Steel Market Production Increases – Caspian Stal, a Kazakhstani billet and rebar producer, aims to resume production in April after an extended outage and plans to gradually ramp up close to its nameplate capacity of 150,000 tpy.
Steel Market Production Increases – Turkish pipe producer and cold rolled coil mill Goktas Metal plans to commission its third cold rolling mill in June 2012 and increase its current 210,000 tpy CRC rolling capacity to 300,000 tpy.
Sources: Steel Business Briefing
Report Preview
AK Steel (AKS) is leading the way in raising sheet prices, announcing a $50/ton increase this afternoon for all carbon sheet products effective immediately.
We had suggested earlier this week that domestic sheet producers were likely to announce a price increase in the next week or two – with AKS being the most likely – due to strong demand, low inventories, seemingly lower imports and higher prices for the imports that are coming in as a result of strengthening global prices.
Our full report provides further thoughts about domestic and global steel prices as well as the implication for steel equities.
For a free trial subscription, please contact us.
Please join our Linkedin group, Steel Market Intelligence.
We post only the freshest high quality news & analysis on global steel markets and steel prices.
Click the link or logo to join.
Steel Market Production Cuts – RG Steel plans to idle its No. 4 galvanizing line in Sparrows Point, Md., for about a week in April for scheduled repairs.
Steel Market Production Cuts – Russian steelmaker Severstal plans to produce around 410,000 tonnes of hot rolled steel, 100,000 tonnes of cold rolled steel and 50,000 tonnes of long steel in March, down 10%, 15% and 30%, respectively, from February.
Steel Market Production Increases – Saudi Arabia’s South Steel is close to completing the construction of an electric arc furnace-based billet plant with a capacity of 1 mtpy, as well as a 500,000 tpy rebar mill, and commercial output will begin by July.
Steel Market Production Increases – UAE-based steel producer Emirates Steel Industries (ESI) plans on commissioning its 1 mtpy capacity heavy and jumbo section steel mill by July this year.
Sources: American Metal Market, Steel Business Briefing, Steel Orbis
Total Steel Market Imports
March Steel Import Licenses as of 3/13/12 vs.
February Steel Import Licenses as of 2/14/12 (5.8%)
March Steel Import Licenses as of 3/13/12 1,363,061
February Steel Import Licenses as of 2/14/12 1,447,628
Average Daily Current Month Steel Import Licenses: 104,851 1.4%
Average Daily Previous Month Steel Import Licenses: 103,402
February Steel Import Licenses as of 3/13/12 2,328,045
Semi-Finished Steel Market Imports
March Steel Import Licenses as of 3/13/12 vs.
February Steel Import Licenses as of 2/14/12 5.3%
March Steel Import Licenses as of 3/13/12 422,296
February Steel Import Licenses as of 2/14/12 401,152
Average Daily Current Month Steel Import Licenses: 32,484 13.4%
Average Daily Previous Month Steel Import Licenses: 28,654
February Steel Import Licenses as of 3/13/12 505,108
Finished Steel Market Imports
March Steel Import Licenses as of 3/13/12 vs.
February Steel Import Licenses as of 2/14/12 (10.1%)
March Steel Import Licenses as of 3/13/12 940,765
February Steel Import Licenses as of 2/14/12 1,046,476
Average Daily Current Month Steel Import Licenses: 72,367 (3.2%)
Average Daily Previous Month Steel Import Licenses: 74,748
February Steel Import Licenses as of 3/13/12 1,822,937
New Report Preview
Revised January Chinese steel production came in at 1.829 mtpd, 8.9% higher than the China Iron & Steel Association (CISA)’s “flash” and 8.7% higher than December levels, while February output came in at 1.928 mtpd, a whopping 13.7% higher than CISA’s February “flash” and 5.4% higher than January.
February net steel exports declined 23.7% from January to 2.13 mt, the lowest level in a year, as steel exports declined 9.1% to 3.39 mt – also a year low – and steel imports rebounded 34% from January’s record-low. The decline in China’s balance of steel trade combined with the uptick in production means that the apparent supply of steel in China rose by 8.7% in January and was actually stable in February, as compared to original thinking of a decline of 5%.
Our full report is available to subscribers only and provides further thoughts on Chinese steel trade balance and the implication for steel equities.
For a free trial subscription, please contact us.
Weekly domestic raw steel production increased for the second consecutive week, rising 0.6% to 1.959 million tons (mt) for the week ending March 10, 2012, a post-recession high and 6.0% higher than the year-ago level. The lowest production since the recession began was 0.8 mt on December 27, 2008.
The capacity utilization rate also hit a post-recession high, coming in at 79.3% compared to 78.8% last week and 75.5% a year ago. The lowest capacity utilization rate since the recession began was 33.5% on December 27, 2008.
Source: AISI and Steel Market Intelligence
New Report Preview
Our Advance/Decliner Index continued to climb for the fourth consecutive week, rising to 87% from 80% last week, the highest since late January 2011 (any reading over 50 means more price increases were recorded than decreases).
Our Ex-China Index was the main driver behind the increase, rising from 79% to 87%, while our China Index remained robust, increasing from 90% to 92%, the highest level since mid-August 2011.
Our full report provides further thoughts about global steel pricing trends and our outlook as well as implications for steel equities.
For a free trial subscription, please contact us.
Steel Market Production Cuts – An electric arc furnace (EAF) malfunction at Ductil Steel’s Otelu Rosu billet plant has forced the Romanian longs producer to halt melting operations on March 10th.
Steel Market Production Cuts – The Spanish-headquartered welded tube maker Condesa is ceasing production at its Tubos de Celra site in Catalunya, Spain, as part of a plan aimed at adapting its production capacity to current demand.
Steel Market Production Increases – Mexico’s Tenaris Tamsa, controlled by Techint Group, commissioned operations at its first sucker rod plant with an annual capacity of 1.2m in Veracruz, México, increasing Tenaris’ current production capacity by approximately 20%.
Steel Market Production Increases – Hungarian flats producer ISD Dunaferr plans to increase its rolling production by almost 60% to as high as 2.5 mt by year’s end, as Europe’s economy improves.
Steel Market Production Increases – Tianjin Pipe (TPCO) plans to begin “vertical” construction this month on a finishing and threading facility in Gregory, Texas, the first phase of which is expected to be completed by early 2013. The seamless steel pipe mill will eventually have an annual capacity of 500,000 tonnes.
Steel Market Production Increases – Ariazob Steel’s new rolling mill was formally inaugurated on Sunday March 11th, which has a rolling capacity of 400,000 tpy of rebar and round bar.
Steel Market Production Increases – Kuwaiti-Japanese joint venture Sulb expects a September start to production at a 900,000 tpy meltshop in Bahrain, which will make the company almost entirely self-sufficient in billet for its facilities both in Bahrain and in Jubail, Saudi Arabia.
Steel Market Production Increases – Venezuelan steelmaker Sidetur expects to triple its 2011 rebar output of 184,000 tonnes to 540,000 in 2012.
Sources: American Metal Market, Steel Business Briefing, Metal Bulletin
The spot reference price for 62% Fe iron ore cfr North China fell to $142.60 on Friday, March 9, 2012, down 0.4% from last Friday’s price of $143.20. Prices declined all week but are still 22.0% higher than the recent low of $116.90 on October 28, 2011.
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
