Flat rolled steel order books have been helping push ferrous scrap prices higher for March delivery to the domestic steel mills. Steelmakers have paid $50 to $80 per gross ton higher prices than February for prime grades such as busheling and bundles. Sheet mills pushed their buying prices in order to get the supply of […]
An antitrust lawsuit filed by indirect steel purchasers against ArcelorMittal USA, US Steel and other steel mills was dismissed in the US District Court of Northern Illinois last week. In 2008, Supreme Auto Transport LLC, based in Michigan, filed a complaint alleging that ArcelorMittal and others were among a group of steel producers who schemed […]
The U.S. International Trade Commission issued two new final determinations on Wednesday related to imports of steel products from China. The ITC determined that the U.S. industry is materially injured by the imports of carbon and alloy steel cut-to-length plate from China. Countervailing subsidy rates of 251.00% and antidumping margins of 68.2 percent will be […]
SSAB Americas posted strong sales and shipments in fourth quarter 1016. The segment, which includes the mills located in Mobile, Alabama and Montpelier, Iowa, shipped 502,000 tonnes in Q4, up 19 percent from the previous quarter and 15 percent from Q4 2015. Sales totaled SEK 2,825 million ($318 million), an increase from third quarter and […]
SMU Price Momentum Indicator has been pointing to Higher flat rolled steel prices since late October (12 weeks). Based on our analysis of last week’s steel market trends survey as well as direct contact with buyers today, SMU Price Momentum has not changed and our expectation is for prices to move higher over the next […]
On January 18, 2017, the Department of Commerce announced its final affirmative determinations in the antidumping and countervailing investigations of imports of cut-to-length steel plate from China. The China-wide rate for antidumping was established at 68.27 percent. The China-wide entity was assigned duties based on adverse facts for failure to cooperate with the investigation. The final subsidy […]
On Wednesday morning SSAB informed their customers of their intention to increase transaction prices by $50 per ton ($2.50/cwt) “effective immediately on all new non-contract orders.” Later in the day Nucor Plate Mill Group followed the SSAB lead and also increased their spot prices on carbon, alloy and heat-treated plate by $50 per ton. Where […]
There are a number of players in the market that are overly concerned (in my opinion) about the restart of the USS Granite City hot strip mill (they are not yet restarting the two idled blast furnaces so they are not adding any new raw steel production into the market) and Mingo Junction (reported to […]
On Wednesday SSAB, Nucor and ArcelorMittal USA all announced a $40 per ton price increase on plate products. In a letter emailed to their customers Nucor advised of their intention to increase plate prices with: Effective immediately, the Nucor Plate Mill Group will increase transaction prices on all new orders for carbon, alloy and heat-treated […]
The Department of Commerce has announced its affirmative final determinations in the antidumping investigations of imports of steel cut-to-length plate from Brazil, South Africa and Turkey. Brazil mandatory respondents were assigned dumping margins of 74.52 percent based on adverse facts for failure to cooperate in the investigation. All other producers and exporters in Brazil will […]
Nucor Plate Mill Group was the first of the plate mills to reach out to their customers and advise them of their intention to take plate prices up by $50 per ton. On Tuesday of this week, Nucor sent a letter via email to their customers stating, “Due to current market dynamics, plate pricing has […]
On Wednesday of this week I participated in the monthly HARDI conference call (see article in tonight’s newsletter). During the call one of the executives from an east coast HVAC wholesaler told the group that he didn’t believe prices could or would move much higher from here. I disagreed with him. One of the justifications […]
Steel Market Update has been discussing the subject of steel prices with service centers from around the country and there seems to be an almost unanimous belief that new price increase announcements will be made between now and Thanksgiving (November 24th). Here is a sample of what the service centers have told SMU over the […]
SSAB Americas, recorded a third quarter operating loss of SEK 73 million ($8.1 million) compared to a profit of SEK 162 million ($18 million) in Q2 2016. The loss was due mainly to the maintenance outage at Montpelier in the third quarter, higher variable costs, lower volumes and lower capacity utilization which was somewhat offset […]
The final three holdouts in the Standard Iron Works v. ArcelorMittal et al. antitrust litigation have come to a settlement. Steel Dynamics, Nucor and SSAB have agreed to settle price-fixing claims for a combined total of $30 million. Steel Dynamics issued an announcement on Tuesday that it will pay $4.6 million in the class action […]
Friday, the Department of Commerce announced its affirmative preliminary determinations in the antidumping investigations of imports of certain carbon and alloy steel cut-to-length plate (CTL plate) from Brazil, South Africa, and Turkey. CTL plate is a flat-rolled carbon and alloy steel product that is 4.75 mm or more in thickness and that has a defined […]
The Department of Commerce announced an affirmative preliminary determination in the countervailing duty investigation of cut-to-length steel plate from China but a negative determination in the CVD investigation of imports of CTL plate from Korea. Exporter and producers in the China investigation received subsidy rates of 210.5 percent based on available adverse facts (they did […]
There were some surprises on Friday afternoon when the U.S. Department of Commerce came out with their final determinations regarding antidumping and countervailing duties on hot rolled steel. Perhaps the biggest surprise was saved for POSCO out of Korea and the joint venture partner with US Steel on USS/POSCO mill in California. The UPI mill […]
SSAB Americas results in improve in second quarter due to higher volumes and prices. Sales were SEK 2.8 billion ($323 million) compared to SEK 2.4 billion ($277 million) in first quarter. Shipments improved 11 percent to 526,000 tonnes from 475,000 tonnes in Q1. The company reports good demand from steel service centers and the wind […]
We tend to see the various steel indexes become more “in tune” with one another once the steel mills decide to take a wait and see attitude about the market. Over the past few weeks, U.S. steel mills have (once again) managed to expand the spread between U.S. steel prices and those of foreign steel […]
The Nucor Plate Group and SSAB have both raised plate prices by a minimum of $40 per ton. The SSAB increase applies to all non-contract business on rolled mill plate, cut-to-length plate as well as hot rolled coils greater than 72″ in width. The SSAB increase includes normalized as well as quench-and-temper plate. Nucor was […]
On April 29, 2016, the Department of Commerce initiated an antidumping duty (AD) investigation of imports of certain carbon and alloy steel cut-to-length plate (CTL plate) from Austria, Belgium, Brazil, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, South Africa, Taiwan, and Turkey, and countervailing duty (CVD) investigations of imports of CTL plate from Brazil, China, and […]
SSAB Americas reported sales of SEK 2,428 million ($297.5 million) for first quarter 2016 up from 2,321 in Q4. Shipments increased 9 percent from Q4 to 475,000 tonnes. Operating profit, or EBIT, was SEK 55 million ($6.7 million) compared to a loss of SEK 100 mill in in Q4 and profit of SEK 296 million […]
SSAB Americas announced the launch of a new awareness program—EcoSmart, to demonstrate its commitment to environmental stewardship. SSAB Americas’ EcoSmart steel contains 97 percent recoverable scrap metal that has been diverted from landfills. The recycled steel contains everything from old automotive parts to discarded appliances. Along with the use of recycled scrap metal, SSAB Americas […]
A week ago Steel Market Update reported that three domestic steel mills would file an antidumping suit against a number of foreign countries who have been exporting cut-to-length (CTL) plate to the United States. On Friday the three mills identified in our earlier reporting filed their petition. A trade petition against 12 countries was filed […]
SSAB became the second domestic steel mill to announce a price increase, taking plate prices up by $60 per ton on all new spot orders. The mill also took their hot rolled coil pricing up by $60 per ton. This is the first announcement by a plate mill since the 16th of March when SSAB […]
Not all regions of the country have settled but we are seeing ferrous scrap prices increasing to the domestic mills by $40 to $55 per gross ton. The variance is depending on region and at what point prices started. Out of the Midwest and Southeastern markets we heard from one of our sources, “It’s been […]
Steel buyers were pulling out their hair earlier today due to the number of mills holding tons off the market as they try to determine what the new pricing should be on hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized and Galvalume products. As of early this afternoon (Thursday) steel buyers were informing Steel Market Update of a […]
Buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel reported to Steel Market Update this past week that the domestic steel mills are less willing to negotiate steel prices. We believe this is due to strengthening order books, extending lead times, positive Sentiment and improving demand. In fact, we were learning throughout the day today that many […]
According to ArcelorMittal USA comments made during the Association of Steel Distributors meeting over the weekend which SMU attended, a trade case on steel plate imports will be filed within the next few weeks. ArcelorMittal along with Nucor and SSAB have been working on the documentation for an extended period of time and our understanding […]