I was pleased to hear from a number of our readers who had used the search function at the top right hand side of our website in order to find old articles that we had written on the subject of dumping suits and the process that the suit has to go through. I used the […]
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 […]
We ended the month of April with the SMU Price Momentum Indicator at Neutral. As the month of May began, the domestic mills announced price increases and managed to move our needle to Higher. As the month ends, our Momentum Indicator continues to point toward higher domestic flat rolled steel prices over the next 30 […]
Steel Buyers Sentiment continues to be well within the optimistic end of our range as the Steel Market Update (SMU) Future Sentiment Index was reported to be +61 this week. This is up one point from two weeks ago but unchanged from one month ago. The SMU Future Sentiment Index measures how buyers and sellers […]
Buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel continue to be optimistic about their company’s ability to be successful both now and into the future. However, Steel Market Update has been seeing small adjustments lower to both our current and future Sentiment Indices. Future Sentiment, which measures how buyers and sellers feel about their company’s ability […]
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 […]
Today is the final day of April and, as is our habit, we will review much of the critical data reviewed or created during the month. SMU Price Momentum Indicator remained at Neutral where it had been for the entire month. SMU has been forecasting a change in the momentum pushing prices from lower to […]
As we discussed at the beginning of the month April, Steel Market Update (SMU) will present our Future Steel Buyers Sentiment Index at the beginning of our Sentiment articles. Future Sentiment provides a better look at what steel buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel are thinking regarding their company’s ability to be successful three […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) has two Steel Buyers Sentiment Indices, current and future. We normally concentrate our initial comments on the current index, how buyers and sellers of steel feel about business conditions and their company’s ability to be successful in the current market. However, today and going forward, we will begin focusing on how […]
In the table below, Steel Market Update provides a snapshot look at various flat rolled steel pricing, commodities which impact steel prices and economic data of importance to the flat rolled steel industry. One of the first items you will notice on the end of month table provided is we moved our Price Momentum indicator […]
Those involved in the flat rolled steel industry continue to be optimistic about their company’s ability to be successful both in the current market environment as well as three to six months into the future. The SMU Steel Buyers Sentiment Index (current market) is being reported at +53. This is four points higher than two […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) concluded our 5th flat rolled steel market survey earlier today. After evaluating the responses we found buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel continue to be optimistic about their company’s ability to be successful both in the current as well as the future steel markets (3-6 months out). The SMU Steel […]
February and its 20 shipping days is now behind us. It is time to take a look at how the data for the month played out. SMU Price Momentum Indicator ended the month just as it had begun the month (as well as the New Year), pointing toward lower flat rolled steel prices in the […]
Based on the most recent flat rolled steel market survey results, steel mill lead times stabilized this past week after having declined almost non-stop since August 2014. The question now is will the mill lead times begin to move out from here or remain stuck at these less than desirable levels (from a mill perspective […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) Steel Buyers Sentiment Index was measured at +53 earlier today based on the results of our most recent flat rolled steel analysis conducted this week. The +53 is 7 points higher than what we reported at the beginning of the month. Our Steel Buyers Sentiment Index measures how buyers and sellers […]
On Monday we will begin our mid-February flat rolled steel market analysis. The market has seen prices dropping over the past few weeks at a rate not seen for a number of years. Our survey will help us not only understand where price offers/orders are today but when we think the bottom will be reached. […]
Buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel are less optimistic about their company’s ability to be successful in the current market conditions than what we saw just two weeks ago. The buyers and sellers who participated in this week’s flat rolled steel market analysis reported concerns regarding falling steel prices, bloated inventories and shrinking margins. […]
SMU Price Momentum Indicator has been stuck pointing lower for a number of months, ended the month of January as it did at the end of November and December. We saw SMU Steel Buyers Sentiment Index improve by +1 point in January over the month of December. However, when looking at Sentiment based on a […]
Buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel continue to be optimistic about their company’s chances of being successful in both the current market conditions as well as three to six months into the future. However, there have been some clouds building as our 3MMA has been trending lower over the past four months. We have […]
The first measurement of our Steel Buyers Sentiment Index in the New Year provided us some mixed results. Current Sentiment, which is how steel buyers and sellers feel about their company’s ability to be successful in the current market environment, was measured at +54. This is well within the optimistic range of our Index but […]
The following is an overview of some of the key steel data collected by Steel Market Update during the month of December 2014. This is separate from our Key Market Indicators which was produced for our Premium level subscribers (although shared with all of our readers on Friday of this past week). Steel Market Update […]
Everyone wants to know how the steel industry did from our perspective over the calendar year 2014. We decided to take a look at the year using quarterly averages as a way of smoothing out the data and giving us a clearer picture of key data and commodity and steel pricing trends. As you can […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) released their Steel Buyers Sentiment Index this afternoon. Sentiment, which is a measure as to how buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel feel about their company’s ability to be successful in the current market environment, rose 4 points from the beginning of December and is now at +56. Positive (+) […]
SMU Steel Buyers Sentiment Index came in at +52 this week. This is the same reading we got back in the middle of November 2014 The +52, which is within the optimistic range for our index, was 10 points less enthusiastic than what we measured at the beginning of November. One year ago our current […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) benchmark hot rolled coil pricing averaged $634 per ton ($31.70/cwt) for the month of November. CRU HRC averaged $635 per ton ($31.75/cwt) while Platts averaged $640 per ton ($32.00/cwt). Hot rolled prices at $630 per ton as of the last week of the month, were $5 per ton lower than where […]
Buyers and sellers of steel are beginning to feel the strain of reduced demand (whether seasonal or otherwise), stable to falling steel prices and a very competitive service center spot market which impacts distributors margins. The bottom line is those actively involved in the flat rolled steel industry in the United States and Canada are […]
The way our market surveys work is we invite approximately 600 companies to participate. Each individual receives and email invitation with a link to the survey which is hosted on SurveyMonkey.com. The first few questions are posed to the entire group. We asked questions related to our SMU Steel Buyers Sentiment Index, general demand and […]
It may be a different day but buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel are still singing the same optimistic song regarding their company’s chances of being successful in the current (and future) steel environment. Steel Market Update has been conducting our early November flat rolled steel market survey all week and this afternoon we […]
For the majority of the month of October, the SMU Steel Price Momentum Indicator was referencing lower prices for the next 30 to 60 day period. At the end of the month, we revised our Indicator to Neutral due to AK Steel, US Steel and Nucor having made $20 per ton price increase announcements. It […]
Steel buyers and sellers continue to be optimistic about their company’s ability to be successful in the current market conditions. However, there are some signs of strain growing, either due to seasonal pressures or margin squeezes, that may be giving pause to some within the industry. Even so, the results from the mid-October flat rolled […]