By CRU Senior Analyst Ryan McKinley, from CRU’s Steel Sheet Products Monitor Steel sheet price declines continue in the USA and Europe as lead times shorten further and inventories build. In the former market, small transactions are occurring at levels above $1,900 /s.ton, but there are many more deals occurring at well below this level. As […]
When the books are written on a historic year for steel prices, we will probably look back at August and September as the months when things started falling apart. Why? Because that’s when the extraordinay gaps – between U.S. steel prices and those abroad, between steel prices and scrap prices, and between market senitment and […]
Mill lead times for orders of flat rolled and plate products have shortened significantly over the past month. Steel Market Update’s latest check of the market shows the average lead times for hot rolled, cold rolled and galvanized steel have come in by roughly three-fourths of a week. The typical hot rolled lead time is […]
United Auto Workers (UAW) members at John Deere have set up pickets after a midnight strike deadline lapsed. The strike at the Moline, Ill.-based heavy equipment manufacturer impacts more than 10,000 workers at 14 facilities – most of them in the Midwest but some as far afield as Colorado and Georgia. “Our members at John Deere […]
By CRU Principal Analyst Josh Spoores, from CRU’s Steel Sheet Products Monitor North American sheet prices are lower m/m as prices in the U.S. have finally started to fall, at least for HR coil. Over the past several weeks, the amount and overall volume of spot transactions between mills and buyers have slowed, yet we […]
Heavy equipment maker Deere & Co. faces a midnight strike deadline after United Auto Workers (UAW) union members overwhelmingly rejected a tentative contract agreement. The deadline has been set for Wednesday, Oct. 13, at 11:59 pm after approximately 90% of UAW members rejected the tentative pact, the union said. Both sides continue to bargain in […]
Mill shipments of steel products jumped 11.2% in August to 9.69 million tons, following an increase of 2.0% the month prior. Apparent supply was up 7.8% in August after a 3.6% increase in July. August’s expansion is the sixth straight month of growth in the steel supply since February’s double-digit contraction. This analysis is based on […]
In the face of strong demand, limited availability and record-high prices in the U.S., steel buyers have looked overseas for relief. August Commerce Department data shows steel imports have been on the rise for the past three months, with imports’ share of total sheet product shipments reaching 17.5%, up from 16.7% the month prior, and the […]
Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. has agreed to acquire Midwestern scrap recycler Ferrous Processing and Trading Co. (FPT) for $775 million. The deal means the Cleveland-based steelmaker has secured its own reserves of prime scrap, which Cliffs Chairman, President and CEO Lourenco Goncalves has previously characterized as a “precious metal.” FPT recorded earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization […]
Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. has agreed to acquire Midwestern scrap recycler Ferrous Processing and Trading Co. (FPT) for $775 million. The deal means the Cleveland-based steelmaker has secured its own reserves of prime scrap, which Cliffs Chairman, President and CEO Lourenco Goncalves has previously characterized as a “precious metal.” FPT recorded earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization […]
Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. isn’t feeling the heat of soaring metallurgical coal prices, at least not yet. And the Cleveland-based miner and steelmaker plans to turn to its own mines if the market overheats. “We are benefiting from our existing multi-year contracts with suppliers and also the supply from our own coal production operations,” a company spokeswoman […]
JSW Steel USA has restarted the electric arc furnace (EAF) at its sheet mill in Mingo Junction, Ohio, after a minor burn through late last month. The EAF resumed melting on Wednesday, a day ahead of the expected schedule, JSW Steel USA CEO Mark Bush told Steel Market Update on Thursday. The burn through happened on […]
Sheet prices are mixed this week. Hot rolled is up $10 per ton, cold rolled is down $30 per ton, and galvanized base prices are unchanged. What do you make of a week like this when there is no clear trend? First, I would caution against reading too much into any one week – especially when […]
First, I want to thank the SMU team for keeping the ship afloat and moving forward during my extended vacation. If you didn’t know, I took the month of September off, then the team did a great job during my absence. And of course the steel market kept churning while I was away from my […]
The David J. Joseph Co. (DJJ) has acquired two recycling operations that are expected to increase its capacity by 10%, parent company Nucor Corp. said. DJJ’s deals – terms of which were not disclosed – will support the Charlotte, N.C.-based steelmaker’s growth strategy and increase its ability to secure scrap for its electric arc furnace (EAF) […]
In its fifth acquisition in the past four years, Olympic Steel Inc. has acquired the assets of Shaw Stainless & Alloy, Inc. Terms of the all-cash purchase were not disclosed. The deal includes Shaw’s stainless steel distribution and fabrication businesses as well as its architectural and barrier defense businesses. Shaw will be incorporated into Olympic […]
By CRU Senior Editor Ryan McKinley, from CRU’s Steel Sheet Products Monitor Sheet prices outside of the USA fell markedly this week as demand declines and inventories build. The largest of these declines occurred in Europe, as lower-priced imports forced Italian domestic prices to fall below the €1,000 /t mark for the first time since […]
Mexican flat-rolled steelmaker Altos Hornos de México (AHMSA) is taking a planned, two-week outage on its hot strip mill, a company spokesman said. The outage is underway. Because it was planned, customers should not be impacted, he said. AHMSA’s hot strip mill has annual capacity of 2.8 million tons per year, according to the Association […]
JSW Steel USA’s electric arc furnace (EAF) sheet mill in Mingo Junction, Ohio, has experienced a “minor furnace burn through,” the company’s top executive said. But the impact on customers is expected to be limited, JSW Steel USA CEO Mark Bush told Steel Market Update. The burn through happened on Sunday, Sept. 26, and repairs are […]
Editor’s note: SMU Contributor David Feldstein is president of Rock Trading Advisors. Rock provides customers attached to the steel industry with commodity price risk management services and market intelligence. RTA is registered with the National Futures Association as a Commodity Trade Advisor. David has over 20 years of professional trading experience and has been active […]
Price dynamics in the steel market are starting to resemble an inverted yield curve, and market participants should treat the situation with appropriate caution. Plate mills and tube producers have announced significant price increases: $75 for tubular products ($3.75 per cwt), $80 per ton for plate and as much as $240 per ton for quenched and […]
At least two domestic pipe and tube mills have announced higher prices on the heels of higher hot-rolled coil costs, market participants said. Atlas Tube in a leading move said it was raising prices by at least $75 per ton ($3.75 per ton) for mechanical tubing, hollow structural sections (HSS) and piling products. The pipe-and-tube price […]
At the top of the news this week, Steel Market Update sources reported that steel supplies are loosening as lead times from the domestic mills shorten and surging imports start to make it into service center inventories. It’s no surprise, then, that steel prices are beginning to moderate. Hot rolled steel prices rose virtually every […]
By Stephen Williamson, CRU Research Manager, Aluminum Aluminum prices continue to flirt with $3,000 per metric ton on the LME. While off a bit, now at $2,866, recent upsets in the market make price volatility the norm in the near term. Energy curtailments in China exacerbate not only global aluminum supply but also silicon (Si) […]
By Stephen Williamson, CRU Research Manager, Aluminum As in last week’s report, aluminum prices continue to flirt with the $3,000 per metric ton mark on the LME, $2,908/t as of this writing. However, this apparently steady price range belies a torrent of market activity. The protracted energy curtailments in China continue to cast doubt on […]
A lot has been written about how a severe shortage of prime scrap could be the lasting result of the widespread shift to electric arc furnace (EAF) steelmaking. I’d like to take a minute to point out that tri-state area around Pittsburgh, which Nucor is considering for its $2.7 billion, three-million-tpy EAF sheet mill mill, […]
A Pennsylvania state senator wants the Keystone State’s governor to work with him to land Nucor and U.S. Steel’s new, multibillion-dollar sheet mills in the western part of the state. Sen. Joe Pittman, a Republican, wants to meet with Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, in hopes of attracting the electric arc furnace (EAF) mill projects – […]
By CRU Senior Analyst Helen O’Cleary, from CRU’s Steel Sheet Products Monitor CRU recently developed a bottom-up zinc demand model to improve our medium-term demand forecasts. The model calculates demand in key regions and countries for the six major first uses of refined zinc: galvanized sheet, general galvanizing, copper-zinc alloys, die casting alloys, zinc oxide […]
Monthly Key Market Indicators, as analysed by Steel Market Update, slipped again in the past month, albeit slightly. The typical summer slowdown may have been compounded by the ongoing drag of COVID-19 as well as an uneasy economic and political landscape. Markers for the Present Situation have contracted for a third straight month and Trends […]
Much like when seasons change, wholesalers of galvanized steel products sense a whiff of something different in the atmosphere, brought to U.S. shores along with thousands of tons of low-priced imports. “The import market has opened people’s eyes. With that type of a price spread – coupled with auto steel still being impacted by the […]