Tag: steel

Active domestic rotary rigs dipped slightly this week, but Canada's firms increased their count significantly, according to Baker Hughes.

SMU’s Buyers Sentiment Indices both fell this week, with current sentiment taking a large dive to begin the new year, according to our most recent survey data.

SMU polled steel buyers on a variety of subjects this past week, including purchasing practices, steel sheet prices, scrap, and the future market.

The LME aluminum 3-month price was moving further down on the morning of Jan. 5 and was last seen trading at $2,287 per metric ton (mt) as of this article’s writing, already down 6% from its recent peak. SHFE cash also concluded the first week of the year on a weaker foot. The cash contract […]

The iron ore price has edged up further from the already high level seen last week. The market is generally slow, meaning that the moderate price increase came from the bullish outlook from the market following last week’s stimulus announcements from China and expectations of restocking picking up. Supply fell w/w from both Australia and Brazil as […]

After a brief decline in the price of scrap for the Turkish market, which peaked in December at approximately $424 per metric ton (mt) for HMS 80/20, the market has bottomed at $405/mt on cargoes from Europe.

Cleveland-Cliffs didn’t wait long to roll out the first price increase of the year - $1,150 per short ton (st) for hot-rolled coil. That’s up $50 per ton from the steelmaker’s last published price. Will anyone follow? I’ve heard some mills are meeting this week but that any announcement might not come until next week. We'll see.

Steel mill lead times pulled back across the board this week but are still said to be at healthy levels, according to SMU's market survey this week.

Radius Recycling reported a net loss in its fiscal first quarter of 2024 on tighter supply flows for recycled metals and lower average selling prices for the company’s products.

The percentage of steel buyers saying mills were willing to negotiate spot pricing on the products SMU surveys was mixed this week.

US hot-rolled coil (HRC) prices moved up again this week and remain significantly more expensive than offshore product.

Canadian flat-rolled steelmaker Algoma Steel Group Inc. guided toward lower earnings in its fiscal 2024 third quarter, citing the United Auto Workers (UAW) strike and lower steel prices last fall.

New Reibus CEO Temy Mancusi-Ungaro and company President Chris Shipp will join SMU for the inaugural Community Chat of 2024 on Wednesday, Jan. 10, at 11 am ET. You can register here.

After falling in November, steel imports appear to have bounced back to a five-month high in December.

Olympic Steel has promoted Zachary Siegal to the newly created role of president of manufactured metal products.

Cleveland-Cliffs is now targeting base prices of $1,150 per ton for hot-rolled coil (HRC), according to a press release on Wednesday morning, Jan. 3.

SMU doesn’t do forecasts. We leave that to our colleagues at CRU. But we’re pretty good at surveys, and we’ve got a great group of readers. That’s why we decided to ask you what’s in store for 2024. The results are below, along with some insightful comments in italics.

Nucor Corp. announced in a letter to customers on Friday, Dec. 29, that its plate mill group would hold prices unchanged for as-rolled discrete plate, normalized, and quenched-and-tempered plate with the opening of its plate mill order book for February.

Wilbur Ross doesn’t believe the proposed sale of U.S. Steel to Japan’s Nippon Steel poses any threat to the economic or national security of the US.

The Mexican government has placed anti-subsidy (CVD) duties of almost 80% on cold rolled (CR) sheets from Vietnam, with the caveat that if the importer can prove the steel comes from a country other than China then it is exempt from the levy.

After meeting with Nippon Steel, the United Steelworkers (USW) union remains weary of the company’s proposed acquisition of U.S. Steel.

November’s preliminary count shows US imports falling, but to a lesser degree than an earlier license count had suggested, according to the latest government figures.

The tariff rate quotas (TRQ) on steel and aluminum imports from the European Union are being extended for another two years.

The latest American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) production figures show domestic steel output slipping the week before the Christmas holiday. Domestic mills produced an estimated 1,693,000 net tons of steel during the week ended Dec. 23, AISI said. Output was down 1.2% from the previous week but was 7.4% higher than the same week […]

The newly separated Worthington Steel noted improved earnings in its fiscal second-quarter results.

Steel Market Update plans to take some time off for Christmas and the New Year holiday.

The end of one year is often both a time for reflection, and for looking ahead. You make sense of the ups and downs from January through December. Then you wipe off the old crystal ball, and try to make out what’s in store for the next 365 days.

While you gear up for the holidays, don’t forget that the 2024 Tampa Steel Conference is just a little over a month away. One of the premier steel conferences in the US, it will be a great complement to our record-breaking SMU Steel Summit this past August.

Steel Market Update’s Steel Demand Index declined, falling back into contraction territory after a very short-lived gain just two weeks ago, according to our latest survey data.

We started 2023 with HRC spot pricing around $700 per ton and the third-month future (March ‘23) trading at $800/ton. That same future eventually settled at $1,059/ton - a $259/ton swing. Today, spot pricing is just shy of $1,100/ton for HRC, and the third-month future (March ‘24) settled at $1,091/ton. The clear takeaway: a lot can change over three months. And while future contracts are a valuable tool for hedging, they are a terrible predictor of price.