Commercial Metals Company (CMC) has agreed to buy Gerdau’s rebar operations in the United States for $600 million. The acquisition includes 33 rebar fabrication facilities, as well as steel mills in Knoxville, Tenn.; Jacksonville, Fla.; Sayreville, N.J.; and Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., with annual mill rolling capacity of 2.5 million tons. The addition of the Gerdau facilities will bring CMC’s global […]
Service center shipments in November declined by 2.5 percent, close to the normal seasonal change for this time of year, according to Steel Market Update’s analysis of Metals Service Center Institute data. Daily shipments in November were 2.5 percent lower than in October. On average since 2009, November has decreased by 2.1 percent from the […]
Flat rolled steel prices jumped this week as buyers and sellers of steel react to the latest round of price increase announcements. Last week, there was a $50 per ton increase announced on steel plate and then later in the week the sheet mills announced a $30 per ton price increase on hot rolled, cold […]
With mill order books extending into February on some products, most domestic steel producers have announced price increases. Steel Market Update sees steel prices moving higher for the next 30-60 days. The steel plate mills were the first to go last week, adding $50 per ton ($2.50/cwt) to the base price of plate steel. SSAB […]
Demand for sheet products improved in the three months through October by 3.2 percent year over year, led by hot rolled and other metallic coated. Demand for Galvalume is surging at the expense of galvanized sheet, according to Steel Market Update’s latest analysis of American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) and U.S. Department of Commerce […]
This analysis breaks down the imported tonnage of six flat rolled products into the district of entry and the source country. We believe that misinformation (or lack of) about regional 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 […]
USS-POSCO is the latest flat roll mill to announce a price increase. In a letter to customers today, the mill said that, effective immediately, it is raising base prices on all sheet products by a minimum of the following: Hot Rolled P&O, $30 per net ton; Cold Rolled, $30 per net ton; and Galvanized, $30.00 […]
On the heels of its $50 per ton increase on carbon plate prices on Wednesday, Nucor announced an additional $30 per ton increase on hot rolled, cold rolled and galvanized steel products on Friday, effective immediately. U.S. Steel, NLMK USA and California Steel matched the Nucor sheet price increase of $30 per ton. ArcelorMittal USA, […]
ArcelorMittal, California Steel Industries, NLMK USA and U.S. Steel all announced $30 per ton price increases on Friday. Their announcements follow on a similar hike by Nucor earlier this week. In a letter to customers, U.S. Steel’s North American Flat-Rolled Sales Organization stated that, effective immediately, it was increasing base pricing for all new flat-rolled […]
On the heels of Wednesday’s $50 per ton increase on carbon plate prices, Nucor today announced an additional $30 per ton increase on hot rolled, cold rolled and galvanized steel products. In a letter to customers, Nucor’s Sheet Mill Group said the price increases are effective immediately on new and unconfirmed orders. SSAB Americas and […]
Rolled steel imports into the United States declined by 12.7 percent in the three-month period from September-November, compared with the prior three months, June-August. Sheet products declined by 11.4 percent on the same basis, according to weekly licensed import tonnages reported by of the U.S. Department of Commerce on Dec. 5. The data is reported […]
Steel Market Update’s steel market indicators show improved trends in the November data. In our examination of data released in November, our view of the present situation is that 47.2 percent of the 36 indicators are historically positive with only 19 percent negative. The balance is within the band of historically normal. The total of […]
The U.S. Commerce Department has self-initiated an antidumping and countervailing investigation of imports of common alloy aluminum sheet from China. Normally, AD/CVD investigations are initiated by petitioners within the industry who allege dumping or subsidization of a product by one or more countries. Commerce may self-initiate an investigation whenever the Secretary determines a need exists […]
Flat rolled steel inventories ended the month of October in a balanced situation based on the Steel Market Update Apparent Excess/Deficit proprietary model, which is applied to the MSCI inventories and shipment data. U.S. steel service centers ended the month of September with +68,000 tons of excess inventories, based on the SMU model. Our forecast […]
Service center shipments in October exceeded expectations, led by long products and plate, according to Steel Market Update’s analysis of Metals Service Center Institute data. Daily shipments in October were 1.9 percent higher than in September. On average since 2009, October has decreased by 1.9 percent, therefore these latest numbers were better than the historical […]
U.S. demand for steel sheet products continued to expand through September, according to Steel Market Update’s analysis of data from the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) and the U.S. Department of Commerce. Apparent supply is a proxy for market demand. Demand momentum for sheet products in total was negative in the three months through […]
On Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2017, Nucor Sheet Mill Group advised their customers that galvanized orders placed for the first week of January 2018 would have new zinc coating extras. The change in the extras is due to the high cost of zinc, which has been trading in the $1.45-$1.50 per pound range over the past […]
Nucor became the first sheet mill to step out and attempt to nudge hot rolled, cold rolled and galvanized steel prices higher. On Wednesday afternoon the Nucor Sheet Group announced a new $30 per ton ($1.50/cwt) price increase to be “effective immediately.” The Nucor announcement was quickly matched by NLMK USA who put a letter […]
The Metals Service Center Institute (MSCI) released service center shipment and inventories data earlier this week. According to the MSCI data, flat rolled inventories now average 2.1 months of supply based on the 104,600 tons per day shipment rate reported for the month of October. October 2017 shipments were 9.6 percent better than one year […]
Canada’s Stelco, Inc., reported revenues totaling $1.15 billion (all figures Canadian) for the nine months ended Sept. 30, an increase of 16 percent over the prior-year period. Operating profit totaled $61 million, up from $8 million last year. The average selling price for the year to date was $814 per net ton, up from $654 […]
Nucor became the first sheet mill to step out and attempt to nudge hot rolled, cold rolled and galvanized steel prices higher. This afternoon (Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2017) the Nucor Sheet Group announced a new $30 per ton ($1.50/cwt) price increase to be “effective immediately.” The Nucor price increase follows a plate and hot rolled […]
Flat rolled steel prices were mixed this past week. Benchmark hot rolled continues to be one of the better performing of the group. Our HRC average was up $5 per ton this week. Cold rolled was also up, galvanized was sideways and Galvalume dropped $30 per ton. Plate prices on a delivered basis were up […]
Will the rest of the domestic steel mills announce new coating extras in first-quarter 2018, raising the price on galvanized steel? There was no clear consensus among members of the Heating, Air-conditioning, and Refrigeration Distributors International (HARDI) during their monthly conference call earlier today. Recent mill price announcements have stemmed the decline in galvanized prices, […]
Stelco, Inc., Canada’s iconic steelmaker, has new life under the new ownership of Bedrock Industries. Bedrock Executive Chairman and CEO Alan Kestenbaum makes a strong case that the oft-troubled steelmaker is poised for a turnaround. Stelco went into creditor protection in 2004, was bought by U.S. Steel in 2007, then went back into bankruptcy in […]
Total rolled steel imports declined by 14.0 percent in the three months through October, compared to the three months through July. Sheet products were down by 12.6 percent on the same basis, based on final license data for October reported by of the U.S. Commerce Department on Nov. 7. The data is reported within the […]
This Steel Market Update analysis breaks down the imported tonnage of six flat rolled steel products by district of entry and source country through September 2017. We believe that misinformation (or a lack of) about regional import volumes is often used to influence purchase decisions. Our intent with this analysis of tonnage by district of […]
Stelco Holdings, Inc., closed its initial public offering today, successfully raising $230 million to be used for select capital investments, new product development and early payments to pension trusts. The 13.5 million shares were offered at a price of $17 per share. As of midday Friday, the stock was trading around $19.50 per share. Bedrock […]
There was a surge in foreign steel imports during calendar year 2014. That high rate continued into the first half of 2015 at which time the domestic steel mills filed antidumping (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) cases on CORE (coated steels), cold rolled and hot rolled steels. The U.S. Department of Commerce investigation found most […]
Registration is now open for Steel Market Update’s next Steel 101: Introduction to Steel Making & Market Fundamentals workshop. This steel training workshop will be held at the Hilton Garden Inn in Merrillville, Ind., located just outside of Chicago. As part of this workshop, we will be touring the NLMK USA Portage, Ind., steel mill. […]
Ferrous scrap prices for the month of November began coming into focus on Friday with SMU scrap sources advising prime grades as being down $10 per gross ton compared to October levels. Obsolete and cut grades were reported as trading sideways (same prices as October). Not all regions are trading at the same pricing or […]