Section: News

On Friday and Saturday of this past week, Steel Market Update attended the Association of Steel Distributors spring meeting. The following are some of the notes made during the presentations and during discussions with ASD members. Dr. Chris Kuehl of Armada Corporate Intelligence reported that he is “a little optimistic” when it comes to the […] The post Notes From Association of Steel Distributor Spring Meeting appeared first on Steel Market Update.

Supply of ferrous scrap continues to be an issue for the domestic steel mills. On Friday of this past week scrap prices settled in the Detroit market up $50 per gross ton. However, many of our scrap sources are advising that the rest of the country is in limbo as many dealers think the market […] The post Scrap Dealers Holding Back as Market May be Stronger than +$50 appeared first on Steel Market Update.

Flat rolled steel prices continue to firm and many buyers are convinced there could be more price increases to come with a tightening foreign market and higher offers for foreign steel coupled with the expectation that ferrous scrap prices will increase by a minimum of $30 per gross ton for April delivery. SMU has been […] The post SMU Price Ranges & Indices: Continued Firming appeared first on Steel Market Update.

Steel Market Update ferrous scrap sources are advising us that scrap prices are poised to move $30 to $50 per gross ton higher for April deliveries than what we saw negotiated at the beginning of March. The issue is supply. The domestic sheet mills are having issues finding all of the tonnage they need and […] The post Ferrous Scrap Prices Poised to Move Up $30-$50 appeared first on Steel Market Update.

In Sunday evening’s issue of Steel Market Update we published an article highlighting the Platts indices which are used by some mills and their customers to adjust flat rolled steel contract pricing. The other daily index out there is The Steel Index (TSI) which will be the index used for the NASDAQ Midwest Hot Rolled […] The post TSI Index Another Option for Physical & Financial Contracts appeared first on Steel Market Update.

Steel mills are still scrounging for ferrous scrap with little luck. We are hearing from our scrap sources that prices could be up as much as $30 per ton and we have even heard some numbers higher than $30. The net result will be more pressure on steel and steel prices as the mills scramble […] The post Final Thoughts appeared first on Steel Market Update.

The following article was written by SMU founder and publisher, John Packard with the assistance of Platts Content Director, Metals Americas, Joseph Innace. Shortly after Steel Market Update (SMU) became a real company I understood the need for the flat rolled steel industry to have an pricing index which was independent and not tied as […] The post Platts HRC Index: Methodology, Daily, Exchange Ready appeared first on Steel Market Update.

Steel Dynamics anticipates stronger earnings results in first quarter 2016 due to higher steel shipments. A significant increase in flat rolled product volume is expected due to better aligned customer inventories and a decrease in import volumes. Lower average realized steel product pricing will more than offset savings from lower ferrous scrap costs, said SDI. […] The post Steel Dynamics Expects Strong Quarter appeared first on Steel Market Update.

January ferrous scrap exports totaled 607,272 net tons (550,909 metric tons) with Turkey, India, Mexico, Peru, and Taiwan being the top five countries receiving scrap from the United States. These five countries accounted for 67.3 percent of all scrap exports. Total January ferrous scrap exports were 53.9 percent lower than previous month and 47.1 percent […] The post January Ferrous Scrap Exports Cut in Half appeared first on Steel Market Update.

As negotiations between the domestic steel mills and their ferrous scrap suppliers conclude we are seeing scrap prices rise with the Chicago markets “catching up” with some of the other regions. Dealers are reporting robust sales, especially to sheet mills as they are picking up spot market share from the integrated mills. Chicago area prices […] The post Scrap Prices Settle Higher for March Delivery appeared first on Steel Market Update.