The total number of operating rigs in the U.S. the week ending December 29th was 929, 747 oil and 182 gas. In percentage terms, on a month on month, (m/m) basis, oil rigs were down 0.3% and gas rigs increased by 1.1%. In numerical terms, there was no change m/m. On a year on year, [...]
For the ten months ending October 2017, beam/structural imports to the U.S. totaled 1,016,727 tons, down 1.8% compared to the same period in 2016. Imports of fabricated beam/structural are increasing at an alarming rate having more than doubled since 2011. There are four HTS codes considered in this report. These include: Bridge/Bridge Section, Fabricated Structural [...]
All longs licenses year to-date (YTD), through December 27th totaled 5.476 million tons, (Mt) down 9.5% from last year’s YTD total of 6.053Mt. December to-date license requests were for 260,964 tons, 43% lower than the YTD average of 456,333 tons. Figure 1 shows total all longs licenses through December for both 2016 and 2017 as [...]
Manufacturing capacity utilization (MCU), scored a 76.4% in November, up 0.12% month on month, (m/m), its third consecutive monthly increase. On a year on year (y/y) comparison the MCU was up 2.2%. Manufacturing fundamentals continue to improve. Both the U.S. and global economy are strengthening and at the same time, the dollar has depreciated against [...]
U.S. cement shipments in October totaled 9.90 million, (Mt) short tons, up from the 9.32Mt September volume. For the three months total (3MMT), ending October, national Portland cement shipments were down slightly year on year, (y/y). Four of the nine census regions posted higher 3MMT cement shipments y/y. Figure 1 shows the three month moving average [...]
For the 12 months ending November 2017, U.S. mill shipments of long products increased by 5.9% year on year, (y/y). U.S. domestic consumption of long products increased by 1.8% over the same timeframe. Import share of long products averaged 20.3% over the past 12 months, down from 23.0% for the 12 months ending November 2016. [...]
Consumer confidence fell in December as the Conference Board Consumer Confidence Composite Index declined by 6.5 points to 122.1, well below analysts’ expectations. This was the largest monthly decline since 2015, but analysts caution that there is no cause for concern. Despite the decline, the index remains at levels not witnesses since the early 2000s. [...]
On a tons per day basis, shipments were 143.5, higher down 2.5% m/m. On a three month moving average, (3MMA) basis, year to date, (YTD) year on year, (y/y) comparison, total carbon steel shipments increased by 5.8%. Bar & shapes and structural shipments led the advance, each recording double-digits percentage increases. Table 1 shows percentage [...]
Industrial production moved-up 0.2% in November, month on month, (m/m) a bit shy of analyst’s consensus forecast, but its third consecutive monthly increase. Overall capacity utilization as well as manufacturing each gained 0.1 percentage point for the month. Another encouraging note was that the top line for October was revised up from 0.9% to 1.2%. [...]
Wire rod final imports to the U.S. were up 3.8% year to date (YTD), year on year (y/y), totaling 1,680,599 tons for the ten months ending October 2017. October’s tonnage recorded 148,477 tons, 11.4% lower than the YTD average volume of 168,070 tons. Figure 1 charts the largest exporting countries in rank order on a [...]
