GOES Prices and Buy America

The GOES M3 MMI took another jump this past month moving from 192 to 200 for a 4+% increase. Last month the index made a 5% gain.

Last month, MetalMiner examined the Trump administration’s stance on trade policy and likely impact on GOES markets (and concluded that GOES prices would not see too much of an impact since most of the imported GOES material comes from Japan, Russia and the U.K.) In other words, even in a trade war with China, we don’t expect that to drive GOES price momentum.
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However, and as one of our readers pointed out, our story failed to address “Buy America” requirements which, indeed, could impact GOES markets.
We know President Trump implemented Buy America requirements for the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines including all new pipelines and retrofits (even slab imports are disqualified for domestic producers with only rolling operations here in the U.S.) Could Trump implement Buy America requirements for transformers? The answer to that question: absolutely! It’s clear that Trump will act aggressively to promote Buy America requirements. These requirements will serve as a bullish indicator for GOES prices.
In the aftermath of the GOES domestic anti-dumping case, many large equipment manufacturers moved production of stacked and wound cores as well as laminations to suppliers in Mexico and Canada in anticipation of significant duties being placed on GOES imports here in the U.S. Those duties did not materialize. Nevertheless, production moved to NAFTA countries anyway.
Which brings us to NAFTA. President Trump has promised to renegotiate NAFTA. But in truth, NAFTA has not been bad for the domestic steel industry. It remains unclear what specific changes the President will attempt to renegotiate. Furthermore, AK Steel could find itself in a bit of a pickle. On the one hand, from an overall perspective, AK Steel has probably benefited from NAFTA as the agreement currently stands, though its GOES business, in particular, may have suffered as AK customers moved operations to Canada and Mexico. As the sole remaining domestic GOES producer, AK Steel may need to walk a fine line between what it lobbies for in terms of Buy America and what it has gained with NAFTA.
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Meanwhile, the industry should pay close attention to Big River Steel which reported record first-month production for a flat-rolled mini mill. BRS has publicly stated that they will add GOES capacity at a later stage. Aperam South America has started a GOES line out of Brazil. Imports from South America could increase just as BRS is starting its GOES line.
Meanwhile, what’s driving GOES price momentum right now?
According to a recent TEX report, orders that are typically placed during the summer months did not get placed which created a surplus. Since January, buying organizations have come back into the market including: Chinese, Korean and U.S. customers. In addition, a large tender for the Middle East will soak up some extra capacity which has caused market entrants to secure material before that tender is released. This has likely caused some price momentum as Baosteel raised prices for February shipments.
U.S. import levels have also increased during January supporting the notion that demand has increased.

Exact GOES Coil Price This Month

The U.S. grain-oriented electrical steel (GOES) coil price moved from $2643/mt to $2754/mt.
The GOES MMI® collects and weights 1 global grain-oriented electrical steel price point to provide a unique view into price trends over a 30-day period. For more information on the GOES MMI®, how it’s calculated or how your company can use the index, please drop us a note at: info (at) agmetalminer (dot) com.