New Report Preview:
The American Institute of Architects’ (AIA) ABI Index – a leading indicator of non-residential construction activity – broke the critical 50 mark for the fifth consecutive month, but fell… more
For a copy of our full report and a free trial subscription, please contact us.
New Report Preview
AK Steel issued a press release on a slow holiday afternoon today announcing a $40/ton sheet price increase. We see this hike as… more
For a copy of our full report and a free trial subscription, please contact us.
The number of active oil and natural gas rigs in the United States fell for the eighth straight week – declining by 12 to a 22-month low of 1,749 for the week ending January 18, 2013 – down 0.7% from last week and 12.9% from a year ago.
The highest weekly rig count in the United States since 1940 was recorded on December 28, 1981, at 4,530; the lowest was recorded on April 23, 1999, at 488.
The number of rigs in Canada showed jump of 13.2% to 601 from 531 last week but was still down 8.1% from last year.
The highest rig count for Canada was 727 on February 3, 2006; the lowest was 29, recorded on April 24, 1992.
Source: Baker Hughes Inc.
New Report Preview:
We believe that December’s stronger than usual 7% drop in shipments (half the normal rate of decline) was largely driven by catch-up due to… more
For a copy of our full report and a free trial subscription, please contact us.
HRC lead times fell for the week ending January 13 to 3.5 from 3.6 last week.
CRC Lead times came in at 6 weeks – up from 5.6 in the week prior, while HDG was flat with last week at 5.8 weeks.
Sources: The Steel Index, Steel Business Briefing
HRC = Hot Rolled Coil CRC = Cold Rolled Coil HDG = Hot Dipped GalvanizedSteel Market Production Cuts – Esmark has delayed the restart of the former RG Yorkville cold-rolling facility’s restart to March or April from January due uncertain and volatile market conditions.
Steel Market Production Cuts – Australian Steelmaker Bluescope has cut 170 jobs at its Western Port Steel mill in Hastings, Victoria with production expected to drop by 25% from the current operating rate of 2.6 million tpy.
Steel Market Production Increases – Korean pipemaker SeAH Steel Vina (SSVC) plans to start a new pipe mill in southern vietnam aimed at increasing production of line pipe by 50,000 tpy when the mill starts production in November.
Sources: American Metal Market, Steel Business Briefing, The Australian, The Age
The spot reference price for 62% Fe iron ore cfr North China Increased 0.6% to $154.90 for the week ending January 11, 2012 but closed down 2.1% from the 15-month high $158.50 on 1/8/2012. The price has since moved down another 0.2% to $154.60 on Monday.
The spot price for iron ore averaged $139.35 in 2Q12, $112.12 in 3Q12, and $120.57 in 4Q12; this compares to an average of $128.30 for full-year 2012.
The post-recession low was $59.10 on March 27, 2009, while the high was $190.19 on February 17, 2011.
Source: The Steel Index
For the week ending January 12, 2012, weekly domestic raw steel production rose 3.6% to 1.819 million tons (mt) – the largest jump since December 2011, and is up 8.3% from the recent low of 1.679 mt for the week of October 27, 2012.
We would caution readers that only half of the AISI reporting companies release their weekly production in “real time” so the other half of this data is estimated using the last month’s reported production & operating rate. What this means is that when production is changing, the weekly data is actually understating the change.
Capacity utilization came in at 75.9%, up from 72.6% last week but down from the year-ago level of 77.6%. AISI recently revised their total capacity number for 1Q13 to 30.8 million tons from 32.7 in 4Q12 and 32.3 in 1Q12.
The lowest production since the recession began was 800,000 tons for the week of December 27, 2008, while the highest was 2.005 mt for the week of May 12, 2012. The lowest capacity utilization rate since the recession began was 33.5% for the week of December 27, 2008; the highest was 81.1% on May 12, 2012.
Source: AISI and Steel Market Intelligence
