The United States lost a dispute in the World Trade Organization last month. This is hardly the first time. In this case, tariffs and other import restrictions on steel and aluminum imposed by President Trump in 2018 were found to violate WTO agreements. The United States argued that its invocation of “essential security interests” was […]
Domestic hot-rolled coil (HRC) continues to hold a competitive price advantage over imported steel, according to Steel Market Update’s latest foreign vs. domestic price analysis. US HRC is approximately 3–13% cheaper than foreign prices this week, after consideration of freight costs, trader margins, and any applicable tariffs. This is the tenth consecutive week US prices have […]
Steel Manufacturers Association president Philip K. Bell will be the featured speaker on the next SMU Community Chat on Wednesday, Jan. 11, at 11 a.m. ET. You can register here. SMA is the leading voice of the electric-arc furnace (EAF) steelmaking industry in Washington, D.C., which means Bell is ideally suited to discuss important policy […]
With 2022 now in the past, the door has closed on one of the most volatile years for the aluminum industry. Supply chain disruptions as a residual fallout from Covid-19 and elevated levels of geopolitical risk raised uncertainty throughout the value chain. The shift in import trends has also been a major topic and is […]
Prices of imported hot-rolled coil (HRC) remain higher than domestic steel, according to Steel Market Update’s latest foreign vs. domestic price analysis. US HRC is approximately 2–12% cheaper than foreign prices this week, after consideration of freight costs, trader margins and any applicable tariffs. This is the eighth consecutive week domestic prices have been cheaper […]
Trying to neatly summarize the North American steel market right now can give you a case of cognitive dissonance. Domestic mills think they have some momentum, and they’re trying as hard as they can to get prices higher for Q1. Case in point: ArcelorMittal has put the heft of one of the world’s largest steelmakers […]
Donald Trump has been out of office for nearly two years. But some of his most unsustainable policies live on. Hostility to the World Trade Organization (WTO) is one. Tariffs that violate the rules of global trade is another. Immigration policy is a third. Trade is one of the most remarkable. Smart and experienced people are saying things […]
Domestic hot-rolled coil (HRC) continues to hold a competitive price advantage over imported steel, though that advantage is slightly easing, according to our latest analysis. US HRC is theoretically 3–13% cheaper than foreign prices this week, after consideration of freight costs, trader margins, and any applicable tariffs. This is the seventh consecutive week domestic prices […]
The Biden administration sent a proposition to the European Union (EU) Dec. 7 for a potential trade alliance between nations that use lower carbon emissions to produce metals. In October 2021 the US lifted the Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from the EU, which was replaced by the tariff rate quota (TRQ) […]
The US and the European Union have been engaging in talks designed to reduce global “overcapacity” in steelmaking. These talks stemmed from the agreement between the US and EU to change US Section 232 import measures from tariffs to tariff rate quotas (TRQs). The US has announced a plan (details are scarce) to impose higher […]
The federal government and the domestic steel industry lashed out against a World Trade Organization (WTO) decision ruling that the US violated international trade rules with Section 232 national security tariffs on steel and aluminum. The WTO on Friday, Dec. 9, ruled in favor of Norway, which challenged the Section 232 tariffs – 25% on steel and […]
The World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute panel has ruled against the US on its implementation of Section 232 tariffs on imported steel and aluminum. Norway brought this case. There are pending cases on Section 232 from China, India, Russia, Switzerland, and Turkey—all challenging the legitimacy of US arguments the tariffs were essential to protecting US […]
The US Department of Commerce has updated antidumping and countervailing duties (AD/CVD) on carbon and alloy cut-to-length plate imports from Italy and South Korea after two administrative reviews, according to Federal Register filings reviewed by Steel Market Update. In the AD duty review of Italian CTL plate shipments during the one-year period ended April 30, […]
Domestic hot-rolled coil (HRC) continues to hold a competitive price advantage over imported steel, according to Steel Market Update’s latest foreign vs. domestic price analysis. US HRC is approximately 6–15% cheaper than foreign prices this week, after consideration of freight costs, trader margins, and any applicable tariffs. This is the sixth consecutive week US prices […]
Domestic hot-rolled coil (HRC) continues to hold a sizeable price advantage over imports, according to Steel Market Update’s latest analysis on foreign and domestic prices. US HRC is approximately 5–12% cheaper than foreign prices this week, after consideration of freight costs, trader margins and any applicable tariffs. This is the fifth consecutive week that US […]
Hot-rolled coil lead times have been bouncing around four weeks on average since July. HRC prices over that time have fallen from $955 per ton ($47.75 per cwt) to $630 per ton as of last week, a 34% decline. The question now is whether we bottom out around $600 per ton. Will sheet prices and lead […]
Prices between imported hot-rolled coil (HRC) and domestic steel have further diverged, according to Steel Market Update’s latest foreign versus domestic price analysis. US HRC is approximately 9–14% cheaper than foreign prices this week, after consideration of freight costs, trader margins and any applicable tariffs. This spread has been growing for the last four to […]
Domestic hot-rolled coil (HRC) continues to hold the upper hand over imported steel when it comes to price, according to Steel Market Update’s latest foreign versus domestic price analysis. US HRC is approximately 4–7% cheaper than foreign prices this week, after consideration of freight costs, trader margins and any applicable tariffs. Prior to this week, […]
Hot-rolled coil (HRC) imports offer no cost advantage over domestic steel this week, according to Steel Market Update’s latest analysis. Domestic HRC prices are now approximately 1-3% cheaper than foreign steel, after consideration of freight costs, trader margins and any applicable tariffs. Although down, the relationship between foreign and domestic prices has remained within $18 […]
Sheet prices are down yet again, with our hot-rolled coil price now at its lowest point since late October 2020. The question two years ago was how far prices might rise as demand snapped back from the pandemic faster than supply could be brought online to meet it. The question now is when and where […]
The Brazilian ambassador to the US said it’s time for the removal of Section 232 tariffs and quotas in an editorial sent to the Wall Street Journal. The 232 tariffs and quotas have been in effect for more than four years – since 2018, when then-President Donald Trump imposed a 25% tariff on steel and a […]
People who purchase imported steel don’t like Section 232 tariffs. And domestic steel producers don’t like exclusions to the 25% duties. Recent cases have highlighted a legal problem that mirrors commercial reality. If a domestic steel producer benefits from protective tariffs, does it have a right to participate in litigation against importers challenging the denial […]
The Global Arrangement on Sustainable Steel and Aluminum Just over a year ago, on Oct. 3, 2021, the EU and the US signed an agreement to negotiate on carbon intensity and global overcapacity in both steel and aluminum. This lofty goal seemed to have been trumped by the agreement that the US suspended Section 232 […]
Foreign hot-rolled coil (HRC) imports offer little to no cost advantage over domestic steel at this time, according to Steel Market Update’s latest analysis. After taking freight costs, trader margins and tariffs into consideration, HRC imported from Germany and Italy are theoretically more expensive than domestic steel, and Far East Asian HRC offers just a […]
Galvanized prices continue to drop, as discussed during this month’s call of the Sheet Metal/Air Handling Council of the Heating, Air-conditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International (HARDI). Prices have been steadily dropping for the past six months despite stable demand. A few highlights from the call include the differential between hot-rollled and cold-rolled coil being in […]
Raw steel production by US mills dropped last week, and capability utilization remains below 80%, where it’s now stayed for 15 straight weeks. Rate at or above 80% are considered healthy. Recall that utilization below the 80% benchmark contributed to the 2018 implementation of Section 232 tariffs. Domestic steel output was 1,669,000 net tons in the week […]
The news about AD/CVD orders being removed from Brazil on Friday was notable in that it bucked, in a small way, the trend toward regionalism and protectionism that we’ve seen growing since at least 2014. I noted in my initial writeup – as did Lewis Leibowitz in his deeper dive – that the market impact […]
Last Friday, as Michael Cowden reported, the International Trade Commission (ITC) voted to continue antidumping orders on hot-rolled steel flat products from Australia, Korea, the Netherlands, Japan, Russia, the UK, and Turkey. The vote was 5-0. But by a 3-2 vote, the Commission determined that revocation of the AD and CVD orders on Brazil would […]
The US International Trade Commission (ITC) narrowly voted to revoke anti-dumping and countervailing duties on Brazilian hot-rolled coil. The move comes after US trade officials decided to let duties on Brazilian cold-rolled coil expire – a change that has raised the ire of some domestic mills. The revocation is notable because it could allow for […]
US sheet prices continue to slide, and the weakness in the domestic market has buyers confident that they can get domestic suppliers to negotiate. For hot-rolled coil, imports have not been very advantageous relative to futures. There have been some workable offers for tandem mill products. But buyers have been more inclined to buy domestically or […]