We were reminded recently of an article we produced on February 24, 2015 regarding our theoretical marginal cost of Steel Making (cost will vary by mill and not included in our formula is any adjustment for running at less than 70 percent capacity levels, SA&G are not included, etc.). We were asked if we could […] The post The Theoretical Marginal Cost to Produce Steel appeared first on Steel Market Update.
The year 2015 was a brutal one for the domestic steel mills as well as the distributors who service the end user markets on a spot basis. Many of the service centers who purchase secondary (non-prime or excess) steel have suffered and have had to change the way they conduct business in order to survive. […] The post Secondary Service Centers Hoping 2016 Will be a Better Year appeared first on Steel Market Update.
Pete Meyers, Vice President of Ferrous Scrap Sales & Marketing for Metalico advised Steel Market Update this morning as to what they saw for trading for the month of February: “The Feb scrap market has indeed traded sideways. There were instances of higher sales based on individual mills having to reach remote tons, and mills […] The post February Ferrous Scrap Market Trades Sideways appeared first on Steel Market Update.
Dealers are predicting (positioning?) that ferrous scrap prices will move sideways as we move into the month of February. We have been told Turkey is not buying much scrap as they have scaled back production levels to about 70 percent. The current market is a supply driven market (as opposed to demand from the steel […] The post Final Thoughts appeared first on Steel Market Update.
Steel Dynamics’ struggling recycling segment widened the company’s net loss to $253 million in fourth quarter 2015. It was determined that the book value of the metals recycling segment recorded $435 million in non-cash goodwill and other related asset impairment charge. Excluding the metals recycling charges, adjusted net income was $22 million on net sales […] The post SDI Reports Continued Growth in Construction, HR Weakest Product appeared first on Steel Market Update.
On Thursday evening’s issue of Steel Market Update we published an article about raw material prices. In the article, Peter Wright, a metallurgist, marketing specialist, contributing writer and Steel 101 instructor for Steel Market Update, referenced the relationship between WTI oil and scrap pricing. He said, “There is a close non causal relationship between the […] The post Oil vs. Scrap Correlation – An Explanation appeared first on Steel Market Update.
Often with steel related economic statistics it’s useful to compare a given data stream with others which may or may not be causally related. This usually puts the steel data into context and shows whether a direction change is for real. In this piece we are comparing the price of Chicago shredded scrap with the […] The post The Relationship Between the Price of Scrap & 3 Useful Benchmarks appeared first on Steel Market Update.
The last couple of days have been hectic as we worked through the articles seen in tonight’s newsletter as well as numerous articles that we are working on various topics. The two headline articles are, of course, the next round of flat rolled price increases. The Nucor $20 hot rolled and $30 cold rolled and […] The post Final Thoughts appeared first on Steel Market Update.
We are pleased to have Philip Hoffman, Chairman & CEO of Hoffman Iron & Steel provide us his unique insights on both the domestic and international scrap markets as well as his forecast for where international and domestic scrap prices will be headed in the next month or two (and why). As most are aware, […] The post Ferrous Scrap Wrap Up First Week of January 2016 appeared first on Steel Market Update.
In the first eleven months of 2015 bulk scrap exports were 11,762,000 tonnes for an annual rate of 12,831,000 tonnes, down by 17.5 percent from the first eleven months of 2014. The tonnages shown in Figure 1 are based on three month moving averages (3MMA) for 2015 and on the annual monthly average for previous […] The post Ferrous Scrap Exports through November Down 17.5% YOY appeared first on Steel Market Update.