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February global steel production rose 5.2%, from 4.18 million tonnes per day (mtpd) in January to 4.40, and was up 4.8% year-over-year. Capacity utilization also… more
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Our Advance/Decliner Index fell to a five-month low this week with the decline driven by our Ex-China Index falling to… more
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The American Institute of Architects’ (AIA) ABI Index – a leading indicator of non-residential construction activity – hit 54.9 in February, up from… more
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February MSCI shipments rose 1.7% from January – far better than the typical seasonal 0.2% drop. Equally good news came in the form of… more
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For the week ending March 9, 2013, weekly domestic raw steel production fell 2.4% to 1.785 million tons (mt) – down from the 1.828 million tons last week.
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 74.2%, down from 76.3% last week and from the year-ago level of 79.6%.
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
The spot reference price for 62% Fe iron ore cfr North China fell 8.0% to $134.60 for the week ending March 15, 2013. This was the largest weekly decline in iron ore prices since the week ending 8/31/2012.
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
The number of active oil and natural gas rigs in the United States rose by 24 to 1,776 for the week ending March 15, 2013 – up 1.4% from last week – the largest weekly percentage increase since December 2011 – but still down 10.5% from last year.
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 fell 13.3% this week, coming in at 503 from 580 last week and down 2.7% 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:
Our Advance/Decliner Index fell to a five-month low. The decline was driven by our Ex-China Index falling as improved pricing in… more
For a copy of our full report and a free trial subscription, please contact us.
For the week ending March 9, 2013, weekly domestic raw steel production fell 1.6% to 1.828 million tons (mt) – down from the 6-month high of 1.857 million tons reached last week.
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 76.3%, down from 77.5% last week and from the year-ago level of 79.6%.
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
