Flat rolled steel prices continued to move higher over the past week. We are seeing even the weakest product, hot rolled, gaining traction as lead times move out due to the shutdown of US Steel and AK Steel mills (Granite City and Ashland). SMU was advised by both steel mills and steel buyers that orders […]
For the week ending March 12, 2016, the American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) estimated the U.S. steel industry produced 1,722,000 net tons of raw steel, a 2.9 percent increase over the previous week and a 7.6 percent increase over the same week one year ago. The estimated capacity utilization rate is 73.6 percent, up […]
US Steel Canada continues to lose money due to low steel prices said Court Monitor Alex Morrison in the 22nd monitor’s report. January steel shipments at the CCAA protected steel mill increased by 9 percent to 150,878 tons. Revenue was *$79.0 million resulting in an average selling price per ton of $524. Selling price was […]
The ruling regarding the preliminary determination of dumping of hot rolled steel out of Australia, Brazil, Turkey, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom was announced this evening. You will hear split opinions as to whether the ruling is a “win” or “loss” for the domestic steel mills. It is my opinion that this […]
US Steel CEO Mario Longhi took a 35 percent pay cut last year after the company failed to meet financial targets. Longhi’s pay cut was due mostly to the elimination of a cash incentive award that in 2014 totaled $4 million dollars. A recent Securities and Exchange Commission filing shows the CEO’s compensation at $8.6 […]
Licensed data for February was reported by the Steel Import Monitoring System of the US Commerce Department on March 8th. At SMU we perform a detailed analysis of this data, an explanation of our methodology is given at the end of this write up. Total rolled product licensed imports in the single month of February […]
US Steel revealed a new corporate structure for its tubular operations last week. Ownership of the Lorain, Ohio and Fairfield, Ala., operations has been transferred to a new, wholly owned subsidiary US Tubular Operations, LLC. US Steel Seamless Tubular Operations, LLC and the existing US Steel Tubular Products, Inc. (a subsidiary of US Steel Corporation), […]
In Sunday evening’s issue of Steel Market Update we warned our readers that something was happening in China that could impact US steel prices. We have been working on this project ever since and this is what we have learned from multiple sources around the world: Iron ore and steel prices are surging in China. […]
For the week ending March 5, 2016, the American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) estimated the U.S. steel industry produced 1,673,000 net tons of raw steel, a 1.1 percent decrease over the previous week but a 2.6 percent increase over the same week one year ago. The estimated capacity utilization rate is 71.5 percent, down […]
US Steel’s Lorain Tubular steel operations will be idled beginning March 27. The plant is expected to remain down for an unspecified time period until order books improve. US Steel spokesperson Sarah Casella said, “We continue to adjust operations at Lorain to meet customer demand.” The sprawling steel complex in Lorain workers includes both US […]
The market is weighing the latest attempt by the domestic steel mills to raise flat rolled steel prices. Virtually every mill has come out with spot market price increase announcements of $30 per ton on hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized and Galvalume steels. However, there are a couple of mills that have very little spot […]
The following article on the hot rolled coil (HRC), busheling scrap (BUS), and financial futures markets was written by Dave Feldstein. As Flack Steel’s director of risk management, David Feldstein is an active participant in the hot rolled coil (HRC) futures market and we believe he will provide insightful commentary and trading ideas to our […]
Reaction to the US Department of Commerce (DOC) preliminary duties on cold-rolled steel has been mixed, depending on what side of the antidumping determination the commentators are on. In the UK, the steel sector is readying itself for further onslaught of Chinese exports while its own steel exports to the U.S. are assigned dumping margins […]
Ontario Superior Court Justice Herman Wilton-Siegel settled the question of whether a $2.2 million claim by US Steel on its former subsidiary US Steel Canada is equity or debt. It’s debt says the judge. In a decision on Monday, Wilton-Siegel said US Steel’s investment in its Canadian operation was in the form of loans that […]
An Essar Steel Algoma and US Steel Canada combo may be in the works. Bloomberg reports that bidders for US Steel Canada are looking at combining the operations at Algoma with those at Hamilton and Lake Erie Works. The resulting steel company could become a major competitor in the North American steel market. Potential bidders, […]
For the week ending February 27, 2016, the American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) estimated the U.S. steel industry produced 1,692,000 net tons of raw steel, a 0.4 percent decrease over the previous week and a 0.8 percent decrease over the same week one year ago. The estimated capacity utilization rate is 72.4 percent, down […]
US Steel Canada supporters have been waiting a month for a decision by Justice Herman Wilton-Siegel on whether former parent company, US Steel, is owed $2 billion dollars debt or if that amount is an equity investment. Court hearings on the matter ended January 27 with a promise of a decision within two weeks. Trevor […]
Once a month HARDI wholesalers conduct a conference call for those member companies who are involved in the sale of galvanized sheet and coils to the mechanical contractors involved in residential and commercial construction. Steel Market Update publisher, John Packard, has been involved with the HARDI organization for many years going back to his steel […]
For the week ending February 20, 2016, the American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) estimated the U.S. steel industry produced 1,699,000 net tons of raw steel, a 0.2 percent decrease over the previous week and a 0.4 percent decrease over the same week one year ago. The estimated capacity utilization rate is 72.7 percent, up […]
For the week ending February 13, 2016, the American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) estimated the U.S. steel industry produced 1,703,000 net tons of raw steel, a 1.1 percent increase over the previous week but a 0.1 percent decrease over the same week one year ago. The estimated capacity utilization rate is 72.8 percent, up […]
On Sunday Steel Market Update published an article about the Carrier announcement that they would be moving their manufacturing and distribution facilities from Indianapolis, Indiana to Mexico. The announcement got the attention of Donald Trump who mentioned it during the debates on Saturday. Our article and the news also got the attention of a number […]
Figure 1 shows published data for the growth of Chinese GDP, industrial production and consumer prices through the fourth quarter of 2015. The GDP and industrial production portions of this graph are three month moving averages. The growth of GDP was 6.8 percent in the 4th quarter, and decelerating to its slowest pace since the […]
Flat rolled steel prices remained relatively range bound over the past week with only one product, cold rolled, showing any movement other than sideways. While speaking to steel buyers around the country many of the discussions centered on lead times, demand and what will the mills do next regarding steel prices. The consensus of opinion […]
For the week ending February 6, 2016, the American Iron & Steel Institute (AISI) estimated the U.S. steel industry produced 1,685,000 net tons of raw steel, a 1.7 percent increase over the previous week but a 1.2 percent decrease over the same week one year ago. The estimated capacity utilization rate is 71.9 percent, up […]
Losses keep mounting at US Steel Canada but cash reserves are keeping the company alive for now. In his 21st report, court Monitor Alex Morrison reported an operating loss of CAD$144 million for US Steel Canada in 2015 compared to a loss of $37.9 million in 2014. Shipments totaled 1.8 million tons, a year-over-year decrease […]
According to the latest data released from the US Department of Commerce and the American Iron and Steel Institute, apparent steel supply for the month of December 2015 was 7,878,660 net tons. Apparent steel supply is calculated by adding domestic steel shipments and finished US steel imports and subtracting total US steel exports. December supply […]
There seems to be little doubt that there is some strength in the cold rolled and coated products markets. The lead times are extended with ArcelorMittal being into May on galvanized according to one of their automotive service centers. We heard from a couple of the conversion mills who told us their orders books were […]
According to the AISI A7 report, total crude steel production in 2015 was 86,912,000 tons, down by 10.6 percent from 2014. Figure 1 puts this into a historical context with 130 years of data. Peak production was 150,483,000 in 1973 and in that year 26 percent was produced in open hearth furnaces, 18.4 percent in […]
Contract negotiations are continuing at Cliffs Natural Resources but still moving slowing according to an update to members by the USW. Negotiators returned to the bargaining table last week and said progress had been made on health care issues for active and retired workers. The negotiating teams will take a short break and return to […]
First, a note to our Premium level members (subscribers) we will produce another Premium supplemental issue of our newsletter for you tomorrow afternoon. The newsletter will contain the most recent CPIP (construction put in place) data. We also will release the results of this week’s flat rolled steel market trends analysis in the form of […]