Steel Market Update has been communicating with our scrap sources during the day today (Thursday, June 4th) and we have learned that not all of the transactions/negotiations have been completed. Even so, a pattern has emerged which is showing ferrous scrap prices as moving higher by $20-$30 per gross ton compared to this time last […] The post June Still Settling but Scrap Looking to be Up $20-$30 appeared first on Steel Market Update.
An explanation of the Key Indicators concept is given at the end of this piece for those readers who are unfamiliar with it. The total number of indicators considered in this analysis is currently 36. Please refer to Table 1 for the view of the present situation and the quantitative measure of trends. Readers should […] The post Key Market Indicators- May 31 2015 appeared first on Steel Market Update.
This week Steel Market Update adjusted our Price Momentum Indicator to Higher from Neutral. Based on our checks of the steel buying community, prices are beginning to firm and the $20 per ton price increase announced by a number of the steel mills appears to be sticking. SMU is of the opinion as long as […] The post SMU Price Momentum Indicator Adjusted to Higher appeared first on Steel Market Update.
Perhaps the scrap market can best be described by those actively sourcing/selling ferrous scrap. Here is how one of the larger groups saw the market this week, “The scrap trade was quite tumultuous this week. Scrap demand, both export and domestic was robust, forcing the scrap processors to take a hard look at what sales […] The post Scrap Prices Rangebound or Surprise to Come? appeared first on Steel Market Update.
Steel Dynamics Inc. reported high levels of steel import and customer inventory reduced shipments for first quarter resulting in a 44 percent drop in consolidated operating income compared to fourth quarter. SDI adjusted net income was $40 million for first quarter 2015 with $2 billion in net sales. The adjusted income excludes $17 million in […] The post SDI Flat Rolled Shipments Drop by 20% in Q1 appeared first on Steel Market Update.
In the twelve months of 2014, scrap exports totaled 15,308,000 tonnes, down by 17.1 percent from the same period in 2013. In the first two months of this year exports were 2,026,675 for an annual rate of 12,161,050 tonnes. Figure 1 shows that the monthly average declined for three consecutive years, 2012 through 2014 and […] The post US Scrap Exports through February 2015 appeared first on Steel Market Update.
There is no joy in Mudville in the middle of March, the scrap market is dead and no mills are looking to add to their inventories. For that matter the dealers have very little to offer as the weather has yet to clear up north and the big move lower in scrap prices in February […] The post Ferrous Scrap Prices Poised to Move Sideways as we Get into April Negotiations? appeared first on Steel Market Update.
Last week a number of the large Chinese steel mills who have offices in the United States met to discuss the pressures being placed on the Chinese mills by both the Chinese central government and the U.S. government to control (reduce) the amount of steel being exported to the United States. SMU heard over the […] The post Final Thoughts appeared first on Steel Market Update.
As Steel Market Update has discussed in previous articles on the subject of scrap pricing, the original projections by buyers of scrap were for prices to drop $20 per gross ton on all products for the month of March. The projected March reduction would have been on the heels of an $80 to $110 per […] The post Ferrous Scrap Update: April Bounce Ahead (Dead Cat or Otherwise)? appeared first on Steel Market Update.
Steel prices continued their slide this week. The CRU was down $14 to $488/ton, which has put downward pressure on futures contracts for nearby months. April and May are trading approximately $10 lower this week with the former at $495/ton and the latter closer to $510/ton. While nearby months have been influenced by the deteriorating […] The post Hot Rolled Futures: Another Step Down for HRC Prices appeared first on Steel Market Update.