Because we are a media outlet we receive from the International Trade Administration notification of all kinds of dumping filings against any number of countries. Earlier this week there was a filing against Chinese tires, this morning it was something I couldn’t even pronounce and didn’t have a clue what it was. What we are […]
Chuck Bradford of the Metals Industry Advisory Group is a well known steel analyst. Mr. Bradford will be participating in our 2014 Steel Summit Conference in Atlanta. Mr. Bradford will be part of a panel discussing commodity prices and the influence of China on the world steel industry – especially here in the United States. […]
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 […]
First thing I want to say is everyone needs to be aware that the market is plum full of rumors and half-truths. There are rumors about dumping suits, Severstal sale, pricing (going both ways) and more. When you hear something question the source, see if there is anything in writing or if the information can […]
Severstal NA has been actively informing their customers that they want hot rolled spot base prices to $700 per ton ($35.00/cwt) and cold rolled and coated to $820 per ton ($41.00/cwt). Other mills are mulling a move and we expect price announcements to be imminent. Whether specific base prices are announced or the mills go […]
I thought the train references in the articles above were fitting as the Kansas City Southern Railroad just became one of our corporate sponsors for this year’s Steel Summit Conference. They are joining Alliance Steel and Magic Coil Products as sponsors. We are in the process of negotiating with a number of other potential sponsors. […]
US Steel has been one of the leaders in the push to prevent foreign oil country tubular goods (OCTG) from being unfairly traded here in the United States. US Steel recently closed two of their OCTG manufacturing facilities. One of the main reasons provided by US Steel was the flood of OCTG imports from countries […]
The final determination on oil country tubular goods (OCTG) was released on Friday afternoon (Friday, July 11, 2014). The steel industry believes that a positive ruling in favor of the domestic steel industry will prompt a new round of dumping cases aimed at flat rolled products – specifically cold rolled, galvanized and Galvalume. However, these […]
Many within the steel industry are looking toward Washington, D.C. to right was has been perceived as a wrong committed by South Korea against the OCTG manufacturers and supporting domestic steel mills. According to the US Department of Commerce website, the final determination is supposed to be announced on Thursday of this week so we […]
Steel imports in May increased 7.4 percent from April to 4 million net tons, a 41.5 percent increase over May imports in 2013. The year-to-date total is now 17.5 million net tons, 31.7 percent higher than the same period last year. Steel imports have been a headline issue for the steel industry in the last […]
Something has to give. US Steel announced during the month of June the closure of two of their OCTG production facilities. The McKeesport facility has a capacity of 315,000 tons of OCTG per year while the Bellville operation capacity is 100,000 tons of OCTG on an annual basis. Total US Steel production capacity of oil […]
Steel imports in May increased 7.4 percent from April to 4 million net tons, a 41.5 percent increase over May imports in 2013. The year-to-date total is now 17.5 million net tons, 31.7 percent higher than the same period last year. Steel imports have been a headline issue for the steel industry in the last […]
Steel Market Update spent an extraordinary amount of time on today’s price ranges and averages. There has been a lot written recently about demand supporting prices and the lack of supply supporting prices. However, the deeper we dug the more questions we began to ask about what is real and what is a little murky. […]
Steel Market Update participated in the monthly galvanized steel conference call sponsored by HARDI. Once per month, HARDI (Heating, Air-conditioning, Refrigeration, Distributors International) conducts a call amongst the HVAC wholesalers and supporting companies about the status of the hot dipped galvanized sheet and coil markets. The very first thing which needs to be mentioned is […]
The following article was written by Peter Brebach, CEO of Iron Angels of Colorado. Peter is a trader who imports pipe and tube products into the United States and is well versed on the current oil country tubular goods (OCTG) issues facing the domestic steel mills. Here is his article on the subject: Import licenses […]
I was asked a number of times today – in a couple of different ways – why Steel Market Update has not adjusted our Price Momentum Indicator from Neutral where it has been for about one month to Lower. The reality is we have been watching spot flat rolled pricing quite closely to see at […]
Something has to give. US Steel announced the closure of two of their OCTG production facilities. The McKeesport facility has a capacity of 315,000 tons of OCTG per year while the Bellville operation capacity is 100,000 tons of OCTG on an annual basis. Total US Steel production capacity of oil country tubular goods is 2.8 […]
After a weak start to 2014 business activity is going strong in May said participants on the HARDI monthly galvanized steel call. Steel Market Update (SMU) joined HARDI wholesalers who supply galvanized steel to the construction trades to talk about concerns in the industry including domestic mill price trends as well as the impact of […]
Five members of the Chinese military have been charged with economic cyber-espionage against American companies including US Steel, Alcoa, Westinghouse Electric Company, Allegheny Technologies Inc., United Steel Workers Union and SolarWorld. The military unit allegedly hacked into private sector companies to gain trade secrets between 2006 and 2014 to give competitive advantages to Chinese companies. […]
Steel Market Update has been well aware, and has reported on, the prospect of new trade cases being levied by the U.S. steel industry against imports of cold rolled and coated (galvanized & Galvalume) steels. There have been suggestions that the dumping suits could be filed within the month. So, we wanted to get the […]
The following article was written by David Phelps, the recently retired director of the American Institute for International Steel and now a contributing writer for Steel Market Update. You can find more information about Mr. Phelps in the About Us section of our website. On February 18th, the Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration shocked […]
The following article was written by David Phelps, the recently retired director of the American Institute for International Steel and now a contributing writer for Steel Market Update. You can find more information about Mr. Phelps in the About Us section of our website. On February 18th, the Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration shocked […]
At the end of 2013, David Phelps retired as president of the American Institute for International Steel (AIIS) and has just joined Steel Market Update as a contributing writer. Mr. Phelps will be writing about topics concerning the steel industry – particularly in the area of imports and foreign steel. Steel Market Update had a […]
Steel buyers are bracing for a new round of flat rolled price increases according to steel buyers and executives as well as the results of our most recent Steel Market Update (SMU) market analysis of the flat rolled steel market which we conducted this past week. “It’s time to raise the price of flat rolled […]
Goldman Sachs steel analysts, in a letter to their clients seen by Steel Market Update, upgraded the steel sector as they feel, “…we see the sector heading to a sustainable recovery over the coming years…” They went on to tell their clients, “The supply-demand fundamentals for steel are starting to look more appealing, particularly for […]
Over the past week we have been receiving a number of calls and emails regarding both John Anton’s (IHS Global Insight) forecast for higher steel prices as we move into 2014 and Andre Marshall’s (Crunch Risk, LLC) hot rolled futures article where he points out that the market fundamentals will force flat rolled steel prices […]
I read two articles recently regarding the impact of the devaluation of the India rupee against the U.S. dollar. One article (IHS Global Insight) discussed the metallurgical coal markets as the Indian steel mills have pulled back from the market as their costs spiral out of control. According to IHS Global the Indian currency lost […]
A Game Changer for the Domestic Steel Industry? The OCTG trade injury cases filed against nine countries will go forward said the US International Trade Commission on Friday. The ITC found there is “reasonable indication that a U.S. industry is materially injured by imports of certain oil country tubular goods.” The preliminary countervailing duty determinations […]
From time to time SMU gets emails from our readers that we think others might find interesting. Here are a couple examples: In an email with the title “Bingo” we received the following comments from a large galvanized service center: “The bet is the first sign of weakness will come out of the conversion mills […]