News

A quick look at a few of the bigger things affecting our business this week.

Steel: Prices are holding at elevated levels, with hot-rolled coil still running in the $1,185-1,200/ton range — near the highest we’ve seen since June. Lead times remain stretched, with mills continuing to book well into fall. No real change from the last couple weeks, but no relief either.

Oil: Whiplash continues. The pause in U.S.-Iran fighting from July 24 barely lasted four days before it fell apart — Iran launched missile strikes on July 28, and Alaska North Slope crude, which had been sliding, reversed hard along with WTI and Brent. Add in the ongoing Houthi blockade in the Red Sea (Saudi Arabia is now pulling together a coalition of over 40 countries to protect shipping routes) and you’ve got a market that’s up roughly 24% for the month of July alone — one of the sharpest monthly moves in years. If your project planning touches oil prices at all, plan for continued volatility, not a settling-down.

Infrastructure: No major new developments this week, but the clock keeps ticking — current highway funding and what’s left of the infrastructure bill money both run out September 30, now about eight weeks away. If you’ve got government-funded work planned past that date, worth checking in on where that funding actually stands.

Bottom line: Steel’s steady but expensive, oil is more unpredictable than it’s been in years, and the infrastructure funding deadline is getting close. Plan ahead where you can. Reach out if you want to talk through what any of this means for your project.

Steel: Steel Market Update, Trading Economics. Oil: Petroleum News, Alaska Dept. of Revenue, Trading Economics. Infrastructure: CBO, Roll Call. Posted weekly for our customers — not investment advice.
#SteelIndustry #OilMarkets #GreerTank #TankFabrication

A quick look at a few of the bigger things affecting our business this week.

Steel: Prices are still climbing. Hot-rolled coil is averaging $1,165/ton now, up from $1,135 two weeks ago. The bigger issue is lead times — mills are quoting 7.8 weeks on average, the longest we’ve seen since 2021, and some are already booking into October. If you’ve got a project coming up, get your material locked in now rather than waiting.

Oil: Another volatile week. Houthi forces shut down Saudi shipping through the Red Sea on July 20, and the U.S. responded with eleven straight nights of strikes on Iran. ANS crude jumped from $76.87 to $81.28 over the week, and Brent briefly touched $100. That’s the third significant swing in a month. If your project planning depends on oil prices, build in room for things to move fast.

Infrastructure: The House passed a highway funding bill out of committee with strong bipartisan support, but CBO says it still leaves a real gap in the Highway Trust Fund — roughly $99.5 billion short for highways and $48.2 billion for transit through 2031, even with new EV fees included. Current highway funding, along with what’s left of the infrastructure bill money, runs out September 30. Worth keeping an eye on if you’ve got government-funded work planned for next year.

Bottom line: Steel keeps getting more expensive, oil remains unpredictable, and federal funding has a deadline coming up fast. All three point the same direction — plan ahead. Reach out if you want to talk through what any of this means for your project.

*Update on the steel industry and section 232. *
The section 232 quotas and tariffs that first threatened our industry in the first quarter of 2018 had a steep price on steel supplies, both in terms of pricing and lead times. Although pricing climbed steeply through the second quarter it has remained steady over the last few weeks. This is not expected to continue.

On June 1st tariffs and quotas on Canada, Mexico and other NAFTA countries went into effect. There is now a 25% tariff on hot roll steel products and a 10% tariff on aluminum products from these countries. Canada accounts for about 40% of the import for US suppliers.

Industry experts had been thinking that pricing and lead times would begin to soften a bit through the summer as they typically do. However, with this new development they are changing their stance on this. Right now, it is looking like we will see another round of price increases. Beam mills have already increased pricing by 5.00/CWT. Domestic mills have imposed higher transportation costs across the country. We could be looking at another 6.00-10.00 per CWT increase through the summer months. If Canada holds true to its threat of retaliatory tariffs on imports from the US beginning July 1st, we could see even higher increases.

The immediate affect will likely be longer lead times for hot roll and aluminum products as suppliers are not going to want to quote material until they know what is going to happen over the next month. We, at Greer, are dedicated to providing our customers the best service and products. We will continue to do what we can to keep costs down for our customers. And continue to keep you informed with what is going on in our industry.
*David Kapla * *General Manger Greer Steel Inc. *

Market-update-June-4-2018.pdf

Dear valued customers,
We wanted to alert you to a recent development in the steel industry.
On Friday, February 16th, Secretary Wilbur Ross released the U.S. Department of Commerce report detailing the impact to our national security from imports of steel mill products. This investigation was carried out under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. The Department of Commerce found that the quantities and circumstances of steel imports “threaten to impair national security” as defined by Section 232.
President Trump has until April 11th to make a ruling on the recommendations of Secretary Ross. The recommendations include tariffs and quotas on imported steel which could raise steel prices significantly. Although a final decision has yet to be made, the report has caused new challenges in the steel market. Some mills are not taking new orders, while others are not quoting prices. There also has been speculation that some products may be subject to allocation.

Because of the uncertainty regarding both price and availability, Greer Steel Inc. reserves the right to review all existing quotes prior to acceptance of an order. Acceptance of orders will be based on the best available market information. We understand this impacts your business as well as ours and we will do our best to mitigate the impact of these market disruptions.

Greer Steel Inc. will continue to communicate further developments in the current market. Thank you for your business and we look forward to working with you.

*David Kapla *
*General Manager Greer Steel Inc*

Market-update-March-20.pdf