The following article on the hot rolled coil (HRC) steel and financial futures markets was written by Jack Marshall of Crunch Risk LLC. Here is how Jack saw trading over the past week: Steel Flattening of HR futures curve due to decline in nearby futures prices generates heavy trading. It has been an active week […]
It is the first week of May and the negotiations between the long and flat rolled steel mills have been in full swing all week. By late today (Thursday) word of how the scrap dealers had fared has been coming into our offices. The first region to settle was Detroit which was up $10 on […]
SMU sources are expecting scrap prices to remain somewhat range-bound as the scrap dealers begin negotiations with the domestic steel mills for the month of May. Most dealers are forecasting May settlement prices to be within $10 per ton of what we saw in April and this can vary from region to region. We understand […]
The following article on the hot rolled coil (HRC) steel and financial futures markets was written by Jack Marshall of Crunch Risk LLC. Here is how Jack saw trading over the past week: Steel With the exception of HR spot not much has changed this past month in the HR futures curve. When you compare […]
The following article on the hot rolled coil (HRC) steel and financial futures markets was written by Jack Marshall of Crunch Risk LLC. Here is how Jack saw trading over the past week: Steel Interesting week in HR futures as spot retraced back to the mid $650/ST after moving higher the prior week. HR futures […]
Scrap dealers are pointing at the order book at the domestic mills as one of the main reasons why ferrous scrap prices inched back after the domestic mills initially pushed for shred and obsolete grades to be lower by $30 per gross ton. The mills could not get enough dealers to fill their scrap order […]
The following article on the hot rolled coil (HRC) steel and financial futures markets was written by Jack Marshall of Crunch Risk LLC. Here is how Jack saw trading over the past week: Steel With HR spot hovering around $650/ST, HR futures prices declined in the latest week on modest trading volumes. Conflicting sharp price […]
Early indications (and we should put special emphasis on the word “early”) are for ferrous scrap prices to trend slightly lower on shred and obsolete grades while prime grades (busheling/bundles) are expected to trade sideways due to strong demand from sheet mills. In March, prices for prime grades of scrap rose $60-$65 per gross ton […]
When we conducted our flat rolled market trends analysis during the middle of February we found 20 percent of our respondents had concerns regarding supply during calendar year 2017. The majority of respondents (63 percent) expressed no concerns about supply. As we move forward to last week the majority is still expressing no concerns about […]
Flat rolled steel order books have been helping push ferrous scrap prices higher for March delivery to the domestic steel mills. Steelmakers have paid $50 to $80 per gross ton higher prices than February for prime grades such as busheling and bundles. Sheet mills pushed their buying prices in order to get the supply of […]
The rumors about March ferrous scrap prices have been flying ever since prices rebounded early in February from the initial down $10-$30 per gross ton we saw in the early negotiations. As the month of February continued scrap prices rebounded and, in some cases, returned to levels seen in January. As we prepared for March […]
The ferrous scrap markets have been all about doom and gloom up until the past couple of days. Obsolete grade and shredded scrap were reported trading down $25 per ton in Brazil. Prime grades were down $10 per ton. Our sources were telling us export prices were down and the exporters off the east coast […]
Ferrous scrap price negotiations for January were slow to develop but by late Thursday and into Friday prices firmed and deals between the domestic steel mills and the scrap dealers were getting done. The two largest scrap buyers, David J Joseph (Nucor) and Omnisource (Steel Dynamics), entered the market late during the week at $30 […]
If you are a steel buyer thinking that this rash of price increase announcements has run its course you may want to re-think the market forces again. One of the major scrap exporters booked a cargo of 80/20 mix to Turkey at $296 per metric ton delivered. They also sold shredded scrap at $301 delivered. […]
We have an unusual hot rolled futures market article tonight which will be dealt with in two segments: First, we will have an article written by Andre Marshall of Crunch Risk, LLC as he deals with the financial markets (S&P 500), oil and copper and then he has some comments about an errant trade which […]
There has been a flurry of activity over the past 24 hours with our sources suggesting that the very early trades on ferrous scrap were done up $30 to $45 per gross ton. As we slide into late Tuesday our sources were advising that the numbers could be up as much as $50 per gross […]
As we discussed earlier this week, higher international prices for iron ore, coking coal, pig iron and steel are helping take ferrous scrap export prices higher. SMU had lunch with one of our scrap/pig iron experts who advised that 80/20 scrap export prices may have reached $280 per metric ton delivered. At the same time, […]
The following article on the hot rolled coil (HRC) and financial futures markets was written by Jack Marshall of Crunch Risk LLC. Here is how Jack saw trading over the past week: Steel – HR futures The Hot Rolled futures market this past week has been characterized by limited trading activity. There have been numerous […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) is adjusting our Price Momentum Indicator to “Higher” from Neutral. It is our opinion that flat rolled steel prices in the United States and Canada will move higher over the next 30 to 60 days. There are a number of reasons why we have chosen to make this move now, here […]
Steel Market Update scrap sources are advising us to expect ferrous scrap prices have bottomed and will increase once the November negotiations get underway next week with the domestic steel mills. We are hearing scrap prices should increase by a minimum of $10 per gross ton and some items could go up by as much […]
Steel Market Update ferrous scrap sources advised us over the weekend that scrap negotiations have wrapped up between the dealers and the domestic mills and that steel mills, once again, have walked away the winners as scrap prices dropped across the country. However, the weakest areas are those furthest away from the east coast where […]
The uncertainty in the market (called the “blahs” by a number of our steel sources) is affecting both buyers and sellers of steel. Steel mills have been doing all that they can in an attempt to keep flat rolled steel prices from slipping too far. One of our mill sources had a sense of humor […]
The prices for flat rolled steel have dropped over the past few weeks which is creating a situation where the domestic steel mills want to recoup a portion (or all) of the reductions by negotiating lower ferrous scrap pricing. The mills are asking for $20 per gross ton across the board (HMS, shred, prime grades) […]
SMU Sources are advising us that obsolete grades of ferrous scrap are trading sideways (prices remaining the same as last month) while prime grades move lower by $10 to $15 per gross ton in the Chicago, Ohio Valley, Detroit and Indiana markets. Prior to negotiations beginning, the expectation was for obsolete grades to remain intact […]
The following article on the hot rolled coil (HRC) and financial futures markets was written by Jack Marshall of Crunch Risk LLC. Here is how Jack saw trading over the past week: Steel A trickle of bullish news for steel helping to push values higher on very light HR futures volume and reduced selling interests. […]
Initial reports coming out of the financial community are suggesting ferrous scrap prices could be down $5 to $15 per ton once the August negotiations between the steel mills and their suppliers get under way. The expectation that the prime grades will be hit after spending a couple of months moving sideways. However, not all […]
As reported last week, obsolete grades of ferrous scrap came under price pressure as negotiations concluded for July deliveries. Prime grades, however, saw prices move sideways as the spread between shredded scrap and primes increased. The product that saw the most movement was shredded due to excessive inventories and little movement on the export front […]
There is a big difference between the settlement prices in the Midwest versus those on the East Coast. Ferrous scrap prices in the Chicago area saw shredded scrap drop by $30 per gross ton, cuts (obsolete scrap) was down $20 per ton while prime grades (bundles and busheling) went sideways. In the Detroit numbers shredded […]
SMU scrap sources on Friday divulged that negotiations have been slow with many mills not yet having bought as of this past Friday. Price indicators are running from sideways on prime grades (busheling/bundles) to down $10, $20, $30 in the Ohio Valley, Midwest and Southeast. The east coast was referenced as being down by even […]
Our scrap sources are a little less optimistic today about June scrap price negotiations than they were a couple of short weeks ago. Those pesky Chinese are once again mucking up the waters with their billet offers to Turkey (billet can be used in place of scrap and cost less to convert to long products […]