If we could sum up the month of April in one word it would be, wow! We saw flat rolled steel prices jump by $90 per ton from the last week of March until the last week of April. Our HRC average for the month of April jumped by $87 per ton, while the CME […] The post April 2016 at a Glance appeared first on Steel Market Update.
Steel buyers are beginning to brace themselves for what may well be another tumultuous month of allocations, closed order books and even higher steel prices. At this point it is a foregone conclusion with most buyers that there will be another increase. The question really is how much higher will prices go during the month […] The post Scrap Pricing Expected to Lead Next Price Increase on Flat Rolled appeared first on Steel Market Update.
The following article on the hot rolled coil (HRC), busheling scrap (BUS), and financial futures markets was written by Dave Feldstein. As Flack Steel’s director of risk management, Dave Feldstein is an active participant in the hot rolled coil (HRC) futures market and we believe he will provide insightful commentary and trading ideas to our […] The post Hot Rolled Futures: The Show Goes On!!! appeared first on Steel Market Update.
This may come as a surprise to some but, there are many who think 2016 may be one of those years where flat rolled steel price volatility, maybe even extreme volatility, could become the norm. We are now in the midst of a five month upswing in flat rolled steel prices which has taken benchmark […] The post 2016 to be a Year of Volatility? appeared first on Steel Market Update.
Steel Dynamics announced a strong quarter with net income of $63 million on net sales of $1.7 billion for first quarter 2016. Steel operating income increased 104 percent to $136 million from fourth quarter due to a 17 percent improvement in shipments which totaled 2.12 million tons. Average steel selling price dropped $40 from Q4 […] The post Steel Dynamics Flat Rolled Division Operating at 88 Percent appeared first on Steel Market Update.
It is still a little early to get a solid read on the ferrous scrap market and May pricing, but the indicators are pointing toward higher pricing. We heard from a number of our scrap sources over the past 24 hours and their guidance has been toward the scrap markets moving anywhere from $10 to […] The post Scrap Poised to Move Higher Again in May appeared first on Steel Market Update.
February ferrous scrap exports totaled 1,137,700 net tons (1,032,105 metric tons) with Turkey, India, Canada, Taiwan, and Korea being the top five countries receiving scrap from the United States. These five countries accounted for 66.6 percent of all scrap exports. Total February ferrous scrap exports were 87.3 percent higher than previous month. Despite the large […] The post February Ferrous Scrap Exports Snap Back after January Low appeared first on Steel Market Update.
Not all regions of the country have settled but we are seeing ferrous scrap prices increasing to the domestic mills by $40 to $55 per gross ton. The variance is depending on region and at what point prices started. Out of the Midwest and Southeastern markets we heard from one of our sources, “It’s been […] The post Ferrous Scrap Settlements Up $40-$55 appeared first on Steel Market Update.
We have received a number of calls from sellers of steel asking for our help in trying to explain, from an independent source, why flat rolled steel prices are moving higher and why we expect this trend to continue. When looking at the history of Steel Market Update, our steel market intelligence publication was actually […] The post Steel Buyers Coming into the Spot Market Should Expect Sticker Shock appeared first on Steel Market Update.
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.