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US steel imports may fall to February '21 levels

  • : Metals
  • 22/12/08

US steel imports may be set to fall in November to levels not seen since February 2021.

Steel import volumes may decline to 1.92mn metric tonnes (t), according to license data for November deliveries from the US Department of Commerce.

That would be down by 27pc from the 2.63mn t actually imported in November 2021 and down by 13pc from October.

Licenses are filed with the intent of actually importing, although the volumes of actual imports can fluctuate.

Flat and semi-finished products led the declines. Total flat volumes could fall by 34pc to 774,000t from a year earlier, with hot rolled coil (HRC) down by 51pc to 144,000t, and hot dipped galvanized (HDG) coil volumes down by 52pc to 147,000t.

Total semi-finished imports could drop by 61pc to 196,000t, led by a drop in slab volumes of 62pc to 137,000t.


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25/04/01

US manufacturing contracts in March: ISM

US manufacturing contracts in March: ISM

Houston, 1 April (Argus) — Economic activity in the US manufacturing sector fell back into contraction in March after a brief expansion as businesses braced for US president Donald Trump's threatened tariffs on imports. The manufacturing purchasing managers' index fell to 49 in March, down from the 50.3 in February, the Institute for Supply Management reported Tuesday. That followed three months of expansion — above the breakeven threshold of 50 — following 26 months of contraction. The new orders index contracted for a second month in a row, falling to 45.2, down by 3.4 points from the prior month. Production fell to 48.3 from 50.7. New export orders fell to 49.6 in March from 51.4 the prior month. "Demand and production retreated and destaffing continued, as panelists' companies responded to demand confusion," ISM said. "Prices growth accelerated due to tariffs, causing new order placement backlogs, supplier delivery slowdowns and manufacturing inventory growth." The prices index surged to 69.4, up from 62.4 in February and the highest since mid-2022. Employment fell by 2.9 points to 47.6. The supplier delivery index fell by 1 point to 53.5, indicating ongoing slowing in deliveries and slowing demand. Trump plans to unveil sweeping "reciprocal" tariffs on major foreign trade partners on 2 April after previewing or announcing multiple tariff actions since taking office, including a 20pc tariff on all imports from China and a 25pc tax on all imported steel and aluminum that both took effect last month. Trump last month also announced a 25pc tariff on all imported cars, trucks and auto parts, scheduled to go into effect on 3 April. The measures, together with mass federal government layoffs and spending cuts, spooked US equity markets, which last month posted heavy losses. Comments focus on tariff confusion Comments from survey participants highlighted uncertainty over how Trump's tariff plans would effect operations and the economy. "Acute shortages continue to impact supply chain continuity," a transportation equipment executive said. "Chinese restrictions on critical minerals such as germanium have caused major shortages, resulting in all supply needed in 2025 already assumed — and, not surprisingly, significant price increases as a result." "Customers are pulling in orders due to anxiety about continued tariffs and pricing pressures," according to a computer and electronic products executive. "Business condition is deteriorating at a fast pace," a machinery executive commented. "Tariffs and economic uncertainty are making the current business environment challenging." "New order levels have increased and are better than expected," a fabricated metals executive said. "We suspect that our customers are trying to build inventory at current prices to get ahead of expected tariff and related cost increases." By Bob Willis Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

ArcelorMittal raises NW EU HRC offer to €700/t


25/04/01
25/04/01

ArcelorMittal raises NW EU HRC offer to €700/t

London, 1 April (Argus) — European market leader ArcelorMittal has raised its hot-rolled coil (HRC) offer to €700/t base in the north. Its previous offer was €680/t base. The producer recently has seen an increase in enquiries and bookings, aided by the steel safeguard review. This trend has been most prevalent on HRC in the north, as well as cold-rolled and hot-dip galvanised across Europe. European mills have been in no rush to sell, with delivery performances under pressure from some as a result of low utilisation rates and issues at some producers causing backlogs. At the same time, mills expect import arrivals to fall in the coming months, although there could be some overhang this quota period, after the safeguard review and imposition of provisional anti-dumping duties on Egypt, Japan and Vietnam. In the futures market today, a fourth-quarter strip traded at €670/t, broadly in line with the settlement on 31 March. The physical market is largely quiet, as participants wait to see how much material clears today and what tariffs are announced by US president Donald Trump. North EU mill margins have nearly reached a year-long high in recent days, with the spread for NW EU HRC over blast furnace costs having reached €181/ on 31 March, the highest level since €189/t on 5 April. By Colin Richardson Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

EU stainless safeguards, metal plan meet mixed reaction


25/03/31
25/03/31

EU stainless safeguards, metal plan meet mixed reaction

London, 31 March (Argus) — Europe's stainless steel industry has had a mixed reaction to the European Commission's safeguard steel review and its action plan to protect the bloc's metals industry, both announced on 11 March. Steelmakers have welcomed greater commitment from policy makers to support the sector, but are still concerned at a lack of concrete commitment to significant protectionist measures, while traders, service centres and scrap suppliers are worried the most radical proposals could severely damage their businesses. The European Commission's review of definitive safeguard measures on imports of certain steel products identified no new import pressure for stainless cold rolled sheets and strips, and left tariff rate quotas for the next 15 months virtually unchanged even as carryovers and unused quota access were removed. And the commission's European Steel and Metals Action Plan included proposals to curb imports of finished steel and exports of scrap alongside the extension of the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) to potentially include raw material exports and downstream products. European stainless steel flat producers — battling weak medium-term demand and a high cost structure — expressed disappointment on the absence of protectionism in the safeguard review through to July 2026, but told Argus they were encouraged by proposals in the Action Plan that acknowledge the need to to curb imports for domestic industry's long term health. "The industry remains threatened by global excess capacities and by global distortions from China and other countries that artificially support their domestic industries or circumvent the current measures," Finnish producer Outokumpu told Argus . "These challenges need to be mitigated with more assertive solutions, including replacing current safeguards with more effective measures from July 2026." European trading groups surveyed by Argus welcomed the stability offered by the unchanged import quotas as the industry navigates other pressures — such as high energy prices and US tariffs — but said they expect lobbying by producers to drive a wave of new measures in the fourth quarter of this year, with stainless steel-specific safeguards likely to be implemented from next year. "Current quotas will only last this year, if you ask me," a trader said. "We expect new regulation to be announced in September/October." A key area of focus for the industry is the possible introduction of the melt-and-pour clause, which determines the origin of goods by the location at which the metal is originally melted, and disregards third countries where further processing may take place for circumvention of anti-dumping duties. The EU stopped short of immediately implementing this clause as part of the Action Plan, and will conduct further assessment of the action. But market participants expect [consultation](https://direct.argusmedia.com/newsandanalysis/article/2670486] on the policy will start after the current safeguard period ends. Several large European stainless steel producers are heard to be importing slab from Asia, and traders told Argus they were relieved that melt and pour is not coming into play this year. A Spanish trader said the clause will level the playing field for European producers, but a hasty implementation this year would have simply added to costs for both producers and consumers in the near term. Outokumpu said it welcomes the melt-and-pour proposals as part of a wider anti-circumvention drive that it said is required in Europe. The EU's Action Plan also calls for the need to address carbon leakage of exported steel through a potential extension of the CBAM to include exports. Trading groups told Argus this will be difficult to implement across the spectrum of trading partners, and may render exports uncompetitive to the detriment of European service centre groups. Outokumpu called upon the need to leverage the EU's competitive advantage by including Scope 2 emissions within any CBAM regulation for downstream products. "It is critical to prevent European steel producers from being placed at a disadvantage from imports with higher emissions from energy usage," the group said. "Outokumpu uses low-carbon energy across its operations with a high-recycling rate, so a fair benchmark definition is necessary to ensure that our low-emission production receives the competitive advantage it deserves." The EU's action plan also proposes the potential introduction of export duties for all steel scrap in order to limit scrap leakage from the bloc. Stainless steel scrap traders surveyed by Argus said there was no chance such a move would ever be implemented as Europe simply cannot consume all the scrap it produces, and that recyclers use exports to keep prices at a level that encourages further investment. "We would drown in scrap if exports fell," a trader said. "Prices would decrease sharply and work like a subsidiary for an antique industry. High-end recycling plants need high prices to process complex materials which would end up in landfill otherwise. No investments would be made if prices are pushed into the ground." Trade bodies BIR and EuRIC suggested a more rational move could be to introduce mandatory recycled content targets for metals products that incentivises domestic demand and usage for scrap, while also allowing scrap to move freely to export markets. By Raghav Jain Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

US consumer confidence down on policy angst


25/03/28
25/03/28

US consumer confidence down on policy angst

Houston, 28 March (Argus) — The University of Michigan's gauge of consumer sentiment fell in March to the lowest level since November 2022, led by a slump in expectations over the "potential for pain" from US economic policies introduced by the new administration. Sentiment fell to 57, down from 64.7 in February and 79.4 in March 2024, according to the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment survey released Friday. The final reading for March was lower than the preliminary reading. The sentiment index fell to a record low of 50 in June 2022 on inflation concerns. The index of consumer expectations fell to 52.6, the lowest since July 2022, from 64 in February and 77.4 in March last year. The expectations index has lost more than 30pc since November last year. "Consumers continue to worry about the potential for pain amid ongoing economic policy developments," the survey director Joanne Hsu said. The decline "reflects a clear consensus across all demographic and political affiliations: Republicans joined independents and Democrats in expressing worsening expectations … for their personal finances, business conditions, unemployment and inflation," Hsu said. Current economic conditions slipped to 63.8 in March from 65.7 in February and 82.5 last March. Two thirds of consumers expect unemployment to rise in the year ahead, the highest reading since 2009. Year-ahead inflation expectations jumped to 5pc this month, the highest reading since November 2022, from 4.3pc last month. The University of Michigan survey comes three days after The Conference Board's preliminary Consumer Expectations Index fell in March to its lowest in 12 years, to below a threshold that "usually signals" a recession. By Bob Willis Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

UK steel importers oppose other countries' caps


25/03/28
25/03/28

UK steel importers oppose other countries' caps

London, 28 March (Argus) — Steel importers in the UK suggest the imposition of a cap on any other countries' quotas could effectively stop trade, given the small volume of the quotas. In a recent submission to the Trade Remedies Authority, UK Steel said 15pc caps should be introduced on other countries quotas for hot-dip galvanised, plate and rebar. But in its submission to the TRA, trading firm Salzgitter Mannesmann argues that any cap based on a percentage of the quota "will ultimately most likely remove rather than reduce imports as shipments from many third countries, notably the far east, require a certain base volume to ship economically to the UK". Other trading firms and service centres told Argus they share the same view. Salzgitter Mannesmann also suggested a new country quotas for individual importers be added to the safeguard based on their imports over the past two or three years. The only local producer of hot-dip galvanised coil, Tata Steel, would be likely to argue against this as volumes from some countries, notably Vietnam, have increased dramatically in recent years. Salzgitter Mannesmann also suggests Tata Steel cannot produce hot-rolled coil over 1.85m wide, for which the UK has to totally rely on imports. Traders have for some time argued that there should be no import constraints on material, such as 2m wide, as there can be no injury to the producer on grades it cannot produce. Service centre Sebden Steel said the current measures make it "impossible" for the UK to be flooded with cheap foreign imports, and that people are "misinformed by mainstream media and UK Steel". "The UK producer is in a safe place already and any additional measures will only serve to cause injury to independent steel service centres, independent steel stockholders and the UK manufacturing base, which will all be faced with a further tightening of the supply chain and increased costs," it said. Importers, unsurprisingly, question why Tata Steel, now a re-roller until its electric arc furnaces are installed, can import on much more favourable terms than others. Tata has a much bigger quota than the rest of the market, at around 2.3mn t, but the main problem for importers is that the company has fewer constraints on where it can source, with only a 40pc cap on any given country within that quota. Independent service centres, which all compete with Tata Distribution, can only import much smaller quantities from different locations, given the fragmented composition of quotas; the other countries quota for 1A, for example, is less than 100,000 t/yr. EU mills have far and away the largest quota to sell 1A HRC into the UK, but given their higher costs compared with Asian producers, they struggle to compete; Tata's imports come from all over the world, as well as some from its sister mill in IJmuiden, the Netherlands. By Colin Richardson Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

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