By CRU Prices Analyst George Pearson The U.S. plate market has, up to this point, seen prices fall on a slow downward trend. Plate has not been as exposed to the automotive-led manufacturing shutdown, which had allowed prices to only slowly fall by $61 /s.ton since the late January cycle peak. Current prices, though, reflect […]
Steel buyers reported lower spot offers and transactions on flat rolled and plate products this week. However, the offers varied from mill to mill, and even in some cases varied within the same company but coming from different plants. The number of transactions appear to be lower than in weeks past, and the size of […]
April 21, 2020 Dear Steel Market Update “Member”, Your business is important to Steel Market Update and our parent company The CRU Group. We know difficult times may lie ahead and we are here to support your business in any way we can. Steel Market Update began operations in August 2008. By the end of […]
Last week, Steel Market Update conducted an analysis of the flat rolled and plate steel markets as we reached out to more than 500 individuals uniquely qualified to provide insights into these markets. What we found is an almost universal picture of a steel economy in a tailspin. Through our steel survey, SMU has seen […]
Last week, Steel Market Update conducted an analysis of the flat rolled and plate steel markets as we reached out to more than 500 individuals uniquely qualified to provide insights into these markets. What we found is an almost universal picture of a steel economy in a tailspin. Through our steel survey, SMU has seen […]
Lead times for spot orders of flat rolled and plate have continued to shorten despite the mills’ efforts so far to curtail production and match supply with demand. Lead times for steel delivery are a measure of demand at the mill level—the shorter the lead time, the less busy the mill. Average lead times for […]
Lead times for spot orders of flat rolled and plate have continued to shorten despite the mills’ efforts so far to curtail production and match supply with demand. Lead times for steel delivery are a measure of demand at the mill level—the shorter the lead time, the less busy the mill. Average lead times for […]
It’s a buyer’s market with many buyers sitting on the sidelines waiting for federal and state officials to declare the coast is clear and open up the economy once again. Not surprisingly, steel mills are very willing to negotiate to secure orders in the current low-demand environment. More than nine out of 10 buyers responding […]
JSW Steel USA will idle facilities and lay off workers at its plants in Mingo Junction, Ohio, and Baytown, Texas, in an effort to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus pandemic and chaos in the oil and gas market on steel demand. The company said it will temporarily idle the hot rolling mill and EAF […]
JSW Steel USA will idle facilities and lay off workers at its plants in Mingo Junction, Ohio, and Baytown, Texas, in an effort to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus pandemic and chaos in the oil and gas market on steel demand. The company said it will temporarily idle the hot rolling mill and EAF […]
Premium subscribers to Steel Market Update have reports available on our website that break out the import tonnage into district of entry and source nation for six sheet and plate product categories. This report takes the total national tonnage of hot rolled and breaks it down into product detail. Using U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) […]
The analysis breaks down the imported tonnage of six flat rolled products into the district of entry and the source nation. We believe that misinformation (or lack of) about local import volume is often used to influence purchase decisions. Our intent with this analysis is to describe in detail what is going on in a […]
On Wednesday, April 15 Steel Market Update hosted our weekly SMU Community Chat Webinar with Phil Raimondo of Behlen Manufacturing and John Packard, President & CEO of Steel Market Update. We had a minor technical glitch which got us out of the gates around 11:10 (our mistake as we learn how to use the Zoom […]
On Wednesday, April 22, at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time, Steel Market Update will host our next SMU Community Chat Webinar. We will feature Bernard Swiecki of the Center for Automotive Research (CAR). This webinar is open to anyone in the steel community and is complimentary. We will discuss the automotive industry in North America and […]
The benchmark price for hot rolled steel dipped below the $500 per ton mark this week, but not by much. Flat rolled prices have been on the decline over the past several weeks, but their descent appears to be slowing. That may mean the mills’ decision to idle furnaces and reduce production to bring it […]
This week’s FREE SMU Community Chat will feature Philip Raimondo, President & CEO of Behlen Manufacturing in Columbus, Neb. He has held a variety of positions in his 28 years with the company, including COO, President of Behlen Engineered Plastics, President of International and Diversified Products, Director of Quality and Human Resources, Manufacturing Manager and […]
This week’s SMU Community Chat will feature Philip Raimondo, President & CEO of Behlen Manufacturing in Columbus, Neb. He has held a variety of positions in his 28 years with the company, including COO, President of Behlen Engineered Plastics, President of International and Diversified Products, Director of Quality and Human Resources, Manufacturing Manager and Regional […]
Steel Market Update is please to share this Premium content with Executive members. For information on how to upgrade to a Premium subscription, email Info@SteelMarketUpdate.com. Total rolled product imports in March were down by 25.6 percent on a three-month moving average (3MMA) basis year over year. This was the fifth consecutive month where imports were […]
Total rolled product imports in April were down by 26.3 percent year over year on a three-month moving average (3MMA) basis. This was the sixth consecutive month where imports declined by more than 20 percent compared to the same month last year. This early look at April’s import volume is based on Commerce Department license […]
New Commerce Department data shows the United States exported 641,214 tons of steel in February, down 1 percent from January but up 7 percent from the same month one year prior. While steady compared to the previous month, recall that December 2019 was the second lowest export level in the past decade (just ahead of […]
Buyers are not purchasing much steel these days as they work to keep inventories in line with declining demand due to the coronavirus, making it more challenging than usual for Steel Market Update to track steel prices. By SMU estimates, flat rolled and plate prices declined a further $15-45 per ton this week. Not surprisingly, […]
Tubular steel producer Vallourec said Monday that it will lay off more than 900 employees at its U.S. plants due to a significant drop in activity by its oil and gas customers. The layoffs will be implemented in the coming weeks across all plants and support functions and impact over one-third of Vallourec’s workforce and contractor […]
What is accurate today will not be tomorrow. Just last week I was writing about the cancellation rumors at the domestic mills as perhaps being a bit overblown. As we collected pricing data for tonight’s flat rolled and plate index, we also asked our data providers to comment on whether they were pushing out and/or […]
Lead times for spot orders of flat rolled and plate are shortening as steps to control the coronavirus decimate demand. Lead times for steel delivery are a measure of demand at the mill level—the shorter the lead time, the less busy the mill. Average lead times for most products have shortened by roughly half a […]
Price negotiations between steel mills and steel buyers are wide open, not surprisingly, as companies scramble to win orders in a market disrupted by the coronavirus. More than nine out of 10 buyers responding to Steel Market Update’s questionnaire this week said the mills are now talking price on all types of products. In the […]
There is going to be a rush of bad news flooding televised and online media. Here at Steel Market Update, we and our parent company The CRU Group will do everything we can to keep readers advised with the most accurate and timely information possible. This is one of the reasons we are beginning our […]
By CRU Prices Analyst George Pearson, from the CRU Steel Monitor As expected, sheet prices in the U.S. Midwest market have fallen. Prices today, reflective of transactions booked last week, fell by $13-26 /s.ton w/w. For all sheet prices, we continue to hear of lower priced offers and expect that transaction prices will continue to […]
Zooming – sounds like a new drug, doesn’t it? We will be hosting another SMU Community Chat Webinar on Wednesday, April 22, at 11:00 a.m. ET (and I promise to hit the “start” button on time this week). Speaking with me will be Bernard Swiecki of the Center for Automotive Research (CAR). We will discuss […]
Steel buyers are beginning to sit on their hands as they watch the damage being done to the economy by the efforts to fight the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. The problem when buyers begin to sit back and wait is there are limited spot buys actually happening in the market, and many times there […]
Today we took our Price Momentum Indicator on flat rolled steel to Lower from Neutral. We are clearly seeing an erosion in pricing, which is expected to continue over the near term. The economy is heading into recession. Key indicators are pointing toward a slowdown in construction as states and local municipalities mandate construction projects […]