Steel Market Update’s check of the market a few days before Christmas shows no let-up in steel demand, as prices continue to rise and lead times continue to extend. With steel supplies remaining extremely tight, lead times for deliveries of hot rolled have stretched to more than eight weeks and coated steel orders to around […]
Based on Steel Market Update’s check of the market this week, hot rolled steel prices are nearing $1,000 per ton, within sight of a record high. With service centers and OEMs willing to pay such high prices in order to secure inventory in a tight market, it’s no surprise the buyers report little willingness among […]
I received a call earlier today from one of our readers who is also a consultant to companies who purchase flat rolled steel. He mentioned to me that there is some confusion with companies who think our index is the same as CRU, since we are owned by CRU. That belief is ill-advised and flat […]
Tomorrow (Monday, Dec. 21) will be the winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, the shortest day of the year (darkest day of the year). With the pandemic raging, and the government breaking out two vaccines to treat COVID-19, the hope is that as the daylight gets longer the pandemic will begin to fade away. For […]
ArcelorMittal USA notified customers on Wednesday that it is increasing its base pricing for plate to a minimum of $900 per ton “in order to capture escalating costs and to restore the market value for steel plate products.” Now owned by Cleveland-Cliffs, ArcelorMittal USA no longer quotes delivered prices but rather the price ex works […]
Nucor expects improved fourth-quarter earnings due to higher pricing of sheet and plate as well as strong results at its bar and structural mills. Profitability for the steel products segment is expected to decrease modestly, consistent with typical seasonality. The raw materials segment will benefit from higher prices for raw materials and improved financial performance […]
Flat Rolled = 40.0 Shipping Days of Supply Plate = 45.7 Shipping Days of Supply Flat Rolled Service center flat rolled steel inventories continue to reach new lows. At the end of November, service centers carried 40 shipping days of supply, down from 43.1 days in October. November had 19 shipping days, compared to October’s […]
After reaching bottom in June, due largely to the global pandemic, mill shipments and supply of sheet products have since maintained a slow but steady upward trajectory. This analysis is based on steel mill shipment data from the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) and import-export data from the U.S. Department of Commerce. The analysis […]
Hot rolled steel prices have not yet hit $1,000 a ton, but they are not far behind. Buyers tell Steel Market Update they are seeing offers as high as $1,020 per ton, but no takers so far. SMU puts the average HR price at around $950 per ton, up substantially over last week as the […]
Nucor’s Plate Group notified customers of another increase in base prices on its plate products Monday, marking the fourth such announcement since late September. Nucor no longer quotes delivered prices, but rather base prices ex works the mill. Effective immediately Nucor’s EXW plate pricing is as follows: • As-rolled discrete/CTL grade A36 Base 3/8”-2”, $40.00/cwt […]
Olympic Steel has acquired the assets of Action Stainless & Alloys, Inc., adding the Dallas, Texas-based distributor to its Specialty Metals business segment. Action Stainless & Alloys is a full-line distributor of stainless steel and aluminum plate, sheet, angles, rounds, flat bar, tubing and pipe and offers a range of processing, including plasma, laser and […]
We are quickly moving to the end of 2020, and I am sure many of you cannot wait to put this year in the rearview mirror. I think we all want our lives back. I was texting with someone in the steel industry who had a different perspective, and maybe now is a good time […]
We will welcome Spencer Johnson of StoneX next week as the guest speaker for our SMU Community Chat. The webinar will be held on Wednesday, Dec. 16, at 11 a.m. ET. The webinar is free to anyone who is interested in the flat rolled (and plate) steel markets, as well as those interested in the […]
We will welcome Spencer Johnson of StoneX next week as the guest speaker for our SMU Community Chat. The webinar will be held on Wednesday, Dec. 16, at 11 a.m. ET. The webinar is free to anyone who is interested in the flat rolled (and plate) steel markets, as well as those interested in the […]
Steel Market Update will welcome Spencer Johnson of StoneX at 11 a.m. ET on Wednesday, Dec. 16, as the guest speaker for the next SMU Community Chat. The webinar is free to anyone interested in the flat rolled and plate steel markets, as well as those interested in learning about futures and managing price risk. […]
Flat rolled and plate steel prices continue to be quite fluid based on the analysis of the data from Steel Market Update’s survey of the market this week, as well as individual channel checks with both buyers and sellers. By “fluid,” we mean we are capturing variances in prices over a short period of time. […]
No one anticipated in August how quickly prices would go up, said CRU Principal Analyst Josh Spoores during this week’s SMU Community Chat Webinar. As four criteria lined up—steel-intensive industrial demand, low supply chain inventories, low imports, and domestic prices below global levels—steel prices in the U.S. surged at the fastest rate in 41 years, […]
On Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, I will be an instructor at our Steel 101: Introduction to Steel Making and Market Fundamentals Workshop. We have a full class with a mixture of steel service centers, manufacturing companies, steel mills, traders, analysts, and suppliers to the industry. I am looking forwarding to discussing supply, demand, […]
SSAB Americas notified customers Wednesday that it is increasing transaction prices by $40 per ton on non-contract orders of its plate products “to maintain fair market value for its products.” The increase applies to As-Rolled Mill Plate, Cut-To-Length Plate >72”, Hot Rolled Coils >72”, Normalized Plate and Quenched & Tempered Plate shipped via preferred freight […]
Steel Market Update’s check of the market this week shows another jump for both flat rolled and plate, taking the benchmark price for hot rolled steel to an average of $805 per ton. Sources commonly reported paying as much as $840 to secure hot rolled in a market where availability is becoming a critical issue. […]
Nucor’s Plate Group announced new, higher pricing on all its plate products on Monday. The mill no longer offers a delivered price for plate. “To continue providing an increased level of clarity and transparency in our plate product pricing, the Nucor Plate Group is now publishing our pricing on an ex-works (EXW) basis,” stated Nucor’s […]
On Wednesday, December 2nd Steel Market Update will host another in our series of free webinars with CRU Principal Analyst and editor of the CRU Sheet Monitor – Josh Spoores. Packard and Spoores will chat for about 30 minutes on CRU’s steel sheet forecast for 2020-2021. We will discuss demand, production, and steel prices with […]
On Wednesday, Dec. 2, Steel Market Update will host another in our series of free webinars featuring CRU Principal Analyst and Editor of the CRU Sheet Monitor – Josh Spoores. Spoores and SMU President and Publisher John Packard will chat for about 30 minutes on CRU’s steel sheet forecast for 2020-2021. We will discuss demand, […]
It is Tuesday, Dec, 1, 2020, and the U.S. has just returned from Thanksgiving. I hope everyone enjoyed their long weekend and did what was necessary to remain safe as we wait for the COVID-19 vaccines to be distributed around the world. There is a light at the end of this long journey we have […]
Flat rolled steel prices just keep ratcheting up as supplies remain extremely tight, with lead times continuing to extend and sources warning of impending shortages of some products (see related articles in this issue). Steel Market Update’s check of the market this week moves the benchmark price for hot rolled up to $770 per ton, […]
Flat rolled steel prices just keep ratcheting up as supplies remain extremely tight, with lead times continuing to extend and sources warning of impending shortages of some products (see related articles in this issue). Steel Market Update’s check of the market this week moves the benchmark price for hot rolled up to $770 per ton, […]
How much further can lead times extend? We’ll let you know. But there is no sign yet that they have peaked. Lead times for delivery of spot orders continue to stretch with hot rolled now averaging nearly seven weeks and coated steel orders nearly nine and a half weeks. Lead times are an indicator of […]
Lead times for spot orders of hot rolled steel have extended by another half-week as demand persistently outpaces supplies. Lead times for steel deliveries continue to stretch with hot rolled now averaging nearly seven and a half weeks and coated steel orders around nine and a half weeks. Lead times are an indicator of steel demand—longer […]
In a market where supplies of various products are so tight that some buyers say they would be willing to pay almost any price just to get material, there is very little negotiation going on between the mills and their spot market customers. The mills have no reason to bargain when demand is so far […]
There is very little negotiation going on between the mills and their spot market customers as supplies remain extremely tight and buyers are happy just to find available material, even if they have to pay a substantial premium. It has been a seller’s market since September, with the mills enjoying most of the leverage, and […]