Earlier this week Steel Market Update was speaking with one of the e-commerce companies regarding their business and some of the challenges they see when dealing with companies buying and selling steel through their platform. One of the pitfalls recognized by the head of the e-commerce site was the lack of use of proper nomenclature […]
I am going to be in the office for the next couple of weeks. My next trip is not until the 15th of April. We have quite a bit going on with a new flat rolled and plate steel market trends analysis (survey) starting first thing Monday morning. If you receive an invitation, please take […]
After traveling for the past eight days and arriving back in Florida at 1 a.m. this morning, I am back in my office. I expect to be in the office for the next two weeks before traveling to Orlando to speak to the Air Distribution Institute. Registrations for the 2019 SMU Steel Summit Conference have […]
In many Chicago-area neighborhoods, teens face intense pressure to join a gang and embrace a lifestyle of crime and violence. But some find their way into an unlikely rival gang, one that has been promoting integrity and achievement for more than a century—the Boy Scouts of America. With support from the metals industry, the Boy […]
I am traveling this week. I have been in Monterrey, Mexico, where I visited the Roberto Rocca Industrial School in Pesqueria in the state of Nuevo Leon (just outside of Monterrey). I also visited the Ternium Industrial Center, which is already a major rolling facility and where Ternium is expanding capacities dramatically so the mill […]
On my way back to the USA following a good meeting with the folks at Ternium in Mexico. More to follow later. We think the information Steel Market Update provides is important and we want to make it readily available to more individuals within each subscribing company. We want to encourage employees in sales, purchasing, […]
Are steel prices witnessing a dead cat bounce or the beginning of a bullish reversal? The market appears split on the feline vs. bovine analogy. In other words, there is a huge divergence of thought on what is going to happen to steel prices over the next three or four months. The benchmark price of […]
I will be traveling all week as I head to Monterrey, Mexico, to tour the Ternium training facilities and steel mill. I will also be meeting with Cesar Jimenez, the CEO for Ternium Mexico, to discuss the new capacity they have coming onstream over the next 12-24 months. We are also working with Ternium to […]
There are reports about a myriad of meetings between the USTR, Mexico and Canada as the sides try to come to some form of resolution regarding the Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum. I continue to hear that the move is to not reduce the traditional level of imports from these two countries. In […]
Flat rolled prices moved a bit over the past week, while plate prices remained unchanged. Benchmark hot rolled was up $10 per ton as both the low and high end moved by $0.50/cwt. Hot rolled continues to be the weakest of the flat rolled products. The strongest are coated steels with a number of data […]
Your college degree is not going to help you understand how the steel markets work. To do that you need to attend one of our Steel 101: Introduction to Steel Making & Market Fundamentals workshops. Our next workshop is being held in Davenport, Iowa on May 14-15, 2019. We choose our locations because our workshops […]
We live in a time when nothing is as it seems and uncertainty rules the roost. This can make for a daunting task when considering when, what and how much steel you need to purchase at any point in time. It appears the second price increase announcement out of Nucor moved some of the end […]
We live in a time when nothing is as it seems and uncertainty rules the roost. This can make for a daunting task when considering when, what and how much steel you need to purchase at any point in time. It appears the second price increase announcement out of Nucor moved some of the end […]
SSAB Americas notified customers today, March 7, that it intends to raise its transaction prices by a minimum of $40 per ton effective immediately for all new non-contract orders acknowledged for shipment the week of April 28 and beyond. The increase applies to As-Rolled Mill Plate, Cut-To-Length Plate >72”, Hot Rolled Coils >72”, as well […]
SSAB Americas notified customers today, March 7, that it intends to raise its transaction prices by a minimum of $40 per ton effective immediately for all new non-contract orders acknowledged for shipment the week of April 28 and beyond. The increase applies to As-Rolled Mill Plate, Cut-To-Length Plate >72”, Hot Rolled Coils >72”, as well […]
Some notes that I made to myself during the Fabricators and Manufacturers Association meeting in Nashville this week. There is no panic amongst the attendees. Uncertainty reigns supreme, and uncertainty is difficult to live with. No one with whom I spoke was predicting prices to go crazy. Most felt there would be a modest uptick, […]
Good evening from Nashville, Tenn., and the Fabricators and Manufacturers Association annual meeting. It was a beautiful sunny day today, but a bit on the chilly side for my Florida bones… I enjoyed the two speakers that I saw this afternoon. Dr. Chris Kuehl is back in good voice and humor. He entertained the audience […]
It’s Oscar night. I will try to keep my final thoughts brief. President Trump has delayed the increase in the Section 301 tariffs against China. The deadline was March 2, 2019. No new deadline has been set. However, President Xi of China will meet with President Trump in Florida in the later part of March. […]
The following op-ed in support of steel tariffs, published last week by Alabama’s AL.com, was written by Thomas Gibson, president and CEO of the American Iron and Steel Institute. Gibson will be a keynote speaker at Steel Market Update’s 2019 Steel Summit, scheduled for Aug. 26-28 in Atlanta. This will be Gibson’s first appearance at […]
SSAB Americas has announced the retirements of two long-standing, distinguished members of the company’s senior executive team: Steve Hansen, Vice President and Chief Technical Officer, and Paul Wilson, Senior Advisor to Operations. Wilson’s retirement will be effective Feb. 1, 2019, and Hansen’s retirement will be effective March 1, 2019. Hansen has been with SSAB for […]
Steelmaker SSAB plans to invest up to $100 million in its operations near Mobile, Ala. Improvements to the mill, to take place from 2019 to 2021, will increase the potential capacity for high-strength steel production by 130,000 metric tons per year, the company said. The investment aims to increase production capacity for high-strength, value-added steels, […]
SSAB Americas and Nucor both announced a $40 per ton increase in the price of plate products this week. SSAB Americas informed customers on Monday, Oct. 22, that it is increasing transaction prices on plate products by a minimum of $40 per ton, effective immediately for all non-contract orders acknowledged for shipment the week of […]
I am keeping the SMU Flat Rolled Price Momentum Indicator at “Neutral” as I do not yet see any clear-cut signs of a solid push higher on pricing. What I have seen is a possible short-term bottom to the lower end of our range. This helped take our hot rolled index average from $805 to […]
Both the plate mills and their customers are advising Steel Market Update that, unlike the hot rolled markets, the plate markets are hot and are expected to continue to be hot for some time to come. The plate mills continue to be on “controlled order entry” (allocation) and all of the mills are struggling to […]
Some quick comments I received as I moved around the market today talking about steel prices: JSW Ohio (Acero Junction mill) just got in 50,000 tons of slabs and is in the market. Credit issues are becoming an issue for companies as their customers are reaching their limits sooner due to the high cost of […]
Many steel buyers, and investors in steel futures, are betting that steel prices will follow the typical seasonal pattern and decline in the last few months of the year, even with the Trump tariffs boosting the market. While that may prove true for flat roll, it will most likely not be the case for steel […]
Steel buyers are divided on whether prices have peaked, but most would agree that if they do move higher, any increase will be modest. Steel Market Update canvassed sources this week. Said one executive, expressing a common view: “I don’t see prices rising. I feel we are at the top.” Others anticipate a modest uptick […]
Steel Market Update has adjusted our SMU Price Momentum to Neutral from Higher on all products except plate, which remains at Higher for the moment. We chose to move at this time due to weakness we are seeing in the cold rolled and coated steel markets, with mild price erosion already evident in certain markets. […]
The Association for Iron & Steel Technology announced the appointment of a new president and slate of officers for 2018-2019. James Dudek, vice president, Asset Revitalization and Manufacturing Excellence, U.S. Steel Corp., Pittsburgh, Pa., will assume the presidency of AIST. Dudek succeeds Randy Skagen, vice president and general manager, Nucor Steel Tuscaloosa. Dudek said he […]
We saw another surge in flat rolled and plate steel prices last week as steel buyers deal with closed order books, allocation and uncertainty. With the Section 232 tariffs set to go into effect on Friday of this week (March 23) buyers are scrambling to make sure they are covered. This has allowed the steel […]