Commercial Metals Co., a Texas-based long products producer and scrap recycler, reported a profitable fiscal 2017 despite imports of rebar and other products that continue to squeeze margins. CMC management is hopeful the company will get an assist from Washington in the coming year. “The need for infrastructure renewal is overwhelming, but the issue is […]
If the Trump administration restricts steel imports under Section 232, it will open the United States to a host of retaliatory measures by other nations and will do little to address the root cause of the problem, which is China, argues the American Institute for International Steel (AIIS), a trade group representing foreign steel producers. […]
The following article on the hot rolled coil (HRC) futures markets was written by David Feldstein. As the Flack Global Metals Director of Risk Management, Dave is an active participant in the hot rolled futures market, and we believe he provides insightful commentary and trading ideas to our readers. Besides writing futures articles for Steel […]
Reliance Steel & Aluminum experienced an uptick in orders for energy and nonresidential construction during the third quarter. Demand, in general, was stronger than anticipated, however tons sold are expected to decline 4.0 to 6.0 percent in the fourth quarter due to seasonal slowdowns and fewer shipping days. Reliance anticipates the average selling price in […]
The trend for foreign steel imports into the United States continues to be right at 3 million net tons for the month of October. The U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) updated license data collected for the month of October through today, Oct. 24. We take the license data for the first 24 days of the […]
Cleveland Cliffs posted net income of $53 million in the third quarter that included an $89 million loss after paying down debt and a $32 million gain from discontinued operations. Debt was reduced to $1.7 billion compared to $2.2 billion in Q3 2016. “We are very pleased with our accomplishments so far this year, in […]
Two popular appliance manufacturers, Samsung and LG, are facing potential quotas and tariffs on imports of their products to the United States. Earlier this month, following a global safeguard petition by Whirlpool, the U.S. International Trade Commission voted unanimously in a Section 201 investigation that a surge of large residential washer (LRW) imports was injuring […]
Steel Dynamics and CEO Mark Millett are expecting a tighter steel market in the fourth quarter. After surging ahead of possible Section 232 trade action, import levels have declined and, coupled with strengthening order rates and longer lead times, steel prices are expected to appreciate significantly, said Millet in remarks during the company’s quarterly conference […]
The delay by the Trump administration in making a decision on Section 232 is allowing further damage to the steel industry, said Nucor CEO, Chairman and President John Ferriola during the company’s third-quarter conference call. Ferriola said he is not surprised by the surge of imports that have come into the U.S. since spring. Countries […]
The following article on the hot rolled coil (HRC) steel and financial futures markets was written by Jack Marshall of Crunch Risk LLC. Here is how Jack saw trading over the past week: Steel It has been a very active trading week in HR futures along all portions of the curve as over 83,000 ST […]
SMU published an article in Tuesday evening’s issue about the comments made by General John Adams on national security and the need for steel. The title of the article was “General Goes Nuclear in Support of Section 232.” We received a number of comments from that article wanting to know if we had fact-checked what […]
The U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) provided license data through Oct. 17 (today) regarding the amount of foreign steel slated to come into the United States during the month of October. Based on the license data, the trend is for yet another 3 million net ton (or higher) month. There are some significant changes to […]
Those who believe unfairly traded steel imports pose a serious threat to America’s security have a high-ranking ally in retired Brigadier General John Adams. In an Oct. 16 op/ed in The Hill, titled “North Korea is Distracting from America’s Steel Import Crisis,” Adams argues that the Section 232 trade case should rate headlines comparable those […]
The American Automotive Policy Council is challenging data that Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross cited in his bid to raise the NAFTA auto rules of origin. In a September report, Ross used data from 1995 to 2011 in an effort to “debunk the claim that U.S. content in the form of parts is so high that […]
Demand for steel sheet products continued to expand through August. This report summarizes total steel supply by product from 2003 through August 2017 and year-on-year changes. It then compares domestic mill shipments with total supply to the market. It quantifies market direction by product and enables a side-by-side comparison of the degree to which imports […]
The expectation has been for a huge swing lower in the amount of flat rolled foreign steel imports coming into the United States in October. The industry is waiting for the combination of the drying up of the surge of orders placed to “beat” any Section 232 duty and the impact of higher world steel […]
This Steel Market Update analysis of sheet and plate imports by district of entry and source through August 2017 includes both coiled and cut-to-length plate for the first time. We believe that misinformation (or a lack of) about regional import volumes is often used to influence purchase decisions. Our intent with this analysis of tonnage […]
The Steel Manufacturers Association is still confident that the Section 232 investigation on steel imports will bring relief to the U.S. steel industry. SMA President Philip Bell called the investigation a “really complex issue,” during a media call on Monday. Although the administration issued a self-imposed deadline of June 30, which it failed to meet, […]
The following article was written by trade attorney Lewis E. Leibowitz regarding the historical precedent for exclusion of products from any Section 232 decision that impacts imports of foreign steel. Leibowitz is well known to Steel Market Update, having spoken on trade issues at a number of SMU Steel Summit Conferences, and he has provided […]
Increased imports of foreign-made washing machines into the U.S. are causing serious injury to the domestic industry, said the U.S. International Trade Commission in an Oct. 5 determination. Under Section 202 of the Trade Act of 1974, the commission voted 4-0 in the global safeguard investigation that was prompted by a petition from Whirlpool Corp. […]
The following article on the hot rolled coil (HRC) futures markets was written by David Feldstein. As the Flack Global Metals Director of Risk Management, Dave is an active participant in the hot rolled futures market, and we believe he provides insightful commentary and trading ideas to our readers. Besides writing futures articles for Steel […]
Total rolled steel imports declined by 5.8 percent in the three months through September, compared with the three months through June. Sheet product imports were down by 3.9 percent on the same basis. The final license data for September was reported by of the U.S. Commerce Department on Oct. 3. The data is reported within […]
Despite the major flat rolled trade cases concluded in 2016, flat rolled steel imports continue to surge. Coated imports are at their highest levels ever and cold rolled imports are near record levels. This article, by Paul Lowrey of Steel Research Associates, provides some historical context to the current situation. This analysis includes all products […]
U.S. Steel’s Section 337 petition took another blow this week when Administrative Law Judge Dee Lord terminated the trans-shipment claim that accused China of misrepresenting country of origin on steel imports. Lord had dismissed the claim in January, citing lack of evidence by U.S. Steel to support its allegations. The claim was remanded to Lord […]
The American Institute for International Steel, representing 120 companies supporting 1.2 million jobs in the steel-using sectors and 84,000 direct and indirect jobs in the marine transportation system, wrote to the president this week requesting termination of the Section 232 investigation on steel imports. AIIS said they appreciate that a significant part of the rationale […]
We are continuing our analysis to quantify the players in the global trade of both hot rolled coil (HRC) and cold rolled coil (CRC). We now have data for the second quarter of this year. This information is sourced quarterly from the Iron and Steel Statistics Bureau in the UK. It takes about 11 weeks […]
We are continuing our analysis to quantify the players in the global trade of both hot rolled coil (HRC) and cold rolled coil (CRC). We now have data through Q2 2017. This information is sourced quarterly from the Iron and Steel Statistics Bureau in the UK. Data is not very current because many countries are […]
The United States’ share of the global steel scrap trade has changed little in the two and a half years through second-quarter 2017. Steel Market Update performs this analysis quarterly to understand the gyrations of the domestic scrap market and where the U.S. stands as a global player. This data is not very current because […]
Manufacturing expanded in the United States, along with the overall economy, as the Institute for Supply Management’s September PMI jumped 2 percentage points to register 60.8 percent. ISM’s New Orders Index gained 4.3 points. New orders have averaged 61.6 percent since December 2016, said Timothy R. Fiore, chairman of ISM’s Manufacturing Business Survey Committee. Any […]
Steel tariffs are still likely from the Trump administration, said Nucor CEO and President John Ferriola. In an interview with Bloomberg, Ferriola said a White House official that regularly meets with the president told him that the topic is brought up by Trump several times a week. Ferriola said he was told that two or […]