Steel shipments by Canadian service centers in May totaled 415,000 net tons, up 14.5 percent from the previous month and up 6.8 percent from May 2016, reports the Metals Service Center Institute. On a daily rate basis, total shipments were 18,900 tons per day in May (a 22-day month), down from 19,100 tons per day […]
On Friday, June 16th SSAB Americas became the third U.S. plate-producing steel mill to announce a $30 per ton ($1.50/cwt) plate price increase. As with the announcements made by Nucor and ArcelorMittal earlier in the week SSAB made the increase effective immediately on transaction (spot) pricing. The SSAB increase applies to: as rolled mill plate, […]
With the announcement of a flat rolled price increase out of USS/POSCO, the table is now set for California Steel on the West Coast (which SMU’s Steel 101 workshop will be visiting on Thursday of this week), as well as the East Coast and Canadian steel mills, to make announcements of their own. Benchmark hot […]
This afternoon ArcelorMittal USA matched a previous mill plate price announcement taking plate price up by $30 per ton. In a emailed letter to their customers ArcelorMittal advised transaction pricing will be increasing by a minimum of $30 per ton. The increase applies to all non-contractual carbon, HSLA, alloy, heat-treated, and specialty plate products. SMU […]
April 2017 steel exports totaled 857,582 net tons (777,986 metric tons), down 9.6 percent over March, but up 7.9 percent from April 2016. Last month, we saw the highest export level since November 2014. The total April export figure is below the three-month moving average (average of February 2017, March 2017 and April 2017), but […]
Nucor Corp. expects second-quarter results to be somewhat weaker than the first quarter, but an improvement from second-quarter 2016. Results in the range of $1.00 to $1.05 per diluted share will be Nucor’s best second-quarter performance since 2008. In guidance this week, Nucor noted a decrease in the performance of its sheet and bar mills […]
Flat rolled steel prices moved higher this week as the effects of last week’s price increase announcements begun to take place. Prices on all but plate moved up by $15 to $20 per ton. As one mill pointed out to SMU earlier today many of the orders that are being placed this week are smaller […]
The final license data for May was reported by the Steel Import Monitoring and Analysis system of the U.S. Commerce Department on June 6. An explanation of the methodology that SMU uses to analyze the trade data is given at the end of this piece. All volumes in this analysis are reported in short tons. […]
The slide in flat rolled steel prices was curtailed compared to previous weeks as prices on hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized, Galvalume moved sideways to slightly lower while plate was sideways to slightly higher. All of the major flat rolled steel mills in the United States announced flat rolled price increases on Monday and Tuesday […]
Ferrous scrap pricing has solidified in most regions of the United States east of the Rocky Mountains. Scrap prices traded sideways (remained the same as last month) on prime grades such as bundles and busheling. Otherwise, shredded and obsolete grades saw declines of $10 to $15 per gross ton, according to Steel Market Update (SMU) […]
Lead times are declining, which reflects a possible softening of demand, thus domestic mills appear to be more willing to negotiate spot pricing on hot rolled, cold rolled, hot-dipped galvanized and Galvalume steels than they were earlier in the year. About 70-80 percent of steel buyers responding to this week’s flat rolled steel market trends […]
For those of you either attending or thinking of attending the 2017 SMU Steel Summit Conference in Atlanta on August 28, 29 & 30th our room block at the host hotel, which is the Atlanta Airport Marriott Gateway Hotel located next to the Georgia International Convention Center (GICC). Even though our room block is complete […]
Flat rolled prices were mixed this week as the domestic steel mills announced their $30 per ton price increase and steel buyers placed whatever orders they were allowed to under the existing pricing agreements. We saw a tightening of the range on hot rolled while cold rolled was unchanged, galvanized was down $5 per ton, […]
Flat rolled steel prices continued their decline this past week. We saw numbers sliding on all products on the indexes followed by Steel Market Update. Steel prices dropped on hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized and Galvalume as well as plate products. Benchmark hot rolled pricing dropped $15 per ton to an average of $580 per […]
The final antidumping margins for imports of CTL plate from eight countries were published in the Federal Register on May 25. The US International Trade Commission, in their final determination, said that an industry in the United States is materially injured by reason of subject imports of CTL plate from Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, […]
Peter Brebach, CEO of Iron Angels of Colorado, one of the founding members of the American Institute for International Steel (AIIS) and a friend of Steel Market Update where he was a contributing writer and co-founder of SMU Steel 101 workshop, has passed away. The American Institute for International Steel sent out the following press […]
Flat rolled prices continued their skid despite the Memorial Day Holiday. Prices were lower by $5 to $15 per ton depending on product. Steel buyers continue to be concerned about the direction of prices and how long this downward spiral will last. We have more on the comments received today as we canvassed both end […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) spend the majority of today discussing the flat rolled steel markets with steel buyers from around the country. The main topic of conversation was pricing, which is anticipated will drop over the next 30 days and Section 232 which is expected to end that drop… Flat rolled steel buyers reported most […]
Flat rolled steel prices dropped last week as all three of the indexes followed by Steel Market Update (SMU) reported lower pricing. Benchmark hot rolled prices dropped by double digits last week with SMU and Platts at $595 per ton as the week ended and SteelBenchmarker dropping $12 per ton to $611 per ton. The […]
CHARLOTTE, N.C., May 25, 2017 /PRNewswire/ — Nucor Corporation (NYSE: NUE) announced today that it is investing an estimated $176 million to build a hot band galvanizing and pickling line at its sheet mill in Ghent, Kentucky. The new galvanizing line will expand Nucor Steel Gallatin’s product capabilities and have an annual capacity of 500,000 […]
“There’s been further erosion with EAF’s dropping spot to $570-$580, not necessarily tied to volume,” is what one large service center told us this afternoon. “[I am] afraid this market at risk of bigger drops than was anticipated.” Flat rolled price averages were lower across all products followed by Steel Market Update with the exception […]
When we saw that shipments had dropped by over 500,000 tons in April our first thought was “Yikes!” but as we looked deeper we saw that shipping days in March were 23 days (their highest in the cycle) and in April fell to 19 days. Daily shipments in April increased by 6.6 percent from March. […]
Steel Market Update has begun to ask our scrap sources to provide some color as to what we can expect. Early indications from our sources are to expect ferrous scrap prices to trade “sideways” (unchanged) from the levels reported at the beginning of May. One of our sources told us, “The June market looks to […]
Flat rolled steel prices continued to slip lower this past week according to the steel indexes followed by Steel Market Update. Benchmark hot rolled prices slipped $5 per ton on both Platts and our own index. SteelBenchmarker did not report prices as they only produce prices twice per week. The hot rolled average is quickly […]
Earlier today, Steel Market Update (SMU) adjusted our Price Momentum Indicator from Neutral to Lower. Flat rolled prices have been slowly dropping for more than a month and it does not appear there is anything that is going to stop the leak from continuing, at least not over the next 30 days. Flat rolled steel […]
The Metal Service Center Institute (MSCI) released their April 2017 shipment and inventories data for the United States and Canada. The following is a recap of the U.S. data. Total steel shipments (all products) were reported to be 3,110,500 tons which was 4.2 percent lower than year ago levels (19 days vs. 21 day month […]
Total Canadian steel shipments for all products in April were 362,400 net tons, down 14.0 percent from March and down 2.8 percent from April 2017. On a daily rate, total shipments were 19,100 tons per day in April (19 day month), up from 18,300 tons per day in March (23 day month), and up compared […]
I have read reports that suggest the first fully integrated mill in Vietnam, Formosa Ha Tinh Steel, has received permission to test their #1 blast furnace. The Vietnamese government has approved the pollution control equipment and the company is going to be allowed to run the blast furnace on a six-month trial period. In July […]
Hot rolled prices have been dropping over the past few weeks and that trend continued with all three steel indexes followed by Steel Market Update reporting lower hot rolled coil price averages last week. Steel Market Update’s (SMU) own index saw HRC prices as being down $15 per ton ($0.75/cwt) to $610 per ton ($30.50/cwt). […]
The latest license data was reported by the Steel Import Monitoring and Analysis system of the US Commerce Department on May 2nd and closed out the April data. An explanation of the methodology that we at SMU use to analyze the trade data is given at the end of this piece. All volumes in this […]