If you’re seeking a peak, keep looking. Because it wasn’t this week. Steel Market Update found that spot prices for most sheet and plate products were again higher – despite scattered reports of increased availability for some contract buyers. SMU’s benchmark hot-rolled coil prices stands $1,760 per ton ($88/cwt), up $40 per ton from last […]
Plate prices have seen an astronomical rise, but the big gains have not been enough to keep the spread between sheet and plate from ballooning. And that spread is already the inverse of what is the norm. Normally plate prices carry a premium to sheet prices – now the reverse is true. Sheet carries around a […]
SSAB Americas aims to increase steel plate prices by at least $100 per ton ($5/cwt) effective immediately on all new spot orders. The increase applies equally to as-rolled mill plate and coil, cut-to-length plate, normalized plate, and quenched-and-tempered plate, the company said in a letter to customers on Monday, June 21. “In addition to this […]
2021 SMU Steel Summit Conference Revised Agenda as of June 20, 2021 There are 55 days before the start to the 2021 SMU Steel Summit Conference. We should have close to 300 companies and 800+ executives attending this year based on where we are today. The conference agenda is close to its final shape. There […]
2021 SMU Steel Summit Conference Revised Agenda as of June 20, 2021 There are 55 days before the start to the 2021 SMU Steel Summit Conference. We should have close to 300 companies and 800+ executives attending this year based on where we are today. The conference agenda is close to its final shape. There […]
Algoma Steel recouped its losses from Q3 FY 2021 to report net income of $91.5 million ($114 million CAD) for the fourth quarter of its fiscal year. Third quarter’s loss totaled $59 million ($73.5 million CAD); net income of $15.2 million ($19 million CAD) was reported in Q4 2020. In a report issued June 17, […]
Mill shipments of steel products declined by 2.0% in April compared with the month prior, while apparent supply increased by 2.8% during the same period. April’s totals were a letdown from the strong performance in March, which saw shipments of steel products leap by 18.3% and apparent supply accelerate by 18.1%. This analysis is based […]
Flat rolled steel prices have been rising consistently for 45 straight weeks (since the week of Aug. 10, 2020). There is a chance (no guarantees) that we could see the cycle continue for a full 52+ weeks as the steel mills continue to have supply issues and demand remains quite strong in just about every […]
Steel prices will turn lower and quickly fall back in the next 6-12 months, but mill profitability will remain substantial, predicted Principal Analyst Josh Spoores during CRU’s virtual New York Steel Seminar on Wednesday. Steel prices have hit historic highs, with hot rolled offers at more than $1,700 per ton, as demand continues to outstrip supply. […]
It is a good time to be a steel producer. Both Steel Dynamics and Nucor are expecting record earnings for the second quarter of 2021 supported by strong demand and unprecedented steel prices. And U.S. Steel expects second quarter adjusted EBITDA more than double that in the first. SDI expects earnings to be in the range […]
Hot-rolled coil prices have broken through the $1,700 per ton ($85 per cwt) threshold and now average $1,720 per ton. That’s up $45 per ton from a week ago and closing in on quadruple a 2020 low – reached last August – of $440 per ton. The latest gains come after Steel Market Update’s sentiment […]
Flat Rolled = 45.3 Shipping Days of Supply Plate = 45.2 Shipping Days of Supply Flat Rolled U.S. service center flat rolled inventories grew significantly in May as mills caught up on deliveries and intake increased. At the end of May, service centers carried 45.3 shipping days of supply on an adjusted basis, up from […]
U.S. steel exports declined 4% in April to 760,000 tons, according to recently released U.S. Department of Commerce trade data. Althought down over the month prior, recall that March exports were at the highest level seen since June 2018. Of our six monitored product groups, the single product with a month-over-month increase was cut-to-length plate, […]
U.S. steel exports declined 2% in May to 742,000 tons, according to recently released U.S. Department of Commerce trade data. Although down from the month prior, recall that March and April exports were at the two highest levels seen since June 2018. May marks the third highest monthly export level since June 2018. Of our […]
This report examines the import share of sheet and plate products. Imports’ share of total sheet product shipments was 12.5% in April, down from 12.7% in March. By comparison, the import share of total plate product shipments jumped to 19.9% in April, up from 15.7% the month prior. Import share for sheet products has dipped […]
Flat rolled and plate steel mill lead times continue to extend, according to the results of this week’s flat rolled and plate steel analysis conducted by Steel Market Update. Hot rolled lead times have sustained 10 weeks or more for a month – the first time that has happened in the history of our records, […]
Steel buyers reported to Steel Market Update this week that the trend for steel mills to limit or totally remove any negotiations on spot steel prices continues. Steel pricing power is totally in the hands of the steel mills as supply continues to be less than the demand for mill products. Steel Market Update went […]
Steel prices will correct sharply as supply catches up with demand, potentially falling back to an average of $575 per ton ($28.75 per cwt) in 2022, according to one leading industry analyst. “This too will pass,” was the title chosen by Timna Tanners, metals and mining analyst at Bank of America, for her SMU Community […]
Nucor President and CEO Leon Topalian will join SMU President and CEO John Packard for a one-on-one fireside chat at the upcoming SMU Steel Summit Conference on August 23-25 in Atlanta, Ga. Nucor is the largest steel mill in North America and produces long products, plate and sheet. Nucor has been actively expanding existing mills and […]
Infrastructure, Energy, Wind Farms, Tanners, Summit Conference, Imports. If you are watching the news, you are aware of the Biden administration’s push for a large (at least $1 trillion) infrastructure bill. There is a lot of discussion about what infrastructure entails in light of the current economy. It’s not your father’s economy. There is need […]
Hot-rolled coil prices charged higher yet again even as lead times stretched into August, a typically slower time of the year. Is a year-long hot streak for sheet possible? The answer in ordinary times would be ‘no’. But these are not ordinary times. Hot-rolled coil prices have hit a new all-time high of $1,675 per […]
U.S. ferrous scrap prices have settled up $60 per gross ton on prime grades and up $50 per gross ton on obsoletes, according to market participants. “Regional markets were very consistent with the up $50 (per gross ton) on obsolete grades and up $60 (per gross ton) for primes,” one scrap executive said. “This resulted […]
Final Census data shows that total foreign steel imports indeed rose 14% from March to April to 2.64 million tons, rising just 5,000 tons from the preliminary levels SMU reported last week. This is the highest total monthly import level seen since July 2020 when imports were 2.71 million tons. Import licenses currently for May have risen […]
Shipbuilder Austal USA has been awarded a design contract to build a new ship for the U.S. Navy. The agreement, valued at $3.6 million, is for the functional design and construction of the new 80-meter (252.5 foot) Navajo-class Steel Towing, Salvage and Rescue Ship (T-ATS). This follows recent news of Austral USA’s new steel manufacturing […]
The U.S. International Trade Commission voted to continue antidumping orders on imports of cut-to-length carbon steel plate from China, Russia and Ukraine. Removing the orders, said the Commission in its sunset review, would “likely lead to continuation of recurrence of material injury within a reasonably foreseeable time.” The original investigation into CTL steel plate imports […]
ArcelorMittal Mexico plans to start up its new hot strip mill in Lázaro Cárdenas in Mexico’s Michoacán state in the fourth quarter of this year, a company spokeswoman said. The hot strip mill cost $1 billion and is expected to have annual capacity of 2.75 million tons per year (tpy), according to an ArcelorMittal press […]
Hot rolled steel prices passed another milestone this week, topping the $1,600 mark to set yet another record that would have been unimaginable at this time last year when HR was selling for around $500 a ton. Steel Market Update’s latest check of the market shows an average HR price of $1,620 per ton, up […]
Hot rolled steel prices passed another milestone this week, topping the $1,600 mark to set yet another record that would have been unimaginable at this time last year when HR was selling for around $500 a ton. Steel Market Update’s latest check of the market shows an average HR price of $1,620 per ton, up […]
Steel Market Update is pleased to announce that Timna Tanners, metals and mining analyst at Bank of America, will be the featured speaker for our next Community Chat webinar on Wednesday, June 9, at 11 a.m. ET. Tanners will speak about the steel industry of the future. That future is likely to include an increased […]
Steel Market Update is pleased to announce that Timna Tanners, metals and mining analyst at Bank of America, will be the featured speaker for our next Community Chat webinar on Wednesday, June 9, at 11 a.m. ET. Tanners will speak about the steel industry of the future. That future is likely to include an increased […]