Market Segment
August 20, 2024
Written by Laura Miller
We’re already halfway through the third quarter of 2024. Fall is coming in North America, and with it, steel mills’ regularly scheduled fall maintenance outages.
In a slow, unsure market with uncertainty swirling around steel demand, steel prices, and November’s elections, some mills have even moved up their planned outages in anticipation of a better market later in Q4 or beyond.
The current plate market squeeze has been driven by improved demand and heightened import barriers, including 50% Section 232 tariffs. But the timing of fall outages—even if they were planned—is exacerbating the supply crunch.
Metalformers’ optimism softened in the Precision Metalforming Association (PMA) September Business Conditions Report.
SMU’s latest Flat-Rolled Steel Buyers Survey shows that in a tight US market marked by long lead times, low inventories, and rising prices, foreign products continue to gain the interest of domestic buyers.
Domestic raw steel output fell to a six-month low last week after hitting a multi-year high one week earlier, according to the latest American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) figures.
The proposed Hyundai-POSCO steel mill in Louisiana has been approved for up to $1.3 billion in bond financing, according to state records and local media reports.