Steel Market Update (SMU) analyzes foreign steel import license data on a weekly basis. From the data we can see where import tonnages are trending although we are not comfortable calling a specific number as the license data can be suspect until after the month is over. For the second week August license data is […]
We have had a number of end users and service centers who are against the filing of any new steel trade cases contact us to express their opinions. Most do not want to be identified. We received the following letter to the editor from an executive at a service center who asked that we not […]
It is still too early in the month of July to provide a trend analysis of where we think import numbers will fall by the end of the month. The first eight days (with three being holidays) of the month saw a relatively large number of license applications but we will wait until next Tuesday […]
The U.S. steel mills exported 1 million tons of steel during the month of April. This is within the 12 month moving average and only slightly higher than the 1,041,387 net tons shipped in April 2013. During the same month (April 2014) foreign imports rose by 999,557 net tons compared to the same period one […]
The U.S. Department of Commerce released Preliminary Census Data on steel imports into the United States for the month of April on Friday. As expected steel imports jumped by 20 percent compared to the previous month and by 36 percent year-over-year (days adjusted basis) to 3,726,199 net tons (3.4 million+ metric tons). This is for […]
Majestic Steel USA, a flat-rolled steel service center located in Cleveland, Ohio, plans to expand its staff by 80 positions in 2014. The family-owned and operated company has entered into a period of what they are calling “hyper growth.” “We’re invested in the industry and looking to hire additional resources to help us take steel […]
Of the three main ways of procuring prepainted flat rolled steel described in my last article, buying from a service center is the simplest. Service Centers will quote a price that can be compared apples to apples against one other. In addition a good Service Center can consult on the correct specifications and will also […]
Precoat Metals is purchasing the coil coating assets of the Steelscape Fairfield, AL facility. There are no immediate plans to reopen the plant as the company already has a facility located a few miles away in Hueytown, AL. The Steelscape facility consisted of a single paint line which was reported (by sources outside of Precoat) […]
Ultra light gauge galvanized (thicknesses less than .015”) have traditionally been associated with foreign steel suppliers as opposed to domestic mills. The U.S. mills have, over time, relegated the ultra light gauge markets as ones of the least interest due to the amount of line time it takes to produce these products versus running a […]