Steel and metals companies need to up their cybersecurity game as digital thieves increasingly shift their focus from sophisticated data breaches to high-volume ransomware attacks. And doing so isn’t just the right thing to do, it might soon be required for insurance purposes and to qualify for Defense Department work, said Mike Del Giudice, principal […]
Mexican flat-rolled steelmaker Altos Hornos de México (AHMSA) is taking a planned, two-week outage on its hot strip mill, a company spokesman said. The outage is underway. Because it was planned, customers should not be impacted, he said. AHMSA’s hot strip mill has annual capacity of 2.8 million tons per year, according to the Association […]
JSW Steel USA’s electric arc furnace (EAF) sheet mill in Mingo Junction, Ohio, has experienced a “minor furnace burn through,” the company’s top executive said. But the impact on customers is expected to be limited, JSW Steel USA CEO Mark Bush told Steel Market Update. The burn through happened on Sunday, Sept. 26, and repairs are […]
Mill lead times for flat rolled and plate products have gradually been shortening over the past two months. Steel Market Update’s check of the market this week shows the average lead time for hot rolled down to nearly eight weeks from more than ten weeks in early August. Lead times for cold rolled and galvanized […]
Preliminary Census data shows that total foreign steel imports declined 10% in August, easing from July’s 18-month high down to 2.77 million tons. September import licenses are currently at 2.50 million tons as of Sept. 27, a 10% decline from August and down 19% compared to July. Total finished imports are preliminarily at 2.18 million […]
Price dynamics in the steel market are starting to resemble an inverted yield curve, and market participants should treat the situation with appropriate caution. Plate mills and tube producers have announced significant price increases: $75 for tubular products ($3.75 per cwt), $80 per ton for plate and as much as $240 per ton for quenched and […]
It’s beginning to look like hot rolled steel prices will fall short of the $2,000 per ton ($100 per cwt) mark that many believed would be the peak. Steel Market Update’s check of the market on Monday and Tuesday shows the average hot rolled price decreasing for the third time in as many weeks to $1,920 […]
Evraz North America (NA) has followed other domestic mills in raising prices for steel plate. The increases are effective immediately for all new orders, the Chicago-based steelmaker, a subsidiary of London-based Evraz Plc, said in a letter to customers dated Monday, Sept. 27. Evraz NA is increasing transactions by at least $80 per ton ($4 […]
At the top of the news this week, Steel Market Update sources reported that steel supplies are loosening as lead times from the domestic mills shorten and surging imports start to make it into service center inventories. It’s no surprise, then, that steel prices are beginning to moderate. Hot rolled steel prices rose virtually every […]
By Stephen Williamson, CRU Research Manager, Aluminum Aluminum prices continue to flirt with $3,000 per metric ton on the LME. While off a bit, now at $2,866, recent upsets in the market make price volatility the norm in the near term. Energy curtailments in China exacerbate not only global aluminum supply but also silicon (Si) […]
By Stephen Williamson, CRU Research Manager, Aluminum As in last week’s report, aluminum prices continue to flirt with the $3,000 per metric ton mark on the LME, $2,908/t as of this writing. However, this apparently steady price range belies a torrent of market activity. The protracted energy curtailments in China continue to cast doubt on […]
Finished steel imports into the United States rose by nearly 27% in the first eight months of the year. Census Bureau data reported by the American Iron and Steel Institute showed a 25.5% increase in total steel imports to 20.56 million tons, including a 26.9% increase in finished steel imports to 14.21 million tons, for […]
SSAB Americas has followed competitor Nucor in raising prices for steel plate by at least $80-200 per ton ($4-10 per cwt). The price hike is effective immediately for all new spot orders, the Mobile, Ala.-based steelmaker said in letters to customers on Friday, Sept. 24 The increase of $80 per ton (Canadian $100 per ton) applies […]
Nucor, in a leading move, announced that it was increasing plate prices along with the opening of its November order book. The price hike is $80 per ton ($4/cwt) for A36 plate and normalized product, and it is $200 per ton ($10/cwt) for quenched-and-tempered material. The increase – announced on Wednesday, Sept. 22 – marks at […]
The average hot rolled steel price saw another small dip, based on Steel Market Update’s check of the market this week, but cold rolled and galvanized continued to rise, as the market reacts unevenly to changing conditions. On the supply side, sources report better availability of spot tons from the domestic mills at the same […]
If you feel a chill in the air, it’s not just the first day of fall and cooler weather coming. We’ve noticed a cooling in market conditions – and it’s backed up by our survey results (which are colorful like fall leaves). Let’s not talk about prices, at least not directly. Let’s talk about lead times, […]
Nucor plans to build a new, $2.7 billion electric-arc furnace (EAF) sheet mill with annual capacity of three million tons per year in either Ohio, Pennsylvania or West Virginia. The facility is aimed at customers in the Midwest and Northeast as well as at the automotive industry, the Charlotte, N.C.-based steelmaker said. “These important markets […]
U.S. domestic steel demand remains strong, but supplies have been catching up and are largely in balance. These dynamics are starting to show as steel prices have seen a slower rate of rise and may be near a peak. Lead times are also contracting, with hot rolled now below nine weeks. These changes are largely a […]
Mill shipments of steel products rose 2.0% in July to 8.7 million tons, following an increase of 1.7% the month prior. Apparent supply jumped 3.6% in July after a 6.0% increase the prior month. July marks the fifth consecutive month of gains after February’s double-digit contraction. This analysis is based on steel mill shipment data from […]
Lead times for spot orders of flat rolled and plate products from the mills have all seen notable declines this month, with the exception of Galvalume, according to Steel Market Update’s check of the market this week. The average lead time for hot rolled is now less than nine weeks, down from more than ten […]
Flat Rolled = 51.6 Shipping Days of Supply Plate = 54 Shipping Days of Supply Flat Rolled U.S. service center flat rolled inventories continued to grow in August, while shipments rose from the lower levels seen in July. At the end of August, service centers carried 51.6 shipping days of flat rolled supply on an […]
Sheet prices continue to wobble with hot-rolled coiled prices actually declining, albeit modestly, for the first time in more than a year. The concern: that the market is at a peak – and perhaps heading down the other side. Hot rolled coil prices have been flat in prior weeks, but they have not declined since […]
What does the rapid advancement of solar energy mean for the steel industry? Solar has major implications, both for the steel it will consume and the energy it will provide. Without solar energy, steelmakers have no chance of reaching their zero-emissions goals over the next three decades. Even if steel mills can somehow figure out […]
The first rule of predicting steel prices in 2021 is you don’t predict steel prices. I broke that rule last month when I called a peak. I still think I was right about that. But timing is everything. And when exactly we hit that peak remains a matter of debate. Some market participants think we’re […]
U.S. steel exports declined 3% in July to 756,000 tons, according to the latest U.S. Department of Commerce data. Although down from the month prior, July levels remain relatively strong compared to recent months. Recall that June saw the second highest monthly export level in the last three years (778,000 tons), just behind the April 2021 high of 790,000 […]
Market momentum suggests that flat rolled steel prices are likely to continue moving up, at least in the short term, as hot rolled hit a new record high once again this week at an average of $1,955 per ton, up $20 over last week, according to SMU’s check of the market on Monday and Tuesday. […]
Final Census data shows that total foreign steel imports increased 5% from June to July, reaching 3.08 million tons. As stated in our preliminary import analysis, this is now the highest monthly import level of 2021, surpassing the previous month. The last time monthly import levels exceeded this rate was January 2020 when 3.16 million tons […]
In mid-August, when lead times registered their first significant decline of the year, some interpreted it as a sign the pendulum had finally begun to swing the other way. Lead times have long been expected to shorten as the mills’ ability to supply the market finally catches up with demand. But any predictions of a […]
Flat-rolled steel prices are again mixed. Hot rolled is up $20 per ton, cold rolled is unchanged, and coated products are down $20-25 per ton. (Plate – following mill price hike announcements – is up a sharp $105 per ton.) The mixed signals are not a sure sign of the market inflecting. And Hurricane Ida […]
Preliminary Census data shows that total foreign steel imports increased 3% from June to July, reaching 3.01 million tons. This is now the highest monthly import level of 2021, surpassing the previous month. The last time monthly import levels exceeded this rate was January 2020 when 3.16 million tons of steel entered the country. August import licenses are currently […]