An executive with one of the larger scrap companies told us that trading finally got under way in the Southeast over the past 24 hours. We were told, “Scrap trading got underway in the Southeastern markets late yesterday and today. While demand remained intact for the most part, bearish sentiment seems to be on the […]
To our USA customers welcome back from your 4th of July holiday. I saw this quote while doing some research this afternoon, “Fun is one of the most important and underrated ingredients in any successful venture” (Richard Branson) This is something I have believed in for my entire steel career. Speaking of fun, we have […]
This Key Markets Indicator report is something we produce for our Premium level clients. However, we thought that our Executive level readers would appreciate knowing… An explanation of the Key Indicators concept is given at the end of this piece for those readers who are unfamiliar with it. The total number of indicators considered in […]
There have been a number of articles written recently regarding the move by the Chinese government to remove some of the tax incentives in the form of rebates to the Chinese steel producers who export certain steel products. Any move to remove export tax rebates on steel is seen as a positive by the rest […]
We purposely did not begin this article on where our sources are seeing ferrous scrap prices with an attention grabbing headline as we think readers would be confused. The confusion comes from the pressure the domestic steel mills are expected to put on obsolete grades, like shredded scrap and HMS (heavy melt scrap). Those of […]
Based on Steel Market Update (SMU) analysis of the recently released MSCI service center inventory and shipment data, total service center carbon steel shipments decreased by 41,100 tons in May to 3.050 million tons. The number of shipping days was he same at 21. On a tons per day (t/d) basis shipments decreased from 147,200 […]
Steel service centers based in the United States shipped and received fewer tons of steel products during the month of May, according to data just released by the Metal Service Center Institute (MSCI). Shipments of all steel products totaled 3,204,800 net tons at a daily shipment rate of 152,600 tons. Last month the daily rate […]
Canadian shipments for all steel products in the month of May were 388,600 net tons, an increase of 4.2 percent from the month before but a decrease of 2.1 percent from May 2015. Inventories at the end of the month stood at 1,150,300 tons, down 9.4 percent from last month and down 26.1 percent from […]
Nucor Corporation says flat rolled-trade cases are having a positive impact on reducing steel imports. The expectation is that final determinations in all three flat rolled cases will result in higher duties than currently being collected from the preliminary decisions. Second quarter results are expected to be significantly improved from first quarter due to higher […]
On Wednesday this week the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released its series of Producer Price Indexes (PPI) for more than 10,000 goods and materials. For an explanation of this program see the end of this piece. The latest release this week reported results through May. We run this analysis every three or four months […]
SMU received a couple of inquiries about sheet shipments and one of our Premium customers had a specific question about the data presented in one of our Premium supplemental issues last week. We thought that we should share the data and then present at the end the question and our response for all of our […]
Nucor Corp. and JFE Holdings of Japan will enter a joint venture to build and operate a steel processing plant in central Mexico to supply the country’s automotive market. The 50-50 venture will cost $270 million to construct and have a capacity of 400,000 tons per year of galvanized sheet steel. The substrate for processing […]
Steel Technologies LLC plans to invest $18 million in a new processing facility in Smyrna, Tennessee. The 83,000 square foot facility will create 50 new jobs and handle both steel and aluminum sheet. “This new greenfield operation expands our exposed and unexposed automotive slitting and blanking capabilities,” Steel Technologies Vice President of Operations Randall Patterson […]
Licensed data for May was reported by the Steel Import Monitoring System of the US Commerce Department on June 3rd. An explanation of the methodology that we at SMU use to analyze the trade data is given at the end of this piece. Total rolled product licensed imports in the single month of May were […]
This report summarizes total steel supply from 2003 through April 2016 and year on year changes. It then compares domestic mill shipments and total supply to the market. It quantifies market direction by product and enables a side by side comparison of the degree to which imports have absorbed demand. Sources are the American Iron […]
SMU scrap sources on Friday divulged that negotiations have been slow with many mills not yet having bought as of this past Friday. Price indicators are running from sideways on prime grades (busheling/bundles) to down $10, $20, $30 in the Ohio Valley, Midwest and Southeast. The east coast was referenced as being down by even […]
This Key Markets Indicator report is something we produce for our Premium level clients. However, we thought that our Executive level readers would appreciate knowing why we continue to be bullish on the direction of the market based on our analysis of the Key Market Indicators. An explanation of the Key Indicators concept is given […]
An explanation of the Key Indicators concept is given at the end of this piece for those readers who are unfamiliar with it. The total number of indicators considered in this analysis is currently 34. Please refer to Table 1 for the view of the present situation and the quantitative measure of trends. Readers should […]
The following article on the hot rolled coil (HRC), busheling scrap (BUS), and financial futures markets was written by Andre Marshall and Jack Marshall of Crunch Risk LLC. Here is how they saw trading over the past week: Financial Markets: We are testing the highs, literally. The S&P is right up against the 2105-2210 resistance, […]
China steelmakers are denouncing charges of wrong doing levied by US Steel in its Section 337 filing. The ITC said last week that it will pursue the investigation that charges Chinese steel producers stole trade secrets, engaged in price fixing and participated in transshipment and duties evasion. One of the respondents in the investigation, Wuhan […]
U.S. flat rolled steel service centers were able to reduce their excess inventories by 222,000 tons, according to our proprietary analysis of the MSCI data released earlier this month. Our Apparent Excess/Deficit model has the distributors carrying a 46,000 ton excess as of the end of April. This is the first time we have seen […]
Earlier today the HARDI wholesalers conducted their May galvanized steel conference call. The wholesalers on the call service the mechanical contractors involved in the residential and commercial construction markets supplying galvanized sheet and coil and other products used in the heating and air-conditioning markets. Needless to say, the call was well attended in response to […]
Steel Market Update received a note from trade attorney Lewis E. Leibowitz regarding an “ex parte” memorandum from former Michigan Governor and current President of the Business Rountable, John Engler, about the AD investigation of imports of cold rolled steel from Japan. Mr. Engler was intervening on behalf of Steelcase and their subsidiary PolyVision which […]
Steel Market Update received the following question from one of our readers yesterday (Wednesday, May 18th) regarding the weekly capacity utilization rates that are produced by the American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) and are published in our Tuesday evening newsletter. “This morning I was reading the latest SMU report and I was left wondering […]
The article below was published to our Premium members yesterday afternoon, but we felt it would be nice to share with our Executive members too. If you would like more information about a Premium membership or would like to upgrade, contact us at info@SteelMarketUpdate.com. Based on Steel Market Update (SMU) analysis of the recently released […]
Canadian shipments for all steel products in the month of April were 372,800 net tons, a decrease of 4.9 percent from the month before and a decrease of 12.9 percent from April 2015. Inventories at the end of the month stood at 1,270,300 tons, up 6.9 percent from last month but down 20.7 percent from […]
Based on Steel Market Update (SMU) analysis of the recently released MSCI service center inventory and shipment data, total service center carbon steel shipments decreased by 84,700 tons in April to 3.091 million tons. This decrease was driven by the number of shipping days, down by 2 to 21. On a t/d basis shipments increased […]
This report summarizes total steel supply from 2003 through March 2016 and year on year changes. It then compares domestic mill shipments and total supply to the market. It quantifies market direction by product and enables a side by side comparison of the degree to which imports have absorbed demand. Sources are the American Iron […]
On May 17, 2016, the Department of Commerce is scheduled to announce its final determinations in the AD investigations of imports of certain cold-rolled steel flat products from China and Japan and CVD investigation of imports of certain cold-rolled steel flat products from China. The investigations cover certain cold-rolled, flat-rolled, steel products, neither clad, plated, […]
Auto/Steel Partnership – May 11, 2016 — In an effort to assist automakers in meeting stringent fuel economy requirements, the Auto/Steel Partnership (A/SP) announced today the Hemming of Thin Gauge Advanced High-Strength Steel (AHSS) project achieved a 30 percent weight savings using thinner gauge AHSS for automotive closure panels. “The Hemming team achieved positive results […]