The U.S. Department of Commerce released the latest license data for the month of September through the 15th of September late this afternoon. For the first time in many months we are seeing a large change in the license requests at this point in the month. Earlier this month it appeared that licenses were trending […]
An investigation into dumping and subsidizing of hot rolled steel plate imports from India and Russia was been initiated by the Canadian International Trade Tribunal on Sept. 9. The investigation follows a preliminary determination of dumping and subsidization from the Director General of the Trade and Anti-dumping Programs Directorate at the Canada Border Services Agency […]
The flat rolled steel indexes followed by Steel Market Update saw prices as being relatively flat this past week with the exception of Platts which is playing catch-up as they move their prices to be more in line with the other indexes. SMU kept all of our indices the same as the prior week as […]
Net imports equals imports minus exports. We regard this as an important look at the overall trade picture and its effect on demand at the mill level. Figure 1 shows that net sheet product imports on a three month moving average, (3MMA) basis at 718,000 tons in July continue to be more than double that […]
This data is normally reserved for our Premium members, but we wanted to give our Executive readers a view of what a Premium subscription includes. This is one of many additional data points available to our Premium level members. Licensed data for August was updated on September 4th through the Steel Import Monitoring System of […]
Due to the Labor Day Holiday in the United States, Steel Market Update did not produce our Comparison Price Indices article on Sunday evening. Since many of our readers look forward to this information we are publishing last week’s numbers this evening. Hot rolled coil was dropped below $450 per ton on two indexes – […]
Buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel continue to remain optimistic about their company’s ability to be successful in the current market conditions. However, we have seen a weakening of that position especially when we look at the numbers based on a 3-month moving average. The SMU Steel Buyers Sentiment Index measures how flat rolled […]
For those interested in more information on the HRC trade case, the following is a reprint of the International Trade Administration Fact Sheet on the AD/CVD investigation into imports of hot rolled steel flat products from seven countries. The US DOC did decide earlier this week to allow the HRC case to move forward. ITA […]
Earlier today the U. S. Department of Commerce released the latest license data through the 1st of September. Based on license data August total steel imports will be 3.0 million net tons. If confirmed when the Final Census data is released August will be the lowest tonnage so far this year. When looking at flat […]
Virtually all of the indexes followed by Steel Market Update have begun to note the falling prices on flat rolled steels in North America. Benchmark hot rolled continues to be the most volatile product, dropping by as much as $16 per ton according to SteelBenchmarker (who only reports prices twice per month) and even Platts, […]
Essar Steel Algoma announced that first quarter FY 2016, ending June 30, 2015, closed with a positive EBITDA of CDN $12.4 million. Capacity utilization was at 90 percent and steel shipments of 632,000 tons were 19 percent higher year over year. Higher production and shipments, however, were unable to counter low pricing caused by dumped […]
According to Baker Hughes data from August 28, 2015, the U.S rig count for the week was 877 rigs exploring for or developing oil or natural gas. This is a decrease of 8 rigs when compared to last week, with oil rigs up 1 to 675 rigs, gas rigs down 9 to 202 rigs, and […]
With the exception of Platts, all of the other indexes reporting (and followed by SMU) saw flat rolled products as losing ground this past week. Steel Market Update (SMU) is leading the way with their benchmark hot rolled coil (HRC) average dropping by $10 per ton to $450 per ton. This is $5 higher than […]
According to Baker Hughes data from August 21, 2015, the U.S rig count for the week was 885 rigs exploring for or developing oil or natural gas. This is an increase of 1 rig when compared to last week, with oil rigs up 2 to 674 rigs, gas rigs unchanged at 211 rigs, and miscellaneous […]
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 116,500 tons in July to 3.287 million tons. Shipping days at 22, were the same as June. On a tons per day basis (t/d) shipments decreased from 154,700 in […]
The Metal Service Center Institute (MSCI) reported July steel service center shipments and inventory data for the month of July. Expectations had been running high that shipments would decent for the month and that inventories, which had been dropping over the past six months, would continue that trend. Unfortunately, 2015 is turning out to be […]
The negative numbers are starting to appear and SMU is hearing from steel buyers that weakness is creeping back into the markets, if only over the short term. However, not all of the indices followed by Steel Market Update saw the market as weakening at all. SteelBenchmarker, in particular, reported bullish results with all of […]
Six domestic steel mills joined together to file a hot rolled trade suit today. This is now the third such suit since the filing against corrosion resistant (galvanized & zinc-aluminum or Galvalume) on June 3rd and the cold rolled petition of a couple of weeks ago. With the HR case the mills have hit the […]
Flat rolled steel prices barely moved this past week according to the steel price indexes followed by Steel Market Update. Hot rolled price averaged $466 per ton with SMU and Platts at $465 and CRU at $467 per ton. Cold rolled was one product where we saw a split between SMU ($580), Platts ($585) and […]
According to Baker Hughes data from August 7, 2015, the U.S rig count for the week was 884 rigs exploring for or developing oil or natural gas. This is an increase of 10 rigs when compared to last week, with oil rigs up 6 to 670 rigs, gas rigs up 4 to 213 rigs, and […]
Licensed data for July was updated on August 4th through the Steel Import Monitoring System of the US Commerce Department. Steel Market Update publishes several import reports ranging from this very early look using licensed data to the very detailed analysis of final volumes by district of entry and source nation which is available to […]
Benchmark hot rolled slip a little this past week according to Steel Market Update and CRU, while Platts kept their hot rolled number the same (they haven’t moved in over a month). SteelBenchmarker reported prices and their hot rolled number was up $4 per ton. When all of that was said and done the average […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) produces two series of articles focused on the buying and selling of flat rolled steel. Many of the articles can be found on our website under: Steel Buyers Basics or The Truth About Selling Steel. The following article is part of our Steel Buyers Basics series and is written by Mario […]
According to Baker Hughes data from July 31, 2015, the U.S rig count for the week was 874 rigs exploring for or developing oil or natural gas. This is a decrease of 2 rigs when compared to last week, with oil rigs up 5 to 664 rigs, gas rigs down 7 to 209 rigs, and […]
Flat rolled steel prices saw little movement this past week in benchmark hot rolled but, we did see some cracks in the “shadow” effect as the spreads between CRU and the other indexes started to widen. These small gyrations in the numbers in any one week may be due to what is being collected and […]
Essar Steel Algoma is investing CDN $240 million to modernize and expand its facilities to meet the global demand for advanced grades of steel. The investment includes $60 million in financial support from the governments of Ontario and Canada. Essar Steel Algoma received a $30 million grant from Ontario’s Ministry of Northern Development and Mines […]
According to Baker Hughes data from July 24, 2015, the U.S rig count for the week was 876 rigs exploring for or developing oil or natural gas. This is up 19 rigs when compared to last week, with oil rigs up 21 to 659 rigs, gas rigs down 2 to 216 rigs, and miscellaneous rigs […]
The Steel Market Update Steel Buyers Sentiment Index continues to be modestly optimistic although less so than what the index was reporting one year ago. The trend for the proprietary index has been to move sideways in what might be considered a not too hot, not too cold marketplace. SMU looks at how buyers and […]
The following article is written by Spencer Johnson of FC Stone LLC. With six years of experience, Spencer provides his customers strategic and tactical advice on protecting themselves against commodity price volatility in the steel markets. Spencer will rotate weekly futures articles with Andre Marshall of Crunch Risk, LLC. Spencer can be reached at spencer.johnson@intlfcstone.com. […]
Reliance Steel & Aluminum Company reported strong profits despite sliding sales and shipments in the second quarter. Net income was $90.2 million, a 2.4 percent drop from first quarter. Earnings per diluted share of $1.20 were above second quarter guidance. Sales of $2.42 billion slipped 7.3 percent from first quarter and 7.4 percent year over […]