Steel prices continued their three month hike higher as SMU benchmark hot rolled price index (average) for the month was $408 per ton. Even with some minor stumbles noted in hot rolled and cold rolled during the second half of the month, our Price Momentum Indicator is still pointing toward higher prices over the next […]
The following article is one of the key proprietary products produced for our Premium level members. We wanted to share it with all of our readers this evening to give everyone a feel for how we are seeing the steel economy based on “the numbers.” An explanation of the Key Indicators concept is given at […]
Happy Academy Award (Oscar) Night… We will begin our early March flat rolled steel market trend analysis on Monday morning. If you receive an invitation to participate please take a few moments to click on the button contained in the message which will take you to our questionnaire. If you would like to participate in […]
Once a month HARDI wholesalers conduct a conference call for those member companies who are involved in the sale of galvanized sheet and coils to the mechanical contractors involved in residential and commercial construction. Steel Market Update publisher, John Packard, has been involved with the HARDI organization for many years going back to his steel […]
BlueScope Steel is one of only a handful of major steel companies around the world that is reporting profit. Underlying EBIT for the first half of FY 2016 was $166.5 million, up 35 percent year over year.. Commenting on the outlook for the company, CEO Paul O’Malley said, “Notwithstanding a challenging macroeconomic environment, we are […]
Based on Steel Market Update (SMU) analysis of the recently released MSCI service center inventory and shipment data, total service center carbon steel shipments increased by 264,500 tons in January to 2.909 million tons. Shipping days at 20, were down by two from December. On a tons per day basis (t/d) shipments increased from 120,200 […]
SMU has developed a series of reports that cover hot rolled, cold rolled, HDG, other metallic coated, coiled plate and semi-finished slabs. These reports are a detailed drill down into tons by source country and port of entry. Total imports of HR in 2015 were 3,477,187 metric tons. Table 1 shows the tonnage by port […]
The Metal Service Center Institute (MSCI) released shipment and inventory data for U.S. steel distributors this week. The headline for total steel products is shipments rose from December to January by 275,200 tons or 9.9 percent, but were still 470,400 tons or 13.3 percent below levels from one year ago. U.S. steel service centers shipped […]
This report summarizes total steel supply annually from 2007 through 2015 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 […]
Pete Meyers, Vice President of Ferrous Scrap Sales & Marketing for Metalico advised Steel Market Update this morning as to what they saw for trading for the month of February: “The Feb scrap market has indeed traded sideways. There were instances of higher sales based on individual mills having to reach remote tons, and mills […]
The following article is normally produced for our Premium level members. However, we wanted to share this report so those who are Executive level members can evaluate the product and if you find it of interest you can contact our office to see about upgrading (or trialing) to our Premium level service. If you have […]
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 36. Please refer to Table 1 for the view of the present situation and the quantitative measure of trends. Readers should […]
Mexican steelmaker, TYASA, plans to build the first Castrip® mill outside of Nucor at its mini-mill in Ixtaczoquitlan. The new facility will have the capability to produce 500,000 tons of thin-gauge, high-strength. The TYASA steel campus in the state of Veracruz, Mexico is designed to be highly efficiently with environmentally-friendly low emissions. The Simetal EAF […]
The U.S. Department of Commerce released foreign steel import license data through the 26th of the month late this afternoon. Based on the data to date, January imports are trending toward a 2.5 to 2.7 million net ton level. This would be slightly higher than December’s 2.6 million tons and above November’s 2.4 million tons. […]
Steel Dynamics’ struggling recycling segment widened the company’s net loss to $253 million in fourth quarter 2015. It was determined that the book value of the metals recycling segment recorded $435 million in non-cash goodwill and other related asset impairment charge. Excluding the metals recycling charges, adjusted net income was $22 million on net sales […]
The article below is normally reserved for our Premium members, but we thought our Executive members would appreciate seeing the MSCI data from a different viewpoint with more analysis than what they normally see from us. Based on Steel Market Update (SMU) analysis of the recently released MSCI service center inventory and shipment data, total […]
This article is normally reserved for our Premium members but we felt it would be a good one to share with all of our readers. If you are interested in signing up for a Premium membership or would like a trial, let us know at info@SteelMarketUpdate.com or call (800) 432 3475. Following up on our […]
This report compares domestic mill shipments and total supply to the market. It quantifies market direction by product and enables a side by side comparison showing the degree to which imports have absorbed demand. Sources are the American Iron and Steel Institute and the Department of Commerce with analysis by SMU. Table 1 shows both […]
Net imports equals imports minus exports. We regard this as an important look at the overall trade picture and its effect on demand at the mill level. Figure 1 shows that net sheet product imports on a three month moving average (3MMA) basis at 546,093 tons in November continue to be more than double that […]
On Tuesday evening ArcelorMittal advised their customers of their intention to raise carbon flat rolled sheet prices. In an email to their customers the mill advised that they would be raising prices on hot rolled, cold rolled and coated steels (galvanized and Galvalume). The mill told their customers: “Effective immediately with all new quotations, ArcelorMittal […]
LEIPSIC, Ohio, Jan. 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ — PRO-TEC Coating Company, a 50/50 joint venture between United States Steel Corporation (NYSE: X) and Kobe Steel, Ltd., of Japan, announced today that Richard E. Veitch has been named the President of PRO-TEC Coating Company. This change is effective Jan. 18, 2016. Veitch succeeds Brent Rosebrook, who had […]
Nucor Sheet Mill Group got the flat rolled pricing ball rolling earlier today as they advised their customers by emailed letter that base prices will rise on new spot orders by a minimum of: Hot Rolled: $20 per ton ($1.00/cwt)Cold Rolled: $30 per ton ($1.50/cwt)Galvanized: $30 per ton ($1.50/cwt) Nucor did not advise of any […]
SMU has developed a series of reports that cover hot rolled, cold rolled, HDG, other metallic coated, coiled plate and semi-finished slabs. These reports are a detailed drill down into tons by source country and port of entry which will enable you to determine exactly what is going on in your area for whichever product […]
Steel Market Update received the following press release from the US Department of Commerce International Trade Administration regarding the release of the preliminary determination for the hot rolled countervailing duty portion of the hot rolled trade case: On January 11, 2016, the Department of Commerce is scheduled to announce its preliminary determinations in the CVD […]
Licensed data for December was reported by the Steel Import Monitoring System of the US Commerce Department on January 5th. At SMU we perform a detailed analysis of this data, an explanation of our methodology is given at the end of this write up. Total rolled product licensed imports in the single month of December […]
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 36. We have made a change to our analysis this month by removing the capacity utilization of both the flat rolled […]
USW and Allegheny Technologies Inc. resumed talks on Dec. 30 with a federal mediator in Pittsburgh. The meeting follows an announcement that the National Labor Relations Board would file unfair labor practice charges against ATI. USW officials said the parties discussed the NLRB decision, the US Steel tentative settlement, idling of operations, and the four-month […]
USW and Allegheny Technologies Inc. resumed talks on Dec. 30 with a federal mediator in Pittsburgh. The meeting follows an announcement that the National Labor Relations Board would file unfair labor practice charges against ATI. USW officials said the parties discussed the NLRB decision, the US Steel tentative settlement, idling of operations, and the four-month […]
Spot lead times have begun to move out according to the lead time sheets shared with customers this week by their domestic mill suppliers. The most strength was seen in cold rolled and coated steels while hot rolled lead times remained stuck at 3-4 weeks in most cases. Steel buyers continue to prognosticate that there […]
Each month the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) puts out its series of producer price indexes, for thousands of goods and materials. For an explanation of this program see the end of this piece. The latest release last week reported results through November. We run this analysis every three or four months to give readers […]