By CRU Senior Analyst Erik Hedborg The high volatility in the iron ore market continues. After peaking on June 2, iron ore prices fell sharply at the end of last week before rebounding on Monday and Tuesday. On July 9, CRU has assessed the 62% Fe iron ore price at $118 /t, down $6.00 w/w. […]
Over 800 executives are registered with just seven weeks to go before the start of the 2019 SMU Steel Summit Conference. We continue to see strong interest in this year’s event, which will be held in Atlanta, Ga., on Aug. 26-28. Once again, the Georgia International Convention Center will be the home of this, our […]
Over 800 executives are registered with just seven weeks to go before the start of the 2019 SMU Steel Summit Conference. We continue to see strong interest in this year’s event, which will be held in Atlanta, Ga., on Aug. 26-28. Once again, the Georgia International Convention Center will be the home of this, our […]
Steel Market Update asked steel buyers this week to respond to the following question: Do you believe a floor has been put on prices and they will rise from here? Here are some of the responses received: “A floor is possible, but I fear that if we see the expected downward move for scrap prices […]
By CRU Senior Analyst Erik Hedborg Iron ore prices continued to climb in the past week as port stocks fell further and the market enters a period of weaker seaborne supply. On Tuesday, July 2, CRU assessed the 62% Fe fines price at $124 /t, up $7.50 /t w/w. Demand in China remains strong as […]
By CRU Analyst Erik Hedborg The iron ore price averaged $106 /t in June, which brings the 2019 year-to-date price as high as $90 /t. However, in the second half of the year, we see a few bearish factors that will contribute to prices being lower than they are today. Those factors include: • Demand contraction […]
This week I will be working with steel buyers (and steel mills) to see how the price increase on flat rolled is being received. As is normal when lead times are short and price announcements are made, many mills held pricing through the end of last week for those who had outstanding quotes or needed […]
We are passing through 750 executives registered for the 2019 SMU Steel Summit Conference, which will be held in Atlanta on Aug. 26-28. We continue to be on track to exceed the 912 executives we reached during last year’s conference. Our conference has become the premier steel conference in North America for many reasons: Networking: […]
There seem to be more questions than answers regarding the move by the domestic flat rolled steel mills to increase spot base pricing on hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized and Galvalume steels. The move was taken as the low end of the benchmark hot rolled steel base pricing was dipping below $500 per ton. The […]
By CRU Principal Analyst Josh Spoores Sheet prices in the U.S. have continued to fall with HR coil making a significant decline. For HR coil, CRU’s price assessment fell $34 /s.ton w/w to $505 /s.ton, the lowest price recorded since mid-November 2016. North America Our index is a volume-weighted average of actual transactions from last […]
Declining ferrous scrap prices are expected to finally bottom in July, but only after backsliding by at least $10 per ton for one more month, predict Steel Market Update sources. Flat rolled steelmakers announced a $40 per ton increase in finished steel prices this week, which brings increased scrutiny to the price of scrap. Scrap […]
As a supporter of youth in the steel industry, we would welcome your nominations for the SMU NexGen Leadership Award – sponsored by the Steel Manufacturers Association (SMA). This is a great opportunity to shine the light on the hard work of the talented individuals (age 35 and younger) in your organization and celebrate it with the greater […]
I am being asked for my opinion regarding the price increase announcements, and specifically if the increases will “stick”? The announcements are not a surprise to me as some of our data was showing service center spot pricing in the area of “capitulation” (more than 75 percent of the service centers dropping spot prices to […]
As I expected, Nucor came out with a $40 per ton ($2.00/cwt) price increase on flat rolled this afternoon. This is the first Nucor price increase since Feb. 20, 2019. Shortly after the Nucor announcement, USS/POSCO followed with an increase letter of their own and then NLMK USA put out a letter identifying the minimum […]
Steel Market Update is pleased to share this Premium content with Executive level members. For more information on upgrading to a Premium-level subscription, email Info@SteelMarketUpdate.com. The price of iron ore has surged as scrap has declined benefiting the EAF producers in the U.S. over the integrated mills. Table 1 summarizes the price changes through June […]
By CRU Analysts Kevin Bai and Ruilin Wang Chinese economic stimulus in 2018 and 2019 will add a total of 21 Mt to Chinese domestic steel demand, most of which is expected to manifest in 2019. Including this, total Chinese domestic steel demand is now expected to grow at around 3 percent this year. Other […]
The day started slow, but it seems to have picked up steam after the Nucor announcement. As expected, most of the mills have followed the Nucor lead with NLMK putting specific base prices into the market. The guidance being given in the NLMK announcement is hot rolled at a $560 per ton ($28.00/cwt) minimum base […]
By Chris Houlden, CRU Research Manager CRU held its annual Steel Briefing in New York City on June 17. This Insight summarizes the key takeaways from papers presented by CRU North America market specialists Josh Spoores and Ryan McKinley. • Up to 20 Mt of new hot-rolling and over 8 Mt of steelmaking capacity could come […]
With steel prices at such surprisingly low levels, it’s only a matter of time before the domestic mills announce a price increase. The only point of debate is when. There’s clearly some disagreement over whether the market has found a bottom yet. Slightly more than half of the service center and OEM executives responding to […]
The following calculation is used by Steel Market Update to identify the theoretical spread between foreign hot rolled steel prices (delivered to U.S. ports) and domestic hot rolled coil prices (FOB domestic mills). We want our readers to be aware that this is only a “theoretical” calculation as freight costs, trader margin and other costs […]
The construction segment of the market is booming. This is what we heard from the HARDI steel conference call we participated in last week, and it is what we heard from many companies over the two days SMU was in New York City earlier this week. Whenever we travel, one of the things we always […]
By CRU Prices Analyst Estelle Tran Hundreds of steel executives from around the world gathered in New York City this week to hold meetings and learn about what will drive the steel markets in the second half of the year. The CRU Steel Briefing on Monday, June 17, provided attendees with our views on sheet […]
By CRU Senior Analyst Helen O’Cleary All eyes are on this month’s G20 summit in Osaka for a resolution to ongoing trade tensions between the USA and China, and markets are braced for U.S. tariffs on a further $300 billion of Chinese goods if negotiations do not progress to the USA’s satisfaction. News that Trump […]
More than 700 executives are registered with slightly more than two months to go before the start of the 2019 SMU Steel Summit Conference. We continue to see strong interest in this year’s event, which will be held in Atlanta, Ga., on Aug. 26-28. Once again, the Georgia International Convention Center (www.gicc.com) will be the […]
More than 700 executives are registered with slightly more than two months to go before the start of the 2019 SMU Steel Summit Conference. We continue to see strong interest in this year’s event, which will be held in Atlanta, Ga., on Aug. 26-28. Once again, the Georgia International Convention Center (www.gicc.com) will be the […]
There were many questions raised earlier this week about the announced new steelmaking and rolling capacities and whether those projects would indeed continue through completion. The questions came during various steel meetings held by analysts, steel mills, CRU and others in New York City. I participated in three events and found the question brought up […]
Last night, Steel Market Update participated in the annual Bank of America Merrill Lynch dinner hosted by metals and mining analyst Timna Tanners. We also spoke at the CRU Steel Briefing a little earlier in the day. Here are some of the key takeaways from those meetings. Mill Lead Times Short Flat rolled steel mill […]
By CRU Senior Analyst Erik Hedborg Iron ore prices have continued ascending in the past week as low port inventories in China have forced steelmakers to turn to seaborne cargoes. On Tuesday, June 18, CRU assessed the 62% Fe fines price at $108.00 /t, a $7.60 /t increase w/w. Seaborne supply has been particularly strong […]
I have been in New York City where one of the competitors of Steel Market Update was conducting a steel conference. There were a number of satellite mini-conferences surrounding the NYC event. I attended three of them: the CRU Steel Briefing, which attracted about 100-150 executives; the Bank of America Merrill Lynch dinner drawing a […]
By CRU Principal Analyst Chris Asgill Scrap supply has continued to outpace demand in most of the key scrap supply markets and CRU’s metallics price indicator (CRUmpi) has fallen a further 4.2 percent m/m to 231.2 (see chart). This is the lowest level for the indicator since June 2017. The depth of U.S. scrap price weakness surprised the […]