As the market waits anxiously to see if President Trump gives in to the international pressure to rethink his national security tariff on steel imports, it’s clear that steel fabricators are not big fans of Section 232. Speaking at the Fabricators & Manufacturers Association annual meeting March 5 in Nashville, panelists’ comments reflected the divisive […]
Are steel prices witnessing a dead cat bounce or the beginning of a bullish reversal? The market appears split on the feline vs. bovine analogy. In other words, there is a huge divergence of thought on what is going to happen to steel prices over the next three or four months. The benchmark price of […]
Steel market conditions and steel prices could be good for the next 18-24 months, but after that comes an unavoidable downturn that metals and mining analyst Timna Tanners has dubbed “Steelmageddon.” In fact, her company, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, has trademarked the term. Speaking at the S&P Global Platts North America Steel Conference March […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: Steel and aluminum tariffs are plainly on the table as part of the USMCA approval strategy. Canada and Mexico insist on the removal of the tariffs as part of ratification of the new “NAFTA 2.0.” U.S. Trade Representative […]
Latin American steel mill Ternium reported the highest annual EBITDA in its history last year at $2.7 billion, a 40 percent increase from 2017. Net income was $1.5 billion, driven by an 18 percent increase in sales and higher steel product shipments. Ternium’s Mexico segment shipped 6.5 million metric tons of steel in 2018, representing […]
There are reports about a myriad of meetings between the USTR, Mexico and Canada as the sides try to come to some form of resolution regarding the Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum. I continue to hear that the move is to not reduce the traditional level of imports from these two countries. In […]
Members of the Heating, Air-conditioning and Refrigeration Distributors International, wholesalers of galvanized sheet and coil products, reported steady and strong demand in the HVAC market so far in 2019, but also growing concern about the direction of steel prices. One HARDI member on the trade group’s monthly conference call today described conditions as “somewhat fragile.” The […]
Declining steel prices may have turned around following price increase announcements from the mills, but there’s no sign yet of a similar uptick in steel buyers’ sentiment. Steel Market Update’s Steel Buyers Sentiment Index, which has been generally trending downward for the past year, saw another slight dip in early March. The goal of the […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: President Trump may be forced to concede some ground on his Section 232 tariffs in order to get legislators in Canada and Mexico to sign off on the new North American trade agreement. One option the administration reportedly […]
Steel Market Update asked: One year after President Trump announced the Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum, have the tariffs been good for your business? For a small majority, 54 percent, of those responding to SMU’s market trends questionnaire, the answer is no. For 46 percent, yes. Opinions are split nearly down the middle. […]
We live in a time when nothing is as it seems and uncertainty rules the roost. This can make for a daunting task when considering when, what and how much steel you need to purchase at any point in time. It appears the second price increase announcement out of Nucor moved some of the end […]
We live in a time when nothing is as it seems and uncertainty rules the roost. This can make for a daunting task when considering when, what and how much steel you need to purchase at any point in time. It appears the second price increase announcement out of Nucor moved some of the end […]
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) is onboard with an effort to restrict President Trump’s ability to use national security as a reason to impose tariffs. Grassley reportedly has told his staff to work with Sens. Pat Toomey (R-PA) and Rob Portman (R-OH) to create legislation that would garner enough Senate support to override […]
The federal government of Canada announced it will give EVRAZ North America C$40 million ($29.78 million U.S.) from its Strategic Innovation Fund to help with C$112.6 million of upgrades planned at facilities in Regina and Red Deer, Alberta. “This will enable the company to produce valued-added OCTG products that match Canadian market demand and make […]
The Steel Manufacturers Association remains a strong supporter of Section 232, even as the tariffs face increased scrutiny as a stumbling block to passage of the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement. SMA President Phil Bell defends the 25 percent tariffs on steel imports from critics who contend they unfairly tax downstream steel consumers. “The gloom and […]
In the recent op-ed below, American Iron and Steel Institute President and CEO Tom Gibson reiterated AISI’s support of steel tariffs and opposition to congressional legislation called “The Bicameral Congressional Trade Authority Act,” which would prematurely terminate the tariffs. “The massive overcapacity in steel still exists globally. And China in particular is producing steel at record levels—exceeding […]
Mexico’s Ministry of Economy announced last week that it will renew tariffs of 15 percent on imports of steel from countries that it does not have a free trade agreement with. The tariff does not impact steel imports from the U.S. or Canada. The Ministry also stated that before signing a new North American trade […]
Altos Hornos de Mexico, S.A. (AHMSA), the largest steel producer in Mexico, reported that sales for fourth-quarter 2018 rose 6.5 percent year-over-year to $733.2 million. The improvement was due to stronger product mix and higher steel prices. The average steel sales price was $803 per metric ton. Adjusted EBITDA was $7.0 million, an 85.2 percent […]
Manufacturing activity slowed its rate of growth in February, according to the latest Manufacturing ISM Report on Business. The headline PMI fell further than expected last month, coming in at 54.2, a 2.4 point decline, and below the general consensus of 55.0. “Production expansion continued in February, but at a slower pace compared to January,” […]
First, a warm thank you to Tim Triplett, Sandy Williams and Brett Linton for filling in for me as I took a few days off to attend a Board of Trustees meeting in Minnesota (I left Florida to go to Minnesota?). Since I have been out of pocket for the past four days, I will […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) has denied a number of requests for the exclusion of imported semifinished products, chiefly slabs, from the Section 232 tariffs. The analysis of one such denial is emblematic of the reasoning […]
By CRU Principal Economist Lisa Morrison U.S. economic data for December and January are beginning to come in now that the federal government is funded for the remainder of this fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30. December housing starts showed a weak end to 2018 as the total of 1.247 million units for 2018 was […]
(Editor’s note: John Packard is traveling.) Just as it appears steel prices have finally turned the corner the pressure is on to get final approval of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement. Trade officials in Canada and Mexico have stated in various press reports that they will not pass the new North American free trade agreement with the […]
The Bureau of Industry and Security, a division of the Department of Commerce, announced today that is has denied the requests from California Steel Industries and Evraz Steel for exclusion of semi-finished steel slabs from the Section 232 tariffs. The BIS agreed with an analysis by the International Trade Administration that there is sufficient production, […]
The Bureau of Industry and Security, a division of the Department of Commerce, announced today that is has denied the requests from California Steel Industries and Evraz Steel for exclusion of semi-finished steel slabs from the Section 232 tariffs. The BIS agreed with an analysis by the International Trade Administration that there is sufficient production, […]
NLMK USA was not among the mills to learn earlier today that the Commerce Department had denied their requests for relief from the Section 232 tariffs on imported slabs. California Steel Industries and Evraz got the bad news. But NLMK USA President and CEO Robert Miller is still angry about it. “The administration, Commerce, BIS […]
As the domestic steel mills started raising flat rolled prices on Wednesday, Steel Market Update reached out to a number of steel buyers in order to get their reaction to the news. We discussed the $40 per ton increases announced by Nucor, NLMK USA, U.S. Steel, California Steel and USS/POSCO along with ArcelorMittal USA’s new […]
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 Market chatter suggests that February has been a fairly active month for HR physical steel sales as spot price indexes have pushed […]
A few weeks back I was having a conversation with the head of commercial for one of the domestic steel mills. The conversation centered around the influence Steel Market Update was having on their order book. In particular, the discussion focused on the SMU Price Momentum Indicator. I was told when our indicator moves to […]
President Trump has received the long-awaited report from the Commerce Department on whether imports of automobiles and auto parts pose a threat to national security and now has 90 days to consider whether to place a 25 percent tariff on automotive imports under Section 232. Details of the Commerce findings were not disclosed but the […]