Tag: prices

Coming out of a strong fourth quarter, galvanized steel market participants are reporting an above-average start to January and are cautiously optimistic for 2024.

US service center flat-rolled steel inventories surged in December with the seasonal slowdown in shipments. At the end of December, service centers carried 64.8 shipping days of supply, according to adjusted SMU data, up from 54 days in November.

For two consecutive months, the initial scrap prices didn’t attract the amount of scrap that mills needed. A Detroit area mill came in at $460 per gross ton (gt) for busheling, which was down $50 from last month and down $20 on shredded and plate and structurals (P&S). But I guess they did not know at the time another mill in the district bought scrap sideways. Needless to say, that order filled right away. SMU could not find any supplier who sold at down $50.

The spread between cold-rolled coil (CRC) and hot-rolled coil (HRC) prices jumped during the week of Jan. 8 as cold rolled tags continued to rise while hot rolled tags held steady.

It’s been a sloppy start to the year for domestic hot-rolled (HR) coil and ferrous scrap markets. One of the loudest things to happen in HR this year might be something that didn’t happen at all. Namely, Nucor didn’t follow competitor Cleveland-Cliffs higher when Cliffs announced a price hike to start the year.

After a holiday period that saw HR futures volumes somewhat muted in December, the first week of January brought with it increased interest reflected in higher volumes.

SMU polled steel buyers on a variety of subjects this past week, including inventory, demand, steel sheet prices, imports, and what people are talking about in today’s marketplace. Rather than summarizing the comments we received, we are sharing some of them in each buyer’s own words. We’d like to hear your thoughts, too! Contact david@steelmarketupdate.com to be […]

Pig iron prices rose month over month (MoM) in all major regions aside from Europe on improved buying. Demand in the US remains robust while market participants report that availability of Brazilian material increased after tightening a month prior. Meanwhile, Ukrainian export capacity increased due to greater access to temporary sea corridors.

US hot-rolled coil (HRC) prices were unchanged this week but remain significantly more expensive than offshore product. While imported hot band tags increased vs. last week, gains were marginal, keeping domestic HRC substantially more expensive than imports. All told, US HRC prices are 24.3% more expensive than imports, a premium that is down only slightly […]

I expected that we’d start off January with prime scrap prices modestly up if for no other reason than industrial activity typically slows down over the holidays. And mills’ appetite for scrap typically increases in anticipation of stronger Q1 order activity.

Hot-rolled (HR) coil prices remain in the holding pattern they've been in since mid-December, according to SMU pricing archives.

Steel prices continued to move higher last month on the back of repeated mill price increases after tags reached a 2023 low of $645 per ton in late September. Hot-rolled coil (HRC) prices ended December at an average of $1,035 per ton ($51.75 per cwt), rising by $112 per ton during the month.

The US Department of Commerce will likely be lowering the antidumping duty (AD) rates on imports of welded steel pipe from the UAE.

Commercial Metals Co. saw robust demand from the construction markets in its first fiscal quarter, which ended on Nov. 30, 2023.

I’d have been surprised if anyone told me just last week that the January scrap market might move lower. What we saw on Friday were offers. Not settlements. And no doubt there are still some twists and turns in store before we can say for sure which way scrap will go.

A Detroit-area mill entered the scrap market on Friday afternoon with the following offers: The Chicago area followed suit: Mills in the Great Lakes region sensed there was ample supply of most grades. Also, they all bought heavily last month and so had sufficient inventories to make this move, market participants said. Still, the move surprised […]

The International Trade Commission (ITC) held a hearing on Thursday, Jan. 4, to consider arguments for and against the imposition of antidumping and countervailing duties (AD/CVDs) on tin mill products from a handful of countries. Both sides made compelling arguments.

SMU polled steel buyers on a variety of subjects this past week, including purchasing practices, steel sheet prices, scrap, and the future market.

The LME aluminum 3-month price was moving further down on the morning of Jan. 5 and was last seen trading at $2,287 per metric ton (mt) as of this article’s writing, already down 6% from its recent peak. SHFE cash also concluded the first week of the year on a weaker foot. The cash contract […]

The iron ore price has edged up further from the already high level seen last week. The market is generally slow, meaning that the moderate price increase came from the bullish outlook from the market following last week’s stimulus announcements from China and expectations of restocking picking up. Supply fell w/w from both Australia and Brazil as […]

After a brief decline in the price of scrap for the Turkish market, which peaked in December at approximately $424 per metric ton (mt) for HMS 80/20, the market has bottomed at $405/mt on cargoes from Europe.

Trading slowed across the Midwest hot-rolled coil (HRC) futures curve in the final weeks of 2023, with prices drifting mostly sideways through the month of December.

Cleveland-Cliffs didn’t wait long to roll out the first price increase of the year - $1,150 per short ton (st) for hot-rolled coil. That’s up $50 per ton from the steelmaker’s last published price. Will anyone follow? I’ve heard some mills are meeting this week but that any announcement might not come until next week. We'll see.

Radius Recycling reported a net loss in its fiscal first quarter of 2024 on tighter supply flows for recycled metals and lower average selling prices for the company’s products.

The percentage of steel buyers saying mills were willing to negotiate spot pricing on the products SMU surveys was mixed this week.

US hot-rolled coil (HRC) prices moved up again this week and remain significantly more expensive than offshore product.

Canadian flat-rolled steelmaker Algoma Steel Group Inc. guided toward lower earnings in its fiscal 2024 third quarter, citing the United Auto Workers (UAW) strike and lower steel prices last fall.

Cleveland-Cliffs is now targeting base prices of $1,150 per ton for hot-rolled coil (HRC), according to a press release on Wednesday morning, Jan. 3.

SMU doesn’t do forecasts. We leave that to our colleagues at CRU. But we’re pretty good at surveys, and we’ve got a great group of readers. That’s why we decided to ask you what’s in store for 2024. The results are below, along with some insightful comments in italics.

Sheet prices were mixed in SMU’s first assessment of the market in the New Year.