By CRU Chief Economist Jumana Saleheen and Economist Ippolito Tarabini, from CRU’s Steel Sheet Products Monitor The economy is in the midst of a recession triggered by a health crisis. That makes this recession unusual and different. Here we examine how this recession compares to previous recessions. From that we infer key features of the […]
Our friends at ITR Economics warn us to be wary of economic misreporting, especially when the media is so full of dramatic headlines about the state of the pandemic. It’s easy for reporters to misinterpret the data, which is confusing to nearly everyone. ITR continues to predict U.S. GDP will move into a recovery mode […]
Four days to go… This will be our 10th SMU Steel Summit Conference. Over those 10 years the SMU team (and now CRU team) has built the most successful steel conference outside of mainland China. This year’s conference will be either the second or third most attended event we have had since the beginning. I don’t think we […]
Last week we conducted one of our flat rolled and plate steel market trends analyses. Some of the information gathered was shared in Thursday’s and again in tonight’s issue (see above). However, we share in our newsletter only a small fraction of the information that is being collected. Our data providers and Premium members can […]
There are now 14 Days to go before the start of this year’s steel conference. Unlike past years we will not be in Atlanta but instead holding the conference as a virtual event. You can learn more about what that means by reviewing a recording we did a couple of weeks ago when we unveiled […]
By CRU Prices Analyst George Pearson, from CRU’s Steel Monitor. The U.S. Midwest sheet market was somewhat mixed this week as prices for both HR and HDG coil fell w/w, while CR coil rose by $3 /s.ton. The price of HR coil fell $5 /s.ton w/w and is at its lowest level since the prior […]
By CRU Senior Analyst Ryan McKinley, from CRU’s Metallics Monitor The CRU metallics price indicator (CRUmpi) rose by 3.6 percent m/m in August to 205.1. China’s demand for finished steel has either lifted or stabilized both scrap and metallics prices across the globe. Looking ahead, we expect this trend to continue through September as markets […]
In the SMU Community Chat webinar last week, Paul Terry of CRU and John Packard of Steel Market Update gave a live demo of the virtual event platform that will be the SMU Steel Summit 2020 Virtual Conference. If you missed the webinar, you can watch the live demo here. We explain networking, agenda, exhibition and […]
By CRU Research Analyst Eduardo Tinti, from CRU’s Steelmaking Raw Materials Monitor Last week, iron ore prices rallied, rising by $10.7 /dmt w/w. This was mainly due to very strong Chinese demand driven by high steelmaking margins, BFs operating at historic high capacity utilization rates and bullish market sentiment. Albeit rising iron ore inventories at […]
By CRU Senior Consultant Ibrahim Yucel, from CRU’s Steel Monitor Efforts to reshore critical supply chains and secure access to strategic materials have become a top political issue for many countries, and trade barriers are a common tool used by governments to help protect local producers of strategic materials. However, trade policy enforcements sometimes lead […]
In the SMU Community Chat webinar last week, Paul Terry of CRU and John Packard of Steel Market Update gave a live demo of the virtual event platform that will be the SMU Steel Summit 2020 Virtual Conference. If you missed the webinar, you can watch the live demo here. We explain networking, agenda, exhibition and […]
By CRU Economist Anissa Chabib from CRU’s Global Economic Outlook The estimate of U.S. GDP for Q2 2020 shows a decline of 32.9 percent q/q. This is the biggest drop on record, but slightly better than expected. Overall, the surprisingly good data on consumption, sentiment and production released in July is due to the reopening […]
The deadline to submit your nominations for the 2nd annual SMU NexGen Leadership Award, sponsored by the Steel Manufacturers Association, has been extended through Aug. 5. The award is designed to recognize and celebrate the excellence of emerging leaders within the greater steel community. There’s still plenty of time to nominate the young stars within […]
Ferrous scrap prices are likely to trade flat to down a further $20 per ton in August, following on a $20-40 drop in July, lending little support to the mills’ hopes to raise finished steel prices as the economy slowly recovers from the pandemic. CRU Senior Analyst Ryan McKinley said stronger demand for scrap exports […]
By CRU Analyst Iris Speelmanns, from CRU’s Steelmaking Raw Materials Monitor The following is excerpted from CRU’s weekly report on steel supply disruptions and restarts. Several weeks after national lockdowns were eased, activity in steel-consuming sectors continues to resume and mills are restarting or ramping up production in some regions. Outside China, the spread of […]
Join us for CRU’s free economic outlook webinar, where CRU experts will answer your questions about the impact of Covid-19 on the global economy. Tuesday Aug. 4, 2020 Session I – 8:00 AM BST (3:00 PM CST)Session II – 10:00 AM EDT (3:00 PM BST) Topics discussed Key phases of the Covid-19 downturn and recovery […]
Watch the market closely. I am hearing rumors that at least one EAF mill is trying to get flat rolled numbers up. Right now, most (not all) data providers were not supportive of higher numbers. I am hearing integrated mills are not booking a lot of spot business, and thus are able to get slightly […]
SMU Virtual Steel Summit Conference now has less than a month to go… (25 days). The SMU platform from which the conference will be hosted will be unveiled in a free webinar at 11 AM ET this morning. We added a couple new speakers to the 2020 SMU Virtual Steel Summit Conference. I added Big […]
Here is a listing of the companies registered for the SMU Steel Summit 2020 Virtual Conference as of last week. Note that those companies with an * after their name means more than one person is attending. If your company is missing, or if you have questions about your registration, please contact Events@SteelMarketUpdate.com. You can […]
Here is a listing of the companies registered for the SMU Steel Summit 2020 Virtual Conference as of last week. Note that those companies with an * after their name means more than one person is attending. If your company is missing, or if you have questions about your registration, please contact Events@SteelMarketUpdate.com. You can […]
The official opening of the SMU Virtual Steel Summit Conference is 29 days from today (Aug. 24-26). You will want to register early as we will be opening the platform during the prior week (probably Thursday and Friday) so people can get help as they practice using the platform, make appointments with other attendees and […]
The official opening of the SMU Virtual Steel Summit Conference is 29 days from today (Aug. 24-26). You will want to register early as we will be opening the platform during the prior week (probably Thursday and Friday) so people can get help as they practice using the platform, make appointments with other attendees and […]
Below is the agenda for the 2020 SMU Steel Summit Conference. For more information and to register, visit: www.SteelMarketUpdate.com/Events/Steel-Summit. Rising from the Ashes All timings are in EST and all Agenda items will be available on-demand as well as live Monday, August 24, 2020 08:00 AM How to Get the Most from the Virtual Conference: […]
Below is the agenda for the 2020 SMU Steel Summit Conference. For more information and to register, visit: www.SteelMarketUpdate.com/Events/Steel-Summit. Rising from the Ashes All timings are in EST and all Agenda items will be available on-demand as well as live Monday, August 24, 2020 08:00 AM How to Get the Most from the Virtual Conference: […]
This week’s SMU comparison of foreign and domestic hot rolled prices shows that U.S prices have gained an even greater advantage over foreign imports, according to SMU and CRU indices. After shrinking in May, the price gap between domestic HRC compared to German, Italian, and East/Southeast Asian imports has widened over the last few weeks. The […]
NOTE: Steel Market Update will be moving to a new Azure server tomorrow. Most of the day our website will be down as we make the transition. The website should be back up on Saturday and we intend to publish on Sunday as usual, barring any technical difficulties. We are in an interesting time for […]
We are in an interesting time for the steel industry. The pandemic is just one factor behind the stress in the market. The price increase announcements by the integrated steel mills, U.S. Steel, AK Steel and ArcelorMittal, have created another issue for steel buyers. An executive with U.S. Steel saw the slides associated with yesterday’s […]
By CRU Principal Analyst Matthew Watkins, from CRU’s Global Steel Trade Service Strength in China has continued. Over recent days there has been a renewed surge upwards in Chinese export prices, especially for HR coil, which rose by a total of $17/t in just three trading days this week (see chart 1). This comes at […]
By CRU Senior Analyst Erik Hedborg, from CRU’s Iron Ore Market Outlook Iron ore prices fell by $2 /dmt in the past week as port stocks continued to rise on high arrivals from Australia, while steel production in China declined slightly. On Tuesday, July 21, CRU has assessed the 62% Fe fines price at $111.0 […]
By CRU Prices Analyst George Pearson, from CRU’s Steel Sheet Products Monitor The U.S. Midwest market has continued to record lower weekly sheet prices. Our assessment of HR coil is now down $23 /s.ton since the July 1 assessment and market participants expect further price declines to emerge for all sheet products over the near […]