By CRU Analysts Kevin Bai and Ruilin Wang Chinese economic stimulus in 2018 and 2019 will add a total of 21 Mt to Chinese domestic steel demand, most of which is expected to manifest in 2019. Including this, total Chinese domestic steel demand is now expected to grow at around 3 percent this year. Other […]
By Chris Houlden, CRU Research Manager CRU held its annual Steel Briefing in New York City on June 17. This Insight summarizes the key takeaways from papers presented by CRU North America market specialists Josh Spoores and Ryan McKinley. • Up to 20 Mt of new hot-rolling and over 8 Mt of steelmaking capacity could come […]
This analysis breaks down the imported tonnage of hot rolled coil into the district of entry and the source nation. We believe that misinformation (or lack of) about local import volumes is often used to influence purchase decisions. Our intent with this analysis is to describe in detail what is going on in a company’s […]
The spot price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) FOB Cushing, Okla., reached $66.24 per barrel on April 20 and had declined to $51.94 on June 17. The total number of operating rigs exploring for oil has declined by 106 since Jan. 4. The prices of oil and natural gas drive the consumption of energy-related steel […]
By CRU Prices Analyst Estelle Tran Hundreds of steel executives from around the world gathered in New York City this week to hold meetings and learn about what will drive the steel markets in the second half of the year. The CRU Steel Briefing on Monday, June 17, provided attendees with our views on sheet […]
More than 700 executives are registered with slightly more than two months to go before the start of the 2019 SMU Steel Summit Conference. We continue to see strong interest in this year’s event, which will be held in Atlanta, Ga., on Aug. 26-28. Once again, the Georgia International Convention Center (www.gicc.com) will be the […]
More than 700 executives are registered with slightly more than two months to go before the start of the 2019 SMU Steel Summit Conference. We continue to see strong interest in this year’s event, which will be held in Atlanta, Ga., on Aug. 26-28. Once again, the Georgia International Convention Center (www.gicc.com) will be the […]
SMU now offers a comprehensive series of import reports ranging from the first look at Commerce Department license data to the very detailed look at volume by district of entry and source nation. The report you are reading now is designed to plug the gap between these two. Our intention is to report regional imports […]
SMU now offers a comprehensive series of import reports ranging from the first look at licensed data to the very detailed look at volume by district of entry and source nation. The report you are reading now is designed to plug the gap between these two. Our intention is to report regional imports for six […]
This report examines the import share of sheet, plate, long and tubular products and 16 subcategories. Table 1 shows total supply to the market in three months through April and in 12 months through April for the four product groups and the 16 subcategories. Supply to the market is the total of domestic mill shipments […]
2019 SMU NexGen Leadership Award – Frequently Asked Questions Question: What is the purpose of the award? Answer: To recognize the contributions being made by younger people in various roles in manufacturing, fabrication, steel distribution, steel mills, trading companies – essentially any company that handles mild carbon (coil, sheet or plate) or automotive steels. Steel […]
2019 SMU NexGen Leadership Award – Frequently Asked Questions Question: What is the purpose of the award? Answer: To recognize the contributions being made by younger people in various roles in manufacturing, fabrication, steel distribution, steel mills, trading companies – essentially any company that handles mild carbon (coil, sheet or plate) or automotive steels. Steel […]
Steel Market Update is pleased to share this Premium content with Executive-level members. For more information on how to upgrade to a Premium-level subscription, email Info@SteelMarketUpdate.com. Demand for long products is strong, driven by construction, while demand for sheet is declining, according to this SMU analysis of the latest data from the American Iron and […]
The CEO of ArcelorMittal says Europe has a “steel glut” because of U.S. tariffs and the EU needs to do more to limit imports. ArcelorMittal Chairman and CEO Lakshmi Mittal told a German newspaper yesterday that safeguards initiated by the EU are not successfully protecting the European steel industry. “The EU has announced safeguard measures, […]
Mexican steel producer, Altos Hornos de Mexico, S.A.B. de C.V. (AHMSA) has reached an agreement with South Korea’s Paco Engineering to build Mexico’s first coated galvanized steel sheet plant. The new $20 million plant in Monclova will be able to process 90,000 tons of cold rolled sheet per year. “The painted sheet plant is one […]
Total rolled product imports in May declined by 27.4 percent year over year on a three-month moving average (3MMA) basis. This follows the 24.4 percent decline in April. This early look at May’s import volume is based on Commerce Department license data (see explanation below.) This import analysis includes all major steel sectors: sheet, plate, […]
Suppliers of steel products to the HVAC industry find themselves stuck in a good news/bad news market. Demand remains good as the construction season ramps up, but pricing on galvanized steel continues to weaken. “Demand in the Southeast is still very good, even though there has been a painful devaluation of our inventory,” said one […]
Key Market Indicator trends deteriorated in May and were the worst since October 2016, according to Steel Market Update’s analysis. This report is designed to be a big picture summary of data we have reported in detail during the month. In it we summarize 36 data streams that critically describe the state of the steel […]
By CRU Principal Analyst Josh Spoores In the U.S. Midwest market, sheet prices have continued to decline on increased domestic, and now North American, supply. In addition to rising supply, falling scrap costs have also allowed EAF-based mills to remain competitive at these lower prices. It has now been one week since Canada and Mexico […]
ArcelorMittal announced it will make another cut to European production levels due to weak demand and high import levels in the region. Primary steelmaking will be reduced at facilities in Dunkirk, France, and Eisenhüttenstadt, Germany. Production at the facility in Bremen, Germany, will be reduced during the fourth quarter as well as extending planned furnace […]
Monthly oil production in the U.S. declined sharply in February as inventories increased. The price of West Texas Intermediate crude oil has declined in the last month. The spot price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) FOB Cushing, Okla., reached $66.24 / barrel on April 20 and had declined to $60.97 on May 13. The total […]
By CRU Principal Analyst Josh Spoores and Analyst Ryan McKinley Steel imports to the U.S. from Canada and Mexico prior to the S232 tariffs were near 12 Mt on an annualized basis. Data from this past March and April show arrivals closer to 7.5 Mt annually. With the end of the S232 on the U.S.’s […]
Like everyone else in the steel industry, members of the Heating, Air-conditioning and Refrigeration Distributors International (HARDI) are wondering what will happen to supply and prices now that the Trump administration has lifted the Section 232 tariffs on steel imports from Canada and Mexico and cut in half the tariffs on steel imports from Turkey. […]
Premium subscribers to Steel Market Update have reports available on our website that break out the import tonnage into district of entry and source nation for six sheet and plate product categories. This report takes the total national tonnage of hot rolled and breaks it down into product detail. Using U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) […]
Demand for long products and tubular goods have shown strong growth, but sheet products are declining. This analysis by SMU staff is based on data from the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) and the U.S. Department of Commerce (DoC). The analysis summarizes total steel supply by product from 2003 through March 2019 and year-on-year […]
The competitiveness of steel continues to lose ground against aluminum and plastic, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Cold rolled steel sheet has become less competitive against aluminum sheet in the last year and this has carried through to steel and aluminum cans. Steel tubular goods have lost ground to […]
Using U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) data, SMU has taken the import tonnage of cold rolled sheet and broken it down into coil and leveled, then it breaks out four thickness ranges and identifies how much was full hard, annealed and high strength. Through March 2019, of the total cold rolled sheet and strip imports […]
Steel Market Update is sharing this Premium content with Executive-level members in this issue. For more information on how to upgrade to a Premium-level subscription, email info@SteelMarketUpdate.com. Rolled product imports declined by 24.4 percent in April year over year on a three-month moving average (3MMA) basis. This early look at April’s import volume is based […]
Good afternoon/evening from Davenport, Iowa. Davenport is where the Mississippi River flooded the downtown area a couple of weeks ago. Water levels are down four feet from their highest point, and the flood waters reached the parking lot of our hotel before receding back across the railroad tracks. The river is still in flood stage […]
Steel buyers are still trying to get a sense for what is driving this market and market pricing. We are seeing weakness in prices even though foreign steel imports are down, import price offers are higher than domestic steel prices and demand is pretty good for most of the market segments using sheet or plate […]