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Steel Market Updates: What You Need To Know

Our friends at Wheatland Tube have compiled a Steel and Market update for August, with the key piece of information being that Steel prices remain at record high level.  See below for a breakdown.

Underlying Fundamentals

  • Rising Input Cost
  • Lead Times Extended to 5-8 Weeks
  • Record High Transport Cost (due to driver shortages, click here for more info). Freight cost continues to climb +57%

Import Update

  • Department of Commerce assessing heaving duties on hot-roll (pipe) and cold-roll (conduit) steel coils on Vietnam to circumvent China
    • Zinc & Aluminum Price Trends Up
  • The Section 232 Ruling (25% tariff on import steel products, read more here)
    • U.S. Mills Continue to hold prices firm at record high levels
  • General tariffs on Chinese products
    • Section 301 –U.S. puts 25% tariffs on $50B worth of imports from China
    • Additional 10% Tariff on $200B in Imports from China
    • UPDATE: New Steel tariffs on Turkey

End Markets

  • Nonresidential construction is up 4% this year
  • Automotive demand is slightly below last year’s

Click here to listen to the full August 2018 Steel Insights.