Futures
February 2, 2023
Written by Becca Moczygemba
Steel mill lead times have remained flat despite rising prices, according to SMU’s latest market survey.
SMU’s hot-rolled lead time is approximately 5 weeks, unchanged from our last check of the market two weeks ago.
It has been a crazy 2024 so far for hot-rolled coil (HRC) futures!!! “It’s not crazy, it’s hot rolled.” This chart shows the steeply backwardated Midwest HRC futures curve on Jan. 3 plummeting between $186 to $241 in the front three months, evolving into the curve six weeks later on Feb. 12. CME hot-rolled coil […]
The summer cycle has brought more focus around the uncertainty of where HR prices are headed. Spot indexes continue to bleed lower despite price hikes from sheet mills. Market talk is of still lower prices as the gap grows between the slow-moving index versus expectations for HR future prices declines. (The index likely reflects smaller, […]
The US HRC Futures market has been on a roller-coaster ride since our last update (green). In early July, the front month futures contracts surged significantly as news of Steel Dynamics Inc.’s (SDI’s) Sinton, Texas, mill outage trickled through the market (blue).
The US HRC Futures market has been on a roller coaster ride since our last update (green). In early July, the front month futures contracts surged significantly as news of Steel Dynamics Inc.’s (SDI’s) Sinton, Texas, mill outage trickled through the market (blue). However, the futures quickly reversed course and experienced a sharp decline, following […]
In the past two months, the US Midwest Hot Rolled Coil (HRC) futures market has experienced significant fluctuations. The initial decline in prices led to destocking and low inventory levels. However, recent price increase announcements by mills halted the downward trend and even reversed it temporarily. The futures curve reflected short-term optimism but indicated that the […]