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According to Pipe Logix, January OCTG prices continued lower, dropping by 0.6% or $11/ton from December. The January price of $1,720/ton was the lowest in two years and…more
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Our Advance/Decliner Index fell for the second straight week. The decline was driven by a drop in our Ex-China Index as steel prices in Southern Europe, Turkey and the CIS… more
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For the week ending January 26, 2013, weekly domestic raw steel production fell 0.9% to 1.806 million tons (mt) – but is up 7.6% 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 75.4%, down from 76.1% last week and from the year-ago level of 77.6%.
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
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Chinese steel production estimated by the China Iron & Steel Association (CISA) declined a surprising 1.7% in mid-January. Squeezed margins and…more
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Our Advance/Decliner Index declined from the two-year high recorded the week before, but remained at a high level. Our China Index fell…more
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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
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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
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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.
