Steel Market Update (SMU) Publisher John Packard and Executive Editor Tim Triplett were in New York City over the past two days meeting with manufacturing companies, service centers, steel mills, trading companies and members of the financial community associated with the steel industry. We found the first words off of everyone’s lips were “what do you think […]
Last week, Steel Market Update (SMU) conducted an analysis of the flat rolled steel market trends. As part of that process, we asked the 100+ companies who responded to our inquiries if quotas or tariffs would be good or bad for their company. We found the majority of the mostly manufacturers and service centers responding […]
Ryerson Holding Corp., a processor and distributor of industrial metals, said end-market shipments to most sectors improved in the second quarter, particularly in commercial ground transportation and HVAC industries. Shipments also increased to the oil and gas sector, while a quarterly year-over-year decline was seen in industrial machinery and equipment, consumer durables, and food processing […]
,Good evening from New York City (or good morning if you are reading this in the AM). I have been in the city since Sunday evening meeting with manufacturers, service centers, trading companies, steel mills and some of the financial community. The conversations started with one word – Section – and then three numbers – […]
Last week, Steel Market Update (SMU) conducted one of our flat rolled steel market trends analyses as we surveyed manufacturing companies, service centers, steel mills, trading companies and toll processors. During the process, we inquired as to whether our respondents felt the newest round (and any more to come) of steel price increases were “justified.” […]
“Countries like China are clearly at fault for the decline of the North American aluminum industry,” said M. Robert Weidner, III, president and CEO of the Metals Service Center Institute, in written testimony to the Commerce Department on June 23. “China’s share of the world primary aluminum market rose from 10 percent in 2000 to […]
The Department of Commerce hearing Thursday on the proposed Section 232 for aluminum revealed the same big rift between supporters and opponents as in the steel industry. And for many of the same reasons, notably the effect on prices for downstream manufacturers and consumers and possible retaliation by global trading partners. Commenting on the proceedings, […]
The sentiment among buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel remains largely positive, according to Steel Market Update’s latest steel market analysis, although it has dipped a bit in the past month as the industry awaits a ruling on Section 232 and whether the government will further restrict steel imports on the basis of national […]
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 Lack of certainty in forecasting future HR business continues to create excess price volatility. Longer lead times along with slightly lower […]
Steel mill flat rolled lead times, which have generally trended downward this spring, my be showing early signs of lengthening, reflecting new strength in demand for domestic steel products. Mills were successful in collecting a price increase earlier in the month. Despite SMU data that shows service center inventories at “comfortable” levels, some distributors may […]
We saw mixed results this week as hot rolled prices rose a very modest $5, cold rolled was down $15, galvanized was up $10 and Galvalume remained the same even as the lower end dropped $10 per ton and the upper end rose $10 per ton. Definitely a mixed week as the market tries to […]
We are hearing reports from steel mills that their lead times have moved out and they have been able to collect some, if not most, of the $30 per ton price increase announced at the beginning of the month. Steel Market Update (SMU) is concerned as our research data is suggesting that service centers are […]
This afternoon there was a press conference in Washington hosted by the American Institute for International Steel. Many of the large press organizations attended the conference, and even though we were unable to personally attend, we did receive notes about the content and especially the questions that interested the press corps. There appears to be […]
The United States’ NATO allies are worried about the upcoming decision on the Section 232 investigation of steel imports and their impact on national security. European officials warn that restrictions on EU imports could add to the anti-American sentiment already building in Europe over Russian sanctions, the withdrawal from the Paris climate accord and President […]
I have a 4 a.m. wake-up call as Diana, Brett and I head for California to conduct our next Steel 101 workshop. We have a great class and we are looking forward to meeting new people, working with California Steel again and trying to stay cool as temps are suppose to be above 90 degrees […]
On Friday afternoon, Steel Market Update learned the U.S. Department of Commerce Section 232 briefings with Capitol Hill on steel remedies scheduled for Friday were cancelled. The reason for the cancellation, according to World Trade Online, was the lack of progress within the administration on its approach to the issue. The briefing was to have […]
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 […]
The steel industry has a way of surprising those who use its products. This may be especially true this year as it appears the industry is about to enter a phase not seen in decades. It is mid-June 2017 and the domestic flat rolled steel mills are raising steel prices as the U.S. Department of […]
One of the suggestions being floated within the steel industry is that Wilbur Ross will recommend some form of TRQ (trade rate quota) system whereby quotas are set up based on an average period of time. To help our readers imagine what that might mean we have taken two periods of time on galvanized steel […]
The following calculation is used by Steel Market Update to identify the theoretical spread between foreign hot rolled steel import prices (delivered to USA ports) and domestic (USA) hot rolled coil prices (FOB Domestic mills). We want our readers to be aware that this is only a “theoretical” calculation as freight costs, trader margin and […]
Uttam Galva North America, Inc. (UGNA), a supplier of cold rolled and galvanized steels, tells SMU it has temporarily suspended taking new orders in the United States for its mill in India in reaction to the Section 232 investigation. “For the last few weeks, we have stayed on the sidelines while 232 is being analyzed […]
The U.S. Department of Commerce reported foreign steel import data earlier this week. Based on license data through June 13, foreign steel imports are on track to once again top 3 million net tons. This would be the fourth consecutive month of imports reaching the 3 million ton mark. Steel Market Update (SMU) looks at […]
The following article on the hot rolled coil (HRC) futures markets was written by David Feldstein. As the Flack Global Metals director of risk management, Dave is an active participant in the hot rolled coil (HRC) futures market and we believe he will provide insightful commentary and trading ideas to our readers. Besides writing futures […]
As you can see by the number of articles in tonight’s newsletter, there is a LOT going on and we are working over-time trying to stay on top of everything. For that reason we have put off our MSCI articles until Sunday evening’s issue (we will actually publish them to the front of our website […]
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 […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) has been in contact with dozens of steel buyers and executives over the past 24 hours discussing the status of the flat rolled price increases, steel mill lead times and other items of interest to the steel community. Most steel buyers reported the flat rolled price increases as being in effect […]
Steel buyers and traders of foreign steel who have orders on the books and vessels on the water need to be aware the Section 232 statute states that when the president of the United States receives the recommendation from the U.S. Department of Commerce, he then has 90 days to make an announcement. Once the […]
Anxiety reigns supreme in the flat rolled steel industry as both buyers and sellers grapple with the unknowns brought on by the Section 232 investigation. One area of concern is how service centers are handling spot sales to their end user customers. In the flat rolled steel market trends analysis we performed last week, we […]
The uncertainty surrounding the Section 232 national security investigation on steel has HARDI members worried about what the steel industry will be like if the ruling favors domestic steel mills and imports are sharply curtailed. In the monthly steel conference call hosted by HARDI (Heating, Air-conditioning, and Refrigeration Distributors International), members talked about “chaos” and […]
MSCI, Rolling Meadows, Ill., June 12, 2017— In written testimony on NAFTA renegotiation, the Metals Service Center Institute (MSCI) explained how uniquely successful the pact has been for North American manufacturing and urged the Trump administration to upgrade, but not endanger, the trillion dollar-plus annual trading relationship that NAFTA has established between the United States, […]