I was reading your Final Thoughts and appreciated most of your comments, but I have some major issues with the inaccuracy of this paragraph. “Accounting tricks like inventory write-downs can help narrow the gap between a service center’s cost for steel and what a customer is willing to pay for it. But some losses are inevitable, […]
Flat Rolled = 63.9 Shipping Days of Supply Plate = 67.1 Shipping Days of Supply Flat Rolled U.S. service center flat rolled inventories jumped in December, in line with seasonal trends. At the end of December, service centers carried 63.9 shipping days of supply on an adjusted basis, up from 57.1 in November, according to […]
Monthly Key Market Indicators continued their shift to a neutral position throughout December, according to the latest analysis by Steel Market Update. Positive indicators held for the first time in seven months, while negative indicators eased. Ongoing economic dynamics such as an underperforming job market, supply-chain bottlenecks, rising inflation and producer prices, as well as a […]
U.S. Steel is mulling a sale of its USS-UPI LLC subsidiary in Pittsburg, Calif. – potentially to a developer without long-term interest in running the mill, according to market participants. Some employees have been told that the mill could stop operating in late 2023, they said. Nothing has been officially announced, none will be until […]
Evraz North America has taken an approximately one-week unplanned outage at its plate mill in Portland, Ore., market participants said. The downtime was needed because of problems with a reheat furnace, they said. The steelmaker has also scheduled a weeklong planned outage at the Portland plate mill in March, sources said. A company spokeswoman confirmed that […]
BNSF Railway union members have taken steps towards a work stoppage over a new attendance policy introduced during national negotiations by the railroad company. Members of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) and the Transportation Division of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail, and Transportation union (SMART-TD) – who collectively represent […]
By CRU Senior Analyst Ryan McKinley, from CRU’s Steel Metallics Monitor, Feb. 10 The CRU metallics price indicator (CRUmpi) rose in February m/m by 2.4% to 392.9, gaining back some of the ground lost during January’s unusually bearish market. This slight upward trend was driven primarily by supply scarcity for obsolete grade scrap and pig iron, […]
Total mill shipments of steel products fell 3.3% in November to 8.334 million tons, slipping for only the second time in eight months. Apparent supply rose fractionally in November, up 0.2% after eroding successively the prior two months. This analysis is based on steel mill shipment data from the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) and import-export […]
Imports of less-expensive sheet and plate products continue to arrive on U.S. shores, a steady increase over the past seven months, driven by the need for buyers to find relief from inflated steel prices in the U.S. Although domestic steel prices have been declining, November Commerce Department data show imports’ shares of the U.S. flat products markets […]
South Korean mills are out with new lower prices for steel sheet and steady prices for plate, according to recent offers reviewed by Steel Market Update. The trend is important because U.S. mills are increasingly willing to compete with imports, meaning that the latest import offers give an indication of where domestic prices are headed. […]
By Principal Analyst Josh Spoores from CRU’s Steel Sheet Products Monitor, Jan. 22 Trends in the North American sheet market have picked up where 2021 left off, particularly a continued decline in sheet prices. Various supply pressures have overwhelmed demand and led to lower sheet prices in all North American markets. In the U.S. Midwest […]
By CRU Principal Analyst Josh Spoores, from CRU’s Steel Sheet Products Monitor, Feb. 9 Sheet prices in the North American sheet market have continued to collapse due to a temporary supply surplus. Since prices peaked in late September/early October, the price decline for HR and HDG coil has been at a larger amount in USD […]
Steel Market Update is pleased to share this Premium content with Executive members. For information on upgrading to a Premium-level subscription, email Info@SteelMarketUpdate.com. Producer prices expanded by 0.2% in December, seasonally adjusted, maintaining their upward climb since reaching the most recent bottom 21 months ago, reports the U.S. Labor Department. The unyielding trend continues to highlight […]
Producer prices grew by 1.0% in January, seasonally adjusted, maintaining a 22-month growth run since reaching the most recent bottom in April 2020, reports the U.S. Labor Department. Wholesale prices jumped by twice the expected level in January as inflation pressures were unabated to start the year. The Labor Department said that its Producer Price […]
Nucor Corp. has confirmed that its greenfield, $2.7 billion electric arc furnace (EAF) sheet mill will be built in West Virginia. The Charlotte, N.C.-based steelmaker said the mill, expected to have capacity of three million tons per year, would be located in Mason County along the Ohio River. Additional sites in northern West Virginia are […]
U.S. Steel will invest $3 billion in a new state-of-the-art minimill in Osceola, Ark., near its Big River Steel plant. This new minimill will combine two electric arc furnaces (EAFs) with 3 million tons per year of advanced steelmaking and finishing capabilities, highlighted by the first endless casting and rolling facility in the U.S. Construction […]
West Virginia is on the cusp of announcing that it has been chosen for the site of Nucor Corp.’s new, $2.7 billion electric arc furnace (EAF) sheet mill, according to local media reports. The Charlotte, N.C.-based steelmaker said when it announced the project last September that it was considering locations in three states: Ohio, Pennsylvania […]
Flat-rolled steel prices continue to fall, but the market participants I spoke to today were taking the news in stride. SMU’s average hot-rolled coil price now stands at $1,480 per ton ($74 per cwt), down $55 per ton from $1,535 per ton a week ago and down $475 per ton from a 2021 high – […]
SMU’s Community Chat webinar with Wolfe Research metals and mining managing director Timna Tanners last week was our second-best attended ever. With more than 800 registered attendees, Tanners topped her own previous record. Barry Zekelman, executive chairman and CEO of Zekelman Industries, still holds the title. But not by quite as wide a margin. We […]
U.S. steel mills shipped 7,893,990 net tons in November, a 16.9% increase from the same month last year, but a decline of 3.9% from the previous month, the American Iron & Steel Institute reported. Shipments by U.S. steelmakers year to date through November totaled 86,848,042 net tons, a 17.4% increase versus 2020 shipments of 73,950,515. […]
Commercial Metals Co. (CMC) plans to build a “micro mill” to better serve markets in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and Midwest. “The new micro mill will fortify our position in the large construction markets within the region and optimize CMC’s existing Eastern U.S. operational footprint,” CMC Chairman, President and CEO Barbara Smith said. The new mill […]
Algoma Steel Group Inc. said it expects its third-quarter fiscal 2022 financial results to align with its previous guidance despite lower-than-expected steel shipments for the quarter. The Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario-based steelmaker shipped roughly 550,000 net tons of steel in the third quarter of fiscal 2022 ended Dec. 30, 2021, below prior guidance of 590,000 […]
The big question entering 2022 is how fast, and how far, steel prices will decline. As Wolfe Research Managing Director Timna Tanners said during our Community Chat this week, “the trajectory for 2022 will depend on the pace of destocking, the new capacity ramping up and demand.” Steel Market Update’s latest survey data offers some […]
Popular analyst Timna Tanners may have changed where she works but not her view that there’s a “sheet storm” on the horizon, one that will bring in sharply lower steel prices over the next few years. Formerly with Bank of America, Tanners is now the managing director of metals and mining at Wolfe Research. Speaking […]
Steel prices declined for the fourth consecutive month in December, following a year-long streak of continuous price increases. Hot-rolled coil prices declined $130 per ton throughout the month, with the SMU index averaging $1,600 per ton ($80.00 per cwt) as of Tuesday, Dec. 21 (SMU did not published updated prices on Dec. 28). The SMU Price Momentum […]
Wolfe Research Managing Director Timna Tanners will be the featured speaker for Steel Market Update’s first Community Chat webinar of 2022 on Wednesday, Jan. 5. We’ll discuss the big issues – the great debates – that will drive steel markets next year: • Will we see continued solid demand in 2022 or a “great unwind”? • […]
Total steel imports into the United States jumped by nearly 45% in the first 11 months of 2021, reported the American Iron and Steel Institute, based on preliminary Census data through November. Imports for the year to date totaled 29.7 million net tons of steel, up 44.6% versus the same period in 2020, including 21.6 […]
Nucor has decided to keep plate prices unchanged with the opening of its February order book. The current plate pricing levels – announced on Monday, Jan. 3, and effective immediately – are the same as those rolled out in late November for January orders. The Charlotte, N.C.-based steelmaker’s letter to customers also marks the first […]
BlueScope Steel has closed its $240 million deal for ferrous scrap recycler MetalX. With the transaction complete, MetalX will operate under the name BlueScope Recycling and Materials. BlueScope announced the deal in early November and closed it on Dec. 17, according to a statement released earlier this week. MetalX is the leading scrap supplier to […]
In line with the declining steel prices, lead times for spot orders from the mills continue to shorten with the average for hot rolled now below five weeks and cold rolled and galvanized now below eight weeks, based on Steel Market Update’s check of the market on Monday and Tuesday. Lead times for all products […]