Based on the results from our recent steel market analysis of the flat rolled steel service centers we found inventory levels increased to 2.30 months. As you can see by the graphic below, the Steel Market Update service center inventory levels tend to make very modest changes. It will be interesting to see if the […]
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 […]
One month ago the domestic steel mills and their manufacturing and service center contract customers were locked in a battle over where pricing would be beginning in January 2014 with many mills firming opposed to the negotiated CRU minus and buckets deal made common over the past couple of years. When we polled our respondents […]
We continue to get positive feedback regarding the new SMU website. As with any new site as complicated as ours is there will be a few bugs and a learning curve to negotiate through in the early stages. We are working through those and believe we are offering a unique experience for those involved in […]
The original forecast for December scrap pricing was for ferrous scrap prices to move sideways (no change) to slightly higher, maybe $10 per gross ton. That was three weeks ago. As the month of December moved closer, the expectation for a sideways move was replaced with up $10 to $20 per gross ton. The month […]
Buyers and sellers of flat rolled steel continue to be optimistic about their company’s ability to be successful in the current market conditions. Based on the results of our early December steel market analysis, SMU Steel Buyers Sentiment Index was measured at +39. This is up 6 points from our last reading and well within […]
One of the keys when determining the strength and or weakness of the flat rolled steel markets is through what is being reported by buyers regarding mill lead times. We have found our analysis, through the use of our steel market survey, provides a better look at the average lead times and changes to those […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) conducted the first of our two monthly surveys for the month of December. We invited approximately 600 companies to participate in this week’s market analysis. Of the companies responding 47 percent were manufacturers, 42 per cent were service centers/wholesalers and the balance consisted of steel mills, trading companies, toll processors and […]
DELTA, Ohio – Dec. 5, 2013 – Fulton County Processing (FCP), a northwest Ohio-based, state-of-the-art steel coil processing company, has announced it will be installing a new hydrochloric push/pull pickling line set to be operational in late 2014. The $20 million project will require an 82,000 square foot expansion to the plant, which will house […]
My apologies to our readers – As we prepared this evening’s newsletter we discovered that we had a bug in our new website which created a problem with the “Read Full Text” link in the newsletter. The link was not taking us to the correct place to allow us to read the full newsletter and […]
There have been a number of rumors flying about the marketplace since the announcement of the ThyssenKrupp Steel USA facility in Calvert, Alabama. We thought it prudent to address a couple of the issues where we have some insights. TK USA 2014 Contracts Steel Market Update has been advised by ThyssenKrupp Steel USA customers that […]
Based on our early December steel market analysis we found some weakening in the coated steel indices. Hot rolled and cold rolled managed to maintain their averages but we did collect a few lower numbers on those products as well. There was enough data on coated to drop both galvanized and Galvalume averages from what […]
ArcelorMittal conducted a conference call with steel analysts regarding the purchase of ThyssenKrupp Steel USA steel mill. The company outlined the reasons for the purchase and addressed a number of issues of importance to the steel community. In his opening remarks, ArcelorMittal CEO, Lakshmi Mittal spelled out their reasons for making the purchase: “So firstly, […]
December tends to be a slow month having just come off of a late in the month Thanksgiving Holiday coupled with Christmas and the Jewish Holidays during the month of December. The bottom line is there are a limited number of shipping days during the month. One of the first things SMU will be watching […]
Commodities are one of the key cost drivers for the domestic steel mills. Scrap, which is used by all mills but is the critical ingredient for the mini-mills and their electric arc furnaces, rose between $28 and $35 per ton. This was the reason that two mills announced price increases at the beginning of the […]
Flat rolled steel prices moved modestly higher during the month of November according to the indexes followed by Steel Market Update. Benchmark hot rolled ranged from a low of $668 to a high of $680 although all of the indexes except Platts were indicating HRC pricing about $670 per ton ($33.50/cwt). Most items increased by […]
As mentioned in an earlier article, prices increased during the month of November as two mills officially raised prices by $20 and $30 per ton. The AK Steel announcement called for hot rolled base prices to be a minimum of $35.50/cwt and Severstal placed their base price levels for HRC at $35.00/cwt. When the month […]
Negotiations on 2014 flat rolled steel contracts are heating up. Sources are advising Steel Market Update that there has been some movement in the negotiation process by the domestic mills which has allowed a number of the mills to close some 2014 business. We are also hearing from multiple sources of a move by buyers […]
Over the past few months we have seen constraints in the supply of flat rolled steel as one of the main drivers behind the higher price trend. Supply disruptions continued at a number of mills due to maintenance at Severstal, ArcelorMittal, USS and others as well as the restart associated with USS Lake Erie Works. […]
ArcelorMittal (AM) and their 50/50 joint venture partner Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation (NSSMC) reached an agreement with ThyssenKrupp AG to acquire the ThyssenKrupp Steel USA steel mill located in Calvert, Alabama. The purchase was valued at $1.55 billion for the 4.3 million tons of flat rolling capacity along with 1 million tons of […]
It is still early in the process of negotiations between the domestic steel mills and their scrap suppliers. The steel mills are trying to pay the same prices for ferrous scrap as they did during the month of November and the scrap dealers are having none of it. The scrap suppliers are asking for prices […]
ArcelorMittal (AM) and their 50/50 joint venture partner Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation (NSSMC) reached an agreement with ThyssenKrupp AG to acquire the ThyssenKrupp Steel USA steel mill located in Calvert, Alabama. The purchase was valued at $1.55 billion for the 4.3 million tons of flat rolling capacity along with 1 million tons of […]
Steel Market Update spoke with steel analyst Charles Bradford of Bradford Research about the purchase of the ThyssenKrupp Steel USA assets by the ArcelorMittal/Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metals Corporation joint venture. We wanted to understand the economics of the purchase as well as what will happen next prior to the closing of the deal. “ArcelorMittal […]
After two months of sideways movement, November saw our SMU Pricing Momentum Indicator shift to reflect higher steel prices as the trend over the next 30 days. Our proprietary SMU Steel Buyers Sentiment Index remained within optimistic range of the index at +36.5. Sentiment was down one point from the prior month and three points […]
Steel Market Update (SMU) follows four other indices besides our own and provides the data to our members on a weekly basis. Recently, we asked our readers if they would like for us to continue providing CRU data and the responses indicated there continues to be an interest in their numbers. We have agreed to […]
The question being asked is once the sale of the ThyssenKrupp Steel USA plant in Calvert, Alabama is closed and ownership transfers to the ArcelorMittal (AM) and Nippon Steel Sumitomo Metals Corporation (NSSMC) joint venture what impact will it have on the flat rolled steel markets? My opinion is the immediate impact will mostly be […]
As we move closer to the Thanksgiving Holiday we are finding flat rolled steel prices as being essentially “firm” compared to this time last week. Steel buyers have been consistently referencing prices as the same as one week ago to maybe $10 per ton higher or lower depending on the mill and product being quoted. […]
For those of you who logged into the website and read the newsletter online – you will already know that our SMU Price Ranges & Indices article has an interactive graphic at the end of the article. Those of you reading the newsletter in your inbox will not be able to see or interact with […]
One of the questions we hear on a continuous basis is, how much foreign flat rolled steel import is really coming and what impact will it have on domestic steel prices (and when)? Steel Market Update conducted our most recent analysis of the flat rolled steel market over this past week. Based on the responses […]
Manufacturing companies are reporting the prices being offered by service centers are essentially only moving in one direction – higher. End users, responding to the most recent flat rolled steel market analysis conducted by Steel Market Update this past week, reported prices as rising as compared to remaining the same by a 73 percent to […]