• Skip to main content

    Analysis

    Ethan Bernard, SMU Team

    Final Thoughts

    Written by Ethan Bernard


    Nothing focuses your mind like sunshine and a caipirinha. After my last Final Thoughts a couple of weeks ago, I was able to take a short vacation in Rio de Janeiro. Not a bad place to sit by the beach and collect your thoughts.

    For those who don’t remember (probably quite a few), my last article dealt with the US tariff focus while much of the rest of the developed world remains full-steam on decarb. This was at the International Iron Metallics Association (IIMA) meeting in São Paulo, Brazil.

    Ethan Bernard

    Read more from Ethan Bernard

    Latest in Analysis

    SMU Survey: Current Buyers’ Sentiment rises slightly as Future Sentiment dips

    SMU’s Current Steel Buyers’ Sentiment Index ticked up slightly this week, while Future Sentiment fell, according to our latest market survey. Every two weeks, SMU polls thousands of steel-industry executives, asking them to rate their companies’ chances of success today and also three to six months down the road. We use their responses to calculate our proprietary Current and Future Steel Buyers’ Sentiment Indices, measures tracked since 2008.

    galvalume steel coil

    SMU Survey: Mill willingness to negotiate price at lowest levels since 2021

    The majority of steel buyers responding to our latest market survey reported that mills continue to hold a firm grip on prices. The share of buyers reporting that mills were negotiable fell this week to the lowest rate seen in over five years. Every two weeks, SMU surveys service center and manufacturer buyers asking if mills are negotiable on new spot sheet and plate orders. In this week’s survey, just 3% of respondents said mills were willing to talk price to secure an order (Figure 1). This is down 11 percentage points from our mid-October survey.