its Longview, Texas steel plate mill. The Longview specialty mini-mill makes small batch, thick and extra thick steel plate for use in some of Joy Global’s premier mining equipment. Joy Global confirmed it is looking at a potential […]
The steel indexes followed by Steel Market Update showed flat rolled steel spot prices continuing their climb higher as all products moved by double digits. Both Platts and SMU took hot rolled prices up by $15 per ton, although there is a $15 per ton spread between the two indexes. Based on the SMU index, […]
SSAB Americas reported sales of SEK 2,428 million ($297.5 million) for first quarter 2016 up from 2,321 in Q4. Shipments increased 9 percent from Q4 to 475,000 tonnes. Operating profit, or EBIT, was SEK 55 million ($6.7 million) compared to a loss of SEK 100 mill in in Q4 and profit of SEK 296 million […]
Reliance Steel & Aluminum posted net income of $92.2 million on sales of $2.16 billion for first quarter 2016. Tons sold were up 8.9 percent from Q4 2015 with average selling price down 15.6 percent from a year ago and down 2.4 percent from the previous quarter. Reliance sold 1,216,700 tons of carbon steel in […]
Nucor announced first quarter 2016 consolidated net earnings within its projected range. Net income was $70.8 million and consolidated net sales were $3.72 billion, a 7 percent increase from Q4. Average sales price per ton decreased 11 percent from Q4, total shipments to outside customers was 5,148,000 tons. Nucor steel mills produced 5,390,000 tons of […]
On Wednesday afternoon the Nucor Plate Mill Group announced a new price increase on all new orders as well as all existing spot orders acknowledged for the week of June 4th production and beyond. Plate spot prices will increase by a minimum of $40 per ton. We have seen flat rolled steel price increase announcements […]
There is still no light at the end of this tunnel except for coated products which have had three months of shipment growth on a tons / day, (t / d) basis. Total service center carbon steel shipments increased by 142,100 tons in March to 3.176 million tons. This increase was driven by the number […]
The Metal Service Center Institute (MSCI) reported Canadian steel service centers inventories dropped 1.9 percent by the end of March compared to the end of February. Shipments of steel (all products) were 392,200 tons and averaged 17,800 tons per day during the month of March. Total steel shipments were 11.3 percent lower than year ago […]
Total steel and flat rolled inventories declined during the month of March according to just released data provided by the Metal Service Center Institute (MSCI). U.S. steel service centers shipped a total of 3,333,300 tons of steel products during the month of March. Based on a 23 shipping days this equates to a 144,900 tons […]
All of the steel indexes we follow reported flat rolled steel prices this past week with each showing major double digit gains for the domestic steel mills hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized, Galvalume and plate. Hot rolled prices surged with each index reporting at least a $34 per ton increase (+$35 for Platts and +$40 […]
The surge in steel imports is a threat to national security according to a new paper released by the Alliance for American Manufacturing. AAM says steel is essential to national security, as it equips the military and builds infrastructure. The report’s findings were commented on at the Congressional Steel Caucus this week. “Steel from Northwest […]
India has initiated an antidumping investigation into HRC, steel sheet and plate imports from China, Japan, Korea, Russia, Brazil and Indonesia. The products under investigation include HRC of width up to 2100mm and thickness up to 25mm, HR sheet and plates of a width up to 4950 mm and thickness up to 150mm. India steelmakers […]
Licensed data for March was reported by the Steel Import Monitoring System of the US Commerce Department on April 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 March were […]
A week ago Steel Market Update reported that three domestic steel mills would file an antidumping suit against a number of foreign countries who have been exporting cut-to-length (CTL) plate to the United States. On Friday the three mills identified in our earlier reporting filed their petition. A trade petition against 12 countries was filed […]