The next Steel 101 steel training workshop will be held in Mobile, Ala., and will include a tour of the SSAB Mobile minimill. Registration is open, and the workshop currently is almost half full. “SMU Steel 101 is a great learning tool for anyone working in the steel industry in any position. I wish I […]
One of the questions we get regularly is what are steel buyers and sellers of steel saying about their business (demand) and inventory levels? Over this past week, Steel Market Update spoke with quite a few companies and asked them how they were seeing business and if their company was building flat rolled or steel […]
One of the questions we get regularly is what are steel buyers and sellers of steel saying about their business (demand) and inventory levels? Over this past week, Steel Market Update spoke with quite a few companies and asked them how they were seeing business and if their company was building flat rolled or steel […]
The pace of the slide affecting flat rolled and plate steel prices quickened this past week. Steel Market Update (SMU) analyzed the price movements reported by Platts, SteelBenchmarker and SMU and found that almost every product was lower by the end of the week than it was the previous week. Benchmark hot rolled broke through […]
JSW Steel USA’s first-quarter FY 2018 sales more than doubled from a year ago. Revenue from operations totaled $58.67 million compared to $25.26 million in Q1 FY 2017. EBITDA was positive at $5.1 million after a loss of $5.45 million in last year’s corresponding quarter. The plate mill at the Baytown, Texas, facility produced 65,491 […]
This Steel Market Update analysis of sheet and plate imports by district of entry and source through August 2017 includes both coiled and cut-to-length plate for the first time. We believe that misinformation (or a lack of) about regional import volumes is often used to influence purchase decisions. Our intent with this analysis of tonnage […]
Some key price levels have been left in the dust when it comes to flat rolled and plate prices. On Friday of this past week, Steel Market Update (SMU) reduced the lower end of the range on hot rolled and our average dropped below $600 per ton. This week our HRC took a hit on […]
Responses to several subjects in last week’s Steel Market Update flat rolled steel market trends questionnaire shared a common thread. Comments on demand, pricing, purchases of foreign steel and inventory levels all tended to reflect a bearish attitude among many flat rolled and steel plate service center executives. · On the subject of steel demand, […]
I have been working on two major projects today: flat rolled and plate pricing for our steel index and flat rolled steel service center inventories as of the end of September. I finished the first project on pricing, which showed mixed results with some price erosion on a couple of items and stable prices on […]
On Tuesday of this past week, Steel Market Update (SMU) advised our readers that our range on hot rolled pricing was $580-$630 per ton with an average of $605 per ton ($30.25/cwt). As the week progressed, we received more information that has caused us to drop the lower end of our range to $560 per […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) found steel prices mixed this past week on not only our own index, but also that of Platts. In the past, we have seen this when there is limited buying due to a slowdown in business or in relationship to an expansion of inventories. Benchmark hot rolled was lower this past […]
Total rolled steel imports declined by 5.8 percent in the three months through September, compared with the three months through June. Sheet product imports were down by 3.9 percent on the same basis. The final license data for September was reported by of the U.S. Commerce Department on Oct. 3. The data is reported within […]
It’s 10 PM and I am on a flight back to Florida having spent the last three days in Fort Wayne, Ind. We hosted one of the largest Steel 101 workshops in our history and the workshop went well. We spent Wednesday going over the classroom materials and then that evening our workshop was hosted […]
Flat rolled steel prices continue to “drift,” with some items drifting lower, some staying the same and cold rolled actually increasing by $5 per ton. One commercial officer at a steel mill told SMU that in his view the range has shrunk for the products they produce. Even so, “We are finding business, and it […]
Flat rolled steel prices slipped across the board this past week. All three steel indexes followed by Steel Market Update (SMU) saw prices as being down from as little as $1 per ton to as much as $20 per ton. Benchmark hot rolled continues to close in on $600 per ton with SMU down $5 […]
ArcelorMittal USA will idle its rolling mill in Conshohocken, Pa., within the next year and consolidate its plate operations. Production from the mill will be transferred to the Coatesville and Burns Harbor facilities. The heat treat and inspection operation will continue at Conshohocken using steel rolled by the sister facilities. The decision to idle the […]
When asked to comment on spot flat rolled steel prices this week, the president of a medium-sized service center told SMU, “Drifting. Demand seems down.” He went on to report that even with AK Steel and ArcelorMittal reporting extending lead times, the market “feels soft.” Other steel buyers reported that their perception of the market […]
A minor fire at the ArcelorMittal Burns Harbor plate mill caused a shutdown in operations on Friday. The fire began in the control room for one of the 160-inch shear lines. Firefighters responded to the incident from five area fire departments, said spokeswoman Mary Beth Holford. Paramedics evaluated two employees for smoke inhalation, but both […]
Nucor Corp. executives urged the U.S. Trade Representative and Department of Commerce to vigorously oppose any efforts to weaken existing Buy America/n requirements, in their comments on President Trump’s April executive order. The steel company also urged the U.S. government to take additional action to stimulate demand for domestic steel in U.S. and foreign government […]
Flat rolled steel prices have begun to uniformly move lower based on what we have been collecting for steel price averages from ours and other steel indexes. Both Platts and Steel Market Update (SMU) had benchmark hot rolled as moving lower by $10 per ton this past week. Cold rolled prices were $10 lower on […]
Earlier this month, foreign steel imports for September were trending toward a 2.6-million-ton month based on import licenses through the first 12 days of the month. Over the past week, the pace for import license requests has picked up. This is most likely due to the impact of the two hurricanes: Harvey in Texas and […]
Service center shipments in August failed to perform as well as the average since 2009, according to data from the Metals Service Center Institute. Daily shipments in August were 1.8 percent higher than in July. On average since 2009, August has increased by 3.0 percent, therefore the latest numbers were less than the historical average […]
Flat rolled and plate steel prices, which have been fairly resilient over the past couple of months, slipped this week. The biggest move was in plate, which was down $30 per ton, while flat rolled products were lower by $5 to $20 per ton. We will wait to see if this move was nothing more […]
The Metals Service Center Institute (MSCI) reported carbon flat rolled steel inventories as growing in August compared to the end-of-July 2017 data, but still below August 2016 levels. MSCI data shows the number of months of flat rolled supply at very low levels. This week, MSCI reported total steel shipments (all products) during August out […]
Steel shipments by Canadian service centers in August totaled 387,500 net tons, up 11.8 percent from the previous month, and up 6.2 percent from August 2016, reports the Metals Service Center Institute (MSCI). On a daily basis, total shipments were 17,600 tons per day in August (a 22-day month), up from 17,300 tons per day […]
Steel Market Update is working on a new index to measure flat rolled steel inventories in service center warehouses at the end of each month. Our goal is to assist the flat rolled steel industry to better understand inventories and their potential impact on steel mill order books and lead times. SMU will also analyze […]
Steel Market Update is working on a new index to measure flat rolled steel inventories in service center warehouses at the end of each month. Our goal is to assist the flat rolled steel industry to better understand inventories and their potential impact on steel mill order books and lead times. SMU will also analyze […]
Editor’s note: Mario Briccetti of Briccetti & Associates, a supply chain consulting firm, offers the following commentary: I had the opportunity to interview the CEO of Big River Steel, David Stickler, at Steel Market Update’s Steel Summit Conference in August. Much of the conference was focused on trade issues, but Mr. Stickler’s remarks struck me […]
Flat rolled steel average prices are once again “mixed” as some items have dropped, some have remained the same and some rose last week compared to the previous week. We received numbers from Platts, SteelBenchmarker and our own steel index late last week and we found hot rolled down $5 on SMU, up $7 on […]
Nucor expects earnings to be lower in third quarter compared to second quarter. Although Nucor sheet mills are operating at high utilization rates, pricing is not keeping pace with raw material costs due to pressure from imports. Plate demand has been tepid in end-use markets following a restocking of inventory in the supply chain earlier […]