SMU Data and Models
SMU's July at a glance
Written by Brett Linton
August 2, 2024
SMU’s Monthly Review articles summarize important steel market metrics for the prior month. Our latest report contains figures updated through July 31.
Steel prices gradually fell throughout the month of July, for both sheet and plate products. The SMU Price Momentum Indicator remained at lower for the majority of the month, but was adjusted to neutral last week.
Scrap prices were little changed from June to July, with buyers hopeful that this may be the bottom of the market.
We saw continued volatility in Steel Buyers’ Sentiment, with Current Sentiment retreating back to a four-year low by the end of July. Steel mill lead times remained relatively flat across the month, remain near multi-month lows. Meanwhile, the percentage of buyers reporting that mills were willing to negotiate decreased.
See the chart below for other key metrics for July. View historical Monthly Review tables here on our website.
Brett Linton
Read more from Brett LintonLatest in SMU Data and Models
SMU Survey: Buyers’ Sentiment tumbles as caution increases
SMU’s Buyers’ Sentiment Indices resumed their downward trend this week, erasing the modest recovery seen two weeks ago.
Service centers: Mill orders down further in April
SMU’s Mill Order Index (MOI) declined for a second straight month in April after repeated gains at the start of the year, according to our latest service center inventories data.
SMU Survey: Mill lead times edge lower
Sheet and plate lead times declined across the board this week, according to buyers responding to the latest SMU market survey. While our lead time ranges were unchanged compared to mid-April levels, average production times for each steel product we measure have declined from they were two weeks ago.
SMU Survey: Most buyers say price negotiations back on the table
Domestic mills are largely negotiable on spot prices, according to the majority of steel buyers responding to our latest market survey.
SMU Scrap Survey: Current, Future Sentiment Indices log declines
However, in a month plagued by tariff and economic uncertainty, both current and near-term outlooks for our scrap survey respondents remained surprisingly optimistic.