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.
Scrap dealers are expecting sideways pricing as we enter the month of May and negotiations with the various steel mills. Our sources are advising SMU that the weakest area continues to be the Midwest (Indiana and Ohio Valley) while the East and South have seen demand strengthening. Even though the Midwest is the weakest area […] The post Scrap Prices Expected to Move Sideways for May appeared first on Steel Market Update.
Our scrap sources are advising Steel Market Update that the scrap markets in the Midwest have been slow to settle with only a few deals done as of Tuesday morning. The expectation by those involved in the Midwest ferrous scrap markets is that the transactions will be completed over the next day or two. Most […] The post Midwest Ferrous Scrap Pricing Slow to Develop, Expect Sideways Price Movements 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.
The following article about the Asian ferrous scrap markets comes to SMU from Damon Sun of Daido International: After the Lunar New Year holidays in Asia, the finished steel market has been subdued. However the scrap markets have stabilized. The raw factors affecting scrap markets: Negative Issue Affecting Ferrous Scrap in Asia: 1.) Iron ore […] The post Asian Scrap Markets Stabilize 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.
With the reset of iron ore and ferrous scrap pricing there is an extraordinary amount of interest in trying to figure out the cost to produce a hot rolled coil at the domestic steel mills. This is a question Steel Market Update is asked on an almost weekly basis. We wrote about the subject recently […] The post Theoretical Mill Cost to Produce Hot Rolled Coil: Debate Continues appeared first on Steel Market Update.